Page 84 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 2
"Penny," Melissa said and touched my shoulder.
I hadn't known that anyone else was still awake.
"Let's go get you cleaned up, okay? You'll feel better when you change into something more comfortable."
Feel better?Nothing would make me feel better except rewinding time. What if our first kiss as husband and wife was one of our last kisses? What if our first dance was one of our last?
"Come with me." She grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the restroom.
I didn't want to change. James was supposed to take off my wedding dress. We were supposed to be sharing one of the best nights of our lives.Keep breathing, James. Please keep breathing.
I stared at my reflection in the restroom mirror. No wonder everyone kept asking me to change. I looked like I was a bride from a horror movie. Blood was splattered on my dress and chest. It had seeped into the bottom of my dress when I had tried to apply pressure to James' wounds. It was on my hands and arms. I was a reflection of everything bad that had happened tonight. A walking memory. I couldn't bear to look at myself.
I pulled down the straps of my dress and reached behind me to unzip it. My fingers were trembling and I couldn't undo it. "Get it off me."
Melissa's hands replaced mine.
Tears streamed down my cheeks and I turned away from the mirror. "Get it off!" I croaked. As soon as it was unzipped I pushed the straps down my arms and let it pool around my ankles. I bent over the sink and began scrubbing the blood from my skin.Get it off.
"Penny, stop." Melissa said from behind me.
I continued to wash my hands.
"Penny, stop, you're hurting yourself." She turned off the water.
I looked down at my arms. My skin was red from where I had been scrubbing it.
"Put these on." She handed me a pair of leggings and a tank top.
It was what I almost always wore to my college classes. I'd do anything to go back to those days. I thought about James in my dorm, asking me to marry him in Vegas. Why did I say no? If I had said yes, he'd still be beside me. This was the wedding I had wanted. He was dying because of me.
"It's my fault."
"It's not your fault."
"He's dying because of me."
"He's not going to die." There was no doubt in her tone. Melissa was strong. She always believed what she believed. And she was usually right.
I needed to be strong right now. I needed to borrow some of her strength. I looked up at her.
"He's not going to die," she said again.
I nodded my head.He's not going to die. He can't die.I slowly changed into the clothes she had given me. She placed a pair of flip flops on the ground as she folded my dress and put it intothe bag she was carrying. I wanted to tell her to throw it out or burn it or cut it into a million pieces. I never wanted to see that dress again. I wanted to pretend that today had never happened. I unstrapped my heels and slipped my feet into the flip flops.
"Good," Melissa said. "Now you're dressed so that we can run around and try to find him."
"What?"
"If no one's telling us, we'll go find out ourselves."
"Melissa?"
She turned toward me.
"Thank you." I put my arms around her.
"It's going to be okay." She rubbed her hand up and down my back.
