All of Me? The Trust Me? Trilogy (31 page)

I laugh but watch in horror. “Oh my God, it doesn’t get worse than this, does it?”

“Oh, baby, it gets way worse.”

I put my head in my hands and laugh even though my head hurts.

“It’s official. I’m never drinking again,” I say while he shows me a video of me talking to a street lamp. He shakes his head while watching the videos that Sarah made of me and the other girls.

“I remember Bree dancing on a table, I think,” I say to Aiden. He looks at me and chuckles.

“I don’t even remember Sarah recording me at all.”

“That’s because you were too busy chatting up the street lamp,” he jokes. I hit him on the chest lightly.

“Shut up, me and the lamp go way back. We’re great friends, thank you very much,” I say, snuggling into him. He laughs and puts down his cell phone.

“I’m glad you had a good time with the girls. It kept me entertained anyway,” he says with a smirk.

“It’s your turn tonight. Do you know what Chris has in store for you?” I ask, even though I already know the answer.

“Yeah, were heading to Vinchenzo’s for dinner and then out to a bar or something to play pool and darts and other manly things.”

“Make sure Chris takes videos of you so I can be entertained,” I say. “I expect a very intoxicated fiancé to stumble through those doors tonight.”

“I’m sure I can hold my liquor better than someone I know.”

“Excuse me? I had quite a lot to drink, thank you very much, and I was fine.”

“Sorry, Miss I Can Handle My Liquor,” he says, laughing.

“Hey, I said I only forgot some of the night, not all of it.”

I lean up to kiss him.

“Oh, baby you smell like stale alcohol,” he says, pulling away.

“Sorry,” I say.

“I’ll forgive you, if you come and take a shower with me,” he says, raising an eyebrow.

***

It comes time for Aiden to go to his bachelor party, and the guys meet at our place for pre-dinner drinks. Sarah and Brielle are going to spend the night with me.

“Chris, you have to take videos of Aiden when he’s drunk so we can laugh at him,” Sarah calls out.

“No worries, babe,” Chris yells back, and Aiden smirks at me.

Aiden walks over and squats down beside me. “How are you feeling?”

“I feel like
crap
, which is how you’ll be feeling tomorrow,” I say, making him chuckle.

“I can stay home and look after you if you want me to. I don’t mind.”

“Absolutely not, this is your night to have fun with the guys. Plus, I have Sarah and Bree here to take care of me. We’re going to order pizza, watch sad movies, and probably cry all night.” I say jokingly.

“Don’t cry too much,” he says kissing me.

He walks back over to the bar where Blair and Benjamin are doing shots with Chris and Adam.
Oh boy, it’s going to be an interesting night.

“Okay, guys, we’re heading into the theater room now, have a good time. Don’t get arrested or anything,” I say, walking off. Aiden runs up behind me, and I turn to face him.

“I love you, have a good night, and I promise to behave myself,” he says.

“I know you’ll behave yourself, because if you don’t you’ll be sleeping in the guesthouse with your mother and Mike,” I say jokingly.

He raises his eyebrows and laughs. “Oh really?”

“Mmm, really,” I say. He leans in and kisses me softly.

“Have fun, babe, love you too,” I say. He walks back down to the man cave with the boys.

Brielle orders the pizza and we set up the projector to play
Love Actually
, one of our favorite movies. By the time we figure out how to set up the projector and turn everything on, the pizza is here and Adam brings it in to us.

“Here’s dinner, girls. We’re off. Have a good night,” he says, handing the pizza to Brielle.

We sit on the floor in front of the recliners, eat our dinner and watch the movie in peace until my cell vibrates. It’s a video from Chris of Aiden doing shots at the bar with Adam. I laugh as Brielle watches the video with me.

“Oh, this is so not going to end pretty,” she says.

A couple of hours go by, the movie is finished, and we make ourselves some coffee and popcorn. My cell vibrates again; I’m almost scared to look. I pull my cell out of my pocket and watch the video of Aiden and Blair playing a shooting video game, arguing over who won.It’s pretty tame, but funny to watch as they slur their words. I think it’s obvious that he’s having a good night.

Our coffee and popcorn is ready so we go back in to the theater room and put on
A Walk to Remember
. Why we decide to put on sad movies is beyond me, but we do it anyway. We watch as Jamie and Landon fall in love, beating the odds. The movie ends and the three of us are in tears. My cell rings and it’s Aiden. I sniff, trying to control my crying and answer my cell.

“Hi, babe,” I say.

“Hey, baaaby. What’ cha doin?” he asks, sounding quite intoxicated. I wipe the tears from my eyes and listen to my man on the other end of the line.

“Just crying like a child. What are you doing?”

“Why are you crying?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. We’re watching sad movies,” I reassure him.

He laughs. I hear a bang, then people cheering in the background as someone yells out, “Taxi.”

“You girls love those sad movies, but I love you,” he says, slurring his words.

“Aiden, shots, shots, shots, shots,” I hear someone call out. I laugh and put him on speakerphone so Sarah and Brielle can hear.

“I’m talking to my beautiful fiancée. She’s really pretty, don’t you think guys? I love her so much,” he says, and I think he’s forgotten that I’m on the line.

“She’s hell pretty, bro. If I was straight, I’d so do her,” Blair says.

“Aiden, I’m still here,” I say loudly so he can hear me.

“Oh wow, there she is. Hi, baby, you’re pretty. I love you,” he says, slurring his words again Sarah and Bree laugh.

“Who’s that?” he asks curiously.

“Hi, Aiden, it’s Sarah and Brielle.”

“Oooh. Hi, Bree. Adam is fun. Did you know Adam is fun? I think he’s fun and Jeni is pretty and I love her and we’re getting married,” he calls out loudly, and then there’s a muffled sound like the phone dropped. Chris picks it up.

“Helloooooo,” Chris says, sounding worse than Aiden.

“Hey, Mr. Drop Dead Sexy Milk Stealer,” I call out, making Sarah and Chris laugh.

“Hell yeah, I’m Mr. Sexy Drop Dead Stealer Of Milk and don’t you forget it.
Hiccup.
”

“Babe, don’t forget to drink plenty of water and tell the others to drink plenty of water, too,” Sarah says with a smirk.

“Water is for pansies, and pansies are dolphins, and dolphins are fish. I like fish, hey who’s hungry?” Chris calls out and hangs up the phone.

We laugh, and I put my cell back into my pocket. They sound like they’re having a great time. We end up moving into the living room to sit and chat. We start to wonder where the boys are because my cell has been really quiet for the past three hours.

“Hey, girls, do you think I should call the guys and see how they’re doing, or is that checking up on them?” I ask.

“I’m sure they’re fine. They’re probably in a bar winding down, and anyway they were going to call Mike to pick them up, weren’t they?” Bree asks.

We hear a car pull up out the front. The front door swings open and Chris stumbles in, followed by Aiden and the others. They’re laughing and carrying on as they walk into the kitchen.

“Hi, guys,” Sarah calls out.

They pretty much ignore us, and Aiden walks over to get his poker table and sprawls it out on the dining room table. Sarah and Brielle look over at me and I giggle. I walk over and put my hand on Aiden’s shoulder. He finally notices me.

“Hey, baby,” he says, puckering his lips for a kiss. I laugh at him and bend down to kiss him, the smell of whisky is overpowering.

“I’m going to bed; I’ll see you in the morning. Don’t forget to drink lots of water,” I say to Aiden as he deals out the cards.

“Okay, baby, I luv oou,” he slurs, making me laugh.

“I love you too,” I say. Sarah and Brielle kiss their men, and we head upstairs.

I show Sarah and Brielle to their separate guestrooms. I’m so tired from my bachelorette party the night before that I know I’m going to fade out as soon as my head hits the pillow. I have enough energy to check the time before I fall asleep; four thirty-eight a.m. Oh God, no wonder I’m so tired. I rest my head on the pillow and I’m out like a light.

I wake to the blaring sun because I forgot to shut the blinds last night. I feel Aiden passed out next to me as I roll over. He’s face down on the bed, still in his clothes from last night. One leg is hanging off the bed, and he’s snoring. I giggle at the sight. I check the clock; it’s eleven thirty a.m. I can’t hear any movement in the rest of the house, but I decide to get up just in case. I move over to Aiden and take off his shoes and put his leg up on the bed. I take my side of the blanket and place it over him. I close the blinds, get some water and pain killers, and place them next to him for when he wakes.

I make my way downstairs to see Blair and Benjamin lying on the sofa, and I’m assuming Adam and Chris are upstairs in the correct bedrooms. I make my way to the kitchen to start making breakfast. I quietly pull out some pans to cook bacon and eggs. As I start to cook the bacon, Blair and Benjamin wake up to the smell of the food cooking.

“Good morning, Miss Chef Extraordinaire,” Blair says, getting up and heading over to the breakfast bar.

“Morning, guys.”

Benjamin comes over and he looks terrible. He sits down next to Blair and rests his head on his shoulder.

“Oh God, I swear I’m never drinking again,” he says.

“Until the wedding, that is?” Blair asks jokingly.

Slowly everyone comes down as the smell of the food wakes them. Everyone except Aiden. I put the cooked food into the oven while I go to check on my fiancé.

I walk into the bedroom and he isn’t in there. I hear a strange noise coming from the en-suite and I walk in to see Aiden by the toilet, looking very green. I give him a sympathetic smile.

“Oh, babe.”

He looks up at me and sighs. “I’m sorry, Jeni.”

“What for?”

“You shouldn’t have to care for me. I’m supposed to be taking care of you, it’s my job,” he says quietly.

“Yesterday when I was sick you looked after me. Now it’s my turn to look after you. It goes both ways in a relationship. That’s how it works. So you have nothing to be sorry about,” I say, and bend down next to him.

“That’s why I love you, always keeping me focused,” he says and then he rests his head against the wall.

“You probably don’t feel like it but there’s some food downstairs if you think you can stomach something.”

He nods and gets up off the floor and washes his face. As we walk into the kitchen, everyone cheers for Aiden who winces at the noise.

“You look like
shit,
dude,” Chris says, sitting at the dining table looking fit as a fiddle.

The guys don’t eat much, excluding Chris who always eats like a horse.

Eventually everyone leaves to go home. Aiden closes the door when Sarah and Chris leave, and he rests up against the wall. I put my arm around his waist and he puts his arm around my shoulders as we walk together to the bedroom, leaving the mess to clean up later. Even though it’s only four thirty in the afternoon, I take Aiden upstairs and we go to bed.

CHAPTER 27

I wake to Aiden’s arms wrapped around me. Tomorrow is our wedding, and I’m filled with joy and excitement. Aiden slowly wakes up.

“Morning, beautiful,” he says and strokes my cheek.

“Just think, this time tomorrow I’ll be getting up and getting ready to marry you,” I say, and his face beams with a bright smile.

“I can’t wait,” he says, leaning in to kiss me.

We lay in bed for a while, enjoying our first day of vacation. My cell rings, and it’s Sarah saying she’s ten minutes away. I jump out of bed and get dressed. We have a girlie day planned in preparation for tomorrow. I kiss Aiden goodbye. He stays in bed as I make my way downstairs. I hear a knock at the door.

“You ready for a pampering, Miss Taylor?” Sarah asks, and I nod enthusiastically.

Aiden has paid for us to spend the day at a beauty spa. It’s your typical girl’s day with chocolate included.

After a day of pampering, I feel refreshed. We head back to my home as the girls are sleeping over tonight so we can get ready in the morning. We walk in the door and Aiden is waiting for us in the kitchen. I notice that he has placed flowers everywhere, pink roses fill the room.

“Oh, babe, you shouldn’t have. I love them,” I say. I run to him, hugging and kissing him on the lips.

“Oh, Jeni, you’re so lucky. John would never do this for me,” Mel says.

“Chris wouldn’t do it for me either. Oh, wait... he did. Yay! I’m lucky,” Sarah says, laughing.

Sarah walks over to Aiden and starts to push him out of the room, and he looks at her curiously.

“What are you doing?” Aiden laughs.

“It’s getting towards the evening, and you can’t see Jeni the night before your wedding. It’s bad luck,” she says, making us laugh.

“You slept in the same bed as Chris the night before your wedding,” Aiden says, making Sarah crease her eyebrows.

“Yes, but that was different. I was knocked up so the whole tradition thing didn’t count for us.”

“It’s a stupid tradition, Sarah,” Aiden says.

“Shut up and get out of here, you idiot. You’re not going to argue with a pregnant lady as big as me, are you?” she says, making us all laugh.

“Okay, okay. Can I give her a kiss goodbye?” he asks.

“Make it quick,” she says.

Aiden walks over to me, takes me in his arms, and dips me into a Hollywood style kiss.

“Woooooo,” Sarah calls out.

We finally part from each other, and he leans in and whispers, “I’ll see you tomorrow; I’ll be waiting for you. It’s the day when you will make me the happiest man alive.”

“And I’ll be the one walking down the aisle toward the man that I love more than anything in this world,” I whisper back to him, and he kisses me quickly once more.