THE CRAZY GOOD SERIES - Rachel Robinson Page 0,336

is your) Space,

Cody

I hit send and return to the guys in the living room. My overall demeanor is morose, so they try to fix it with bourbon and stories from the old days. Maverick even starts singing a song he wrote for Windsor. As if I needed a reminder of how desperately beautiful lasting love is.

I hate that shit.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Lainey

“THE DRESS IS too tight, the heels are too high, and my makeup is too dark,” I say, staring at the foreign creature in the mirror in front of me. “And the wig…really?” We’re getting ready at Chloe’s mom’s house. She lives on the outskirts of Manhattan.

Chloe scoffs. “Fuck no, it’s not. You look perfect. This is the last hurrah as a single lady. You’re doing it right, Lainey.” Coming up behind me, she rubs her hands down my sides, smoothing the bandage dress over my hips sinfully. I admit that the dress is hot, the heels are to die for and the forty dollars’ worth of makeup on my face does highlight my light eyes and high cheekbones, but it doesn’t look a thing like me. Maybe that’s the point. Disguise myself. The brunette wig falls in waves down my back like a high-class stripper. I move from one foot to the other, trying to see how steady I can be in these shoes. I roll up a pair of nude flats and stuff them in my small handbag. Emergency shoes seem like a good idea tonight. I come fully prepared for anything.

“Shouldn’t I be at least a little comfortable? God knows what you have planned,” I reply, wincing when I see her open another bag of penis straws in the reflection of the mirror. “None of this was necessary. This is for twenty-year-olds on their first engagement, who still have the party gene from college. Not for me. This isn’t for me.” I itch my head where the wig meets my true hairline. “Can’t we just grab a couple of drinks and call it a night?” No one can stop Chloe. I’ll make my displeasure known on principle.

Chloe rolls her eyes. “You think princess cousins Oksana and Natalya will be okay with that? They flew here for a party. A fucking party is what we’ll be having. The party bus is stopping to pick up Windsor and Morganna before heading here. Your cousins are almost ready. This is going down,” Chloe explains, reading her itinerary. It’s not that I’m not grateful, I’m just…not as happy as I should be. I don’t feel like celebrating. After reading another fucking beautiful email from the man I hate, I’m having a hard time grasping what I have to celebrate. Hooray for doing what’s best for me and settling for second choice? I sigh. Giving Dax my all has been challenging.

“You’re really having a hard time with this, aren’t you? You don’t want this at all?” Chloe asks, finally realizing I’m not fishing for compliments and attention. I’m really not into this.

I bite the inside of my cheek. “I do. I do,” I lie. “It’s just a lot for something that everyone does. Weddings happen all the time. There’s so much pressure to have parties and showers and floral arrangements dripping with diamonds, and cake that tastes like Brad Pitt’s dick, that you forget what this whole thing is about to begin with.”

Without looking up from her paper, she says, “God, I wonder how heavenly that tastes.”

I stomp a heeled foot on the wood floor. “What about the rest of what I said?”

She meets my eyes in the mirror. I turn to face her. “I get it,” she says, brushing a strand of hair that isn’t mine out of my face. “You’ll have fun. I promise. If it’s the last thing I do tonight, I’ll make sure you have a good time.”

“I’m holding you to that, Chloe,” I whisper. My cousins, matching in black dresses that look similar to mine, come traipsing into my room, all thick accents and huge, sprayed hair.

It’s hard to tell them apart when they’re not naked. Oksana has a mole at the bottom of her back, right where her ass starts. I know because of all the years they tried to be sneaky. She’d lift her shirt and show me and then pretend to be Natalya. Little bitch. Time didn’t help matters any. They have the same laugh lines. It’s creepy. “You. Look. Amazing,” one says. I assume it’s Natalya because she’s always been a touch nicer.

“Thanks. I’m