The Sweet Addiction Series Collection: Sweet Addiction, Sweet Possession & Sweet Obsession (40 page)

“You look beautiful,” he says, low and throaty, and I gasp slightly, but don’t respond. We reach the end of the aisle and I quickly drop my hand from his arm and move to stand next to Juls and as far away from him as possible.
Shit. Don’t be affected by that, Dylan.
After the rest of the wedding party comes down the aisle, we all say our momentary goodbyes as we file out toward our vehicles. I quickly walk to Sam and scramble in, wanting to avoid any alone time with Reese as I see him walking out with Ian and the other men. His eyes fall on my delivery van fleetingly before he hops in his Range Rover and pulls away from the church. I drop my head on the wheel. “Okay. Half of the night is over. Now, you just need to get through the dinner and you’ll only have to worry about tomorrow.” After my little pep talk, I start up Sam and make my way toward Casa Mia’s.

The rehearsal dinner is booked at a quaint Italian restaurant and a long rectangular table has been set aside for us in the very back. My place is next to Juls and three seats down from Reese who is sitting next to Ian. I’m immensely grateful that he isn’t seated on the opposite side because I’ve done enough looking for one evening. Joey plops down next to me and let’s out an exhaustive sigh.

“Problems with our favorite bridesmaid?” I ask, noticing she hasn’t graced us with her presence at the table yet. I pick up my water and take a few sips.

“I’m going to kill her. She insisted on riding with me and then tried to feel me up in the car.” Water shoots out of my mouth and covers the, thankfully, empty place setting across from me as I quickly bring a napkin up to my face.

“Jesus, Dylan. Are you all right?” Juls asks as I continue coughing. I glance over at her and see everyone is staring at me, and I mean everyone, as I quickly shake off my choke fest.

I turn quickly toward Joey. “Are you serious?”

“Do I
look
serious? I feel like I’ve been molested. She almost made me cause an accident on highway eleven.”

My coughing turns into giggling as I lean my head onto his shoulder and we both crack up at the situation. “Oh, my God. That’s amazing. I so needed to hear that right now.” I laugh as he shakes his head at me, picking up his water.

“What’s going on?” Juls asks softly as our dinner is brought out to us. I’m suddenly starving and the dish that’s in front of me is about to be destroyed.

I eye her up mischievously. “Your lovely sister has been putting the moves on JoJo.” Her fork drops.

“What? Oh, great. That’s just great.” On cue, Brooke appears and quickly claims her seat next to Joey who stiffens next to me. Juls leans across and snaps her fingers at her sister. “You’re an asshole.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry, Joey. That was a bit embarrassing. Although, was it just me or did something move?” She giggles and orders something alcoholic from the waiter, which Joey quickly cancels for her.

“Did something move? Are you fucking insane? And no booze for you. I can only imagine what would happen if you started drinking.”

I shake my head and take a bite of my chicken picatta, moaning around my fork as a familiar face moves toward our table and stands across from me.

“Hey, Dylan. How’s it going?” Juls’ cousin Tony eyes me up and I quickly smile and wave at him from my seat. We’ve known each other for years and go way back, but never anything more than friendship.

“Hey, Tony. How are you?”

“I’m great. Get your sweet ass out of that chair and come give me a hug.” I laugh and scramble out of my seat, walking down the side of the table that does not contain my ex-fling, and get quickly lifted into the air. “You look good, girl,” he says into my hair as he gives me his usual bear hug.

“Thanks. Jesus, put me down already.” He sets me on my feet and I shake my head at him, straightening out his tie. “So, what’s new in the world of computer programming?” My eyes quickly flick toward Reese who is staring at me with daggers.
Oh, please. Like you have any right anymore.

“Nailed it. Nice memory. It’s good. How about you? Juls told me something about your bakery getting broken into or some shit a few months back? That’s fucked up.”

“Yeah, well, it's fine now. They caught the psycho who did it and there wasn’t any permanent damage.” Heather was apprehended by the police a few weeks after the break in. Her prints matched the ones on the brick and she admitted to everything, getting charged with breaking and entering and also getting moved out of the city by her parents. Juls had relayed the information from Ian when he found out about it.

“So, any man in your life or have I finally caught up with you when you’re single?” I smile sweetly at Tony, but shake my head. He is definitely not my type and even if he was, I have no interest in dating anybody right now. Especially when the man who broke me is sitting no more than ten feet away from me, continually staring at my profile.

“Oh, please, like you could even handle me,” I playfully respond and he nods in agreement. “It’s good to see you. I’ll catch up with you later, okay?” I turn to go back around the table, but see a major pile up of bodies at the end I want to walk down and grunt as I have to make my way toward the other end. I walk behind Trent and Billy’s chairs, giving them both smiles, as I quickly move past Reese’s and feel his hand grip my elbow, halting me at his side.

“What the fuck was that?” he growls up at me.

I snatch my arm out of his hand and scowl back down at him. “What the fuck was what?”

“You know what. Are you seriously going to blatantly flirt in front of me? Is that how this shit is going to play out?”
Is he serious? I am in no mood for any Reese style tirade and this is definitely not the place for it.

I bend lower to get my face nice and close to his and see him back up a bit. “You think
that
was flirting? I’ve known Tony for ten years; he’s like a brother to me. But if I
did
want to flirt with him, it wouldn’t be any of your goddamned business, now would it?” My tone is clipped and I’m fuming, feeling Ian move quickly out of his seat.

“Okay. Wow, that didn’t take long. Umm, Dylan, why don’t you go over to your seat, and, Reese, just calm the fuck down, man.” Ian ushers me past Juls. I quickly pull out my chair and plant myself down in it, glaring over in his direction as Reese narrows his eyes at me.

“Jesus, what the hell was that?” Juls asks as Joey leans in.

“Actually, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner. I had money on you kicking him in the nuts at the church,” he adds. I wave my hands at both of them to back them off me.

“Nothing. He accused me of flirting with Tony. Fucking prick,” I say through clenched teeth. I was definitely not flirting with him. I’ve never seen Tony as anything other than an acquaintance, even though he’s asked me out more times than I can count. My eyes glance down the table and I see Ian leaning in and talking to a tense looking Reese.
Ugh. Stupid men.

“You and Tony? That’s fucking hilarious,” Juls says and continues cutting up her chicken. “And even if you were, he has no right to act like that.”

“I know,” I agree loudly and get quickly shushed. “Acting all holier than thou. I’m sure he waited a whole five seconds before he threw another girl into his bed after I left it.” I shove a piece of chicken in my mouth and start chewing as Brooke leans across Joey’s lap.

“I heard him tell you that you looked beautiful. That was really sweet,” she whispers and earns herself the evil eye from all three of us.

“Shut up, Brooke,” we all say in unison as we continue eating our meals. I don’t look down the table again for the rest of the night and keep my conversations with anyone other than Juls and Joey to a minimum. This evening has been exhausting. I’m emotionally drained and unsure how the hell I’m going to handle tomorrow. I’m reassured that I’ll only really have to deal with Reese during the ceremony, and once we’re at the reception, I can stay as far away from him as I’d like. But it’s the mere fact that we’ll once again be at a wedding together, where this whole fucked up situation started that is going to have me in knots. I need to focus on making sure everything runs smoothly for Juls, so that’s what I’ll do. It’s my job as her maid of honor and it will keep my mind off unwanted memories of falling into laps and bathroom sex romps. Speaking of bathrooms, I plan on avoiding the ones tomorrow at all costs.

Juls and Ian’s big day has finally arrived and miraculously, everything is running smoothly. I got up early and delivered the cake with Joey to the reception hall before we headed over to the bridal suite where we are all currently getting ready. Juls is glowing, Joey is routinely sneaking out to get a peek at the men who are dressing at the other end of the church, and Brooke is completely sober and has her wits about her. After slipping into my stunning chocolate brown floor length strapless dress, I help Juls into hers, along with her mother.

“Oh, sweetheart. This dress,” Mrs. Wicks says, tears filling her freshly painted eyes as I try to hold mine back. My makeup is looking pristine and fabulous and I have no desire to ruin it with unwanted tears. We finish buttoning her up and step back. She’s stunning, absolutely gorgeous in her wedding gown and I bite my lip to hold my emotions in.

“Damn, Juls. I have money on Ian losing his mind when he sees you at the end of the aisle,” Brooke says as she smoothes out her dress. Joey comes bustling back into the suite and drops his jaw on the floor.

“Holy fuck. You look amazing.”

“Joseph! You’re in a church,” Mrs. Wicks sternly informs him, both hands flying up to her hips. “Easy on the language today please, and that goes for all four of you. Especially you, Dylan.” She flicks her daggers at me.

“Me? Please, I’m such a lady.” I shrug and catch a wink from Juls in the mirror as the suite door swings open again, this time revealing a very handsome and slightly nervous looking Mr. Wicks.

“Oh my. Darling, you look so beautiful.” He moves and stands in front of Juls, grabbing both of her hands in his and pulling her off her stool. “That’s it, wedding’s off. You’re too pretty for that man.”

“Daddy,” she says through a huge smile and he softens in front of her. I move up to the mirror and take a good look at myself as they exchange a private father-daughter moment, Joey joining me at my side. My hair is pinned up into an elegant twist, a few pieces pulled out and tucked behind my ears, which are adorned with the amber stud earrings Juls gifted us with this morning. My makeup is sophisticated but subtle, a light dusting of rose lip-gloss that I’m somehow managing to pull off without looking like I belong on a street corner, and my dress is perfect, hugging me across my chest and showing a classy amount of cleavage if there ever was such a thing. I feel Joey’s hand on my lower back.

“Look at us. We almost look
too
good for this wedding. I’m afraid we might just upstage the bride,” he whispers as we both glance over at Juls who is hugging her father.

“Not a chance,” I say and he nods in agreement. Mr. Wicks backs away from his daughter and turns toward all of us.

“It’s time people. Let’s move this along before I lock my daughter in this room and refuse to let Ian have her.” We all giggle at his comment, hearing the hint of seriousness in his tone as we file out of the bridal suite and down the back staircase that leads toward a hidden area where we’re supposed to line up. I haven’t seen the inside of the church since we arrived here hours ago and I’m a bit nervous at the number of people in attendance who will be watching me walk up the aisle. My heels are insanely high, dark brown sling backs that I’ve scuffed the bottoms of to prevent any major slip up. But I’m still nervous about walking in them. Karma could easily give me a right shove in the back and send me falling flat on my face, given the amount of hate she’s shown me lately.
All this animosity. And for what? Because I fell in love with a man who only cared about fucking me? Nice, Karma. Way to stick with your fellow woman.

We line up in order behind the double mahogany doors and wait patiently for them to open, the soft sound of violins streaming through the air. Another decision on Ian’s part. The man apparently loves classical music. I clutch my beautiful bouquet in my hands, grateful to have something to hold on to as the doors slowly open in front of Brooke. My view is blocked entirely by Joey’s massive frame, but I feel him. I always feel him. And I know as soon as I start walking, my eyes are going to lock on to his and I’m going to give in to it.
Whatever.
I just have one more day to endure and then I can go back to my shitty life. I turn around and spot Juls who is smiling at me, eyes gleaming and hand tightly looped through her father’s arm. I give her a quick wink before I turn slowly and step forward, seeing Joey make his way toward the middle pews. It’s now my cue to start walking, but I can’t. My eyes have locked on to the most glorious sight I’ve ever seen and he’s standing, waiting for me at the front of the altar in a tux.
Holy fucking shit.