AllFreeNovel
Share Us
13
Alexis
I look up from my sketch when my office door opens.
“We have a walk-in.”
I sigh, putting my pencil down. “Ask Lillian to take care of them.”
“She’s stepped out for a moment.” Judging by June’s sympathetic smile, I must look as bad as I feel. Sighing again, I wipe the charcoal from my hands and plaster a smile on my face. To say the last few days have been challenging is an understatement, at best. Lack of sleep and trying to be normal for Lizzy have me running on fumes. I’m thankful for work, for the few hours I can lose myself in my designs, but I don’t have the energy to deal with customers and Lillian has taken it in her stride, working more than she’s supposed to and taking over most of our customer interactions. It doesn’t help that Lucas is making this harder on me. He keeps texting and calling. Every morning he calls and I hand it over to Lizzy without talking to him. As soon as I’ve hung up, a text comes through, saying good morning and wishing me a good day. At night, the same thing, the texts always wishing me sweet dreams. Then there are the flowers. A bouquet a day, delivered to the boutique. At first, I wanted to throw them away, but Lillian got this pissed-off look and made a suggestion. Now, a lucky bride-to-be gets to go home with a beautiful bouquet of whatever flower of the day he sent. The cards accompanying them go straight to the bin.
My fake smile is still glued onto my face until I come face-to-face with a familiar head of blond hair and blue eyes.
Movements stiff, I turn to June. “Why don’t you take an early lunch?” Her face scrunches into confusion because it’s nowhere near lunchtime, but thankfully, she doesn’t question it. I wait for her to collect her bag and leave, feeling Monica’s eyes like a heavy weight. I give June a reassuring smile when she shoots me a worried look, but I wait in silence until she’s disappeared down the sidewalk. Only then do I allow myself to look at Monica.
I wait for her to speak, but when the silence stretches too long, impatience takes over.
“Whatever bitchy thing you’re here to say, make it quick. I’m busy.”
“I’d like to schedule an appointment. For a wedding dress.”
Her eyes are taunting, her smirk mocking, and I would like nothing better than to claw that smug look off her face. Instead, I smile.
“Sorry to disappoint, but I’m fully booked at the moment. I tell you what, I hate to disappoint people, so I’ll do you a solid. There’s this place on Tenth that I think might be more to your taste,” I look her up and down, a slight frown on my face, “and budget. All their dresses are pre-owned, and some go for a steal. If you leave your number, June can text you their details.”
I can see I’ve scored a point when her smirk drops.
“I understand if this is too much for you and you’d rather schedule an appointment to see Lillian.”
“You’ve obviously done your homework on me.”
She shrugs. “It’s smart to know as much as I can about the family I’m about to become part of. I know family is important to Luke, so I’d like to start off on the right foot.”
My laugh is filled with equal parts humor and disbelief. Just the thought of Lillian’s reaction when meeting Monica is almost tempting enough to schedule a session with them. She’ll eat her up for breakfast.
“I’m sorry to say, but that ship sailed a while ago. Listen, let’s just cut the crap. I know why you’re here, and it’s not to buy a wedding dress.” I’ve been around enough mean girls in my life to know how they operate. To know that there was and only ever would be one person they looked out for—themselves. “I’m not into playing games, and I’m not into your power plays. If you’re trying to stake some claim to Luke,” I sneer the name, “don’t waste your time. If you want him, you can have him. Now get out of my fucking shop. You’re not welcome here.”
The animosity she’s radiating is so thick if I breathed deep enough, I’d be able to taste it.
“Women like you think you’re better than everyone else. You take what you have for granted. But here’s the thing. A man like Luke has needs. You couldn’t give him what he needed, and that’s why he came to me. Why he’ll always come to me because you’re not enough for him, and you’ll never be. Luke needs me. He needs the comfort and the freedom to be himself that he gets from me.”
Ouch. That one hurt like a physical blow to the gut.
My first instinct is to hit back, to tell her he was obviously thinking with his dick and not his brain when getting involved with her, but I know voicing that will hurt me more than her. I thought every part of Lucas belonged to me. How fucking wrong was I. Instead, I shake my head and steel my spine. She needs to leave, to stop spewing this venom. I know she’s saying all these things to try to hurt me, and it’s working. Not once since meeting Lucas did I ever imagine finding myself in this position, where something I had, something I needed so badly, would be destroyed. It’s causing self-doubt to rear its head, and it’s an ugly thing. What was wrong with me that I was so blind that I never saw my husband for who he truly was?
Schooling my features, I pull my emotions in. I’m saved from replying when the door opens and Lillian walks in. Her cheery expression turns to confusion when she sees the look on my face.
“What’s going on?”
“Monica,” I gesture towards her, “thought it would be a good idea to come in and ask us to design her wedding dress.”
“What the hell?” Her confusion turns to anger.
“Yes. I told her I’m a bit busy at the moment, so she suggested you do it. I guess she thinks it would be a good bonding experience for the two of you.”
She laughs, but I know my sister. She’s pissed. With a capital P. “Like hell I will.” She takes a step towards Monica, who backs up at the look on her face. “The day you messed with my sister was the day you messed with me. And where Alexis is kind, I’m not. She has to worry about how her actions will affect Lizzy. I don’t. So I’m warning you, leave my sister the fuck alone. If you don’t, whatever shitty thing happened to you in the past to make you this lower-than-shit bottom feeder will feel like a walk in the park by the time I’m done with you.”
“Are you threatening me?” Monica hisses, her eyes narrowing.
