“Babe, my boss is sending me on a business trip for a month. I won't be around for Valentine's Day.”
“That's okay. I'll be good and wait for you to come home.”
That night, a hurricane grounded all flights.
My boss picked up a last-minute job and sent me back to the hotel to toss petals and give blessings at a wedding reception.
When the bride stepped out, I nearly dropped the flower basket.
She was cradled in the groom's arms, kissing him, and every gesture, every movement was identical to my girlfriend's.
The instant our eyes met, she froze like she'd been struck by lightning. She didn't move for a long time.
The manager urged me to hurry up and scatter the petals. I swallowed the ache twisting through my chest, grabbed a fistful of petals, and tossed them over the happy couple with a blessing I'd never forget.
Beatrice Harding clenched her fists and watched me, terrified, until the groom noticed.
“Beatrice, why do you keep staring at him?”
“Wait, is he an ex-boyfriend or something?”
“No! He's my cousin!!”
——
“Oh, your cousin!”
“Why didn't you say so earlier? I feel bad for being so cold to him just now.”
Jude Delgado's face broke into a grin. He walked over to me and extended his hand.
“Hey, cuz! Sorry if I was rude before. No hard feelings, right?”
I shifted my gaze to Beatrice. She couldn't look at me anymore. Her eyes darted everywhere but my face.
Like a kid caught doing something wrong, bracing for the scolding.
To save herself from humiliation, to keep Jude from getting suspicious, she'd turned me into her cousin.
Cousin. What a joke. I was only now learning how effortlessly she could lie, and how comfortably she could cheat.
The woman who'd been wrapped around me all last night was standing here today, marrying another man.
“Long time no see, cuz!”
It took me a long time to get my mouth to work. The words scraped out through clenched teeth.
The moment they left my lips, the pain hit like needles driven straight into my chest.
The wedding was lavish. Every seat was filled with the rich and powerful.
I forced a miserable excuse for a smile and clasped Jude's hand.
“Hey. I'm Rhys Dickerson. Beatrice's……”
Beatrice's face went rigid, every drop of color draining out of it. She stood right beside Jude, and behind an expression no outsider would think to question, her eyes begged me not to say it.
My hand tightened into a fist. Every vein across my knuckles stood out.
I reined it in. When I spoke, my voice came out raw. ：“I'm Beatrice's cousin.”
The tension drained from her shoulders the second the word left my mouth. Still, she couldn't bring herself to look at me.
I remembered how she'd fallen for me at first sight. She'd always been wild, reckless, but for me she reined all of that in and played the good girl.
And I wanted nothing to do with her. Every time I saw her, I kept my distance.
The more I pushed her away, the harder Beatrice chased.
Then the day came when a rival set me up, and she threw herself in front of the blade meant for me.
I carried her to the hospital, soaked in her blood. I'd never loved her. But every second she was unconscious, my heart wouldn't stop hammering with the fear that she'd never wake up.
She was clinging to consciousness by a thread, and all she wanted to know was whether I loved her.
I nodded without hesitation. Told her she was the only woman I'd ever marry.
She'd saved my life. I owed her one promise, anything she asked.
In three years together, she never once cashed it in.
My phone buzzed. A message from her.
“Rhys, you still owe me that promise, don't you?”
“I'm using it now. Don't tell Jude or anyone else that you're my boyfriend.”
“I'll explain everything later. Just not now.”
Jude had already pulled her away to make the rounds, toasting the VIP guests. She set down her phone and went through the motions, barely present.
Now that I was her "cousin," Jude insisted I sit down and enjoy the banquet instead of working.
