I impishly smirk at him. “Are you going to wear something that will make it easy for me to give you your happy endings?” I can’t help but laugh.
Morgan squeals and bangs her hand on the steering wheel, “No! Stop! I can’t get the mental picture out of my head!”
Rod cringes mockingly at me. “That was lame, Hadders. Try again later.”
I laugh and turn back around in my seat. Rod asks, “So, you’re actually going to propose to Wilder?”
Peering out my side window and watching the passing buildings, I say, “I’m thinking about it. I don’t know what I should do, though. He says he doesn’t want to get married, so why am I even bothering?”
Rod leans forward and taps me on my arm. I turn to look at him. “Yeah?”
“I think if you ask him, he’ll say yes.”
“Why would he suddenly say yes if he won’t even ask me in the first place? I need to rethink this because it’s stupid. How would my proposing to him really change his mind?”
Rod angles his head to the side. “If you actually get down on a knee, with his crotch in your face,” he stops to laugh and I shove his head, “and you offer a ring to him while asking him to marry you, I don’t see him refusing you. He’d say yes.”
“Okay. He may say yes and wear the ring, but how do I know if he’ll ever actually marry me?”
Rod shakes his head. “You don’t. You have to have faith in him. Maybe you don’t have enough faith in Wilder that he’ll make the right decision for you both. I don’t know. Just because he doesn’t want to get married now, doesn’t mean he won’t change his mind in a few weeks or a few months. Give him the ring and let him sort it out. He may surprise you.”
I nod. “Why do you have spurts of clarity, Rod? One minute you’re cussing like a truck driver stuck behind a children’s parade and then the next, you’re Yoda.”
He sits back. “That’s how I roll, Hadders. Multiplicity is the seasoning of existing.”
Morgan frowns and turns her head slightly. “That was a convoluted way of saying that variety is the spice of life, Jerk Rod.”
“It was. Thus, the meaning of the adage, Morbid. Fuck, you’re slow.”
Morgan reaches back, flips Rod the bird and then smacks his leg, making both us laugh.
We walk into the small jewelry store, not far from the boutique as Morgan had said. She walks us over to the display and shows us the rings she and Ivan picked: big, gold and very sparkly. Not my style, but perfect for her. What is exactly my style? I look down at the ring Finn gave me. I guess he did get it right.
A salesman asks us if we need help and Morgan steps in for me. “She’s looking for rings that could be used as an engagement ring for a man.”
The salesman, whose name is Leon, raises an eyebrow in surprise. “Really? I don’t see that a lot. I love the idea, though. There are some great rings over here.” He leads us across the store to a large glass case. “Here are some wedding bands, but can also be used as engagement bands, as well. There aren’t any real set rules to men’s engagement rings, as there seem to be more so for women. A lot of men that I know of that have received an engagement ring; wear the ring on their left hand’s ring finger until the wedding, which they then move it over to their right hand, so the wedding ring can go on the left. Some men wear both rings on the same finger, but that choice seems to be rarer since men’s bands are typically wider, leaving little room for two rings. Other men will just wear their engagement ring on their right hand from before the ceremony until after it’s over. Even yet, some men will use the engagement ring as also their wedding ring. So, one ring or two, left or right hand, it’s whatever your man wants to do and is really a matter of personal preference.”
I nod, feeling overwhelmed. “Okay.”
“Do you know what kind of metal he’d like or design?”
I glance up at Leon. “Something unique, but has a special meaning to it.” I twist my ring around my middle finger and peer into the case.
“She’s dating a huge diva,” Rod whispers loudly. Leon laughs and Morgan smacks the back of his head.
I smile and move down along the case with Rod following behind me. So far, I don’t see anything that stands out, but I can only see so many at once. I’ll definitely have to make another pass through to make sure I didn’t miss any.
Rod suddenly pulls on the back of my purple blouse. “Hadders. Come here.” I step backwards against him. “Look at that one.” I pivot to gaze down at what he’s showing me and my heart starts speeding up.
“Can I see this one?” I eagerly ask Leon. He smiles and steps behind the case. He pulls the ring out from the display and brings it out for us to see. It’s silver with a grooved black metal inlayed around the outside, surrounded with a slightly raised silver edge.
Rod prods me and then leans into my side, pointing at the ring. “In a way, it kind of resembles his dirt bike’s tires.” Brilliant.
“Rod,” I gasp. “You are so right. This is perfect! This is the ring I want.”
Morgan pulls us apart and squeezes her head between us. “Oh my God. That has your man’s name written all over it, Hadley.”
“Speaking of writing. Can I get it engraved on the inside?”
“Absolutely.”
I grin, knowing exactly what I want it to say.
Rod and I walk around the upstairs track at the gym before my class with Shane starts. “I love the Easter gift you also picked out for Wilder. Excellent job, Hadders.”
“Thanks, Rod. You were the one that found the ring, so thank you. The Easter gift was the icing on the cake.”
Rod quickly looks around us and dramatically shivers. “Cake. You should never mention that word in a gym. I was talking about cupcakes once and one lady nearly ripped my fucking head off. Scariest moment of my life. So far…” He drifts off and is quiet. Poor Rod.
I put my arm around his waist and give him a brief hug. “Yeah. I hope Finn likes it. Both of them.”
He reaches around me and pats my back. “He will, Hadders. And if he doesn’t, I’ll take them. I just won’t marry you.”
“What a coincidence. You wouldn’t be the first man that didn’t want to marry me.” I hear Rod sigh. “Leon said the engraving on Finn’s Easter gift will be done by Friday morning, so I can stop by and pick it up before I head out. That works out perfectly.”
“I like what you had put on it: Enjoy your blue balls, bitch.” I laugh, while Rod grins. “I’m so glad you got him a cock ring. And it was even funnier to see you picking the petite size.”
I shove him hard and he almost stumbles into another walker. I snort and laugh. Rod teasingly glares and growls at me.
I look up to the big clock on the wall. “I gotta go see evil Shane.”
He frowns. “Have fun with that. I’m going to go spinning.” I want to laugh, so I hurriedly turn away so he doesn’t see me.
Walking into the training room, I see he’s not around yet. Thank God. I start my stretches and pray that he somehow was tied up with jump ropes and left for dead on the walking track or Rod’s spinning class. I bend to touch my toes and I hear the door open behind me. No such luck. I immediately stand up so I’m not shooting him my ass, although, he can kiss it for all I care.
“You’re on time today, Miss Beckett.”
“It couldn’t be helped,” I mutter.
I avoid looking at him, but I can hear the confusion. “That you’re on time?”
I stretch an arm over the opposite shoulder and stare at the floor. “Yep.”
He walks over to me. “So, you’re not even going to complain?”
I roll my eyes. “About?”
“About Ivan and his girlfriend’s wedding choices?” He can’t even say her name? Does he even know her name?
“Why? What do you mean?”
“I mean, the bridal party selection.”
“What do…?”
Oh, shit.
“Didn’t you hear the good news?”
Oh fuck.
I can’t even tear my eyes from the pale green painted cinder blocks. “It looks like we’re going to be coupled together. I’ll be walking you down the aisle sooner than Wilder ever will.”
And my day just went straight to Hell.
No passing Go.
No collecting a razor for my wrists.
CHAPTER 23
“What?”
Shane sneers, “Morgan didn’t tell you? That’s quite odd, don’t you think? Why wouldn’t she have told you who you’re being paired up with?”
I put my hands on my hips and clench my teeth. “No, she didn’t.” Thanks for telling me, Morgan! Ugh!
He peers up from his board. “What? Are you worried that you may have too much fun with me?”
I rapidly shake my head and just as hurriedly answer, “No. I wasn’t thinking that at all.”
“Is your boyfriend escorting you?”
“Yes.” I hope beyond hope that he does now. Save me, Finn!
“Do you think he’ll care if his girlfriend has to be on the arm of another man most of the day and night?”
I assert, “No. Finn’s not the jealous type.”
“Maybe there’s a reason for that.”
I angrily frown at him. “Why do you say these things to me? You know nothing about my boyfriend, or me, for that matter!”
He smirks. “I just call things as I see them.”
I glare at him. “You don’t have to be such a jerk about it. This sucks! I’d rather be paired with a rabid dog than to have to dance with you.”
He angles his head back to the ceiling and sighs. “Miss Beckett, so would I, but we’re going to have to try to be civil with each other to get through this wedding. For our friends.” He looks down at me and rolls his eyes. “We’re going to have to figure something out since we rub each other the wrong way. Can we at least pretend we like each other until it’s over?”
“I’ve tried. You’ve been such an ass to me. You’re the one who does the ‘rubbing.’ You always have to say things to me that piss me off, especially about my boyfriend.” I point at him and step closer. “He is off-limits to you. You can say anything about me that you want, but not him, or there will be no chance of us even speaking to each other from here on out.” I shake my head and look down to the mat. “I don’t know why you hate me.”
He tosses his clipboard onto his desk. “I don’t hate you. I do apologize if what I told you about Finn Wilder upset you. I won’t enlighten you with any more information I may have about him.” I glare at him again and he runs a hand through his hair. “Somewhere along the way, we got off on the wrong foot. We don’t have to be best pals or even friends, but can we please get through this wedding without killing each other?”
I cross my arms. “I can. Can you?”
“For my friend, I will. Truce? Let’s start over.” He puts his hand out and says, “Hi, I’m Shane Parker. You must be…?”
I roll my eyes. This is stupid. “Hadley Beckett.” I limply shake his hand.
“See, that wasn’t so bad. We just have to make it past this wedding. Besides here at the gym, we’ll be seeing a lot of each other before, during and after the ceremony, so we may as well not want to strangle each other the whole time. Hell, we may even have a laugh or two.” I highly doubt that. I smile sourly at him. He puts his hands on his hips and steps back. “Okay. Three sets of squats. Go.”
I find Morgan in the locker room gathering her things together. Our song is blaring on her iPod. I storm over and shut it off. “Morgan, how could you fail to tell me I’m being paired with the evil Shane?”
She covers her mouth. “Oh, shit, Hadley! Ivan just asked him last night and I forgot to tell you. I’m so sorry!”
“That was a rude awakening. I thought I’d be with Ivan’s brother.”
“You were, but then Ivan wanted Shane to be in the wedding. I couldn’t tell him no since it’s his wedding, too.”
“I understand, it’s just that I was blindsided by that asshole!”
“I’m so sorry, Hadley! Honestly!” She grabs my shoulders. “I’m sorry! I knew you’d be upset, but it’s only for a little while with him. Please?”
I move and put my arm around her. “I sigh. “Yes, Morgan. Shane and I already talked about it. I was horrified at first when he dropped that bomb on me, but we’ve agreed to a truce for the wedding since we’ll have to be together a lot.”
“That’s great! See, things are working out.”
“Hopefully. I’ll hold up my end, but he’s such a dick, I don’t know how long he’ll be able to hold up his end.”
“I’ll have Ivan talk to him, too.”
“No, it’ll be okay. I don’t want either of you worrying about how your bridal party is getting along. We’ll be fine.”
“Hello, hot and sexy. I’ve missed you.”
Finn’s deep voice purrs through my phone. “Hello, gorgeous and stunning. I miss you, too. This sucks being so far from you. I even have my own hotel room with a big bed that feels so cold without you next to me.”
“We’ll be together tomorrow night, though. We’ll be able to snuggle together in your bed.”
“I can’t wait to snuggle with you. I’m going to snuggle you so much and so hard.”
I laugh. “You’re so cute.”
“Shit. Don’t go telling people that.”
“It’ll be our little secret.”
He tersely inhales. “Did you do anything else today?”
I walk over to my bedroom window and look out to the woods behind our building. “Went shopping with Morgan and Rod.”
“Where’d you go?”
“Morgan wanted to pick out her wedding dress. She took us to a place not far from work. You wouldn’t believe how many dresses this place had, and it was supposedly a small boutique. Rod was even looking through them for Morgan. It was fun.”
“How many did Rod try on?”
“Three.”
Finn laughs. “You should’ve taken a picture. Used it to blackmail him.”
“I should’ve.” I don’t want to tell Finn about the dress I tried on. It’ll most likely put him in a very bad mood.
“Did she, uh…did she find a dress?”
I nod even though he can’t see me. “Yes. It’s really pretty. It has a ton of silver sequins that dip in the front. It’s slinky, but stretchy, if that makes sense. It’s very Morgan.”
“Why? You don’t like sequins or slinky?”
“I like sequins, but it was too flashy for my taste. I’d wear shoes like that, but not the sparkly tits.” I laugh and Finn laughs, too. “The slinky was a little too clingy for me.”
“You don’t need sequins, Becks. I love your tits au naturel.” That’s pretty close to what Morgan said his slogan for me was: You have great tits. I put my fist over my mouth to stifle my giggle. “And clingy? I’ll be the one clinging to you.”
“Um, thanks?” I say between laughs. Finn chuckles and I say, “You can cling to me all you want. Especially since the groomsman I’m being paired with is such a dick.”
His humor instantly drops. “A dick? Who?”
“Shane Parker, my personal trainer. He’s the one I was complaining about at the festival.”
“I remember. Shit, Becks. I’m sorry. Why’d Morgan do that to you?”
“It is Ivan’s wedding, too. She can’t deny him his best friend to stand up for him. That would be like me saying no to you to asking Ricky to be your best man.”
“Oh.”
The silence that follows is heavy and awkward, but I still say, “You were his best man in both of his weddings.”
“Yes, I know.”
“I hadn’t met you yet for his first wedding and I see you in suits all the time, but I do have to say, you were extra handsome in that tux.”
“Thanks. I remember how much you liked me in it.”
“Yep. I’m glad the reception hall had that little storage room in the back.”
“So was I. That w
as unexpected from you.”
I smile. “I just couldn’t help myself.”
“You also were drunk, Becks.”
“I was just a little tipsy from the champagne. You still let me have my way with you.”
“Always, baby. I wasn’t going to turn you down.” He just does for everything else.
“I only went back there to makeout with you until you pulled a condom out of your pocket.”
“It’s always better to be safe than sorry.”
“That was a public place. See. We were daring.”
“The door had a lock on it. We were pretty safe from not getting caught.”
I scowl. “That’s what you want? For us to get caught?”
“No. The possibility of getting caught brings an extra thrill to it.”
My stomach feels like lead. “You’ve been in that predicament before then? Getting caught?”
“High school, Becks.”
I sit down on my bed. “Oh.”
“I told you about what I did in high school.”
“Yeah. I forgot.” He had a girl give him closet blow jobs in exchange for him writing her English papers. How academic of him.
Finn is quiet. I wonder if he wishes he still had her hanging around his closets.
He asks, “Didn’t you try not getting caught doing something in high school?”
“No,” I say softly. “I was only with Max and we weren’t in those situations.” Finn doesn’t say anything. I clear my throat and try to steer us back. “So, if I propositioned you again, you’d take me up on my offer?” Not just the sex, Finn.
He answers, “You know I wouldn’t be able to resist you. Why?”
“Nothing. Maybe we can try it again at Morgan’s wedding.”
Finn laughs. “I’m up for it.”
“You better be, baby.” I sigh and lie back against my pillows and stare at my dark blue fingernails. “I still have to find my dress for her wedding. I have no idea what to wear or what to look for. Maybe I should just wear a trash can. It’ll be so much easier.”
Chasing the Wild Sparks Page 36
