All She Wanted (2) by Nicole Deese Read Free Book Online Page A

wanted to do a little
investigation work, but she had just taken all the fun out of that. If she
didn’t care what I might find, then there was probably not much to find.
    I plugged my contact info into her
phone and then texted myself so that I could save her info in mine. The purple,
glittered phone buzzed in my hand then. I looked down as a calendar reminder
flashed on the screen.
    April 7 th - 6pm
Wedding Countdown…21 days!
Call Tux Shop- confirm fitting time.
    What?
    Today is
April 7 th —but what is this about?
    A twenty-one day countdown?
    I closed the reminder and went into her
calendar, ignoring any feeling of wrong-doing. There, in the square for April
28 th were the words that deflated my airway like a popped-balloon.

 
    My Wedding Day!!!

 
    The doorbell rang.

Charlie
    I reached the front door as Briggs came
inside the house, sliding the back door closed with a bang. He flew past me at
a pace that could have won a gold medal, and handed me my phone. There was
nothing gentle about the hand-off. I looked at him, but he wouldn’t make eye
contact with me. Instead, he opened the door, which consequently pushed me
behind it.
    “Hey bro!” Kai said as he walked
inside.
    “Hey,” Briggs replied.
    I peeked out from my place in the
corner as a very pretty women walked in after Kai. I assumed it was his fiancé,
Tori. She looked at me and smiled, reaching her hand out.  
    “Hi, you must be Charlie—I’m Tori. It’s
nice to meet you,” she said sweetly.
    “You too,” I replied. I was still trapped
behind Briggs, who seemed to be in some sort of trance-like state. He hadn’t
budged an inch, which made my handshake with Tori quite awkward.
    “Briggs? Earth to Briggs?” Tori said,
hitting his shoulder while Kai carried the pizzas into the kitchen.
    Briggs jerked a bit, eyes finally
focusing on her before pulling her in for a hug.
    “Sorry, I was just thinking about
something,” he said quietly.
    She furrowed her brows, “Well, don’t
hurt yourself. Maybe you need to do that in smaller doses.”
    Yep, I
like her already.
    Once in the kitchen, I took out the plates
and napkins. Tori and I chatted about her job as a trauma nurse, and how long she
and Kai had been together. Her wedding was only five weeks away.
    Wow…weird
to think that I would have already been married.
    The thought surprised me. It had only
been recently that I had started thinking in terms of a wedding time-line again.
The date had only been set for two weeks before Alex had left me. There were no
invitations to recall, no caterers to cancel, and no photographers to get
deposits back from. The only proof that I had even held the title of fiancé , was the
ring in my sock drawer, and a digital date on my iPhone calendar. Oh, and those
stupid calendar reminders that Sasha had put on my phone from some unknown
wedding website.
    Those started a week ago—exactly thirty
days out.

 
    Briggs
    I knew I was scowling, but I couldn’t
help it.
    How can
she be so heartless? A secret wedding while her parents are away in Greece?
    Not
while I’m her manny.
    That last thought might have been a bit
too much—but still.
    This was not going to happen—not on my
watch.
    There she was, chatting away with Tori
as if everything in the world was hunky-dory. As if she was a perfect little
angel. Well, she may have been an angel—but not the heavenly kind. I was
certain her little red horns probably came out to play as soon as the clock
struck midnight.
    Wow…she
even took her ring off! I knew she was a con.
    I could
smell it on her.
    “Dude…what is the issue, here?” Kai asked
me quietly.
    “I’m just a little distracted is all,”
I said, heat fuming into my face.
    “Uh, no kidding.” Kai looked from me to
the she-devil and back again.
    “Lover’s quarrel so soon? You’ve known
her what—all of 4 days?” Kai asked, still keeping his voice low.
    “Oh, there’s gonna be a quarrel
alright, but not of the lover’s variety,” I