Page 29 of On The Rocks

“Maeve,” he interrupted. “Do you get it?”

My gaze lifted to meet his, and slowly, I nodded. “Yeah. I get it.”

He jerked a nod. “Good. Don’t be long. The priest has another wedding after ours.”

I lowered my hand when Callum’s voice called, “Maeve!”

“Yeah?” I asked, holding the phone up again.

His stare flicked between mine. “Your eyes are stunning, but your glasses are cute, too. There’s no need to hide who you are.”

The screen went black, but my gaze stayed glued to it.

Callum O’Shea, family friend, bar owner, and Irish love god, thought my eyes were stunning and that my glasses were cute.

A sense of elation filled my chest.

Yippee!

The despair suddenly faded, and standing in my childhood room with a face scrubbed clean of makeup, I studied my ugly wedding dress hanging from the closet and suddenly burst into a fit of laughter.

I hoped it was a sign of things to come.

CHAPTER 7

CALLUM

Stabbing the cell phone, I ended the call and scraped a hand down my face. “Fucking bitches.”

“Who the feck are you, and what have you done with my cockhead brother?” Aislynn asked softly.

My lips twitched at the disbelief in my sister’s tone. “The girl’s been through some shit today. She wept at the state of her dead mother’s wedding dress, for Jesus’ sake. I’m not a total bastard, Aislynn.”

“You are usually,” she retorted. “And a stupid one at that.”

I shot her a death glare.

Footsteps sounded on the steps behind us, and I craned my neck to watch my two brothers approaching.

“What the fuck’s going on?” T demanded.

“Bitches two and three have sabotaged Maeve’s wedding dress,” Aislynn informed him.

Donovan pulled the lapels of his suit jacket together to ward off the chill in the air. “Who the fuck are bitches two and three? And more to the point, what happened to bitch number one?”

“The Doyle girls,” Ash spat. “And incidentally, Orla—bitch one—was involved too. They made our girl look like Alice Cooper and wrecked her mam’s wedding dress. Now she has to turn upat the church feeling humiliated to her core because those girls are complete twats.”

“Patrick should’ve stayed back at the house with her,” Donovan muttered, nodding toward the church. “Instead, he’s in there with Tyrone, acting like he hasn’t a care in the world.”

“Maeve didn’t want anyone but her own da to give her away.” My sister’s gaze caught mine, and she grimaced. “Maybe Mam and I should’ve stayed behind. Now she’s there all alone and freaking out. She shouldn’t have to deal with Orla’s crap on her wedding day.”

“I’ll wait here and give her away,” Donovan declared, rummaging in his pocket. “I’ll give her a call and let her know her big bro’s coming to the rescue?—”

“Call her?” I barked. “You’ve got her number?”

“Course I do,” he replied. “I love Maeve. She’s smart and funny.”

“I got her number too,” Tadhg piped up. “She sends me these funny history memes. They’re fucking hilarious.”

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