Page 18 of Trust In Me

Once he reaches the living room, he leans down to kiss his daughter—who responds with a giggle before she pushes him away with her fist—then leans over Bree, so that his head is in line with the camera phone. He probably looks like his head is on its side given the angle he is leaning at, but he doesn’t seem to care.

“What the hell makes you think I can’t plan a bachelor party?” Kellan shrieks, clearly insulted by Shane's comment.

“Erm…well, it’s just that you…erm. You don’t really go out that much,” Shane babbles, seemingly frightened of voicing his opinion now Kellan is in the room. Both Liam and Kian continue to chuckle as Kellan’s cheeks flush under his five o’clock shadow.

Fuck, why is my heart getting all fluttery at the sight of his blush? So what if the guy has a sensitive side, even one that he tries to hide. I need to think of this guy as my boss or my friend. I can’t keep looking at him like I’m wondering what he has on under those sinfully tight dark jeans.

I need to focus on the conversation, and not on Kellan.

“You listen here, you little punk. I may not be as hardcore as I was before I had Hallie, but before I became a dad, I knew how to party. I knew how to find the best clubs, and pick up the best pussy. So don’t even question my ability to throw a good party. There will be plenty of booze and pussy, just like a good bachelor party should have,” Kellan shouts down the phone. This is clearly one of the occasions where he should listen to what he’s about to say in his head before saying it aloud. It takes less than a second before the room erupts into chaos.

Bree begins shouting about how there will be no pussy, and if there is then Liam isn’t allowed a bachelor party. Liam, who had begun to tell Kel that he didn’t want that kind of party, heard what Bree said, and then starts shouting about how she can’t tell him what type of party he could have. That she should trust him. Shane yells through the phone, confirming his earlier statement that this is proof Kellan should not be planning the bachelor party. Kian, in the meantime, keeps whooping and hollering, almost as though he’s watching a pantomime.

The noise and the arguments are just too much for me. Out of nowhere, I gather confidence and begin to shout. “Shut up! All of you, shut the fuck up!” Clearly that’s exactly what was needed, as they all stop mid-sentence, their gazes turning to me in clear bewilderment. Even Bree who has known me the longest has never heard my voice go up that loud.

Shit, now they’re all looking at me, I’m going to have to say something now. “Look, Bree, you can’t tell Liam what type of bachelor party he can have. You just have to trust that even if there’s a thousand pussies there that all want him, he will still choose you. And you, Liam, you need to reassure your fiancée that you will always choose her. Have the party you want, just don’t choose a big elaborate event because Bree tells you that you can’t have it. That’s stupid and pig-headed, something I would never have associated with you. You, however, Kellan, are an idiot. Stop trying to prove you are young and carefree. You may have known how to party a few years ago but that changed when you got Hallie. Organise the best party, let your hair down, but remember no matter how much Jager you drink to reminisce and remember your youth, your baby will still wake up at five in the morning demanding her dad. And as for you, Shane, you have plenty of time to get drunk and watch strippers. You do not want to do it with these fossils.”

“We are not fossils. I’m not even twenty-fucking-five yet,” shouts Kian, and I turn my attention to the blond-haired cocky guy who missed out on my last rant, but now he’s earnt one of his own.

“Yes, you are compared to him. We may not be ancient, but we sure as fuck don’t recover from hangovers like we did in our teens. You, pretty boy, you need to stop leading them astray and make sure they don’t get themselves into any trouble. Because I guarantee, if you let anything happen to the groom a week before the wedding, you won’t know what wrath is until you meet Bree.” Kian’s face drains of colour as Bree begins to chuckle. “So, can we all agree to just have nice, quiet nights? Nobody gets so wrecked they have to have their stomach pumped, and nobody comes home covered in stripper body oil. Yes?”

Agreements ring around the room, until Ryleigh’s voice echoes through the speaker. “How about we compromise on a ‘watch but don’t touch’ stripper experience? Since it’s already paid for.”

“Ryleigh!”

The same shout in various different tones fills the room. Liam is pissed, Bree sounds desperate, whereas Kellan and Kian seem to find it funny. Liam, however, doesn't just stop at shouting her name. “Ry, not only do I hate the idea of my fiancée watching some big dick flapping about in her face, I hate the idea even less knowing my two baby sisters will be there too. Have you told Freya about this?” Liam asks, and before Ryleigh even has a chance to reply, Kian draws our attention.

“Oh yeah, she will hate this,” he says, like he knows her personally. Both Bree and Liam focus their eyes on him with laser precision, and he looks to be shuffling under their fierce gazes.

Thankfully, Ryleigh can’t see what is going on in the room, only what is in front of her on the screen, so she’s oblivious to the tension and continues to reply to Liam. “No, she doesn’t know yet, and obviously she will be pissed and moan about not wanting to go. But, we never got a chance to throw Bree a hen party last time, and I want this wedding to be special and memorable, so it makes all the memories of the last one fade away. It has to be really good to do that. So, please let me try and organise it. I know I’m not the maid of honour, and I don’t want to take over from Mia, I just want to help.” Her voice sounds so lost, and she may have glossed over it briefly, but she hit the nail on the head. The reason she wants a big, elaborate event is so that everyone will talk about the scandalous hen party, rather than the time we did the whole wedding thing already and the bride never showed. Ryleigh doesn’t want to be sitting there at the wedding venue thinking about the last wedding, and I don’t blame her.

“We can plan the party together, Ryleigh. How does that sound?” I shout to her.

All eyes shift to gaze at me, but I don’t care. Bree should have a hen party, it’s the right thing to do, and we all know that when Ry sets her mind to something, she goes with it. So, why not go with it under my watchful eye. I can rein her in without her even realising it. Cries ofyesandthank youring out from the phone, and everyone else seems a little pissed.

“Fine, but no strip clubs.” Bree sounds as though she is grinding that out reluctantly through gritted teeth. “And we stick to one or two clubs only, no walking as it brings out evil Mia.”

Everyone looks to Bree as she explains the night out we went on. “The club had to unexpectedly close and there were no taxis, so we walked to the next one. Mia’s feet were killing her by the time we arrived at the club and it was packed. We saw only one chair available at the bar, and Mia practically ran towards it. But a woman cut in front of her, and started to sit in the chair, and that’s when Mia lost the plot, the alcohol in her system not helping things. She told the woman about how much pain she was in and began to do her word vomit thing. The woman dismissed her, claiming she got there first and that Mia should leave. In response, Mia removed one of her shoes and threatened to use the torture device on this woman, indicating she planned to stab the stiletto into her eye. The woman moved pretty quickly after that and Mia got her chair.”

All eyes look at me like they’re just seeing me for the first time, and Liam and Kian look quite impressed. Kellan, on the other hand, looks unsure. His face is scrunched up like he’s trying to solve a really hard maths question, but his eyes are ablaze with the fire that calls to me. All my nerve endings feel like they're on fire, and I can feel a delicious prickling beneath the surface.

Despite being in a room full of people, as our gaze connects, and the sensations rippling across my skin makes me feel as though I’m really alive. I ache to reach over, to touch him, but I know I can’t. Not just because all our friends are here, but because I can’t risk my job.

It pleases me when I see Kellan squirming as much as I am. I feel like the air is suffocating as sexual tension floats around, making the atmosphere almost dense, as though you could cut through it with a knife. But nobody else seems to notice.

“I like this plan. Mia, I will be in touch soon to get some more details. Bree, please can you pass my number along to her so we can discuss things. Also, when we come over for the wedding, can we talk about maybe coming there to spend Christmas with you?” Ryleigh asks, her voice echoing through the phone pulls me from the fantasy my brain was just starting to engage in.

Liam perks up, clearly liking the idea that his sisters want to visit and spend some time here. I know he misses them. “Of course we can talk about it. You are always welcome.”

“Maybe I can come the week before with Shane, and we can both stay for the week. It’s half-term anyway.” I don’t know why but it sounds as though Ryleigh is trying to say something, but not say it. Liam obviously knows what she’s not so subtly hinting at, because there’s a big smile on his face.

Kellan begins to speak, and I realise he must be in on it too, because his grin matches Liam’s. “You wouldn’t be hinting that you want to celebrate your eighteenth birthday, would you, Ry?”

That seems to open the flood gates, and just before Ryleigh begins talking a mile a minute, I hear a very loud groan from Shane through the phone. Apparently we just opened Pandora's box. “Yes, of course I am. I want to celebrate with my family. We are doing some stuff here on the day, and Freya is coming to spend the day with me. But I want to celebrate with you guys too. I don’t want to take away from your big day, though.” The last sentence is added on so quickly, it’s almost an afterthought, but we all knew Ryleigh means it. Although she can come across as a stroppy teenager at times, because she is one, she’s also incredibly kind and loyal. She’s a lot fiercer than people think, and she’s severely underestimated every time.

“I will get in touch with Finn and Evan, they can come too. We will have a little mini party here one night while you are over. It will be a movie and takeout night, it will not be a getting shitfaced event that results in me cleaning up vomit. Agreed?” Liam asks, his voice taking on that stern, father figure tone he seems to have for everyone, it’s just worse for Ryleigh.

“Fine, but you have to get some champagne. I promise, no excessive drinking, but we have to celebrate,” Ryleigh counters, and I can see Kellan’s face twist into a big, cocky grin as he watches Liam’s face fall. It’s very obvious to all involved that Liam has lost this round, as we all know Ry has him wrapped around her little finger. It might look like a negotiation, but it’s most definitely not!

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