Page 65 of The Vow

“What?! Lena? You are there by yourself?”

“Yes.”

“You okay?” Was his message back. She almost sobbed.

“Fine, I’ve got about six bottles of Moet and platters of sushi on their way to entertain myself all night…”

“I’m coming.”

“What?! No, you don’t need to.”

“To be honest, I’m already in the parking lot.”

She ground her teeth at his message. Why couldn’t she ever be left alone? It was either Kavan or Ardian or her father or Carmelo, now, too. And yet, now she was alone… she felt too alone. Her heart pumped faster, knowing he was just outside.

“There’s a limo out here for you, you know that?”

She sighed as his messages kept pinging through to her.

“Driver says you were meant to be going to Vegas. He says everyone stormed out about twenty minutes ago.”

“Yes, thank you, so good to know you are fully up to date on everything.” She typed, hoping her catty tone got across to him.

There was no further text response, and she wasn’t sure if it meant Carmelo was coming or not. But then there was a knock at the door.

She flung open the door, full of rage.

His eyes then swept down her and his eyesbrows shot up. “What the fuck are you wearing?”

Lena looked down at herself. She was half way through her wedding dress try on when she’d lost it with everyone. So she had the corset on, and that was it. Great.

She didn’t miss a beat and replied snarkily. “Half of my wedding dress,” as if it was a silly question and Carmelo was an annoying 5 year old. She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

Carmelo grinned, leaning against the door frame, holding a giant platter of sushi. A food delivery driver, a nervous teenager, stood behind, holding paper bags which no doubt contained more food and drink, as well.

“I didn’t need you to guard me all night, God, you can be as bad as my family sometimes!” she huffed.

“I wasn’t guarding, I was just on my way home from a shift, thought I’d just swing by to see who was here-”

“What do you mean, who was here? No A-list celebrities, if that’s what you were hoping for-”

“Just to see what was going on, to see if Kavan and Ardian really were off tonight-”

“Well, they are and they don’t need you acting as backup-” Lena spat. She was angry. Not Carmelo, too, not him getting all protective and annoying.

She shoved him gently in the stomach and pushed past him to grab the paper bags off the terrified delivery guy.

“Thanks, do I need to pay?”

“Er, no ma’am, it was paid for when it was ordered.”

“Great, thanks, bye.” She smiled fakely at him and effectively dismissed him. He was only too glad to get out of there.

“And you, too, bye,” she said to Carmelo.

He sighed. “I wasn’t following you, Lena, I was honestly just on my way home and saw the limo outside and thought I’d just say hey to the driver-”

“Well, you did that so you can go again now, thanks. Bye!” she repeated again, snatched the sushi platter out of his hands and slammed the door in his face.