Page 19 of Paradise & Vodka
I took a deep breath and stepped inside. This was it. Nick and I were both going to be acting, and I hoped we could pull it off.
We made it to the restaurant, and instantly, I heard my sister calling my name. I looked over at the table where she was sitting with my parents, and Douglas and his parents, and gave a tight smile.
"Youarea twin," Nick stated as though he thought I was lying before.
I snorted. "Yep. Just not identical."
Still holding hands, we walked to the table. Everleigh stood and rushed to me, wrapping her arms around my neck and breaking my grasp on Nick. "I've missed you so much!" she admitted.
"I've missed you too." It was the truth. I missed what we had. Even though we were different, we were still sisters and had been close most of our lives.
We broke apart, and my mother and father each hugged me before I said, "Mom, Dad, this is my boyfriend, Nick."
They shook hands as Nick said to my parents, "Nice to meet you. You raised a great woman."
"Agreed," Dad said. He was dressed in golf clothes, and I wondered if it was to impress Douglas and his parents.
"And this is my sister, Everleigh."
"Ah, the infamous sister."
Everleigh snorted softly at the jab, and then quickly recovered as she turned and grabbed Douglas's hand. "And you remember Doug?" she asked me. She fucking askedme!
"Yes, thank you for inviting me to your wedding." I plastered on a fake smile as I gave a mini-wave. I wasnothugging him. "And this is Nick."
Douglas and Nick shook hands. "Thank you," Nick said.
Douglas blinked. "For?"
Nick brought me against his side. "For making it possible for me to be this lucky."
Douglas chuckled. "Yeah, sure thing, man."
"It's Nick."
Douglas blinked again. "What?"
"My name. It's Nick, notman."
Douglas's father cleared his throat and stuck out his hand, intervening in the pissing contest. "Samuel Alexander, and this is my wife, Martha."
The men shook hands while Martha reached out her arms for me to step into them. "It's good to see you again, dear."
"You too, Mrs. Alexander."
"All right. Now that we're all acquainted, let's eat," Everleigh said.
"Yes, let's. We’ve worked up quite the appetite since arriving." Nick winked at me, and my face turned hot.
Again.
When Ashleigh toldme I was the opposite of her ex, she wasn't kidding. It wasn't because I was covered in tats either. Douglas was a country club snob who needed to get his face punched in. I would never do that, though. Fighting wasn't my thing. I was going into thisdateknowing I had to make Ashleigh look good, and I was going to show her endless affection. It didn't hurt that Iwantedto do it either. I wanted to do it all with her, even if it was just for a week.
"What do you do for work, Nick?" Dougie asked.
I knew the question was coming. It always did atfamilyfunctions or some sort of party where I was playing a boyfriend, and I had a lie ready and waiting. To be fair, most of the guys in the game said the same thing. "I'm in customer relations for various hotels on The Strip."
"Customer relations?" he questioned. "What does that entail?"
