Page 104 of Filthy Rich

“How’s he going to feel when I show up with a way prettier girlfriend, looking so much better than he does?”

“I swear, the biggest risk in dating you is that my eyes will get stuck up inside my head one of these days.”

When we get to the Serendipity Inn, it’s transformed. I’ve been to Dave and Seren’s a few times now, and the old house always looks gorgeous. But this is next level. It’s clear that someone paid a lot for the fresh flowers. It’s December tenth, and the place still looks like a hothouse.

“You know,” I say, “I was pretty worried about a mostly outdoor wedding in December.”

“You shouldn’t have been,” Jake says. “My parents know how to entertain.”

It warms my soul to hear him call Dave and Seren his parents. “Alright.” I walk up to Seren. “I’m ready to be put to work. Give me any task.”

Seren frowns. “We don’t need help. Everything’s ready. We’re all here early to watch the full-length trailer for you, Bea, and Jake’s movie.”

“What?” I turn toward Jake. “You said we had to come early to help get last-minute things ready.”

“We have all our employees doing that stuff,” Seren says. “Weddings should be magical days, not grueling and miserable.”

“Are we going to stand around, or are we going to watch the new trailer?” Jake asks. “It drops tomorrow.”

“I have it set up in the wedding hall.” Bea’s not in her dress yet, but that makes sense. It’s several hours before the wedding starts. She still looks every inch the bride, with her hair already curled, and a little A-line white sheath dress. “Let’s go.”

Bea jogs over to where I’m walking. “Are you excited? The movie comes out in a few days.”

“Should you really be worried about that?” I ask. “It’s your wedding.”

She shrugs. “It’s important, yes, but I’m not Bridezilla. The most important thing is celebrating the love Easton and I share, and you and Jake got together because of Easton investing in the movie and us doing the music.” She opens the door and gestures us inside. “I’m almost as excited about the movie as the wedding, but don’t tell Easton that.”

I suppress what would have been a very unladylike laugh.

Jake’s fiddling with some kind of electronic thing, but Bea ushers us all into seats. When Killian tries to sit next to me, Ardath makes a buzzer noise. “No way, kid. That’s Jake’s seat.”

He tries to sit on the other side, and she acts like she’s going to kick him.

“And that one’s mine.” Ardath drops into the chair next to me. “Other than knowing you have great skills with board games, I feel like I don’t know you yet.” She smiles. “But I have a feeling I’ll be getting to know you much better soon.”

Is she saying I’ll get sick? Gosh, I hope not.

“Okay, we’re ready.” Jake glares at Ardath. “Hush up everyone, until this is done.”

Seren glances right at me before finally dropping into the seat on the other side of Ardath.

“Have you guys all seen this already?” I ask. “Did they use a clip from the music video or something?”

Jake’s smiling. “Just watch.”

It does actually start with a scene from the music video, and then it cuts to still shots from the album shoot. But that’s where it starts to fall apart. Instead of clips from the movie, it starts showing clips of me and Jake.

In one, he’s defending me from Patrice. In another he’s tucking hair behind my ear—on the left side of my face. Then it’s our kiss from the set. And then it cuts off, and I’m very confused. “That’s a terrible movie trailer,” I say lamely.

Seren, Ardath, and Bea laugh.

“I mean, she’s kinda right,” Killian says. “I wouldn’t go see that movie if they paid me.”

“Well, I liked it,” Easton says.

“Shut up,” Jake says. “All of you.” He walks toward me, and he crouches down on the chair in front of me, so he’s on level with me, or close enough. “I didn’t realize it for a long time, but for most of my life, I’ve acted based on fear. I didn’t really commit to the Fansee family, because I was afraid it would fall apart. Then I dumped you, Octavia, because I was afraid I’d hurt you, or that the closer I got to you, the worse it would hurt if you left me.”

He stands, and he pulls something out from under the chair in front of me. At first, I think maybe he’s proposing, because it’s a box. But it’s a large one. When he removes the lid, what he pulls out is a tall, thin vase. “This is the very first piece of raku pottery that I ever fired in America. I gave it to Seren, but when I was talking to her yesterday, she agreed you should have it.” He offers it to me.

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