Page 17 of The Puck Decoy

“Then I’ll speak to you soon,” he responds, not waiting for anything else before he turns and heads back to his office.

I watch him go and then flick my eyes back to Asher, to find that he watched him leave too. When he notices that I caught him staring, he turns on his heels and heads in the opposite direction without so much as a goodbye, which shows me he hasn’t changed too much in the last few years.

Still reeling from the whole interaction, I head back out to the parking garage, and pull my phone from my pocket to find a text from Hallie. Well, multiple texts actually.

Tink : Do you know I hate shopping?

Tink : Like I really fucking hate shopping

Tink : And do you know what’s worse than shopping???

Tink : Wedding dress shopping!!!

Tink : Why are there so many?

Tink : And why are all the fabrics itchy?

Tink : Do you think this one is okay?

Tink : *image attached*

Tink : No forget that one it feels weird on my skin

Tink : What about this one?

Tink : *image attached*

Tink : Nevermind I hate them all

Tink : And I hate your father

Tink : And I hate weddings!!!!

Tink : *image attached*

Tink : What about this one?

There is message after message and picture after picture, and it’s clear she is in some sort of wedding boutique trying to find a dress. I skim over the messages with a smile and then flick through all the pictures. She looks gorgeous in every dress like she does in everything else, but none of them are really her. Not that I know what any woman wants to wear on their weddingday, especially for a wedding that isn’t even real. Yet still I feel kind of bad that she is suffering through this for me.

Josh : Isn’t it bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her dress?

Tink : It’s like you think I won’t smother you with the fabric of one of these dresses

Josh : Damn! Bridezilla alert

Tink : Do I need to punch you in the dick again?

Josh : A smooth stroke would be preferred

Tink : Remind me of the til death do us part bit of our vows again?

I smile at her response, because despite the threats I am glad she is taking this thing seriously. Especially now that I have a secret weapon in my pocket.