Notorious: The Seaclusion Series Book Two

Chapter 1 Luke Tyler tugged at the tuxedo collar constricting his neck, while trying to ignore the crowd of people who gazed up at him. Instead he stared at the bright, shiny, brass colors of the crucifix. He flinched when the strands of the music started. God, he hated that sound, these people, and most of all being in this wedding. He tried to focus on the crowd, the flowers, his brother, John, who was the groom, anything at all, in order to avoid staring at Kelly Reeves, who was coming down the aisle as maid of honor for her sister, Cassie Reeves. Kelly stopped at the altar and smiled at him. Luke shifted his gaze over her head to look at the giant mural hanging from the back of the church. No way would he stare at Kelly while she walked down the aisle where he once walked his own bride. The music rose into the swells of the wedding march. John’s usual stern face, relaxed into a lopsided grin when his bride appeared at the back of the church. Luke shifted his feet, tugged at his sleeves, and stared at the smudge on his shoe, anything to keep from watching the bride and groom. Anything to ignore the breath-stealing pain squeezing his heart. He shouldn’t be up here. Not alone. Not without his wife. Not with Kelly Reeves opposite him. When Cassie’s blonde head came into view, her curves swathed in a gown of white, her image wavered for Luke. He had a severe case of déjà vu. He pictured himself, seven years ago, at this very altar, watching his own bride walk down the aisle. Shelly should be there in her beautiful, voluminous dress and brunette hair. But she wasn’t. She was dead. He shook his head trying to block out the images of his dead wife. The ceremony was a blur. Little things stood out. Smiles, rings exchanged, words exchanged, and Kelly speaking with surprising eloquence about her sister. Luke did his duty well. He smiled when he should and watched the ceremony dry-eyed while pretending he was present today and not lost in painful memories. Finally, it ended. John and Cassie kissed and smiled as if the world were just starting. They walked down the aisle to a standing ovation of clapping and whistles from the crowd. Luke took Kelly’s elbow and followed the bride and groom, all the while resenting the hell out of Kelly infringing on his memories of this sacred spot. The minute they stepped through the back doors, he dropped Kelly’s skinny arm. In the church vestibule, they were met with a blinding explosion of lights. Cameras snapped and flashed in a hurried frenzy, the photographers resembling piranhas around blood. Luke sighed and turned his face away from the spectacle. He wanted nothing more than to get out of the suffocating church and all the flashbacks it created. But instead, here they were, trapped in a funnel of cameras and voices, and it was all because of Kelly. Her status as a famous supermodel was being exacerbated by her current scandal of sleeping with married leading man, Brett Carlton. Their tawdry affair was the buzz of Hollywood and the reason so many reporters from tabloids followed Kelly here, to their little town in the middle of nowhere. Kelly used her bouquet of flowers to block her face. According to Cassie, who took her sister’s ridiculous lifestyle and fame with an ease Luke didn’t understand, Kelly didn’t seek out attention. Cassie claimed Kelly did everything she could to avoid the paparazzi. Cassie would say Kelly hadn’t meant for any of the media to know she was here in Seaclusion, Washington, attending her sister’s wedding. But Luke didn’t buy it. Kelly planned for her itinerary to be leaked in hopes of receiving this kind of attention. And this was one of the reasons he so disliked her. He found her lifestyle disgusting. He’d had the displeasure of spending large quantities of time with Kelly when she came to town to visit Cassie, and Cassie’s seven-year-old son, Tim. Cassie had moved into the house John and Luke shared, so to Luke’s dismay, any time Kelly was in town, she became his roommate. Kelly pretended to look stunned at the buzz of media in the stifling church vestibule. Father Thomas herded her out as if she were the bride, again taking attention from Cassie. Once Kelly was out of the cameras’ view, the incessant flashing of lights stopped and the half dozen reporters scattered out into the parking lot like a stain of ink spreading over a white shirt. They were in a hurry to leave now, no doubt planning to follow Kelly onto the reception. There was one reception venue in town, the same one Luke and Shelly had used. He was reliving his entire wedding day. But this time he was all alone. He tried to convince Cassie to have a beach-front ceremony. But Cassie was too afraid of Western Washington’s weather to attempt an outside June wedding. Luke hoped to avoid a day like this one, reliving his own wedding while he was best man for his brother. But if they’d had an outdoor ceremony, they’d all be part of this media fiasco, much more than they already were. By the time Luke got to the reception hall, the reception line was long and filled with just about every person who had attended Shelly’s and his wedding, seven years ago. Cassie had a handful of people to stand up for her. Kelly drawing attention away from her was inexcusable. Luke made a bee-line for the bar. Maybe a beer would ease the knot in his gut. The reception was going to be harder than the wedding because now, he had to socialize. Every family member and longtime family friend had been at his wedding, and his wife’s funeral. There was no getting around everyone’s pity and discomfort at facing him. There would be the hugs and handshakes, followed by the words of sympathy and sorrow, all capped off by some lame-a*s excuse to get away from him. Their discomfort about talking to him was tangible. It was excruciating to keep up his pleasant façade. Yes, he was doing fine. Yes, he was keeping busy and excited about moving into his new condo while John and Cassie were on their honeymoon. He smiled, shook hands and hugged, doing his best to put all the well-wishers at ease. He’d become the master of it. The perfect smile, hug, and tone of voice did the trick of convincing people he was all right and getting them off his back. Most believed him. Even his mother wanted to. Too bad it was all a pathetic act. One maintained until Shelly’s parents, his former in-laws, came walking up to him. Luke didn’t think they would be able to stomach coming back to Seaclusion, especially for a wedding. After Shelly died, they relocated to Arizona, where they had previously only spent the winter months. He blinked his eyes against the painful prick of tears when Shelly’s mom grabbed him in a crushing hug. Tears streamed unchecked down her face. She hugged him without speaking. They seldom spoke of Shelly, yet they talked at least once a month. They understood each other like no one else could, simply, they were here, alive and physically present, but their hearts were long withered and dead.