Page 135 of Insta Bride
“Girl. You’re supposed to be on stage,” Bree’s voice came through everyone’s earpiece.
“I thought you wanted ratings,” I replied, knowing only Bree and the crew could hear.
“Girl,” she warned.
“In about twenty seconds, socials are going to go wild wondering if the song had been enough for me to forgive Kye. I don’t know what hashtag they’ll use, but everyone will be wondering if I stood him up.”
“Shit. You’re right.” Bree shouted to someone, “Grab the best comments and put a ribbon along the bottom of the screen—I don’t care how, just do it.”
I watched Kye fidget in place as JP cut to a commercial break, instructing everyone to stay in place and not say anything until they were live on air, again.
I’d never felt more relaxed. Able to watch Kye’s face go through every shade of panic. Watching Benjamin look at Kenzie who didn’t have a clue, her gaze firmly fixed on Chloe.
“We’ll come back from the commercial break, but you’re not going to get your whole four and a half minutes. Kye, you’re gonna have to go solo.”
The lights shone again, and we were live. JP continued, as if there hadn’t been a commercial break, “Well Kye, what would you say to Elena, if she was here tonight?”
“If she was here,” Kye started before stopping. His chin had lowered and I saw the jaw continue to twitch. Then, he looked up, and sucked his bottom lip. His full, kissable lip. “If she was here, I’d tell her that the photos were fake. That only part of the recording was released to the public. I’d tell her that I hope she goes to sleep at night with my voice in her head—that she’ll never get the song out of her head. I want her to know that when all of this shit is over and Benjamin and Kenzie walk away with the cash, I hope she remembers my phone number and calls me.”
Kye held his hand up to stop JP from interrupting. “I want her to call, come back home, and give us a go in the real world.”
“This hasn’t been real?” JP asked with all the patience of a priest.
“It was fucking real, for me.”
“And our censors thank you.” JP laughed. “Seriously, Kye. If she was here, what would you say to her?”
“How about he tell me to my face?” I walked out and heard the audience gasp. Every mouth on the couch gaped open in shock, and no one could mistake Kenzie saying, “Bitch.”
I saw and heard their reactions through my periphery. It was Kye’s reaction I craved.
He wore the same outfit from the day I first noticed him as a man. Not when I’d been shown his photo amongst all others. He’d been the good looking, impossible dream. But at the mixer, he’d stood back from the crowd. Leaning against the wall, with his eyes following me.
“Elena,” he said, holding out his hands to take mine. They felt sweaty and strong. Had he really thought I wouldn’t show? “You look—”
“Remember it?”
I’d walked onto stage wearing the same, white, crochet bikini I’d worn the day on the beach when he’d come out of the surf and planked over me. That day, he’d stopped flirting with the other women, and focused his attention on me.
I wanted him to remember the day he first made me realize we could be a couple.
For modesty’s sake, I also wore a replica of the white dress I’d worn to the dinner. The same dinner where Kye had laid me down on a tablecloth of flowers. I wore the same nude heels from our wedding, and the only thing in my hair were hibiscus flowers from the island.
“So, Kye.” On the spur of the moment, I reached up and planted a kiss to his lips. Not the earth-shattering version that he’d surprised me with the first day on the island, but enough to break the ice. “You wanted to say something to me?”
I tried to step back, but his hands were already finding their way around my waist and underneath the unbuttoned dress.
Did he understand? I’d taken the three moments when he’d told me he’d wanted to give our relationship a chance. I hadn’t wanted one of the expensive gowns on offer for today. I wanted to give Kye memories of what we’d done to get here.
“Elena, Elena, Elena,” he half sang.
“Wow, that would be it make a great song but I think there needs to be more to the chorus than one word.”
I heard the audience laugh around us and even Kenzie’s face almost cracked a smile.
“You look,” he sighed and if it to be an absolute lie, his eyes welled.
“Kye?”