Page 70 of Ring Me

Chapter 22

Marry the Real Me

––––––––

“ARE YOU SURE IT LOOKSokay?” I couldn't hide the nerves in my voice. Pressing my palms down my ribs, my belly, to my hips, I looked at Aubrey in the mirror. She stood behind me, her eyes glossy. I spun, holding up my hands in dismay. “Ah! No! Don't cry, bad friend! Bad!”

“I'm sorry! But you'reso gorgeous!”she sobbed, fingers masking her mouth. Her words came out muffled. “He's going to faint. Oh my god.” Inflating with joy, I held out my arms. Aubrey took my cue and hugged me roughly. “I hate how perfect you look as a bride!”

Laughing, I gave her a squeeze. “Thanks.”

“Let me get your mom. She'll want to help with your veil.”

Nodding, I stood there, left alone with nothing but my thoughts. I had plenty of those.It's really happening.The year had passed quickly. Planning the wedding had been easy, thanks to Conner being so involved. He'd actually suggested we send new invitations and have the ceremony sooner, but I'd been a hard no on the last part.

We'd settled for sending proper physical RSVPs to all five hundred people. I'd had Aubrey help design those, to her delight. And, tomy delight,only seventy of the original people had said they were able to come to my wedding.

The Gibraldi group were among them. They'd been overjoyed with how their event had gone. Summer Heat was booked for the next year. I'd given Aubrey a promotion, too. No longer my assistant, she was my business partner.

It let me breathe easier to have someone taking charge.

And... she still did thoughtful assistant things, like deliver cupcakes to my desk when I was moody. Or when she made a mistake.

“Maya,” my mom gasped. I spun, catching her shock, her joy, and when I tried to tell her not to cry, it came out as a choked little noise. Tears rolled down my cheeks. She clasped me in her arms, laughing through her happy sniffles. “Don't mess up your makeup! You look like an angel.”

“I don't know about...” I trailed off, straining to listen to the odd shouting that was coming through the walls. “What's all that noise?” I asked with a frown.

“Stay here, I'll check,” Aubrey said. I would have stayed put, except when she opened the door, the noise—the voice—became clear as day.

“Don't touch me!” Ben yelled. “I'm a guest, I was invited to this sham!”

My stomach dipped straight down to my feet. “Who is that?” My mom asked, blinking at me. “Is that... is it Ben? Why is he here?”

“Because he's not done trying to ruin my life,” I said. Hiking my wedding dress around my ankles, I started out the door. My mother called after me, grabbing my arm. I didn't stop—I walked out onto the boat. My changing room was the bottom deck. From there, I was able to look out through the wide-open sides of the boat where the railing circled to keep people from falling over into the water.

The wooden ramp from the dock to the Annie May stretched in front of me. I had an unblocked view of the commotion. Ben was standing on the ramp dressed in a wrinkled pair of black pants and an untucked white shirt, his red tie knotted around his throat like he'd tied it with one hand while driving.

Behind him, looking unsure what to do, was my wedding coordinator—a lovely woman named Mindy—and one of the boat's staff. They were trying to coerce Ben to follow them down the ramp. He ignored them, facing off with two more staff who were chatting into their phones, probably calling for help. “Let me on!” he yelled again. He flapped a piece of paper in their faces. Pink and white... my digital invitation he'd printed himself.

My mom gave me a tug. “Don't go up there!” she warned me. “You're the bride, it's not your job to play security!”

I shook my arm to get her loose, taking another step forward. “These heels will still look great after I jam one into his forehead, trust me.”

“Let someone else handle this, Maya.”

That was a nice idea. But I was worried that if I waited for someone to fix this, it would be too late. Ben was swaying, shouting, red-faced. He'd come here to hurt me and he knew exactly how to do it.

Aubrey stomped down the ramp, her earrings glinting as they bounced on her ears. Ben saw her coming. His smirk was toothy, it faltered slightly when my friend got right in his face, ready to brawl. “Get the hell out of here, asshole!”

“I was invited—” She snatched the invite and threw it into the water below. Ben was briefly stunned, but his eyes darkened, his voice matching. “You bitch. You think you're helping her, huh? She's too much of a coward to let everyone see her, therealher, so she sent you?”

“What nonsense is that? Move on, Ben. You two are over with. Stop stirring up shit, it's not cute.”

His chest puffed up. “You think you know everything about Maya, don't you? You've got no idea. No one does. I'm going to fix that.”

My heart was racing but his threat sent it into overdrive. “Stop him,” I said out loud, but only my mother could hear me. We were alone, watching from a distance as my ex prepared to do the one thing I was terrified of. He was going to spill the secrets I'd trusted him with when we were lying in the dark. Things I'd only told him because I'd loved him, and I'd thought, naively, that he'd loved me.

Aubrey backed up when Ben lunged forward. More people had arrived—guests who knew me gathering at the bottom of the ramp, wanting to get on the boat for the wedding, ready to share a moment of bliss that was quickly turning into my personal nightmare.

---