Aftermath Book Two Crash Series

Chapter Nineteen

Aria

            Every eye in this large room is focused on me as the door closes behind Lauren. Wyatt and Leo can handle the police on their own which gives us ample opportunity to wrap this s**t show all the way up. I know I should feel bad about the bomb I dropped about Edward maybe even slightly guilty that I might have hurt Cynthia in any way. But my eyes are locked on hers and in them I see everything I need.

            There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s known for a long time maybe their whole relationship that Edward wasn’t faithful. I didn’t break her heart. I just hurt her reputation and gave the woman she brunches with a reason to gossip behind her back, and she hates that. I’m sure there will be a price to pay, and I’ll handle that when it comes about but in this moment I can't help but bask in my pride.

            I didn’t just put Lauren in her place no I knocked Cynthia down too. She thinks I don’t know the intricacies of her world. She might be right in some ways; I don’t know how to tell the soup spoon from the dinner spoon. But poor or rich a b***h is a b***h and I’ve dealt with enough of them to know how to get them where it matters. And what I just did?

            Yeah, that blew them both to smithereens, and that my friends are something to be proud of.

            Cynthia is seething. Her cheeks are as red a cardinal with her lips drawn tighter than a tight rope. I see the promise in her eyes and the begrudging respect. She knows a worthy competitor when she sees one. She also knows when she has to save face and like the proper lady she is she stands taller and shows no weakness to the onlooking vultures. Instead, she pretends as if none of that transpired.

            Bulldozing through the room she gives out her demands, “We have no time to waste people, get to it! Mason get that suit on, you need to be fitted and then I want them to take pictures on your back patio, the photographer should be setting it up now.

            “Heather you’ll have to put the bridesmaid dress on and Aria come. try this dress first.” Like the queen everyone thinks she is her subjects get to work, spanning around the room in another flurry. A man slightly taller than Mason with half the muscle tone wraps his hand around his arm and tugs him towards the changing station.

            Happy with the battle I already won I make my way to the rack of wedding dresses next to Cynthia. The rest of this isn’t important, the wedding dress? The bridesmaid's dresses? Mason’s tie? All of it falls back into what I told Mason earlier, the sooner we shut up and do what she says the sooner we can push her out the door.

            “When I saw this dress I thought of you. Try it on.” She keeps her eyes on the dress she pulled off the rack as she hands it over. I’m not sure what to make of her statement but with the choice to hide away even for a few moments from this woman and all the onlookers, I take it.

            Valorie’s at my side leading me to the back of the room where Mason is still changing, but there’s only one changing area. Not sure why we can’t use any of the countless rooms in the house, but I scoot behind the curtain enjoying the half-naked view of Mason that greets me regardless.

            “Has it been an hour yet?” I ask.

            “Only forty-eight more minutes to go.” He smirks as he shuffles closer, leaving his pants undone. “We could kill a few minutes here and now.” He drags his knuckles down my cheek before cupping my jaw. His thumb rubs circles on my jaw as his eyes turn concerned. “Are you okay?”

            Those words, “Are you okay?” such simple words that vibrate through me like the skin on a drum. They repeat in my head as I try to recall when anyone other than him has ever asked me that and meant it. Even as our relationship is on the rocks and he was only moments ago having a panic attack of his own he still cares. He stops everything to check-in and makes sure I’m still okay and I can't help but lean into his touch and think about how impossible it’ll be to walk away from him.

            Smiling up at him I rest my hands on his hard chest never missing the opportunity to feel his magnificent body. “Yup. I’m great.” A quiet laugh slips through causing his lips to twitch up as he lets out a sigh. “I’m sorry,” Mason may face some collateral damage from the fallout of the situation I just created, and already he was suffering, mainly because of me…us.

.           “Are you okay?” I ask what’s really important here. The only time I’ve come close to seeing him as unsteady as he looked earlier were the times Brian got me and I was missing but then there was relief. Earlier there was nothing but darkness with no sign of light. A place I’m all too familiar with.

            A place I shoved this amazing man into because I can’t get over my own insecurities and self-destructive behaviors. We can kill a couple of minutes now, but we don’t have the time to finish what we started earlier but I know in my bones that the answer will never be walking away from Mase. Not when my justification for doing so is that he’s worse off with me than he is without when I know walking away will hurt him more than anything else I can do standing next to him. Not when he has no one in his corner to ask him if he’s okay.

            “I’ll be better when our house is snob-free.” His face is tight with stress and his eyes are squinted shut like he’s holding back a headache. I don’t know what he has planned this weekend and I know he has a lot to deal with…always but he needs some time to himself.

            Thinking fast I trust my gut. “Alec has a game tonight, want to go with me? We can get dinner before and talk?” Maybe I can keep him away from work for a full day because he won’t do it himself.

            Tugging back a little he looks at me curiously as he contemplates and weighs his need to organize his work-life versus his personal. “This morning was amazing, something I think we both needed. I know we aren’t in the best place right now but you need some time away from work and from our drama. Really all of it. So if you don’t want to go with me you should see what Jaxson is doing or take the whole day to do something for you. Work can wait but your mental health cant and you look exhausted.”

            Like earlier, he tucks me into his chest as he places a kiss on my forehead and then another on my lips. His kiss is sweet, slow, and filled with love and a connection soul deep. “I’ll make the plans while I wait for you to get dressed.” He tucks another loose wave behind my ear the soft strands brush my neck making me shiver.

            “Yeah about that I’m going to need an explanation on why I’m showing you the dress before we get married? Is that a rich person thing? I always thought it was bad luck.”

            He rolls his eyes before pulling away so he can finish getting dressed. “This is a Cynthia thing. She’s narcotic and won’t sleep without making sure the picture turns out front-page worthy. This will only be the first of many dress rehearsals.”

            “Really?” I groan dreading the thought of doing this again and again and again. Really being anywhere near Cynthia is draining as is but all of this? Torture. I’m making Tara come with me next time.

            “Mason, do you see the time!” Cynthia shouts from the other side of the curtain.

            “For both mine and Jaxson’s proms, she made us dress up three separate times with our dates before she was satisfied we would represent the family well enough.”

            “I bet you loved that! Who was your date?”

            He has to clear his throat before he answers, “Lauren.”

            I can’t help that out of reflex alone I gag. “Ewww, gross.” Sticking out my tongue for a good effect I turn back towards the dress getting a good look at it for the first time.

            “Wow,” I breathe out. It gorgeous and totally is me. Not at all what I was expecting from Cynthia. Like at all, but…wow.

            “You like it?” Mason’s warm breath tickles the bare skin of my shoulder.

            “It’s beautiful.” It’s a masterpiece of simplicity yet uniqueness. The cream gown is covered in sheer fabric with a gorgeous v neck cut. Silk white flower petals cover the body of the dress, the cups beautifully rounded being held with a thin strip of sheer fabric on both shoulders swooping down in the back keeping my back almost bare until it reaches the skirt in a deep opened V. The skirt has a few thin layers with a scattering of silk flowers falling down the gown.

            “I can’t wait to see you in it.” He wraps his arm around my stomach, his stomach pressed to my back as he places a parting kiss on my head. Leaving me to get dressed and saving his mother from having a heart attack about the time we're wasting.

            It doesn’t take me long to get dressed. It slides on perfectly and easily. I don’t need to search for help, and I get a second to take it all in. It’s as soft and comfortable as it is beautiful. I’m shocked Cynthis managed to find my dream dress when I didn’t even know I had a dream dress. I want this for real. I want this very dress at my actual wedding. And I want that Mason to be standing at the end of that aisle.

            Valorie is waiting on me when I walk out from the curtain a makeup brush and palette in her hands. She sits me in a chair while she works on my makeup and someone else starts pulling at my hair. No one asks for my opinion nor do they try to make any small talk. I don’t mind I’m still lost in the details of the dress. Every time I look at it I find something new to fall in love with.

            Cynthia sees me first when I walk through the patio doors but I pay no attention lost in how amazing Mason looks. He’s always rocking a suit buy for some reason this one just hits me in all the feels and I don’t know if it's because of all the emotions of the day or the fact that I’m wearing his ring and a wedding dress for his wedding. Or the butterflies that are still there from the way his breath danced across my skin. Regardless I feel like this is it. Like this is real and important. So important.

            “Damn I’m good. That’ll do perfectly!” Cynthia bounces to my side so she can poke and probe, turning me from side to side as she lifts up and inspects every inch of the dress. “We’ll get you a diamond tiara and you’ll have to take off this hideous charm bracelet.”

            “The bracelet stays Cynthia.” I don’t take it off ever. It’s saved my life one too many times to ever go without. And it’s beautiful and me.

            She does not agree, rolling her eyes like I’m an ignorant child, “We’ll get matching jewelry. You can take it off for a day Dear. You won’t need a necklace the neckline is wonderful as is.” She runs her hand along the neckline as she talks about it which makes me feel uncomfortable so I pull back dislodging her fingers.

            “I’ll be wearing it and it’s non-negotiable,” I say firmly enough to make sure she’s listening knowing if it ever gets far enough, I’ll have this argument again. “But I do have to thank you for this dress it is magnificent.” I need to give credit where credit is due, this dress deserves the props even if she isn’t even close to my favorite person.

            “Come on I don’t have all day.” She scoffs before turning and marching towards Mason and the awaiting photographers.

            As soon as Mason notices me he goes still, only his eyes move as they take me in and grow heated. He loves it and it doesn’t take him long to let me know. Before I can reach him he’s shaken off his shock and scooping me up in a swoon-worthy kiss.

            “Holy f**k Crash. f**k it all let's get married right now.” Wrapping my arms around his neck I arch my back and giggle.

            “We can’t we haven’t had enough dress rehearsals yet. I still need a tiara and new jewelry apparently.” I joke between heated kisses, neither of us caring who is around.

            “You are stunning. A work of art Aria. Each time I’m lucky enough to see you in like this I’ll be questioning how this could be real. And if it is I want to know what I did to deserve you.”

            With words like that thrown on an already burning fire Cynthia’s plans stand no chance as I grab Mason’s hand pulling him back towards our room. He comes gleefully shouting behind us that everyone should clean this s**t up and be gone when we get back.

            Cynthia doesn’t even try to stop us instead she groans a few times about needing passion like that in her life but really I tune her out impatient to get Mason upstairs so I can rip his clothes off and then eventually we can talk.

             But at this point I think it’s pretty clear where we both stand.