Destructive Luxe_A Luxe Novel Book 2

by H. Q. Frost

  "Lily, I love you," he breathed, pushing the box to the side and pulling her up his legs.

  He couldn't wait to be inside her to make her squirt, make her sing his name, make her beg, and his recently discovered love, coming on the tattoo across her stomach.

  "I just don't understand why it's a secret!" Aurora snapped at Ashley while they sat in Ashley's hotel room. "How can he have a fiancée and keep it from me? Does his father know?"

  Ashley didn't want to offer any information. She didn't know what he told their mother or wanted to tell her. "I don't know, Mom," she kept answering.

  "One of you knows something." She pointed at Ashley then Caesar.

  "I know she's hot," Caesar commented and Ashley chuckled.

  "Well, she's left him." Aurora folded her arms in a fit throwing stance because she couldn't get answers.

  "What?" Ashley blurted, grabbing her phone. "How do you know?"

  "I had lunch with him, he told me. I'm sure you two shits don't know about their agreement." Aurora wanted to think she knew at least one thing they didn't.

  "We know," Caesar muttered and looked back down at his book.

  "No answer," Ashley muttered.

  "Who else is here? Heidi? Lily? Did he invite his father?"

  "I don't know, Mom!" Ashley snapped, walking into the bathroom to get away from her.

  "You don't know," Aurora grumbled. "What do you two know? I'm calling Lilith. Maybe she knows something!" Aurora stormed from the hotel room with her cellphone in hand.

  Lilith let out an annoyed groan when she heard her phone ring for the third time. "There might be a problem, baby." She stopped Ian's kisses and he huffed. Rolling over, she grabbed her phone then jerked to look at him with wide, scared eyes. "It's your mom," she whispered.

  "Don't answer it." He tried to pull her nipple into his mouth again.

  "Ian, I have to answer. Your mom never calls me."

  "She probably found out it's you."

  "What's me?"

  "I'm marrying you."

  "You told your mother?"

  "No, I didn't tell her but I did invite her to my wedding."

  "Ian!" she gasped, putting her hand to her mouth; the ringing stopped.

  "Lily, I don't care who knows."

  "But I do. You know how important it is to me for this not to travel around work."

  "It won't, we'll keep pretending but if my mother ever found out I got married and she wasn't there she'd probably drop dead."

  "Who else have you told?"

  "None of our friends. No one at work. A few of my family members. Baby, please, I don't want to talk about this now." He was losing his erection and quickly bent to her nipple.

  Her phone rang again: Ashley. Ian groaned, moving away from her.

  "Hi, beautiful."

  "You left him for Justin?"

  "Uh." Lilith looked at Ian, wondering what rumor mill that started from.

  "My mom said you left him."

  "Your mom!" Lilith groaned.

  "Well she doesn't know it's you, but Ian told her you fell in love with another man."

  "Yeah." Lilith got out of the bed and Ian huffed, pulling the pillow over his face to let out an angry growl. "But I'm not leaving Ian."

  "You're going to marry him?"

  "Yes, tomorrow." Lilith grinned.

  "Are you happy about that?"

  Lilith giggled. "Yes."

  "Surprise," Ashley choked out and began to laugh.

  "You all are ridiculous. I can't believe you guys kept this from me."

  "Lilith, don't make a huge mistake. This will last forever whether you stay with him or not. My mom's never been able to get rid of my dad."

  "I know." Lilith walked from the bathroom and watched Ian rub his eyes tiredly. "I have to go," she whispered.

  "I love you, Lilith. I'll see you the morning of your wedding day," Ashley said with excitement.

  Lilith giggled and hung up before pouncing on Ian.

  In the morning they were woken by frantic knocking and Ian jumped from the bed, yanking shorts on. He pulled the door open to Ashley and Caesar who barged in with a bottle of champagne and glasses.

  "Happy fucking wedding day!" Ashley yelled, going into the bedroom where Lilith lay naked in the bed laughing.

  "Fuck yes," Caesar said realizing she was naked, but Ian pulled him from the bedroom and closed the door, leaving her and Ashley.

  "You excited?" Ashley sat on the bed.

  "No! I'm nervous. How am I supposed to get married when I didn't plan anything for this wedding? What if the dress doesn't fit?"

  "It does. I know all your measurements."

  "What am I supposed to say? Like for vows."

  "No vows."

  "What if I stutter saying 'I do' or fall!" Lilith groaned, throwing her head back down to the pillow.

  "None of that will happen, none of this was meant to be planned. The only thing he wanted was for you to wear the dress of your dreams. He loves you, Lilith. He shows it stupidly but he really does. You're supposed to be marrying the love of your life, nothing else matters. If you fall you fall. If you stutter no one gives a fuck. This is supposed to be all about you two and Ian made that very clear in the wedding invitations that it was a special privilege to be invited to this event because originally there was only four people invited."

  "There's wedding invitations?" Lilith's worried face made Ashley chuckle.

  "Sort of. Just get the fuck out of bed so we can do your hair and makeup and pour you into that fuckin' dress. Can you do that, please? I'm tryna watch my best friend marry my asshole brother." Ashley spotted the book and grabbed it. "What's this?" She opened it, pleasantly surprised.

  "My apology slash wedding gift."

  Ashley glanced at her meek smile then back at the book. "Who took these?"

  "I went to this elegant lingerie store yesterday and the woman there did all this in three hours."

  "You had this made in a day?" Ashley inspected the paper quality.

  "Cost me for that expedited service, but I like it. It served its purpose."

  "Good photographs, what kind of camera?"

  "Ashley!" Lilith laughed, sitting up. "I need to pee." She got out of the bed stark naked and Ashley smirked.

  "You two are so fucked up, like a high school couple."

  "That's how you know it's good, right?" Lilith grinned, pulling on Ian's t-shirt before walking into the bathroom. "What do you think your mom's going to say?"

  "Well as of right now that stupid ass needs to tell her the wedding's not off. She still thinks it's off."

  "Oh god." Lilith rolled her eyes brushing her teeth. "Ian!" she called out. He walked into the room and looked at Ashley, who pointed to the bathroom. "You told your mother we're not getting married and she doesn't know that we actually are?" The contempt on her face glared at him in the mirror and he almost laughed.

  "I'll call her now." His arms wrapped around her and he buried his face in the nape of her neck, inhaling deeply. "I have to go."

  "Go where?"

  "Get ready to marry the woman I've waited a long time for. Maybe you'll meet her one day."

  "Maybe I'll kill her if it's not me."

  He laughed and kissed her toothpaste covered lips.

  "I love you," he whispered after licking the minty paste from his mouth.

  "I love you too, baby." She spit. "Ian." She grabbed his wrist and stared up at him with such reverence. She hoped he could see how happy she was. "Thank you for the dress."

  "Can't wait to see it on, Lily." He smiled and kissed her hand. "I'll see you soon, beautiful. Don't panic about anything. Ashley knows everything there is to know."

  Lilith stepped into the dress and Ashley pulled it up, buttoning the fifteen buttons up the butt of the low back.

  "Fuck, this looks so much better than on that mannequin." Ashley admired her.

  "Shoes!" Lilith blurted.

  "I have shoes. I have everything." Ashley smirked with a sha
ke of her head that Lilith thought she didn't have her taken care of.

  "I have an insane mix of emotions right now, they're all fueled by fear at the moment though."

  "Fear of what?" Ashley crossed the room, grabbing a bag.

  "I'm not sure. Not being prepared I guess." The nervousness on Lilith's face stared back at her in the mirror, only further dropping any semblance of calm.

  "Nothing to prepare for." She shrugged and dropped to her knees so Lilith could step into the shoes. "Put your lipstick on. I'm going to dress. You're getting married in forty minutes."

  Lilith's eyebrows went high and she began to shake.

  Beauty lies in eyes of LILITH’s dreams

  I wish my dad were here. I think this would be an amazing moment for him, a moment he probably thought would never come. That doesn't offend me, it's the truth. Not until I moved to Chicago did I start to alter my life.

  I'm getting married today. To Ian.

  Staring in the mirror, I look like something out of a magazine and this helps me feel the confidence I need for an event like this. Ashley's somehow hid the blotchy nervous red marks on my face and neck. She managed to give me a classic thirties finger wave hairstyle in an hour, then applied my makeup in less than fifteen minutes.

  "Lilith!" Ashley yells like I'm taking too long. I walk out of the bathroom and she has a box. "I made this for you. You don't have to wear it if you don't want. I won't be offended because I understand this may not be what you wanted."

  I take the box she's holding and open it to a birdcage veil that looks like it was made for the dress. I guess it was made for the dress. Ashley made it. My stomach is in knots, my whole body is trembling.

  "You can't cry!" she sternly says and I start to laugh. "You don't have to wear it."

  "I want to wear it," I say in a shaky voice. I meant to sound more enthusiastic, but I'm so nervous right now.

  She carefully pins it into my immaculate hair that she worked like a god.

  "He got you these." She pushes earrings into my hand.

  "I can't handle all this." I start to laugh anxiously, trying to ease my nerves.

  "Take this. It'll help, just make sure you eat right away."

  "Great, I'll be stumbling high out of my mind to marry Ian." I laugh, but take the pill anyway.

  "We have to go," she says and my phone starts to ring. "It's probably him thinkin' you stood him up." She laughs.

  "Are we late?" I ask worriedly while crossing the room to my phone.

  The number's not saved in my phone anymore but I know it's Justin's phone number. The flip of my stomach comes with a sharp inhale of breath and I place my hand to my abdomen as if that'll settle the churning.

  "Who is it? Come on." Ashley's hurrying me and I leave the ringing phone before following her out the door.

  We're rushing to the elevator and people are stopping to stare, admire, and smile nicely.

  "Soooo." Ashley grins and pulls a flask from the bag on her shoulder.

  "You look amazing." I've finally noticed her sleek black dress. This is the first I've seen her in one solid color, and a dark color at that. It looks good. I love my vibrant, bright Ashley, but this looks so great.

  "Thank you. Drink this." She shoves the flask at me and the smell hits my nose: Goldschläger. I look at her wondering why she would be so cruel. "Drink, Lilith," she says, cuing me in to the fact she doesn't realize what she's done.

  The cool metal rests between my lips and as I tilt my head back, I close my eyes and I flash to the bar, sitting with Justin. I should have answered the phone. And say what? I'm getting married, got to go? He has Rayne Bronson now anyway. Lucky asshole, she is.

  My nerves have calmed a little thanks to the pill and the alcohol but I'm too worried about getting all this right to feel high or drunk.

  The only thing that makes IAN want to live at all

  I haven't seen her for going on seven hours; I need to see her. I start to think this whole wedding idea was stupid. I should have hired the priest to marry us from the hotel bed.

  I need to see her.

  Everyone I've invited has come. Why wouldn't they? It's a free trip to Paris. I'm surprised to see Rich actually managed to buy himself an expensive suit. He kept trying to bring Tash and I don't know how many times I told the kid work can't know. Joanna seemed to say it before I even had to warn her.

  Peachey's here and she's crying. Luckily I haven't had to talk to any of these people. I got to enter through a door at the front of the banquet room and immediately took my place. My mother hasn't looked at me once; she's staring at the door. I really find it hard to believe she doesn't realize it's Lily. I think all this is so overwhelming it hasn't registered Lily's the only person not around that I would have around.

  My dad's here, without his girlfriend like I requested because I don't want this getting back to Tash, who is her niece.

  My grandparents are here and I honestly didn't think my grandpa would get on a plane; he's eighty-five. I've always found it funny that they're my dad's parents but they only talk to my mom; they're sitting by her right now.

  Caesar is at my side and I have to say at this very moment he is the truest male friend I've had in life. We've grown apart over the years but I know I can always count on him. I did today and he was there with me every step and now he's planted next to me.

  The rest of my family that is here is from my mom's side. It was hard to pick who I'd invite because I don't want the backlash but I've chosen the most important to my life and I have, including my parents, ten people from my family here. Lily's aunt, uncle, Rich, Joanna, Peachey's mother, and her douche step brother was invited but he's not here, which is for the best. The last two guests were not invited by me. Peachey got my permission first and I didn't know how to say no. I tried to tell her I didn't think Lily would appreciate it, but Peachey insisted it was important they were invited. I didn't pay for their ticket and I didn't think they'd come, but Lily's real mother's parents are here.

  It amazes me Lily resembles this woman. I was shocked when I first saw the picture of her mom, and not only does Lily look like her mom, but all three females in their family are almost spitting images of each other. I haven't met the grandparents yet and I'm afraid what Lily's going to do when she sees them. I'll take her to a coatroom and fuck her if needed to keep her calm.

  I'm getting antsy and I think it's showing. The priest puts his hand on my shoulder and I smile at him. This is a man my father knows, which is laughable. He's probably not even a catholic priest. He probably works for the mob or something. He's as French as they come and he will be speaking in French the entire ceremony. I figured this way it'll be more entertaining to listen to, less serious, less stressful. Lily and I don't have to do much except say a few words to each other and then say I do. I know enough French where I'll know when that part comes. I can't speak any French, but I'll understand when he asks me if I take my beautiful bride to be mine for life.

  I feel a little guilty because I didn't think about how embarrassing or uncomfortable it's going to be for Lily to walk down the aisle to our song, Sins.

  My hand goes to the bridge of my nose and I squeeze. I need Lily here, I'm finding this hard to take. Caesar pats my back, making a loud slapping sound that echoes through the room. The tall gold doors clank and boom as they're being pushed open and I see Ashley…I think it's Ashley. It looks like Ashley but this girl is dressed in a black dress with black heels and there's not a splash of color anywhere. I haven't seen my sister not an eccentric mess since we were kids. She actually, for once, isn't trying to stand out and be the center of attention.

  I don't see Lily; behind Ashley are two men who work for the hotel, they're standing side by side and I'm assuming Lily's behind them. She better be. I'll fucking go into cardiac arrest if she ditched.

  Ashley begins to walk down the aisle toward me and I can't help but smile. She has a smile on her face and it's not her usual shit-eating grin she wears so well. The mus
ic has started and when Ashley gets to the center of the aisle, the two men mechanically part and there she is. Like a ray of light through the clouds, she's beaming into this room and I've stopped breathing. I don't know how I got her here but there she is and she's coming for me.

  My father has hired the most expensive photographer in Paris, yet another person he knows, so the beautiful sight of my soon to be wife will be captured with the best images money can buy. The soft sounds of Sins plays and the loud clicks of two cameras are snapping Lily's every step. I exhale when she makes it to the blue carpet and she's almost to me. She's not walking too fast or too slow. She's working a runway like she was born to do. I can see her wide eyes from here through her veil. They're locked on me and I don't want her to look away.

  I let out a small chuckle when Lily reaches my mother and my mother finally realizes who my bride is and she shows it with a gasp and a burst of tears.

  I've never seen my mom cry.

  The soul LILITH never sold

  I don't want to look anywhere but Ian. I'm scared out of my wits right now and trembling. The simple lily bouquet that's shaking in my hands is proof of that.

  He's wearing my favorite color on him, gray, and when I realize what tie he's wearing I let out a quiet giggle. He's wearing the tie that he left in my room the first night we spent together. The tie I had to lie to Sloan and tell him was his. I don't even know how Ian got the tie back. The only way I can think of is when he was helping me move out of Sloan's.

  This couldn't be more perfect even though I have no idea who's here and I don't want to look. I just want to focus on Ian and only Ian. I've managed to stay semi calm and don't want to lose it now that I'm in front of these people. Ashley takes my sweet bouquet and I grab Ian's hands, needing physical contact and to stay focused on him. The fact he's locked on me like I'm the only person in this room is helping. But sobs from our small audience stand out, then I recognize Peachey's.

  My hands start to tremble harder and Ian lifts them to his lips and kisses my fingers with a smile. It's a bit of a deviant smile. Not a smile like 'you've fallen for my trap' but a smile like 'I want to fuck you right here, right now'.