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Chapter Fourty Four
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ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE Chapter Fourty Five
Kaya. They removed my cast today. I wasn’t completely free of restraint because they replaced it with a removable boot to continue to support the section of the tibia that was broken the worst and continued to resist healing. My physical therapist said that I would be free of the boot in a few weeks if I kept working as hard as I had been doing these last few weeks. I couldn’t wait to have my body back. This broken thing felt wrong, like it belonged to someone else. When I looked in the mirror, I didn’t know the woman looking back. My hair was growing, but it was still so short like a little boy’s cut. But my collarbone was finally healed though it still ached from time to time and my ribs were good. If I could just get this leg to heal…I stood in front of the mirror in the bedroom that had been my primary space since leaving the hospital and stared at the summer dress I was wearing. It flowed nicely from my shoulders, the thin, white material making my pale skin look healthier than
ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE Chapter Fourty Six
Kaya.I glanced at her. “What do you mean it was your fault and what child?”"Your child, that day. I made you stay late, I needed you to finish a piece of art that was for the gallery opening downtime, you were in pain, you thought something was wrong and I made you think that was normal." Margaret said avoiding my eyes now. "I have thought about this day you know" she started again“No, I don’t.” I immediately stopped her. I had no idea what she was talking about.She eased the car forward, and we rounded a curve. The building on the left was instantly familiar to me, but I couldn’t tell anyone why. It just… well, it just was.It was a long, low building made of concrete blocks. It was painted a soft brown on the outside, but I think that was a new addition. I felt that it was once white with the sheen of dirt and debris all over it. The brown was definitely an improvement. There were signs naming it The Wilshire community Center, with another that had Margaret’s smiling face on it
ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE Chapter Fourty Seven
Ace. I couldn’t believe it. My Kaya was back.I stood just inside the door of the gym and watched her as I had done so many times in the past few days. She was humming just under her breath, some pop song that I vaguely remembered being popular years ago. She was an amazing artist, but she wasn’t much of a singer. But I didn’t care. This was the Kaya I had known, the Kaya I fell in love with.When Margaret called and told me she was working on the mural again, I was livid. I couldn’t believe that Margaret would do this, that she would bring her here without talking to me first. But now…let’s just say I was a little less peeved than I was before.“This is familiar,” I said.Kaya looked up and smiled widely. “Hey.”“Hey to you, too. What are you doing?”“Margaret came by the house to tell me about the opening here tomorrow night, and I thought seeing the building might help me remember something.”“Did it?”She bit her lower lip, a touch of sadness coming into her eyes. “Not really. I
ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE Chapter Fourty Eight
Ace. “Mr. Ace,” the waiter ushering us in said, as we walked through the door.“Hello, Johnson.”The man’s eyes fell on Kaya and his smile widened. “Ms. Kaya.I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to see you again.”Kaya blushed, but the pleased smile on her face hid any discomfort she might be feeling.“Thank you,” she said.The waiter's smile widened, as he grabbed a couple of menus and led the way into the dining room, causing a few people who had clearly been waiting for a table to groan. We were regulars here, and I had arranged an upgrade on the security system my company provided for the restaurant, so we often were treated with preference. That sort of thing was a way of life in Los Angeles.We were seated across from each other, and Kaya studied the menu with an intensity that would have made me laugh if I hadn’t known about her memory problems. She had done that in the past, too, but always ended up picking the same thing: chicken parmesan.It amused me, as well, how obliviou
ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE Chapter Fourty Nine
KayaI waited until Ace went to work before I made my way slowly upstairs to the master bedroom. This was the first time I had come up here, thanks to the cast I’d had on my leg for so long. I had to stop for a second at the top of the stairs to admire the layout of the second floor. There was so much light, most of it coming from a skylight that was centered over the stairway. I hadn’t realized just how high that ceiling was, or that there was, apparently, a room designed around the open skylights. It had never occurred to me to wonder what was up here, or what might be above this, before. I mean, you could tell from the outside of the house that it had three floors.But I had never thought to ask what was on the third floor.What better time than now to find out?There was another set of stairs tucked into the back wall at the end of the hallway. I had already decided that the master bedroom was behind the double doors at the end of the hall that much I remembered from the memory I
ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE Chapter Fifty
AceI walked into the house after arguing with Paul over the phone all the way home. He was unhappy with a new client I had elected to take on, telling me that we should be choosier now that the company was on steadier feet. But I figured that, as long as the client had the money, we had the service. It was our clients that made our reputation. We could both use that argument until we were blue in the face and both be right. And I was the boss.But you would think that it was Paul’s name in the door, the way he hammered at me over these things. And he had been in charge so much lately, what with the attention I was giving to Kaya. I was grateful to him, but I was going to take on the clients of my choosing.I just wanted to see Kaya’s face. I was so exhausted. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go to this party tonight, no matter how many times I had promised Margaret I would. But Kaya wasn’t in the sitting room. She wasn’t on the porch, either.I went through the maze of rooms at the back of
ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE Chapter Fifty One
KayaShe was everything I expected her to be. Tall. Dark. Stylish. There were a lot of similarities between mother and son. Except for the dark scowl on her face when she looked at me.She didn't seem happy at all to see me. “What are you doing, Ace?” she hissed in a low voice. “When I heard rumors that she was in some sort of accident and that the two of you were back together…”“This really isn’t the place, Mom.”“After what she threatened to do, you are here with her? Are you insane?”“I’m sorry, , but I don’t think”She whirled on me in an instant, prompting Ace to once again move me behind him so that his body shielded me from his mother. He whispered something to her that I couldn’t hear, then he drew me away, leading the way across the room like nothing had happened. I clung to him, suddenly aware of people staring at us.What was going on?I felt like I was always in the dark these days, always wondering why people were looking at me as they were. Why were they whispering beh
ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE Chapter Fifty Two
Ace.My mother was walking around the room, draped over Grant’s arm like she was some sort of possession to show off like the Cartier watch on his wrist. I wanted to go over there and smack him, tug him away from her and tell her to run. That was something I should have done years and years ago. It was too late now. He was so ingrained in all our lives that it would be impossible to separate one from the other.Even Margaret had come to accept that.I don’t think Margaret’s complicity bothered me all that much. She was his daughter, after all. But my mom…that really did bother me. Didn’t she see what Grant was doing to her? To all of us? Didn’t she care what it might mean for me, for Kayq, for everyone touched by it? Or was she that blinded by his charm?“Hi,” Kaya said, coming up behind me.I turned and pulled her gently against my chest. It felt so good holding her like this again. I kissed the top of her head, deciding there were some benefits to the shorter hair.“You feeling alri
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ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE Chapter Eighty One
Cyn. Nine Months LaterI started to laugh as my little sister twerked her way down the aisle of my parent’s Baptist church. If Daddy walked in and saw that, there would be hell to pay.Ace pulled me back against his chest as he, too, laughed, a rumbling laugh that came from deep in his chest. I loved to hear him laugh like that.“Do you dare me to do that during the ceremony tomorrow?” Shelly asked.“I’ll pay you five hundred dollars if you do,” Charlie called to her.I smacked my brother on the arm.“What?”“Don’t encourage her.”“Hey, someone’s got to inject a little levity into this whole affair.And it can’t be at my wedding because if you think our parents are bad, wait until you meet Vanessa’s.”“When’s Vanessa going to be here?”“In the morning.”“Cutting it close.”Ace’s arms tightened around my waist, his hands wrapping around my swollen belly. “I think we all are, aren’t we?”I groaned. This whole wedding thing wasn’t my idea. It was my dad’s. He insisted that we be married
ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE Chapter Eighty
AceCyn was taking so long getting the ice cream that I finally went to find her. As I was coming down the stairs, I thought I heard voices. And then I turned the corner into the sitting room just as a gun fired.All I could thing was, Fuck!Margaret was on the floor with Cyn tangled up next to her, and they were struggling over this damn big gun. I reached in, tried to untangle them and get one or both up on their feet. And then Margaret pressed the barrel of the gun against Cyn’s side and wrapped her finger around the trigger. I did the only thing I could think of and that was to grab her wrist and yank. I felt something give and then the gun went off.The next thing I know, Margaret’s on her feet, the gun pointed at my chest. There’s blood, but I can’t tell where it’s coming from. And Cyn is still on the floor.“Why, Ace?” Margaret asked, her wrist limp where I broke it trying to pull her away from Cyn. She calmly changed hands, holding the gun with her other hand now. She pointed
ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE Chapter Seventy Nine
CynI curled up in the bed next to Ace and took another bite of pizza.“I’m sorry,” I said, as I nibbled at a slice of pepperoni.“For what?”“For not remembering you. For putting you through that whole ordeal.”“It’s not like it was your fault.”“It must have been hard, though, living here with me when I didn’t even know who you were.”He reached over and rubbed a smear of grease off my chin. “It was rough,” he said, his eyes softening as he studied my face, “being near you and not feeling free to touch you.”“It must have been surreal.”“It was…difficult.” He chuckled a little as he picked at his own piece of pizza. “I thought it was all over when your parents showed up and demanded that you go home with them.”“Yeah?”“I thought for sure that you would agree to go. I mean, I was standing there, imagining you and your mom in the spare room packing your things while your dad lectured me about forcing myself on you after you made it clear that you no longer wanted me.”“He would have,
ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE Chapter Seventy Eight
AceI wanted her to stay at the house, but she refused. She clung to my hand as we walked into the restaurant, so tight that my bones were rubbing together. She was scared So was I.I spotted him at a table closest to the kitchen, a busy area that was a little concerning. I wasn’t sure how we could talk freely with all the traffic that was going past there, but, then again, it seemed logical. Everyone was so busy going about their own business that they wouldn’t even remember that much about us, let alone overhear much of our conversation.I don’t think I would be good at this terrorist stuff. I was too honest.The man Colin Francis. stood as we approached the table.“Cyn,” he said with genuine affection in his voice. “How are you?”Cyn smiled politely. “Good, thank you.”“And Ace.” He studied my face for a minute, then offered his hand with a polite smile. I shook it because I didn’t know what else to do.He gestured for us to take a seat. Cyn snatched my hand under the table once we
ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE Chapter Seventy seven
CynI wanted to stay there for…well, forever. I didn’t want him to let me go. I didn’t want his kiss to stop lingering against my lips. I wanted to feel his heart pounding under his shirt and the heat of his skin, the heat that proved just how alive he was, to forever warm me up. He was my reasonfor getting out of bed in the morning and for facing life with a smile and a little skip in my step.“I love you,” he whispered against my lips.“I love you, too.”He ran his finger along the angle of my jaw. “I kind of like your hair like this. I can see every inch of your face all the time.”I groaned. “You would.”“Don’t you like it?”I laughed. “I should go to the hospital for all my haircuts.”He chuckled before pressing his lips to my forehead.“You look like a pixie. Or a little fairy.”“Gee, thanks.”“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”I ran my hand up his chest again before letting it slide down, hooking my fingers under the waist of his slacks.“If you like it, I would go bald. Wear a
ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE Chapter Seventy six
AceCyn was hiding something from me. I wasn’t sure what it was, and I didn’t like it. But I told myself she wouldn’t do it if she didn’t think it was important.I watched her pace the porch outside the back doors, the way that boot caused her just the slightest limp. Two months ago, the doctor said she would have a definitive limp if she ever woke up. Her recovery was remarkable, but everything about Cyn had always been remarkable.“How can you be with the woman who might send me to jail?”“How can you be with the man who got us all into this position in the first place?”My mom crossed her arms over her chest, a defiant look taking over the attractive features that once made her a very beautiful woman. Now she was tired. A very tired and broken woman.“I trusted that Grant would do the right thing.”“And I know that Cyn’s only doing what she thinks will protect us all.”“She almost went to the press with paperwork that shows Grant was working with terrorists. If it didn’t send him t
ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE Chapter Seventy Five
CynI had dreams about her even when I didn’t know who she was.Dreams that I knew now were a mixture of memory and something else, something angry inside of me.As I came out of my coma, I dreamed I was in a dress shop with a dark-haired woman I didn’t know. I remembered thinking this woman had betrayed me even though I couldn’t say if she had been a friend or a foe.And then again, later, I had the same dream. But this time we were arguingabout Ace, about the marriage I hadn’t learned about until the day Ace and I went to get our marriage license.We did fight about it. Not in a bridal shop. My mind had mixed that up for some reason. But the words had been the same.“I can’t believe you would betray me that way! Why wouldn’t you tell me something like that? I thought we were friends. You were supposed to be a part of my wedding, for God’s sakes!”“It wasn’t my place to tell you. Ace should have done it.”“But we worked together all this time”“I thought he’d already told you. I tho
ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE Chapter Seventy Four
Ace “Mom.”I wasn’t downstairs five minutes when the doorbell rang and my mom shoved past me.“What are you doing, Ace ? Why do you have that woman in this house again?”“Hi, Mom. Glad to see you. Come on in.”She whirled around and looked at me as if I had lost my mind.“Answer my question. Margaret tells me she has been here for weeks and younever bothered to tell anyone. She says you wouldn’t have told her if it weren’t for the fact that Cyn was still working on that damn mural thing at the center.”“Cyn was in an accident. She cracked her skull and was in a coma for a little more than two weeks.”“Months ago.”“And she woke up with amnesia.”“So you say. But how do we know it’s true? After what she did…”“She didn’t actually do anything.”My mom glared at me as if I’d said that the sky was green. She shook her head, pacing the length of the room, pausing briefly at the back doors. When she lifted her hand to touch the cool glass, I could see that it was shaking.“You are worried
ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE Chapter Seventy Three
CynI must have fallen asleep. I rolled over and Ace was gone. I could hear the water in the shower running and the slight buzz of a cellphone vibrating. It took me a minute to realize the cellphone was in the pocket of my sweats. I leaned over the bed and grabbed them, freeing the cellphone just before the call would have been sent to voice mail.“Hello?”“I didn’t think you were going to answer!”“Sorry. I got a little distracted.”Paul cleared his throat, his imagination clearly supplying information I hadn’t. “Yes, well,” he mumbled as he cleared his throatagain, “he has agreed to meet with you today.”“Good.”“He’ll meet you at Conti’s. Do you know where that is?”“Yes, I think so.”“Two o’clock.”“Thank you, paul.”“Be careful, Cyn. The last time you went to meet with this guy…”“I know. I will be careful.”I disconnected the call just as Ace appeared in the bathroom doorway, nothing but a towel around his waist.“Who was that?”“Paul.”I climbed out of bed and went to him, kis
