Wishing For A Happily Ever After (I Wish Book 2)

by Lisa Helen Gray

  He hasn’t changed much since I last saw him. He still has a baby face, one struggling to grow facial hair. His face is what drew people to him, especially the older women in town. They thought he was the town’s golden boy.

  He dresses a lot smarter now, clad in a three-piece suit instead of the ratty jeans and T-shirts he used to wear to piss his parents off.

  “Well, will you look at that,” Ada mutters, sounding rather amused. I ignore her, continuing to glare at him.

  “You know each other?” Drake asks, an edge to his tone.

  I open my mouth, but whether it’s to excuse myself or to tell him to fuck off, I don’t know. Nor do I get a chance to find out because the jerk pastes on a fake smile right in front of my eyes and answers before I can.

  “Yeah, we were close friends at school.”

  I scoff, taking a step closer to Drake, drawing from his strength and needing his support as I ignore everyone’s eyes on us.

  “Is that right? Marvellous!” Pam is either oblivious to the tension or trying to avoid it.

  Having had enough, I turn to Pam with a fake smile. “No we weren’t. We started dating in high school until we were eighteen. Then one day, he went to go home to change for our date―”

  “Pagan, don’t,” Aaron hisses, his expression changing to the one I’m used to.

  “Oh no, Pagan, continue,” Ada says giddily, clearly enjoying the show.

  Ignoring her too, I glare his way, scoffing at the audacity. “What? Don’t tell them how I waited three hours for you to pick me up, only to have you send me a message to tell me you got some girl pregnant and were leaving to be with her. Don’t tell them how I went straight to your house to find you already gone? Or don’t tell them how you didn’t even say sorry or give me a goodbye!” I yell, all the anger I felt towards him bubbling up to the surface.

  “You tell him, girl,” Ada hoots.

  When my surroundings come back to me, I find everyone staring at me. Well, everyone except Ada. She’s busy glaring holes into Aaron’s head.

  I close my eyes as embarrassment washes over me and take a second to gather myself before turning to Pam. “I’m so sorry, Pam. That was rude of me.” I feel my throat close up. Glancing at Amelia and Jesse, I give them a small smile. “And it was lovely to finally get to meet you both in person. I can’t wait to catch up with you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to… I have to go.” As soon as I’m finished, I turn towards the bar, ignoring Pam’s outstretched hand to comfort me. Once I know they won’t hear me, I mumble, “To get really, really shit-faced.”

  “Pagan, wait,” Aaron calls, but I continue walking away.

  “Leave her the fuck alone,” Drake snaps, hopefully stopping him from following me.

  Walking up to the bar, I wave the bartender over, fighting the angry tears from falling. I never thought I’d have to see him again, let alone speak to him.

  “Shot of tequila and a double vodka, lime and lemonade, please,” I tell the bartender.

  “Hey,” Drake says softly, standing beside me against the bar.

  “Hey,” I whisper, turning to face him. “I’m so sorry for that back there. It was unprofessional of me, and I’ll completely understand if your mum wants me to leave.”

  He turns my whole body to face him, giving me a soft expression. “She’s actually in the middle of Grams handing Aaron his balls. I don’t think she minds. She seemed pretty pissed on your behalf.”

  I glance in that direction just in time to see Ada throw a drink in Aaron’s face. Before he can recover, she kicks him in the balls.

  Ouch!

  Holy crap she can move quick.

  “Is it wrong that I don’t even feel sorry for him or his nuts?” Drake blurts out, his face scrunched in pain like it was him who was just kicked.

  Men!

  I laugh and turn back to the bar, throwing back my shot. My throat burns, but it feels good as I chase it down with a sip of my drink.

  “He never did have big balls. My guess, he’s playing it up to make it look like she hit the mark.”

  He laughs, throwing his head back. I smile at the sight, feeling a little better already as my own laugh threatens to slip free.

  “Do you want me to get Mum to book him into a hotel so he’s not in your face?”

  Shit, I didn’t even think about him staying here. I’d been too shocked about seeing him to think of anything else. But I know I can’t fuck this job up. I just pray they make sure he’s on the other side of the mansion.

  “No,” I sigh. “I’ll stay out of his way. And if he even thinks of pissing me off, I’ll be setting Ada on him.”

  He chuckles but sobers quickly. “Are you okay? What he did was pretty fucked up. That must’ve been hard.”

  I think about it for a second before shrugging. “I’m mostly angry. I never got to be the teenage girl who got to take her anger out on him or make him jealous of what he lost. We were together for five years and he didn’t even say goodbye or apologise to me. I didn’t get any closure, and I spent a lot of time wondering what the hell I did that was so wrong he would cheat on me. It had taken me a long time to realise I never did anything. He was a jerk and we were young, practically kids.”

  “Young or not, it was a really shitty thing to do. But there’s a pro to him being here.”

  He grins mischievously and my eyes scrunch together, wondering what he’s up to.

  “And what’s that?” I ask dryly.

  “Well, you have three weeks to take out as much anger as you want on him. Don’t hold back either. And don’t worry about him, I’ll make sure he stays out of your way.”

  My heart melts, grateful for him being here, for being here for me. “Thank you.”

  It’s his turn to look confused. “For what?”

  “For being kind, for stopping him coming after me.” I shrug.

  “It’s my―”

  “Hey, darl, as soon as you’re up for some sweet revenge on the cheating scumbag, come find me. I have some ideas,” Ada says, startling me from behind.

  When I turn, she disappears just as quickly as she materialised, and my gaze shoots back to Drake. We stare at each other wide-eyed before bursting into laughter.

  Yep, definitely going to be an interesting three weeks, that’s for sure.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  It seems I didn’t need to get shit-faced to forget all about fuckface. I just needed to get merrily drunk and find a fabulous dance partner.

  I’ve successfully avoided Aaron at all costs. Whenever he’s tried to approach, Drake or a member of his family has intervened. They weren’t even sly about it either. I think they wanted him to know what they were doing to warn him off, but like a dumbass, he never got the memo.

  I’m drunk, dancing to Jackie Wilsons “She’s So Fine” with a retired soldier called George. Jessica introduced me to him and his wife, Betty, earlier on in the night.

  He’s a hoot, and I’m having the time of my life dancing with him.

  And my new friend tequila is partly to thank for that.

  “You’ll get me into trouble with the missus,” George laughs as he twirls me around again.

  Laughing and shaking my booty, I look over in the direction of where I last saw Betty. She’s dancing with Drake, also having the time of her life.

  “I think your wife is enjoying the company,” I tease.

  His gaze flickers back over to his wife, a warm look replacing the happy, teasing expression he was wearing.

  “Looks like I’m up. I want to get a dance in before some other yahoo moves in and steals my chance to woo my wife.”

  I smile and let him walk off, about to turn around to see if Drake wants to dance when a firm hand takes mine. I smile wide, ready to tease Drake about his dancing skills, but end up coming face-to-face with Aaron.

  Pulling my hand out of his grip, I glare at him. “Go away, Aaron. I have nothing to say to you,” I hiss quietly.

  There’s no way I’m going to make another
scene, and if he has a decent bone in his body, he won’t either.

  “Dance with me,” he slurs.

  Still can’t hold his liquor, I see.

  Pansy.

  He pulls me against him before I can move away, using strength I didn’t know he was capable of, especially in his condition. He starts swaying us side-to-side, full-on ‘boat rocking at sea in the middle of a storm’ swaying.

  “Let me go!” I hiss, pushing at his chest, but he doesn’t budge.

  “No! Dance with me. I’m sorry, Pagan. I made a mistake. I should never have left.”

  I manage to somehow get loose, so I take the opportunity to step back, ready to leave. “Just leave me alone. Goodbye, Aaron.”

  He takes my hand in a tight grip, spinning me around. With so much alcohol in my system, I topple over, falling into him.

  He groans in pleasure, disgusting me. But when his hands land on my arse, pressing himself against me, I shriek, “Get off!”

  “You need to get over what happened. We were kids, Pagan. It didn’t mean anything back then. But fuck, if I knew you’d turn out this hot…. Come on, Pagan, we were good together.”

  No, we really weren’t, jackass.

  I gape, shocked at what I’m hearing. There’s no way I could have heard him right. No, I must be hallucinating, or the alcohol is affecting me way more than I realised.

  Since I’ve frozen in shock, too stunned to even move, he must see it as me giving him the green light because he keeps groping me. By the time I overcome the madness I just heard him spout, he’s humping my leg.

  And he’s hard.

  I pull back, slapping him as hard as I can. The red handprint forming on his cheek doesn’t give me an ounce of satisfaction, especially when my hand feels like it’s on fire.

  Now stringing him up by the balls… that would be a start.

  “You have got to be kidding me!” My voice rises, echoing around the room as the song changes. He grins, coming in for a kiss.

  Everything moves in slow motion, like a really bad horror movie coming true.

  First I see his approach, then his intent. The next thing I know, my hand is raised, ready to give his other cheek the same treatment.

  Only he’s pulled back in a blink of an eye and I end up slapping Drake instead.

  I cover my mouth in shock as I wait for what he’ll do. He just blinks at me, rubbing his red cheek.

  “Seriously?” he asks dryly.

  Rushing up to him, I wince. “I’m so sorry. He was about to kiss me, and I got angry and just snapped. I didn’t even see you.”

  Ada cackles from beside me and I jump. “You got ’im a gooden.”

  “Not now, Grams,” he mutters before turning on Aaron, who’s struggling to stand up. “And you! Go to bed and sleep it off. When you wake up tomorrow, you can apologise to Pagan for your behaviour. You’re lucky I don’t kick your arse.”

  Wow! He looks serious too.

  And hot.

  “We’re gonna have sex, just you wait and see,” Aaron slurs, swaying.

  I think I just threw up in my mouth.

  Looking at him now, I can’t believe I ever thought I loved him. I shake my head, disgusted. “Yeah, over my dead body, buddy.”

  “We were good together.”

  “So much so that you cheated on me.”

  “Yeah, you cheatin’ scumbag,” Ada pipes in.

  I nod, totally agreeing. “He is a cheating scumbag. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to find my new friend tequila.”

  “Ah, good ol’ tequila. She’s been my BFF for a while.” Ada winks, linking her arm through mine as she pulls me away from Drake, who’s trying to remove Aaron from the room.

  “Shame she sucks arse in the morning,” I grumble.

  She cackles, throwing her head back. “I may just like you even more.”

  We make our way over to the bar, and with a huge grin at the bartender, I order another shot of tequila.

  “I’m sorry but the bar’s closed, ladies.”

  The man’s crazy. No way is the bar closed. I forbid it. Doesn’t he realise how much I need a drink? “But how? Why? We need a drink.”

  “Yeah, we do. Why don’t you just pour us one? We won’t tell the owners,” Ada says, leaning over the bar a little.

  I grin, wondering why I even thought she was a little whacko. “It is her daughter’s house,” I mutter.

  He frowns, looking down the bar. Yes! He’s going to get us a drink. I want to whoop, but then he winces before turning back to us. “I’m sorry, but I’ll lose my job if I serve you. We’re only contracted to serve till twelve. If we serve after that, we’ll be fined.”

  “Who’s gonna know?” I ask him, my voice rising.

  “Who’s gonna know what?” Drake asks, stepping up behind me.

  My smile widens as I turn swiftly to face him. “Drake. You’re here.”

  “I’ve been here all night.” He grins.

  “You know what I mean. Can you do me a huge favour?”

  “And what’s that?”

  “We need a drink, and this arse won’t serve us,” Ada interrupts. She’s staring daggers at the bartender, who’s moved down the bar, cleaning glasses. However, he’s watching her from the corner of his eye warily.

  Clever man.

  “Please?” I bat my eyelashes, swaying slightly on my feet.

  He chuckles deeply, shaking his head. “I think you’ve had enough. Why don’t you go up to bed?”

  I pout, thinking it over when Ada interrupts. “The night is young. I’ve got a stash of sherry in my room.”

  “Grams, Mum’s warned you about hiding the alcohol, and don’t you have to be up early?” he asks, giving her a pointed look.

  “Pish, I don’t get hangovers. I’m too old. I’ll be up before your mother and father.”

  “Maybe so, but Pagan needs her rest,” he argues.

  A yawn escapes me just as I’m about to decline. I snort, giggling. “Okay, okay! I think bed is in order.”

  “I thought you were different,” Ada mutters before storming off.

  “She hates me,” I whisper, shocked that I’m kind of hurt. I feel like we were just having a true bonding moment. She seems like a really good ally to have.

  “She doesn’t. She’s just off to find the next willing victim. Now, are you okay to get to your room on your own, or do you need me to draw you a map?”

  I scoff, waving him off. “I’ll be fine, thank you. I’m only a little bit drunk… thanks to Aaron sobering me up.”

  Chuckling, he steadies me. “I’m sure.”

  “Well goodnight and farewell,” I sing.

  “Goodnight, Pagan,” he rumbles before moving off in the direction Ada went.

  “I don’t need a map,” I mutter to myself before turning in what I hope is the right direction to my bedroom.

  *** *** ***

  “Ha! I showed him,” I whoop quietly when I reach my door.

  It’s open when I go to push it open and I frown. Looking around, I make sure I’m at the right room. The stairs to the gym are just down the hall a little, so I know I am.

  Stepping inside, I immediately sober, anger filling my veins. Passed out in my bed, wearing only his boxers, is Aaron.

  “Get out!” I yell, walking over to him.

  I immediately regret coming near him when the stench of vomit has me gagging.

  Pinching my nose, I move closer, slapping him. It seems to be tonight’s theme. When he doesn’t wake or even stir, I growl in frustration. “Wake up, you arsehole. You’re in my bed.”

  Great, now I sound like the little bear confronting Goldilocks.

  Looking around the room, my eyes land on the bathroom and an idea occurs. I grab the jug resting on the dressing table and move to the sink, filling it with cold water.

  If this doesn’t wake the fucker up, nothing will.

  But when I walk back into room and stand above him, Drake’s earlier words come back to me. ‘You’ve got three weeks
to take out as much anger as you want on him.’

  I want revenge. I deserve it, goddammit.

  And I know just what to do.

  Walking over to my work case, I grab my pencil case and move back over to the bed. An evil grin forms across my face as I stare down at him.

  Up first is his eyebrows, so grabbing the brown Sharpie, I start to colour in some real thick eyebrows, making sure to get them as perfect as possible with shaky hands.

  I giggle when I’m finished, grabbing the red Sharpie next and colouring in his lips, making them look bigger.

  He doesn’t even stir, the only movement his chest rising and falling from his deep snores.

  God, I got lucky when he left me. I’d have smothered him in his sleep by now.

  Not wanting to stop there, I grab a dark blue, colouring in his eyelids, which is harder to do when I’m trying to keep a steady hand.

  Really shouldn’t be doing this drunk, Pagan.

  I’m hoping I don’t accidentally on purpose poke his eye out. Not that I’d care.

  When I’m finished, he looks like a drag queen gone wrong. The thought has me laughing.

  Finishing, I grab the pink, drawing small circles on his cheeks and colouring them in.

  Now to wake the arsehole up. He can walk back to his room and hopefully bump into every living soul looking like this on his way back.

  Grabbing the jug, I trickle the water on his chest, wanting him to see my face when I pour the whole jug in it.

  And… nothing!

  Not even a twitch.

  Growing frustrated, I pour it on his boxers, growing annoyed by the second when he doesn’t wake up. No way am I going to sleep in the same room as him, and I’m sure as hell not going to find my way through this maze of a house just to ask for another bed.

  Leaving him in bed to wake up thinking he pissed himself, I storm out of the room. I’m ready to knock on Alison’s door, then pause with my fist raised in the air. With the way she felt earlier, before the party started, I don’t want to interrupt her. I’d left her waiting for food before rushing into my room to get ready. She looked tired and worn out.

  I notice the stairs to the gym and make my way towards them. Looking down, I see a faint glow of a light reflecting off the walls. The stairs spiral as I make my way down them and when I come to the bottom, I gasp.