My Vegas Groom (The Greene Family #3) - Piper Rayne Page 0,10
Everyone waves and says hello. No one says congratulations. That’s a good sign that the news hasn’t reached this far north yet.
Ten minutes later, my stomach is in knots as I open the door of my brothers’ brewery, Truth or Dare. My big family sits around a large table to the left of the bar, and I say my hellos to people as I wind through the crowd.
Molly’s already got a beer for me when I sit down across from her. I lean over and whisper, “Do you think she knows?”
Molly glances at where my mom is with the rest of my family. “She hasn’t said anything, but she definitely wants to talk to you.”
I sit back down on the stool.
“Nikki.” Mom stands, waving at me.
As Mom tries to make her way over to me, a group of people step in front of her. Molly bites her lip, trying to hold back her laughter. I have to think of something and quick.
My brother, Jed, steps up next to Molly behind the bar and hands Molly a stack of empty glasses. “Holy shit, you’re never going to believe who just walked in.”
“Oh God, do I even want to know?” Clara, my stepbrother Xavier’s best friend, asks. “Someone from high school?”
“No.” Jed glances back at the door.
Before I even try to look behind me, my stepbrother Cade interrupts. “Nikki, we pay Molly to work. You realize that, right?”
“Nikki!” My mom frantically waves. Thank goodness for the grandma in the walker Mom can’t get around. “We need to talk.”
“Logan Stone,” Jed says and my eyes bulge at the same time my stomach sinks.
“Who’s Logan Stone?” my sister Posey asks.
“The MMA fighter?” Xavier says.
“No shit!” Cameron, my stepbrother Fisher’s best friend, turns toward the door as panic seizes my body. “Why would he be in Sunrise Bay?”
Chevelle says, “Oh, he’s a hottie.”
That earns her a glare from Cam.
“You know what, Cade, just leave me be. She’s still working, and I need her advice. That’s what bartenders do, right?” I snipe at Cade as though I can ignore the fact that my biggest mistake is about to be revealed in the middle of town for all to witness and gloat.
“Hey, Nik,” Molly says, her eyes growing wide as she looks over my shoulder.
I put up my hand at my friend. Does she think I can’t hear what’s going on? I’m just in denial.
“You just had a girls’ weekend. Why do you need to talk to her so bad?” Cade asks. “Not everything is urgent.”
“Nik,” Molly says again.
I swear I feel him behind me, as if we’re two magnets and his energy pulls at me.
“Nik,” Molly says louder this time.
“What?” I ask, and Molly points behind me.
I’m not an idiot. I know who’s there, but when I turn around, it will become reality. I circle around in the stool to find Logan Stone in a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and a sweatshirt. He’s similar to how I left him, but he’s clean-shaven now and his hair is styled. He looks good. Too good.
Jed finally lifts his jaw off the floor. “Hey, man, can I help you with something?”
Logan shakes his head, his eyes remaining locked with mine.
“Who is this guy?” Mandi nudges me with her elbow, and it’s then I realize she’d approached me.
“I’m her husband,” Logan says.
The entire restaurant quiets.
He cannot be serious. He had to announce that right here?
“Not really,” I say, looking at all the stunned expressions on my family’s faces.
“Nik,” my mom says, catching her breath as if she ran a marathon to reach me. “We need to talk.”
I glance at her and back at Logan. “In a minute, Mom.”
I rise from the stool, grab Logan’s hand, and tug him out of the brewery.
Let’s just get this over with.
Logan allows me to pull him out to the sidewalk where I confront him. “What are you doing here?”
“You ran out on me,” he says.
“Um… we were drunk. Surely you don’t want to be married to me now that you’ve had some time to think about it.”
He steps toward me. “I thought I was clear this morning that I wanted to talk.”
I inhale a deep breath and cross my arms. “And I don’t. It was a mistake.”
He looks to his right and raises his eyebrows. I follow his gaze to see my family staring at us through the window. I tug him farther down the sidewalk so we’re standing in front of Presley’s bookstore.