#Heart (Hashtag #6) (35 page)

The future.

Ivy

Word got out.

Really, we all should have expected it. ‘Course, with everything going on and the fact we almost forgot to attend our own party, I guess it didn’t seem so farfetched that none of us thought about it.

And yeah, the latest Buzz courtesy of the BuzzBoss herself certainly helped add to the crowd. Frankly, the fact that she obviously went home after everything that happened this morning and then posted a notification about the engagement party I set up at Screamerz for Romeo and Rimmel tonight didn’t give me the warm and fuzzies.

It totes made me worry.

If she would use the info she overheard at our house this morning about something as silly as a party, then what would she do with all the other information she learned? The stuff that wasn’t so silly?

I tried not to think about it, but as Braeden turned the truck into the way crowded parking lot and reporters swarmed and lifted their cameras, it was hard not to.

She was probably inside.

To get inside, she had to walk past the reporters. Missy was nothing if not dramatic, and I hoped she avoided the urge to perform on her way.

“Damn. I hope inside isn’t like this,” Braeden muttered as he looked for a spot.

Behind us, the green Hellcat purred into the lot and was closely followed by Drew and Trent in my brother’s Mustang. It was like a little family parade.

Braeden insisted we take his truck tonight. It seemed silly to me for us to bring three cars to the same place, but when I pointed that out, everyone snickered.

Why that was so funny I had no idea.

They were up to something. Rimmel and I never should have left the four of them to their own devices almost the entire day while we planned what was going to be an amazing wedding.

For all the “I don’t knows” and “I don’t really cares,” Rimmel certainly decided on what she wanted quick.

Well, okay, not so much the details, but she knew the exact location she wanted, and when Valerie said she thought it might not be possible, Rim proved her wrong.

Yep. She proved Valerie Anderson wrong.

She picked up her phone, dialed a number to a private line, and minutes later, we had a wedding location.

Score: Rimmel - 2 (1 for the location + 1 for getting Romeo), Valerie - 100

Rim was totes catching up.

After she got her way on that and announced the colors she wanted to use, everything else became just details again. Valerie sort of started to take over, but Rimmel didn’t seem to care.

We were supposed to go back over to the Andersons’ in a few days, because more decisions had to be made.

Braeden started laughing, and it pulled me out of my thoughts. “What?” I asked.

He motioned with his chin. “I should have known.”

I glanced ahead and smiled. There was an empty parking spot near the club’s entrance. Romeo always had a parking spot.

Always.

But this time there were two beside it.

One for each of us.

Braeden took the spot on the far right, Romeo pulled right beside him, and my brother took up the one on the left.

Braeden rolled his window down as the truck’s engine still ran. Romeo rolled down both the passenger side and driver’s side windows of his car, and as I peered around B, I saw my brother do the same.

“Hells yeah!” B hollered.

Laughter from everyone filtered into the cab but was way too quickly interrupted by the paparazzi swarming the Hellcat.

Everyone rolled up their windows, trying to get one last minute’s peace before we had to make our way through it all.

“Stay close,” B told me, wrapping one of the loose waves falling over my shoulder around his finger.

“With pleasure,” I replied.

He popped his door open and held it wide, using it as sort of a barricade against the people calling out Romeo’s and Rimmel’s names.

But the second he was on the pavement, people started calling his name, too.

He smiled and waved for the cameras but then came back inside the cab and held out his hand. “Come on.”

I gave him my hand and slid across the seat. He lifted me out of the elevated red truck and quickly put me on my feet. I was a little disappointed he didn’t slide me down his body like always.

“You just had to wear a dress, didn’t ya, Blondie?” he muttered, smoothing his hand over the flirty skirt.

He was worried I was going to flash someone.

I gave him a cheeky smile. “Good thing I’m wearing underwear.”

He groaned and reached behind him to open the passenger door of the Hellcat. “Come on, tutor girl.”

Rimmel climbed out of the car, looking photo ready, thanks to me, and smiled. “Thanks,” she murmured to B and then smiled for the cameras.

She was dressed in a pair of white skinny jeans, black bootie wedges with black bows on the sides, and a loose yellow chiffon top with fluttery cap sleeves. Over that, she was wearing a black leather jacket that she would never have picked out if I hadn’t literally handed it to her and told her to put it on.

It might not be her preferred hoodie, but she looked really awesome in it.

To top off her outfit, I pulled her long hair up into a high ponytail that I flat-ironed so it would fall sleekly down her back. Her black-rimmed glasses only enhanced the look. She was totally rocking the whole “sexy nerd” look.

Romeo came around the back of the Hellcat and pulled Rimmel into his side. They were stopped immediately for pictures, and instead of trying to rush away, they stopped and smiled, looking every bit the football royalty they had become.

Braeden finally slammed the door to his truck, and a few reporters called his name from behind. He linked our hands and turned. We smiled for a couple photos as reporters yelled out questions to him about the draft, the rumors that the Knights wanted him, and about his history with Romeo.

I heard Romeo answering similar questions, and of course, they were also being asked about their wedding, the location, and all those details.

It was chilly out, and my choice to wear a skirt only served in delivering me a nice draft up my legs. I shivered lightly, and Braeden paused for a split second in answering a question to anchor me at his side with his arm.

“Is there a wedding in the works for you two as well?” someone beside me asked.

“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” Braeden replied smoothly. He leaned into my ear to whisper, “Come on,” and then we pivoted around again to join Romeo and Rimmel.

“Do you have a comment on the rumors you had time to pull out the man who died in the car accident with your girlfriend, but you left him in the vehicle to die?” a rather loud and rather rude reporter yelled.

Braeden stopped. The set of his jaw was hard. Of course the media was going to be all over this. How could they not conjure up all kinds of scenarios after what happened at the party the other night when Robert showed up?

“I don’t comment on gossip,” Braeden said, hard, and then started walking again.

Romeo had heard the exchange and was standing there with a look on his face that matched B’s. The second we reached them, he took Rimmel’s hand and both guys positioned themselves so they were on the outside of us and Rim and I were shielded.

Drew and Trent were right beside the Mustang, and the second we approached, Trent took up residence in front of me and Rim, and Drew did the same from behind.

They were closing us in, making it so Rim and I were completely inaccessible to the press.

The bouncer at the door saw us coming and opened it swiftly, nodding at the guys. “No press!” he yelled when a few reporters tried to slip in with us.

“Thank Christ,” Braeden muttered.

I took a chance to look around, and of course, the place was packed. The second we walked in, people started cheering and howling. This was the Wolfpack country, and to the people of Alpha U, Romeo and B would always be Wolves first.

After that, drinks appeared, music pumped through the entire warehouse-looking building, and it was an all-around typical college night.

In other words, it was the best.

Rimmel’s tongue was blue from the Smurf Balls, Drew and Trent were surrounded by so many women on the dance floor they were scarcely visible, and Missy sat at a table with a group of people I didn’t know. I couldn’t help but notice how she watched my friends and me half the night.

I danced as much as B would let me. He kept telling me to sit down because of the baby. All the guys were extra watchful of me, worried someone might body check me like before.

It was going to be a long nine months, and this poor baby… God help her if she was a girl. With three very large, very protective uncles right in her home, plus a daddy who tackled men for a living… well, she was going to need a lot of patience.

Ooh! Patience was a nice name.

A slow song came over the speakers, and Braeden’s familiar arms wrapped around me from behind. “Time to go, Blondie.”

I craned my neck so I could look back at him. “Go?”

“We got somewhere we need to be.”

“Where?” I questioned, narrowing my eyes.

“Somewhere.” He kissed the tip of my nose.

“‘Kay.” I sighed. I was such a sucker.

Braeden went over and said something in Romeo’s ear, and he nodded. I watched them pound it out, and Rimmel gave me a
what’s going on
look, and I shrugged.

But then she smiled. A secret-like smile.

She knew, too.

Once the good-byes were said, B led me to the door. On the way, we passed right by Missy’s table.

I couldn’t help it. I stopped in front of her. She looked up at me, mild surprise in her eyes. “Twice in one day? Be careful, Ivy. People might think we’re friends again.”

File that under things that will never happen.

“How can we be sure you won’t talk?” I cut right to the chase.

“How little faith you have.”

I lifted a perfectly sculpted brow at her. “Big crowd tonight. The BuzzBoss made sure everyone knew where the party was.” It was an innocent statement, but she knew damn well what I meant.

Missy shrugged one of her delicate shoulders. “That’s what the BuzzBoss does. Keeps people in the know on important social events.”

“Just social?”

She stood up from the table then, giving her new friends a smile (the poor suckers), and leaned in. “I’m not going to say anything. Parties are one thing; real life is different.”

I believed her. Maybe I shouldn’t, but I did.

“I won’t hurt you like that.” She lowered her voice. “Not again. Not especially now that other people are involved.” She glanced pointedly at my waist.

So it was the baby that convinced her to let all this go?

“Good luck, Ivy,” Missy said, the note of finality in her voice clear.

My stomach dropped a little. I’d written Missy off a long time ago. I stopped thinking of her as my friend.

But I never really said good-bye to her.

In a way, it had never really been finished.

She just said good-bye. This was it. The complete and total end of my relationship with her.

“Thank you,” I said sincerely. “I hope you find a good life and keep it.”

I hope you don’t screw it up like you did with us.

“Me, too.” Her eyes slid to Braeden, who was standing there silently listening to our entire exchange.

“See ya, Missy,” was all he said.

“Bye, Braeden,” she echoed.

We stood there awkwardly for a few seconds more, and then she sat back down at her table and turned toward her friends.

It hurt a little. Missy and I hadn’t drifted apart naturally, but after everything, the result was just the same.

Braeden’s palm settled against my back, reminding me that even though that part of my life was over the best part was just beginning.

Out in the parking lot we hurried through the crowd of reporters still camped out. There were less than when we first arrived but still enough to be annoying.