“I know, I deserve a Nobel Prize for the kind of stuff I do in the name of friendship,” I muttered.
“Just until the wedding,” Jo said coming to a stop beside me as I waited for the elevator. “After that, I’ll tell her everything and you will be free of the unbreakable vow.”
I shook my head. “Please don’t ever say that again. Harry Potter and everything related to it is sacred.”
“Fine.” He said grinning. “Just bear with me and don’t speak a word of this to anyone. Please.” He said. “I love her too much to risk losing her if she hears if from anyone else.” I could see the sincerity on his face. The idiot did love Sarah a lot.
“Alright, loser.” I huffed and pulled an invisible zip over my mouth. “My lips are sealed. “But after the wedding, all bets are off.” He nodded. Because I needed to tell Jake that I had feelings for no one except him. After that, if he still wanted to date Carpathia, so be it. It would be humiliating, yes, and I’d never show him my face again but at least I won’t have any regrets. I’ll know that I tried. And if the universe still wants to hate me, well then, screw you too.
“You’re the best, Em.” Jo hugged me. “I love you.” The elevator dinged.
“I love you too.” For a multi-billionaire, he was just as kind as his siblings. Respect to their late parents for raising such humble humans. Jo was just as modest as his sister and Jake . . . was staring at me from the elevator he had just exited. His eyes looked . . . betrayed? Damn it!
Jake averted his eyes seeing me in an embrace with his brother. I jerked back immediately and Jo looked confused at the sudden action. He saw me watching Jake and looked at us back and forth before stopping on me. “Hmm.” He muttered as some realization dawned on his face. “Interesting.” I didn’t ask Jo what was interesting because I was too focused on Jake who stood as stiff as a statue. Jo greeted his brother cheerfully and Jake only nodded.
“I hope you’re happy with the outcome,” Jo said. “Emma and I have worked our asses off to make Jasmin’s day a fairytale. She’s marrying a prince sure, but our sister is no less than a princess.”
Jake’s eyes were fixed on my hand which was entwined with Jo. His jaw ticked and I tried to remove it but Jo’s hold tightened. He was so dead. I mentally stab him at least four times.
“If you’d agreed with me and appointed the company I’d suggested, you and your . . . Ms. Duvall could enjoy the event rather than work so hard.” He said coldly.
What was wrong with him? Did I make that big of a fool of myself while I was drunk to make him behave this way? I wondered.
“Oh, we’re enjoying all right,” Jo said with a stupid grin and bumped my shoulder with a wink which in turn made Jake’s eyes turn into the North Pole. I would’ve bumped Jo off of Mount Everest right that second.
“How’s Sarah?” Jake asked unexpectedly. Jo and I share a look.
“She’s fine, I guess,” Jo said, rubbing the back of his neck. “We should turn in for the night. We need to be up early for the photo shoot. I’ll see you then.” Jo said and pulled me into the elevator. I lifted my head to gaze at Jake but he refused to look at me.
“What the hell was that about Sarah?” I asked Jo once the door closed.
“He saw me with her earlier today before the rehearsal dinner started,” Jo said.
“Saw you?”
“Yeah, you know, unconvincing her.” He said sheepishly. “With my mouth.”
I made a disgusted face. “Geez. I get that we’re doing the girlfriend hoax but at least you could fake break up with me in a dignified manner first.” And Jake to be the one to catch them of all people. The elevator dinged and he got off on Sarah's floor. “You heading up?” He asked.
“Yep. As soon as I’m done with this.” I shake the checklist in my hand.
“Call me if you need anything.” He said seriously.
“I’m sure you’ll be occupied with Sarah dearest,” I mutter. The chuckle before the door closed said that he’d heard me.
Half an hour later, I was back at the lobby elevator, done with my inspections. As I was stretching my neck from side to side to relieve the pain in my neck, I see that the roses lining the elevator had come unhooked from the top. Oh, that won’t do, I think. I believed I was a perfectionist. At least when I see something incorrect, I itched to correct it. Or it could be OCD. So I looked around and spotted a heavy upholstered chair opposite the elevator. I dragged the chair to the door before the elevator opened and I inconvenienced any of the hotel guests and climbed up on the soft cushioning. I drop my checklist next to my feet and lift to fix the damn flowers in my stupid heels. Because I was fun-sized as Jo liked to call me, I tended to wear heels more often than not. You know the saying, give a girl the right pair of shoes and she can conquer the world. But at the moment, because the shoes squeezed the life out of my toes, I decided to ditch them next to the chair. The world can conquer itself for the time being. But even after standing on the tips of my almost numb toes who were probably cursing me to hell, I couldn’t reach the hook. Thankfully because it was almost midnight, there was no one around for a minute to see me doing embarrassing things, so I jumped a bit and almost touched it.
I blew out a determined breath. “Listen to me you stubborn little shit, you are going onto that hook,” I warn the garland in my hand. “You hear me, or you and I are going to have a long talk where you end up in a damn trash can.” Okay. Let’s do this. I jump a little higher and slip. Yelping and murdering the garland in the process. I shut my eyes and pray that I don’t break my neck and die, in turn ruining the wedding of my dear friend. It was astonishing how fast one can pray when you could be seconds away from dying. The speed with which you utter your desperate pleas to God is truly marvelous. Which is what I was doing as I was whooshing down the chair until I wasn’t. And instead of feeling the cold marble, I fell into strong arms.
“Are you okay?”
I peek open an eye and see Jake holding me. He didn’t look as mad as he had earlier. “Uh, yeah.” I breathe out.
“What were you doing?” He asked.
“Fixing the flowers.” I glare at the garland which now mocked me from the floor.
“You should be more careful, Ms. Duvall.”
So we were back to that. I sighed internally. “You can put me down now, Mr. Vandervaal,” I said stiffly.
Jake looked at me for a minute, probably surprised by my cold tone. He puts my feet back on the ground but doesn’t let me go completely. His hand on my arms felt scorching hot. So I stepped back and out of reach. He narrowed his eyes. “Emma?” So now it was Emma. He was infuriating to no end.
“You’re indecision regarding what to call me is seriously giving me an emotional whiplash and I have had it!”
“What do you want me to do?” He asked.
“I want you to stop acting so formal.” I spit out. “After everything that happened, how could you still behave as if I’m nothing more than an acquaintance to you?”
“Emma . . .”
I don’t let him speak. I was too angry. “Do you call Cordelia with her last name after kissing her too?”