“That's very sweet. But if we're being honest, I don't. I hope that someday, someone makes Wulf feel as awful as he made me feel.”
“IF THAT'S TRUE, THEN YOU'RE GOING ABOUT THIS ALL WRONG.”
Katya gasped so hard, she almost fell off her stool. That wasn't Vieve speaking. Someone was in the living room, yelling to be heard from across the spacious apartment. A half wall separated that room from the kitchen, blocking the stranger from view. Katya got off her stool and leaned around the black marble structure.
She could see a pair of shoes propped up on the arm rest of a white loveseat. Leaning a little farther, she saw that the shoes led to a pair of legs belonging to a woman. A short girl, she fit fairly comfortably on the small couch. Her long dirty blonde hair was hanging over the edge of the cushion, almost brushing the floor. Her face wasn't visible, though. It was blocked by a ridiculously large smart phone, which she held up and continued playing with despite the fact that another person was approaching her.
“Um, I'm sorry … do I know you?” Katya asked. The other girl snorted.
“Depends on how you define know. Shit,” she hissed, her thumb jamming down against the screen. “Lost again.” She sat upright and Katya gasped. It was Brighton Stone, the youngest Stone sibling.
If Vieve and Wulf were cut from the same cloth, then Brie was from an entirely different bolt. She hadn't gotten any of the height or strong bone structure that ran through the Stone line. Brie took after her mother – dark blonde, on the short side, and curvy. She finally stood up and glanced at Katya with a pair of large, closed-off brown eyes. Then she raked a hand through her thick hair and strode into the kitchen.
“Brie,” Katya finally managed, turning to follow her. “I'm sorry, I didn't even know you were here. I can't believe how long it's been, I barely recognized you.”
“Yeah, long time, I know,” the younger woman sighed as she rooted around in the fridge.
“Wulf didn't mention that you were here, too.”
“Probably because he doesn't know.”
“Uh …,” Katya wasn't sure how to respond to that.
“I'm taking some time off school. Wulfy won't be happy when he hears that, he'll spout off to mom, she won't leave me alone till I go back, blah blah blah. I'm just over it, so I'm hiding out here,” Brie explained as she popped the cap off a beer. Katya glanced at Vieve, who looked slightly embarrassed but still maintained a calm smile.
“Hiding out in his home? And aren't you, like, eighteen?” Katya double checked. Brie raised an eyebrow, then necked half the beer before responding.
“I'm nineteen, and do you see Wulf around this place? He won't come back as long as Vieve is here. I'm safer here than at home.”
Katya wanted to keep asking questions, then stopped herself. She didn't know Brighton Stone, at least not anymore. And the girl seemed to have a wall ten feet thick out in front of her. Don't fuck with me rolled off her in waves, and Katya decided to heed that warning. She had enough problems of her own, she didn't need to get involved with an attitudey teenager.
“So what am I going all wrong about?” she went back to Brie's comment.
“This. You're mad at Wulf, right?” Brie checked.
“Uh, yes.”
“And you want him to leave you alone, but you also want him to know you're pissed off at him.”
“Um … sure?”
“Then coming here and whining to his favorite sister isn't going to do any of that,” Brie finished. Vieve sighed.
“Brighton, I'm not -”
“You have to get his attention. Do some crazy shit. Then make him regret the day he ever met you,” Brie talked right over her sister.
“You do know we're talking about your brother, right?” Katya checked. Brie shrugged.
“A man's a man. Not like he acts like a brother, anyway,” she replied, then dragged her feet as she wandered back into the living room, disappearing from sight.
“Brighton,” Vieve sighed, shaking her head. Then she fixed her smile back into place and looked at Katya. “She has some issues. With men. Our father left when she was so young, and then Wulf hasn't been around much, and then there was a boyfriend in high school.”
“At least I'm not a widow at twenty-one!” Brie yelled from the other room.
Jesus. Katya had always assumed Wulf was the odd one in his family. Apparently, she'd been way off base. She got the feeling she could punch Vieve in the face, and the girl would smile and say thank you. And Brie seemed like “Bitch” was her middle name.
They could probably get an amazing discount for some family therapy.
Before things could get more awkward than they already were, Katya grabbed her umbrella and started backing towards the exit.
“I've intruded long enough,” she said, then held up her hand when Vieve went to argue. “I sort of came here on a whim. Thanks so much for being honest with me. It was great seeing you – both of you – again. We'll have to have lunch sometime!”
She kept rushing for the door, exchanging phone numbers with Vieve and shouting goodbye to Brie – who didn't respond. When she was safely in the elevator, Katya slumped against the wall and pressed her hand against her head.
I think I'm more confused now than when I came here. Why did I have to be neighbors with the Stones!?
8
From four in the morning on Saturday, Katya was running at top speed.
She left her dress hanging on the back of her bedroom door, and had her makeup prepped and spread out on her bed.
She took a taxi to work, put all the layers of the cake together, then put on the finishing touches. Then added some more accessories to it. Loaded it into the van for delivery, then rode in the back with it to ensure its safety, and to add a couple new elements she thought of at the last minute.
While the catering staff was moving the cake onto a trolley, they knocked the top layer askew. Katya's first instinct was to throw up, and then to kill everyone in the room. Then she remembered that she was a professional and she'd been through much worse, so she got out her baker's emergency kit and fixed the problem. By the time she had everything back in order and the cake was in place in the ballroom, she had twenty minutes before the wedding party was scheduled to arrive.
Cutting it close.
She felt a little better when she got to the apartment and found out Tori was running late, too. The other girl was running around in her underwear, attempting to curl her hair and brush her teeth at the same time.
Katya did her makeup, helped Tori do hers, and then went to put on her dress, only to discover it had somehow acquired a huge stain on it. She glared down the hall in her roommate's direction – the stain was suspiciously the same shade as Tori's favorite lipstick.
The bride had a strict dress code for the reception – all white. Absolutely everyone was supposed to be wearing as much white as possible, with black pants and skirts being acceptable. Katya's closet wasn't exactly overflowing with white dresses. She'd bought her outfit specifically for the event. She yanked her hangers around and finally found one piece of mostly white clothing.
She frowned as she pulled out the dress. It was the one she'd worn on her second date with Wulf. To the small bar, when the sun had set everything on fire and they'd slept together for the first time.
She shook her head back and forth and yanked the dress off its hanger. She didn't have time for memory lane, or the massive cry fest that was lurking behind her eyes. She put on the appropriate underwear, slid into the dress, grabbed Tori, and was running to the elevator with high hopes of making it to the reception in time to see the cake cut.
“Oh. My. God.”
Katya was breathing hard, one hand pressed against her side. They'd literally ran down the block from their taxi. She wasn't as in shape as she liked to think, and while they stood at the entrance to the ballroom, she bent over and waited to catch her breath.
“What?” she asked, glancing at Tori. The other girl was staring across the room
.
“You made that!? Like you. Little ol' you, made that … that … that piece of art!?”
Katya followed her stare and took in the huge cake. Sometimes, Katya forgot what she did for a living, even as she was doing it. It just became work. Like a puzzle. Something to figure out and create, like a Rubik's cube she built as she solved it. She knew she did good work, she could be objective enough for that, but art? All she saw when she looked at it was the massive amount of hours and stress it required. Hearing from someone else that it looked good, it meant a lot.
“Yeah, it turned out pretty okay,” Katya sighed, resting her hands on her hips.
“Just okay!? Katya, it's phenomenal. Sometimes I forget how amazing you are. C'mon, let's go get shitty on expensive champagne and celebrate your frickin' awesome talent,” Tori laughed, then dragged her to the bar. They had just received their glasses when Katya felt an arm wrap around her shoulders.
“You're here!”
Lauren, the newly-wedded bride, hugged Katya to her side. She looked stunning in her mermaid style gown and veil.
“Yes, finally,” Katya laughed. “There were some complications, but we got here a minute ago.”
“I hope this beast didn't cause you any problems. God, it turned out great. Thank you so much,” Lauren breathed, looking over the cake again.
“No, thank you for trusting me with your special day. Everything looks beautiful, Lauren, and especially you.”
“Oh, stop. I know, right? It turned out amazing. And you two look simply beautiful, I can't wait for ...” Lauren's voice trailed off, then she burst out laughing. Katya and Tori glanced at each other.
“For … ?” Tori questioned.
“It's gonna be a fun night, I just can't wait till the drinks really start flowing. Just remember – no throwing this cake,” Lauren teased Katya. “C'mon, let's go do the chicken dance.”
Before anyone could say anything else, they were all forced onto the dance floor. Thank god the chicken dance wasn't actually playing, but Katya did get to witness Lauren and her husband reenacting the dance sequence from House Party.
After an hour or so of rocking out, the stress of the morning and afternoon drifted away. She did a shaky foxtrot with the bride's father, traded recipes with the groom's mother, and had to control the wandering hands of the best man. He eventually turned his attention to Tori, who loved playing games with drunk guys.
Katya laughed to herself as she watched them from across the room. Then she let her eyes wander around, taking in all the couples. A slow song was playing, and the candle light bouncing off all the white clothing and table toppings gave everything an ethereal glow. Hallmark couldn't have painted a more romantic picture.
Yet surprisingly, she didn't feel bad about standing there alone. In the past, when she'd gone to weddings or parties alone, she'd always felt a little conspicuous. A lady always had a handsome gentleman at her arm – that's how she'd been raised. But now she felt kinda good about being alone. Strong. She'd been having a great time, no male company needed. Who needed a man, anyway?
Of course, Katya should've known better. Whenever she was finally feeling better about her whole situation, the universe had a way of slapping her back into line.
“Care to dance, milady?”
She turned her head at the same time Liam stepped into her view. She gaped at him for a moment, then glanced around, looking for the hidden camera prank show. Then she looked back at him.
“What are you doing here? You crashed a wedding? That's low, even for you,” she hissed. She was mortified. Lauren wasn't only a friend, she was a client. One that Katya had embarrassed herself enough in front of. She couldn't have Liam acting foolish at this wedding.
“Who said anything about crashing? I'm here under totally legit pretenses,” he assured her.
“Oh, really. Like what kind of pretenses?”
“The legit kind.”
“Liam.”
“The caterers,” he sighed, gesturing over his shoulder to the elaborate set up on the other side of the room. “One of the owners used to work with me. I was able to wrangle an invitation through him. A real invitation, before you ask.”
“How did you even find out what wedding I was talking about? There's like four others, at least, going on this weekend,” she demanded.
“Tori was babbling about the fancy wedding she was coming to, I asked some questions. So where's the brunette?” he asked, looking over her head.
“Excuse me?”
“Your date, that guy, Fence or whatever his name is.”
“Oh my god,” Katya groaned. “His name is Gate, and he's not my date.”
“But you said -”
“I said I was coming with a sexy brunette,” Katya reminded him, all while pointing at Tori. The other girl was on the dance floor a couple yards away from them, laughing at her drunk partner.
“Ooohhh, I get it now. Funny. She is sexy,” he agreed, and Katya watched as his eyes passed over her roommate. Tori was wearing a long, flowing white maxi skirt matched with a white tube top, both of which showed off her assets to perfection.
“Well. This has been super fun, but I have to go guzzle champagne directly from the ice fountain,” Katya said, moving to walk around him. She didn't make it far. He grabbed her wrist and dragged her onto the floor.
“C'mon, just one dance. We never danced, did we? I'm a great dancer.”
“Liam, I don't want to dance with you. I don't even want to -”
He didn't give her an option. It was funny, but it was easy to forget he was so much bigger and stronger than her. Before she knew it, they were in the middle of the crowd and he was wrapping his arms around her waist, trying to pull her close.
“Don't make a scene, angel cake. Just go with the flow,” he suggested. She growled and pulled back, grabbing one of his hands and taking it up in a proper dance hold.
“Don't call me that. I thought I made my feelings clear, Liam. I don't want to play games with you,” she told him.
“I'm not playing games,” he said. “I want to see you, Katya, but you won't see me. I'm willing to do whatever it takes. If you worked at a bank, I'd become a bank robber. If you worked at a McDonald's, I'd get incredibly fat. So if I have to steal an invitation to some swanky uptown wedding, then so be it.”
“You stole the invitation!?”
“Um ...”
Katya couldn't help it. She actually laughed. It was just so … Liam. And when he was standing in front of her, handsome in a white dress suit and white satin tie, smiling that goofy grin, it was actually hard to hold onto her anger. She still hurt over what he'd done to her, and she didn't think she could ever trust him again, but … Tori's and Brie's words were floating through her brain.
Just do whatever you want. Whatever feels good.
“You're such … such a dick,” she finally sighed, smiling up at him.
“Yeah. But I live to see you smile, so I have some redeeming qualities,” he pointed out.
“I wouldn't go that far. If you're here and Tori's here, who's running the club?” she asked.
“Hey! The club runs just fine without Tori there.”
“Really? She told me about the trash can fire.”
“Simple accident, could've happened to anyone.”
“And the missing deposit.”
“I would've found it on my own eventually.”
“And the underage sting operation.”
Liam paused for a while, staring up like he was thinking hard.
“Jesus, you're right. How did I run that place without her?” he asked. Katya smiled big.
“I told you to hire her, so you're welcome,” she told him. He smiled back.
“It's good to see you happy, angel - … uh, Katya. Thanks for giving me this chance,” he said in a moment of sincerity. Her smile faltered a little and she took a deep breath.
“Don't make me regret it,” she replied. He nodded.
“I'll try my hardest.”
The song ended after that, and when Liam went to lead her back to the tables, they bumped into the bride.
“Hello, hello,” Lauren said, out of breath. “Who are you? I'd remember someone this cute being on my guest list.”
Katya snorted and Liam laughed.
“Lauren, this is … my neighbor, Liam Edenhoff,” she introduced them. “I hope you don't mind, he … I ...”
“Mind! No, no, no. I'm excited to meet any neighbor of Katya's,” Lauren laughed, shaking Liam's hand.
“Thanks,” he laughed back.
“Good to meet you, Liam. Please, eat and drink a lot – I hate to waste money on this kind of crap. I'm so glad you both came. I'm just,” the peppy blonde seemed at a loss for a moment. “I'm so excited you're here. Tonight is going to be so fun!”
Before they could question any of that, Lauren was whisked away by some other eager guests. Katya stared after her for a minute, then felt Liam's hand on the small of her back, guiding her off the dance floor.
“She's … interesting,” he finally commented. Katya laughed, then stumbled against him as a crowd of people surged onto the dance floor. Sir Mix-a-Lot was blasting from the speakers, so she completely understood their enthusiasm.
“Yeah. I mean, she's always energetic, but she's like doubly so today.”
“Sounds like a blast. So, what are you doing after this?”
He said it so off the cuff, Katya almost responded. It was what they did, after all. She'd explain how she had to go home and wash her hair and prep her outfit for the next day and balance her checkbook. He'd tell her she was ridiculous and inform her they'd be drinking margaritas and eating cookie dough. She'd argue. He wouldn't listen. And by one in the morning, they'd be wrist deep in chocolate chips, drinking sour mix and tequila straight from a pitcher.
But she caught herself, because that wasn't what they did – not anymore. Because he had ruined everything. It all came crashing back and Katya sighed, rubbing her hand across her forehead.
“I don't know, Liam, but I can guarantee it won't be anything with you. Baby steps,” she reminded him. He pressed his lips together hard, then nodded.
The Neighborhood (Twin Estates #2) Page 6
