Plus one, p.1
Plus One, page 1
Plus One
M.N. Forgy
Missy Blake
Contents
Title Page
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Epilogue
Afterword
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by M.N. Forgy
Copyright © 2017 by M.N. Forgy
Edited by Ellie McLove
Cover by Sara Eirew
Proofread by Kim Ginsberg
* * *
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
ISBN: 978-0-9864117-8-6
To those who need to unfuck yourself. It’s not the end, it’s the beginning.
Prologue
Looking through my thick lashes I can’t help but think how perfect everything is. The sun is shining through the stained glass window of the old church casting a warmth on my face. My bridesmaids look stunning in their lavender pencil straight dresses, and my wedding gown is flawless to match. My hands sweaty and strangling the bouquet nervously, I look at my husband-to-be. He doesn’t look as happy as me, in fact he looks miserable. I notice he’s sweating, a pensive look across his face as his head is bowed. He rubs his forehead with a trembling hand, not making eye contact. Maybe he took a Viagra for later tonight. He took one of those a month or so back and had a similar reaction. He had a boner for forty-three hours and had to ice himself to the point of nearly having frostbite on his cock. My eyes fall to his crotch, finding it flat.
* * *
“Groom, do you take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her in sickness and in health, remaining faithful to her as long as you both shall live?”
Jacob’s eyes widen, his face going pale as an unreadable look crosses his face. My long white veil sticks to my face as I begin to sweat nervously. This dress is suffocating, and my feet begin to ache, cramped in these heels.
Why is he looking at me like that? My heart beats rapidly in my chest as I stare back at my fiancé. Is he going to answer? I glance over my shoulder at my maid of honor, Quinn. We met in college and have been inseparable since. She is my go-to in any situation that isn’t ideal, so naturally I look to her for reassurance that my fiancé isn’t about to bail on me. She nudges me to turn back around, so I do.
Still, Jacob looks at me with a lost expression, and I can’t help but begin to panic.
“Jacob,” I mutter between tight lips, not wanting our families to think there is a problem.
He says nothing. There is a problem.
Jep, his groomsman elbows Jacob in the side.
“I can’t!” Jacob blurts, and the entire congregation gasps. “I just can’t,” Jacob shakes his head.
My world spins. My eyes blink rapidly. I open my mouth to say something but nothing comes out. What am I supposed to say?
“It’s not you,” he informs and I look at him with a crazed look. “I just don’t love you anymore,” he continues.
“How is that not me?” I burst out, and Jacob looks around like I just embarrassed him.
I clench my eyes shut, and look downward, completely mortified. I can feel everyone staring at me with their faces full of sympathy and shock, their disappointment weighing heavy on my shoulders. Deep down I feel like I knew this was coming. He wasn’t around for any of the wedding planning, and today he seemed so nervous I thought he was going to call the whole thing off before we even walked down the aisle.
My broken heart sinks in my chest from the humility of it all.
He huffs and runs off down the aisle like the chicken shit he is. Why would he put me through all of this in front of everyone we love?
“You asshole!” Quinn throws her bouquet at him, missing and hitting my grandmother right in the face.
“Oh shit! I’m so sorry, Mama,” Quinn rushes over to grandma to help untangle the flowers from her gray hair.
Turning to face everyone the blood drains from my face seeing their reactions. Just as I expected. Sympathy, pity, and shock laced in the depths of their eyes. Uncle Jim asleep in the back pew suddenly startles awake with a loud snort, and looks around, confused.
“What I miss?” he asks, looking around.
“Jacob just left,” Aunt Cara informs him.
“I told Rae not to marry that sum-bitch! Marriage is the beginning of death!” He chuckles himself into a fit of coughs and Aunt Cara just crosses her arms fuming.
I rub at my chest, the ache too much to bear. My heart has been torn from my chest and left at the altar to bleed out. It hurts.
“What happened? What did you say to him?” Jacobs’s mom appears in my line of sight. Her face flustered, and her big white floppy hat sitting haphazard on her head. She looks at me with a look of anger, demanding an explanation.
“Is there still going to be a reception, I want some beer?”
“Why is she still standing there?”
“Is she cheating on him?
“I told you she cornered him into this whole thing!”
Voices from around the room overwhelm me, the world lost to me as I take in this circus. Looking at the door where Jacob just slipped past. A piece of me hoping he’d pop his head back in and say, “Just kidding.” But Jacob never was the playful type.
I turn where I’m standing finding one of my bridesmaids, Letty, with her cream colored heels off and picking flowers out of her hair.
She glances at me and shrugs. “What? I told you this was going to happen. He’s a dick the size of his prick.” She did tell me that. She doesn’t like anyone though so I didn’t listen to her. She continues to pull fake flowers from her hair, her lips pursed.
“Letty, give it a rest.” Jep, the best man, suddenly appears.
“That’s not what you were saying when my mouth was wrapped around your dick in the limo an hour ago!” She raises a brow, and Jep’s face goes pale. My mouth falls open in shock hearing her say that.
At least someone is getting laid in this thing, because it won’t be me.
I begin to cry, tears streaming down my face as my heart breaks in front of everyone. I swipe at the tears angrily, not wanting anyone to see me cry.
In a haze my mother appears, her hand resting on my shoulder gently.
“Honey, calm down, it’s okay. We’re going to sit down with Jacob and figure this out,” she states softly.
“Rae, are you okay?” my sister Lani asks, right behind my mother.
Smelling cigarette smoke I look over my mother’s head and find my father lighting a cigar in the middle of the church.
My chest feels tight, my eyes filling with unshed tears. I can’t do this, I can’t be here.
Grabbing the ends of my dress, I kick my stupid heels off and run down the aisle.
“Rae! Rae, wait up honey, we can fix this!” My mother rushes after me, and I run faster. She was more excited for this wedding than anyone and I can’t listen to her psychobabble bullshit right now. She’ll try and sit us down and mend the broken pieces of mine and Jacob’s relationship. But him and I… we are done. There is no coming back from this.
Reaching the dressing room, I slam the door shut and lock it before falling to the floor in a mess of tulle and ribbon. My eyes burn from the running mascara, and I can’t help but rip the damn veil out of my hair so viciously it causes my scalp to burn from the strands of hair ripping from the root.
Looking around the dressing room with multiple lit vanities there’s an array of different colored lipsticks and bras thrown around. The smell of hairspray and perfume still lingering in the air. A picture perfect moment of a woman’s big day.
Jacob and I have been together for a year.
At four months I moved in with him per his request.
At six months he proposed and I said yes despite us being together only a short while. I figured it’s 2017, everyone is marrying early these days. He loves me, and I love him so why not?
At one year I was left at the altar with an urge to strangle him with my garter.
I should have read the signs better. Looking back, they were there. He didn’t show up for cake testing, and he’s been gone all hours of the night for the last two weeks.
I thought it was nerves, but in reality it was him trying to tell me he made a mistake without telling me he made one.
God this hurts. I rub at my chest that’s constricting the air from my lungs.
My sadness morphing into rage, I stand and kick at a vanity.
It doesn’t budge, making me even more angry. Arching a brow, I eye that fucking vanity full of makeup and fake flowers.
I press my hands against it, my face scrunches and I push with all my might until finally the damn thing tips over.
The light bulbs burst as it falls on its side, the sound music to my ears, the destruction instantly making me feel better.
Stupid vanity.
Stupid wedding.
Stupid Jacob!
I hate him. Why did he have to be such a child; A damn boy. If he wasn’t ready, why didn’t he say so? He doesn’t love me? Why would he go through with this until the very last minute?
Makes me wonder if he ever loved me at all.
A knock sounds at the door and I sniffle the snot threatening to drip from my nose and look at the door.
“Rae, open up!” Quinn demands. Lifting myself up, I unlock it, and she shimmies in. Her red hair is down now, and she has a plate of cake in one hand with a glass of champagne in the other.
“Wow, this is the most entertaining wedding I’ve been to. You should see your mom and Jacob’s mom yelling it out. Your mom’s southern accent is coming out, and Jacob’s mother’s face is so full of Botox you can’t tell if she’s laughing or crying.”
I snort and snatch the cake and glass from her hand. “Hey,” she frowns, eyeing me like I’m a bitch for taking her cake and wine. Using my hands, I grab a chunk and feed it to myself as I sob hysterically.
“I need this more than you,” I say around a mouthful of cake. Setting the plate down a sob wracks my body, my mouth dropping as tears stream down my face.
“This is it for me, I’ve hit rock bottom. Maybe I should just be a lesbian.” I cry louder. I could totally love a chick the same way I could a man. I like boobs. I scrunch my face thinking about taking a nipple in my mouth, it poking me in the eye as my wife-to-be rubs them in my face.
“You can’t be a lesbian babe, you’re orally challenged. Remember when you kissed that guy with braces and your hair got caught in his teeth when you tried to whip it all sexy like?” Quinn informs, with a raised brow.
This isn’t helping with my self-esteem, so naturally I resort to the chunk of cake right in front of me. No fork required.
Quinn hunches down and just when I think she’s going to say something nice, she touches the bottom of my chin and shuts my chomping mouth.
“I love you, but right now you have a face only your mother could love,” she smiles sarcastically.
I toss some cake at her and she flinches when it smacks her in the cheek.
“Bitch,” she hisses, wiping the cake off her face carefully.
“You only knew the guy a year, you’ll move on from this,” she encourages.
Looking up at her, my hands bowed out on my side trying to keep the falling cake from landing on my dress, I pout. “It was the best year of my life,” I cry louder, my eyes clenched shut and mouth open with a horrible loud wail leaving my mouth. This is not my proudest moment, I gotta say.
Jacob was my first in everything. Rebelling against my parents, quitting my dream job, love, sex, all of it.
She rolls her eyes, and pulls me into her.
“Jesus, you’re a mess.”
“Rae, it’s me Kelly what’s going on?” Jacob’s aunt says on the other side of the door, her odd knocking pattern sounding like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory. She was always nice to me, but I can’t stand to see anyone from Jacob’s side right now.
“Rae, open up, it’s Mom! Why don’t you and Jacob talk this out, hmm?”
“You need to go,” Quinn whispers and my eyes snap to hers.
She’s right, I need out of here and now. Looking around the room there is no way out aside from the locked door behind me. My eyes land on the window with just a fire escape outside, and my eyes light up. Bingo!
“You go out that window, and I’ll distract them.” Quinn helps me up off the floor and I hurry over to it. My heart beating a mile a minute.
I head to the window and pull it open. A rush of warm air slaps me in the face and I breathe it in. Pulling my dress up, I hike my leg over the window ledge and step out onto the fire escape. My feet greeting the hot metal, and I begin to sweat instantly with the heavy dress wrapped around me like a damn gordita.
“Runaway bride, I like your style.” My head jerks to the left finding a man leaning against the building nursing a beer right outside the window of the groom’s dressing room. He’s tall and handsome in his black slacks and dress shirt. He has blondish hair, and a square jaw that is lined with blonde stubble. I can’t help but notice he has the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen. I tear my gaze from his, angry with mankind right now.
“Fuck you,” I mutter trying to get my other leg out of the window. I give him another glance, noticing his formal attire. He’s here for the wedding but I don’t recognize him, he must be on Jacob’s side.
“Is he in there?” I can’t help but ask, pointing toward the window he climbed from. If he is, I’ll beat him with everything within reach and demand answers.
“Who? Jacob? No, he’s not in there. Not sure where he is,” he lifts an eyebrow.
“Yeah, sure you don’t,” I mumble perusing my escape. “Well, if you came to crash this wedding you’re too late,” I inform, and he chuckles.
My dress snags on the window, and I hurry to grab the material causing me to lose my balance and fall out of the window, landing on the unforgiving metal grate. The sound of my dress ripping makes my spine tingle.
So much for selling this on eBay.
A gust of wind blankets my backside and that’s when I realize I’m mooning this handsome stranger.
Could this day get any worse?
The man runs to my side. His hands clasp mine to help me up, and I notice his palm is much larger than mine. Bigger than Jacob’s too. Looking at him, his dress shirt is rolled up to his elbows, showing strong forearms. He starts trying to help me cover my ass, and my cheeks flush. His hands grabbing all over me making me flustered, I begin to slap his hands away in what looks like a bad attempt of patty cake.
Finally he steps back, looking at me with a crazed look in his face.
“You look like—”
“Hell?” I interrupt. “I know, and don’t care.” Pulling my gaze from his muscled arms back to the task at hand. Escaping.
I look over the ledge and swallow deep. I’ve never been one for heights. My stomach fills with butterflies as I slowly take a step back. Shit, how am I going to get down?
“Want some?” He lazily offers his beer. I bring my gaze back to him, noticing the gray flecks in his eyes. His stare is quite catching, gripping me from the inside out. He smiles, and my eyes fall to his full lips. They look hard, but soft all at the same time.
He shrugs his hard shoulders, and wraps his mouth around the end of the bottle. His strong throat bobbing with each sip. My brows narrow, I know for a fact I’ve never seen this man before. I would remember.
“Who is this man?”
His eyes widen, as he swallows a mouthful of alcohol.
I freeze. “Did I say that out loud?” I hold my hand to my lips, my filter obviously gone.
He chuckles, glancing down at his feet.
“You did. I’m Max, a friend of the groom’s,” he informs, looking at me from the corner of his eye.
Taking the beer, I take a big gulp, looking him over. “I’m Rae,” I introduce.
“Yeah… I know,” he replies coolly, not making eye contact. My brows pinch together, feelings suddenly misplaced. How can he know me, but I don’t know him?
“I don’t remember Jacob ever mentioning a Max,” I reply rudely. What can I say, being left at the altar does things to a woman.
“I just moved back to town, but most of my friends don’t tell their girlfriends about me anyway,” he winks and I feel my whole abdomen tighten. He’s a player, and obviously proud of it.
“Wait.” Beer in my hand I point my finger at him. “Were you the guy that slept with the English teacher?”
His cheeks turn a sexy shade of pink and he looks away. Conveying that he is the culprit of teacher play at Jacob’s high school. The stories I have heard about this man would make anyone blush.
The door inside the dressing room rattles, the voices of every female in the place muffled as they demand I open it.
“Shit,” I mutter under my breath, my body tensing.
“Want me to get you out of here?” he questions, reading my mind. I want to tell him to take a hike, but I have no way out of here and I need to escape this disaster with what dignity I have left. I can’t go home because Jacob might be there and I don’t want to be alone with him. I might kill him. I can see it now, “Emotional Bride Strangles Groom with Wedding Veil” in the headline of the morning paper.
