We are in a cab on the way to Lenox hill hospital in the upper east side and Arrick is straining forward on his knees as he texts Jake. His body rigid and huge neon signals that say he needs silence and space.
All he’s told me before whisking me in here is that his father collapsed and was rushed into hospital as a possible heart attack victim. Arrick is pale and quiet, meaning he’s reverted inside of his head and I have no clue how to react. My body churning with worry over Giovanni and torn about how to be there for Arry.
It makes sense that he would go tell his PA he was leaving his own do and I feel guilty that I jumped to conclusions in the bar. We’re sitting apart, not touching and I am getting the strong vibe he doesn’t want me to even try.
He’s lost
I wake up in bed to the gentle strumming of what sounds like Arry’s guitar and blink in the darkness of the apartment bedroom. I crawled in here when I got back and willed myself to try and sleep in his absence and must have finally passed out.I sit up and listen hard to what might have been a dream, but I hear it again, soft, distant like he’s playing his guitar but not near the couch where he would normally sit. I blink awake with the realization he may be home and pull myself upright to rub my face.Without hesitation I get up and almost fall over the end of the bed in the unfamiliar space, head still used to our Paris bedroom in pitch blackness and curse myself out for being so ungraceful. I’m wearing one of his t-shirts, I needed the comfort when I got here and slide out expecting to see him on the couch but he’s not there.The noise of a low melody draws my eyes to the long glass wall of the apartment behind the dining space and I
“Here, beautiful” Arrick hands me a plate of pancakes in the kitchen. I have been wrapped around him all morning after we fell asleep on the floor watching the New York rain and now I am sort of reluctant to stop holding on to him, even when he was cooking. My face planted against his back and my hands wrapped around that hard-muscular abdomen of his made it difficult for him to get on with it, but he didn’t try and remove me. He missed me too.I have to uncoil for food though, or I may pass out. I am stuck between starvation and still nauseous but most likely from lack of nourishment. It’s late and he wants to go to the hospital as soon as we are done eating. He leans down to kiss me on the temple as he slaps my ass and sends me skipping forward to the dining table.I missed his pancakes, and his ass slaps. Equally.He follows me with his own plate as we settle down across the table and I can’t stop looking at him. Watchin
“You are fucking impossible!!!” Leila yells at me across the table and I yell straight back in complete unveiled rage.“I’m not wearing a fucking purple wedding dress; the dress is not down to you to pick. What the hell were you thinking?” I throw her booklet at her and it bounces off the coffee table and lands on the floor dramatically.“Hey, hey, come on.” Arrick tries to intervene, sitting me back down on the couch and I glare at her hatefully. Fury fueling me, even as he kneels down in front of me and tries to calm that wild inner beast, she has erupting all over.Leila flew in two days ago to rush through the prep for this wedding and in Arrick’s absence as he has been seeing his dad and getting his shit back to Carrero Corp, I have been stuck with my controlling sister planning my life in the worst kind of way.Yeah, I am back in full diva mode for sure, only this time she knows her place is not to sta
I look down at the ivory tulle and lace molded to my body billowing out into a full skirt as Emma and Leila fluff up the layers. Christian is messing with my bodice, yanking it tighter from the back and I know he’s trying to make my cleavage ride up and punch me in the face for maximum “ooomph” but my breasts are a little tender and this is not pleasant. Jenny’s messing with my veil and everything is hemming in around me. They are all suffocating me like crazy with their prodding and pandering and I’m like a simmering pot about to boil over.Staring at the double doors in front of us, the wooden blockage to the hundreds of eyes that are waiting to pull me apart out there. I start to feel overwhelmed and dizzy and stand stock still as my blood runs cold and heart starts pounding faster in my chest. I think my dress is maybe too tight because I am struggling to breathe, and my vision is getting a little swimmy.Why the hell did I agree t
The wedding party is insane. Carreros know how to throw a good one and their house is dolled up and trussed up like the best function lounge in the world. Marquees out back and wide-open rooms that have all been cleared in the last ten days. I hardly recognized it when we got here and even the dance floor in the heated tent where we had our first dance was cozily illuminated to the hilt with fairy lights and disco balls. They have pulled out all the stops for this one.Glitz, glamour, food and four bars complete with bartenders and waitresses, all wandering around the milling guests as a live band in the huge gardens get people dancing. The neighboring houses have opened their grounds for seating and quiet areas as they are long-time friends and guests and this place is probably a lot bigger than most venues could have offered.Our meagre guest list somehow turned to more than we could count once word got out and even though I know a lot of pictures have been taken, Ar
Arrick picks me up outside my bedroom door, being lame about carrying me over the threshold and orders me to close my eyes. I eye him warily, grinning like a weirdo and cover my eyes with my free hand as I cling around his neck childishly. I have the giggling fits after our stealth maneuvers to get in here undetected. All it did was highlight how drunk he is when we almost fell in rose bushes in the onset of drizzle when he tried to piggyback me across the garden before we got soaked.“Are they closed?” He nudges me, and I can hear him messing with the door to get it open while still holding me up. The slight sway as we stand here has me a little seasick though and I wish he would hurry up. Fresh air just made my queasiness intensify.“Yup” I peek at the side of his face and melt with how ready I am for him to get th
Arrick hands me water and helps me sit up on the bed to take a drink before laying me back down.“I’m sorry” I say for the hundredth time since he picked me up and carried me back to bed and tucked me in. He’s spent the last two minutes sweeping off petals and pushing stuff off the bedside to lay a bowl from my bathroom for me and feels my head with the back of his hand.“For throwing up? Don’t be … It’s not your fault you’re sick.” He seems a little odd as he says it and I catch a flicker run across his face. My stomach drops that after all the effort he made in here, I destroyed it all. He’s disappointed, I know he is.I am. I’m devastated.“What is it? Are you upset because I ruined our wedding night?” I catch his arm and pull him back to me needily as he lays my glass down. Hating that I could ruin our special day in this way.“It’s just se
“Don’t be nervous. We will soon see what’s what.” My mom pats my hand as she leads the way into her clinic and turns on all the lights quickly. Illuminating the empty building with a ‘blink, blink’ of strip lighting that hurts my eyes. I can’t speak, so numb with shock, not sure how to feel and Arrick is being equally silent.He went and got her for me. After the tests, as we didn’t know what else to feel or think and she came right away. It was surreal and hard to tell her everything, but he did most of the talking as I kept staring at all three identical tests and kept asking myself how. She was upset that I never told her, that I never got checked out by her when I was staying here but she put her doctor hat on and went to fetch her keys for her clinic and brought us down here in a cab. She runs her own practice and as key holder she had no qualms about doing this tonight. None of us would sleep otherwise.It’s a