Knox: Chicago Blaze #4

Reese

I’m done.Getting ditched at the altar is nothing compared to being humiliated there in front of three hundred shocked guests. Apparently I’m no good at spotting the signs your man’s a cheating liar. So I set off solo on my honeymoon to Hawaii, where I realize I’ve got this life thing down just fine on my own.Friendships and laughter? Yes.
Adventures? Absolutely.
But relationships? Hell no. Never again.

Knox

I’m a man of few words. My reputation as a moody prick is deserved, but only the handful of people who really know me see the man beneath the professional mask.
I’m a protector. A warrior. That part is true. But the world doesn’t get to see the rest of me. And women don’t seem to mind my gruff exterior—my bed’s always warm.I’m content with life—loving it, even—or so I thought. But when I meet a beautiful pastry chef with a broken heart and a smile that softens me down to my soul, I realize I wasn’t really content at all before her.
I only wish I had the words to let her know.

Chapter One

Reese

Finally.

Almost an entire year of planning falls into place as I approach my groom at the altar of a rustic-chic church outside Mendocino. Eric smiles nervously as my dad gives me a tender look and offers him my hand.

His blond hair is combed back neatly, and when I look at Eric, I still see the twenty-year-old I met in a college chemistry class almost nine years ago. It took a long time for him to take a forward leap into engagement and marriage, but we’re finally here.

“Dearly beloved,” the pastor begins, looking out at the guests in the pews—all two hundred and eighty-six of them. 

At least, it better be two hundred and eighty-six. That’s how many I received RSVPs from. Some of Eric’s fraternity brothers have been known to bring multiple dates to weddings. Classy bunch, those guys.

The fresh, salty smell of the ocean breezes in through the open windows of the church. The crash of the surf is soft from in here, but it’s there, and it soothes me. I’ve always found solace in being near the water. I’m a California girl through and through. 

Eric squeezes my hands and gives me another tense smile. It catches me off-guard, because I’m the one who’s been a nervous wreck in the weeks leading up to today. Eric is usually indifferent about these types of things to the point it can annoy me. Nothing’s a big deal to him. I guess we’re yin and yang that way, because I’m a major Type A planner.

I take a deep breath and give him a reassuring smile, silently telling him that once we get past the ceremony, the real fun begins. A huge tent is set up just a few hundred feet away, where our reception will be held with a stunning ocean view of the sunset.

Mrs. Eric Darnell. I’ve practiced saying it and writing it, but it doesn’t feel real. There’s a part of me that’s still scared, but this is the right thing. After nine years together, where else can our relationship go? 

At the sound of a sniffle, I turn to my maid of honor, my best friend Mandy, who’s already crying. I never knew her to be such a softie. The ceremony hasn’t really even started yet. She takes a tissue out from around her bouquet and wipes the corners of her eyes.

“Before we begin the ceremony, let us pray,” the pastor says.

“Hang on,” Eric blurts out.

Did he just say hang on as our wedding ceremony was about to start? My heart skips several beats as I look around to see what’s going on. Is there a medical emergency? Why else would Eric go off script?

The pastor and I both stare at him as he closes his eyes and grimaces.

“I’m sorry,” he says, sighing as he opens his eyes and lets go of my hands.

As they drop to my sides, an icy shiver travels down my spine. He let go. I only asked him for one thing when we talked on the phone this morning, honoring the tradition of not seeing each other on our wedding day. Hold onto my hands the entire time.

The church is silent, everyone holding their breath as they wait for Eric to speak. My heart races and my hands start to shake as I realize something’s not right here. 

“Reese.” Eric’s tone is both apologetic and pleading. “I need to tell you something. I want to go into this marriage with a clean conscience.”

I swallow back the bile that rises in my throat. This can’t be happening. In all my worst-case scenarios about what could go wrong on my wedding day, I never imagined this.

I worried I’d be having a heavy period today. That I’d trip on my way down the aisle and face plant in front of everyone. Or that the last week of stress eating would catch up with me and my dress wouldn’t zip.

But this? Never this. 

Eric lets out a shaky breath and says, “Please forgive me. I did something so stupid.”

Mandy’s crying intensifies and deep down, I already know what he’s going to confess.

“Uh…” The pastor looks between me and Eric. “Do you two want to step out for a moment?”

“What did you do?” I ask Eric, my voice nearly a whisper.

The sound and scent of the ocean has vanished and all I feel is a creeping sense of complete dread.

“So now it was stupid?” Mandy demands loudly. “Eight months together and you’re saying it was a mistake?”

The guests collectively gasp. 

As the truth sets in, I’m too stunned to even breathe. Eric. Fucked. Mandy. Not once, but a lot.

My grip loosens on my bouquet and it falls, making a rustling sound as it hits the ground. 

“You…?” I look back and forth between Eric and Mandy, blinking away tears. “For eight months?”

“I’m so sorry,” Eric says, his voice breaking. “It was a huge mistake.”

“You screwed one of my bridesmaids,” I say, my voice breaking, as I’m wondering what he thought the outcome of this would be.

“Not just one,” a female voice says from nearby. 

I whip my head back down my row of bridesmaids to see that it was my friend Kelsey who just spoke. She’s giving me a contrite look. Lately, I’ve been wondering about that bitch.

“That was two years ago,” Eric counters angrily. “And it was only one time.” Ugh, like that’s ok? I think I may puke.

My brother Drew is out of his seat swinging at Eric before I even know what’s going on. Eric hits the floor with a much louder thud than my bouquet made.

“No!” Mandy cries, lunging at my brother.

As I watch the chaos around me, I have a complete out-of-body experience when my dad comes to my side. He puts an arm around my shoulders and leads me back down the aisle, shielding me with his body. I turn in to the familiar warmth of him, not wanting anyone to see me as I quietly fall apart inside.

It’s an absolute nightmare. My wedding has turned into a Springer episode in about thirty seconds flat.

It’s hard to hurry down the aisle in the fancy Jimmy Choos I splurged on for today, but I try. And every time I slip and fall to the side, my dad is there to steady me.

When we make it to the stone-floored lobby of the church, my dad rushes me into the room we were waiting in just five minutes ago.

“What the hell is happening?” I cry, sitting down on a wooden chair that’s one of the few pieces of furniture in the small room. “I can’t even…I don’t know…”

The door to the room opens and Julie, another of my five bridesmaids, looks into the room.

“God, Reese, I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?”

I give her a helpless look, tears welling in my eyes. 

“Please tell me you didn’t sleep with him, too,” I say shakily.

“Oh, hell no. I would never!”

“I know, I just…I don’t know what to believe or who to trust right now.”

“Julie,” my dad says, “go ask the ushers to close the doors to the sanctuary for the next ten minutes. No one leaves this church until I’ve gotten Reese out of here.”

“Okay.” 

She pulls the door closed and my dad looks down at me.

“Are you okay to go?”

I nod and stand up, wiping the tears from beneath my eyes. “I want to get as far away from here as possible.”   

When my dad opens the door, Eric is standing there giving me a pathetic look. One of his eyes is purple and swollen, and his nose is bleeding. I’ll have to thank my brother for that later.

“Reese, will you please just listen?” Eric pleads. OMG, is he fucking kidding me?

Thankfully my dad cuts him down with just a look. “You’d better get the fuck away from her, or I’ll give you another black eye to match the first one.”

My idiot ex continues, like either of us cares at this point. “I know it sounds bad…”

My dad shoves Eric aside and leads me across the lobby of the church. I don’t know where I’d be right now without him. Probably still standing at the altar, sobbing. There’s anger, sure, but it’s still buried under the complete shock I’m feeling.

I was betrayed by not only my fiancé, but also my best friends. Mandy and I were college roommates. She’s the one who encouraged me to go to culinary school and pursue my dream job. When my mom was dying of cancer five years ago, Mandy was the one who sat with me while I cried, sometimes for hours at a time. She held my hand throughout my mom’s funeral.

Her betrayal hurts even more than Eric’s, in some ways.

“Reese, just hear me out,” Eric says from behind us. “I never meant—”

The dark, carved wood doors to the sanctuary are thrown open, and my brother Drew storms out, his murderous gaze fixed on Eric.

“Shit, no!” Eric cries, cowering.

That’s the last thing I see before my dad walks me out of the church entrance and down the stairs, and then we make a break for his SUV. He unlocks it as we run, keys in hand, and when we get there he opens the passenger door, helps me in and shoves the train of my wedding gown onto my lap.

A dirt trail flies behind his Yukon as we leave the church, and I don’t let out the breath I’m holding until we make it to the highway.