Page 17 of Closer

CHAPTER EIGHT

A RAGING BONER

ALI

“You know, now thatyou’re officially going to be my sister, I think it’s time I told you to do something about that hair,” Deb says, without looking up from her issue ofVogue Paris.

“What?” I reach up and fiddle with the loose strands, making sure the pins aren’t popping out all over the place. “What’s wrong with my hair?”

“What’s right with it?” she says automatically, and then rolls her eyes when she notices my glare. “I mean it looks fine today, but I’m sorry, someone with your bone structure just shouldn’t do bangs.”

I sigh and turn back to the mirror, smoothing down my dress. My insides are jelly. God, is this a terrible idea? Why the fuck didn’t we just go back to Vegas and get married there?

Oh, right, because Vegas was where Coop broke my heart for the first time and I slept with Levi. And Cooper.God damn it. Fuck you, Vegas! We are never going back there. There’s a knock on the door to our suite, and I jump.

Deb cocks a brow at me. “Jesus, Ali, jumpy much?”

“I hate being the centre of attention. Why did I let you talk me into this?” I snatch up the champagne flute and down the rest in one big gulp.

“Oh please, everyone knows you’re going to be passed out drunk within twenty minutes of the reception starting anyway,” Deb says, and then throws her magazine down on the table when she realises Tim is still adjusting his hair in the bathroom and I’m not going to answer the door.I can’t. My feet are glued to the spot.

Deb rolls her eyes and opens the door. “Really, Quinn?”

“Hey, Deb, I wish I could say it was nice to see you too, but it’s really not.”

“Whatever, waste of space. Why don’t you go and cry to mummy?”

“Jesus, brutal much?” Levi’s voice cracks, and I think even Deb decides to feel sorry for him. I can’t turn from my place in front of the mirror.I can’t look at him. I’m so happy he came. I didn’t believe he would ever talk to either one of us again after the hospital in Prague, but he’s here. If nothing else, he cares enough about Coop and me to show up.

“Ali, your other fuck buddy is here,” Deb says, and I sigh, because she needs to quit calling him that. It’s been almost a year since we had sex, and I don’t even know if we’rebuddiesat all anymore, let alone the fucking.

“This won’t take long,” Levi says.

“Surprise, surprise, it never does with you.”

“Deb,” I say, and she shoots me a venomous look.

“Fine, I need another drink anyway, but if you ditch my brother for this piece of shit, I will find you, Jones, and I will gut you like a fish.”

“Bye, Deb.”

“I just remembered I need something from the downstairs bar,” Tim says, finally coming out of the bathroom. He walks by me and smiles with a gentle squeeze to my shoulder. “I’ll be back in ten.”

Tim, much like Deb, doesn’t have a lot of sympathy for Levi. This is on account of him being there when Levi called me from Paris while he was fucking another woman. It hurt.A lot. I know I probably deserved it, because I’d broken his heart. In the beginning I’d toyed with Levi to get back at Cooper, but the more time we spent together, the more I fell. It had been discovering I wasn’t in love with him that had forced me to leave, along with being drugged and photographed naked by Zed’s brother Leif and a piece-of-shit paparazzo. I was in over my head, and no matter which way I turned, one of us got hurt. So I left. But I broke all of our hearts in the process, not just mine, and there was one I still couldn’t heal.

Levi steps into the room. He halts, his smile falling. I grimace.

“Do I look that bad?” I smooth my hands down over the black lace of my wedding gown. “Oh God, I look like an arsehole in this dress, don’t I?”

He clears his throat. “You look—”

“What? Is it too much? Should I get rid of the red lips?”

“Don’t even think about it,” he says, coming closer.

Tears prick my eyes and I fight to keep them from falling and ruining my make-up. I throw my arms around his neck, and he slides his large hands around my waist and squeezes me tightly, burying his face in my neck. “You came.”

“Not yet, but give me time,” Levi murmurs. I laugh. “You look incredible, Ali.”

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