Page 8 of Her Wedding Night
Mine to keep safe.
CHAPTER 5
LUCY
Ethan sweeps his arm around me as I rejoin the group. His hand, curling over my hip, makes my stomach jolt. I try to edge away, try to get some space, but he clamps down hard.
"You look beautiful," he murmurs.
Words I've always wondered if anyone would ever say to me. But now that I'm hearing them, they don't make me feel beautiful. My skin crawls.
And when someone shoves another plastic cup into my hand, I gulp at it, grateful for an excuse to “accidentally” jam my elbow purposely into Ethan’s side.
"Sorry," I say brightly. “Hard to drink when you're holding me so tight.”
His friends laugh as he releases me.
Alyssa grabs my hand and tugs me to the lounge bed where Hannah and Gracie are sprawled.
“You look pretty,” Hannah says in a sing-song voice that makes me think she does not think I'm pretty at all, but more like a threat. Some sort of competition for Ethan’s attention.
She can have him, I don’t care.
“This all feels very over the top,” I say under my breath, as much to myself as them.
Alyssa laughs. “Right? They’re so extra.” She takes a long sip of her drink. “But like, free booze and theEyes Wide Shutvibe is fun, you know?”
Is it? Is it fun? And I only vaguely get the movie reference.
“I guess,” I say.
She rolls her eyes. “Look, they want us all to be virgins so they can do their little auction, but it’s?—”
“Their what?” I can’t keep the alarm out of my voice.
Gracie giggles. “I know, right? As if any of us are still virgins.”
Hannah snorts. “Uh, like, they've all put their dicks in us.”
“Oh, so it's like, uh…” I'm trying to find the right words. Because I, an actual virgin, have never done the wholehave someone put their dick in mething. “Like a game?”
Hannah’s eyes narrow and she rakes her gaze over me. “Yes, like a game. Of course, it gets kind of intense when they bring a new girl. And then Ethan went way over the top and dressed you up like his pretty little bride.”
The bottom of my stomach goes into free fall. The rocking of the waves as we turn out to sea doesn’t help, either.
Fuck me.
What have I got myself into?
“Okay…” I’m desperate to stay cool here, even though I know this is bad, very bad. “So they…”
But I was specific with Ethan, wasn’t I? Maybe I should find him and be more blunt with him. When I was his tutor, sometimes I had to get stern with him and have a “come to Jesus” talk about his study habits.
Keeping his dick out of my vagina might need the same bossiness.
But before I can say anything, Gilly announces that it’s time for the first round of poker.
Okay, well, that's at least not some sort of faux virgin auction.