“Just read the f**king menu, Em. It’s not rocket science.” He laughs and snorts, and his buddies laugh, too. They don’t know about my dyslexia, that reading is hard for me. But he knows.
His sister says, “She already ordered, Trip. Leave her alone.”
He points to the menu. “But she should order what she wants. Not what everyone else wants.” He looks down at me. “Don’t be stupid, Em. Read the f**king menu.”
Tears sting the backs of my lashes. “Let me up, Trip,” I say, motioning for him to move.
“Why?”
“Because I need to get up.” My voice cracks, and I hate that it does. “Move!” I shove him, and he gets up, stumbling back.
“Em, you’re being ridiculous,” he says. But it’s finally clear to him that he’s said enough.
I start to tick items off on my fingers. “First, I was stupid. Now I’m ridiculous. Do you want to keep going?” I put my hands on my h*ps and glare at him.
“Em,” he says. He shakes his head. “Whatever you ordered is fine.” He points to the chair. “I was just trying to help.”
I’m shaking, and I can’t stop. This isn’t the first time this has happened. But it’s the first time he’s done it in front of other people. I turn to walk out.
“Where are you going?” he calls to my retreating back.
“I’m leaving.”
He sits down. I can still hear him, though. “She’ll be back in a minute. Sorry, folks. Must be some pre-wedding jitters.”
Pre-wedding jitters my ass.
“Penny for your thoughts,” he says playfully.
“I was thinking about that night in the restaurant, the night before the wedding,” I admit.
“The night I f**ked it all up.” He reaches for me and I sidestep.
“Don’t touch me,” I say.
“Fine,” he bites out. “Just talk to me. We never did talk about that night. We never talked about why you left. Is this about you not being able to learn?” He tries to look like he cares, but I still don’t think he cares about me at all.
“I can learn.” I point a finger at my chest. “I am smart.”
“I know you’re smart. I’m sorry I ever said otherwise. I know how smart you are.”
I turn away from him. “You called me stupid. You did it in front of your friends.”
“I was drunk!” he says. He looks over his shoulder and calms himself. “Either way, don’t I get a pass for choosing the wrong word?”
“Do I get a pass for being dyslexic?” I ask.
“I put up with your dyslexia for a long time, Em,” he says.
“You put up with my dyslexia?” I can’t believe he just said that.
“You can’t even read a f**king menu, Em. It can get a little frustrating at times.” He smiles at me. But it’s one of those smiles that don’t reach his eyes.
“How do you think it feels being me, Trip? I’m the one who can’t read.”
“You won’t even try!” He points to his chest. “I was there that night too. You wouldn’t even look at the menu. You could have at least tried. That’s all I wanted you to do.”
“Logan never makes me look at the menu,” I shoot back. It’s terrible to use Logan as an example, but he is the example for all men. He’s what they all should be. He’s kind and considerate and smart as hell and talented. And he loves me.
“Logan probably can’t read one either.”
I gasp. “How dare you?”
“He’s deaf, Emily,” he grinds out. “How much lower can you go?” He shakes his head. “Or is that what you were going for? Someone more on your level?”
What is that supposed to mean? “Logan is everything that you will never, ever be.”
“Well, I hope I’m never deaf, all tattooed up, and poor.” He blows a breath out through his nose.
“I’m done with this conversation.”
He glares at me. “Apparently.”
“Find a place to live, Trip. And do it soon.”
He nods. “I’ll try.”
“Try harder.”
He nods at me again.
I leave Trip standing in the kitchen. As I’m walking back out to the living room, my bedroom door opens, and Logan steps out. I have to catch my breath at the sight of him. He’s wearing black trousers, a black turtleneck, and he has on a royal-blue button-down shirt with long sleeves that’s open at the throat. He’s not wearing a tie, and he doesn’t need one. Goodness, he looks like he just stepped off the cover of a magazine. He has a jacket thrown over his shoulder, hooked by his index finger.
He lifts the edge of his pants for me. “Are these socks too much?” he asks. He has on socks with multi-colored stripes. He grins.
I shake my head. “None of it’s too much.” I sweep my eyes from his head to his feet and back again. God, he’s handsome. “You look amazing.”
“I guess I clean up okay, huh?” he asks. He looks unsure of himself.
“Logan, you look fabulous,” my mom says. She claps her hands together like she’s at the theater.
My dad is looking down at his phone. “Can we leave now?”
Logan helps my mom into her coat and then helps me into mine. He leans down close to my ear as he spins me away from him. “You look good enough to eat.”
My heart leaps. So do you, I sign.
His brows arch. Don’t talk like that. I’m wearing some silk boxers your mom picked out. He adjusts his pants.
I grin at him. We get in the elevator, and he signs to me from the back. Are you all right? You look upset?
I’m fine. Just told Trip he has to find a place to live.
He rolls his eyes. He already did.
He’s working on it.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
Henry rushes forward and opens the door for us when we get downstairs. “You look lovely, Miss Madison,” he says to me as Trip gets into the limo. I squeeze Henry’s hand. He holds the door of the limo, and I slide inside. Logan gets in next to me, and I don’t feel at peace until his shoulder touches mine.
You sure you’re okay? he asks. He tucks a lock of hair behind my ear, his hands lingering at my temple. I arch into him like a cat and pull his hand down so I can kiss the center of his palm.
I lean my head on his shoulder and nod. I am okay, as long as he’s beside me.
Logan
I don’t know what happened while I was getting dressed but something did. I can tell it by the way Emily holds herself, as though she’s suddenly made of ice and she’s bracing for the break of a hammer against her fragile surface. I’m on one side of Emily, and Trip is on the other. His thigh touches hers, and she moves over closer to me, inching away from him. He spreads his legs wider. I lean forward to look at him around her and look down at his leg. He shifts subtly as his chest bellows with a heavy sigh. But he’s no longer pressed along her side.
Her parents sit across from us, and her dad is buried in his Blackberry. Her mom watches my subtle exchange with Trip, and she smiles at me. “Have your fall classes started yet, Logan?” she asks.
I take Emily’s hand and thread her fingers through mine, our palms facing each other’s. “Yes, ma’am. I started a week ago.”
“Shouldn’t you be at home getting your schoolwork done?” her dad asks suddenly, looking up from his phone.
“No, sir. I already did all my work.”
“What’s your major?” Mrs. Madison asks.
“I’m double majoring in Art and Advertising,” I say.
Emily tugs on my arm as she sits forward in her seat. “You should see some of his art. It’s really amazing.”
“Do you do paintings, Logan?” her mom asks.
“I use different mediums,” I say. “It depends on what fits the situation.”
She points to the tattoo on Emily’s wrist. “Like that one?”
“Oh, he didn’t do this,” Emily says. “His oldest brother Paul did this.” She strokes her hand down the inside of her forearm. “It was a surprise for Logan.”
“How did you two meet?” she asks. She tilts her head to the side. Something tells me that she already knows the story, but her husband has set aside his Blackberry and is listening now.
Emily looks up at me and blinks her pretty brown eyes. “I went into his tattoo shop to get a tattoo.” She grins. “And he put the moves on me.” She nudges me in the side. “Can I tell them what happened next?” I can feel her laughter against my side.
“She punched me in the face, Mrs. Madison.” I reach up and absently stroke across my nose.
“He tried to put the moves on me, and I was angry.” She shrugs, but she’s still laughing. “I’ll never forget the look on his face.”
“One minute I think I’m going to get to spend some time with a pretty girl,” I say. Emily squeezes my hand when I say “spend some time” because we both know I tried to lay her, just like I used do with every woman I met. “And the next, she breaks my nose.”
Emily laughs. She tugs my sleeve until I look down at her. “You never tried that move on anyone else, did you? After that?”
“You cured me of that particular move,” I say. I laugh because it’s funny now. It wasn’t nearly as funny then. It f**king hurt.
“Was it love at first sight?” her mom asks.
I look down into Emily’s eyes. I was intrigued by her the moment I saw that tattoo she wanted. There was so much in that drawing that made me want to get to know her. But she wouldn’t let me. “It was almost instantaneous for me,” I admit.
Trip jabs a finger toward his throat like he wants to make himself throw up, but I think I’m the only one who sees it.
“It took me a little longer,” she says. “He and his brothers let me stay with them for a little while.”
Her father arches his eyebrows.
Emily rushes on to say, “He slept on the couch and let me have his bedroom.”
Her father glares at me. I only slept on the couch for half of that first night. The rest of the time, I spent in bed with her. I didn’t have sex with her, though, not until she was willing to open up to me. She had too many secrets in the beginning.
“My family would like to have you over for dinner one night before you leave town. So everyone can meet.” I hadn’t told Emily that yet, but Paul brought it up. It’s a good idea.
“I think that sounds lovely, Logan,” Mrs. Madison says.
“Sounds like an interesting night,” Mr. Madison adds.
“I got my class schedule nailed down last week,” Emily says, changing the subject. Her father huffs, his chest bellowing with air.
“I hope it’s not going to be too difficult for you, dear,” her mom says. Emily stiffens.
“I’ll be fine with it.”
“Anything exciting with your music, dear?” her mom asks. At least she tries to look like she cares.
“There’s a big show coming up at the end of the week. I have to prepare an original piece to perform.” Her brow furrows, and I can tell she’s unsure about it.
“Sounds exciting,” her mom says with a smile. She tugs on her husband’s sleeve. “Doesn’t it, darling?”
He shrugs her hand off his arm. “Sounds like a waste of time.”
“Emily’s a talented musician,” I break in. I won’t let them put down her art. “You’ve never even heard her play.”
“And you have?” he shoots back.
“I might not be able to hear, but I can see the passion in her eyes and feel the joy in her heart when she’s playing, Mr. Madison.” I take a deep breath. “The crowd loves her. And she loves music. So, I love to watch her play.” I lean down and kiss her forehead. “I’ll be at your show, no matter what.”
She smiles up at me and lays her head on my arm.
“So will we,” her mother declares. I’m not going to hold my breath.
“I hope you’ll get this music idea out of your system soon and get back to real life.”
I stiffen, squeezing her hand.
“This is real life, Dad,” she says. “This is my life. And I’m living it the way I want.”
Her mother winks at her. “Let her be, darling,” she says sweetly. But there’s some steel behind her words, too, if her posture is any indication.
Everyone in the limo stops talking. I look from person to person, just to be sure I’m not missing anything. But no one is saying anything. Emily is looking past me, out the window. And there’s a noticeable divide between her parents. Trip is cool and collected. The fucker.
Emily
Logan is the most handsome man in the whole room. And I’m not just saying that because he’s mine. There are a lot of models wearing Madison Avenue clothes, and none of them wear them as well as Logan does. He’s just darn handsome.
My dad’s new ad campaign is displayed on bulletin boards around the room. Logan stops in front of one and scrunches up his nose.
“You don’t like it?” I ask.
He shrugs. “It’s fine, I guess.”
I tilt my head, trying to see what he sees in the pictures. “What’s wrong with it?”
He shrugs again. “Nothing really. I just think it could be better.”
Trip claps a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll be sure to tell the big guy how much you like his ad campaign.” He winks at me. He’s such an ass. I can’t believe I ever considered marrying him at all.