Chapter 58

“Andrew, what are you doing here?” Olivia asked, astonished.

“Thought I’d come and visit my fiance,” He smiled, wide and teeth-y.

His voice, the way he looked; it sparked something in my mind. I’d seen Andrew before. Not just on television or in magazines. No, there was some familiarity there, like a memory I couldn’t quite reach.

Something old and forgotten.

“Of course, but it’s bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her dress before the wedding,” She softly argued, though her voice was small and held no real authority to it.

“No such thing as bad luck,” Andrew grinned and strutted over to her. He grabbed her hip and forcefully pulled her to him, placing a messy kiss on her lips.

Olivia stared at him wide-eyed as he pulled away.

“What was that?” She demanded with a shake in her voice.

“It’s practice for the real thing this weekend,” He said it so matter-of-factly, like it was set in stone. Olivia’s eyes brimmed with tears again, but if Andrew noticed he didn’t say anything.

He turned to look me up and down, a strange look fell upon his face and he squinted his eyes to get a better look at my face.

I stared back at him, a similar expression probably adorning my features. He looked so familiar, and that’s when it struck me. He had very similar features to me. We had the same color eyes and hair - even a similar nose shape.

I wondered if maybe he was a cousin or somehow distantly related to my father. If not, it was an odd stroke of fate to look so closely to someone else you’d never met.

I glanced over Andrew’s shoulder where Olivia stood wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand. Her face was fixed in a frown and she looked utterly miserable. That pitying feeling took over my body again and I wanted nothing more than to comfort her.

Andrew cleared his throat and turned back to look at Olivia. She hid her hand behind her back and smiled at him as though nothing was wrong. She was a pretty convincing liar.

“I want you to come home with me so we can discuss some wedding preparations,” He told her. He sounded like a father scolding a child, not a man addressing his soon-to-be wife.

I cringed at the way Olivia’s voice rose two octaves when she replied.

“Of course,” She smiled shakily, “Ava, I will see you at the end of the week for my bachelorette party, then?”

My jaw slacked at the way she just rolled over and submitted it to him, but I nodded my head nonetheless.

“Good,” She pinched her lips into a tight grimace, “Andrew we can go.”

Andrew nodded, a cocky smile taking over his face. Olivia changed quickly and Andrew wrapped an arm around her shoulder as the two of them retreated from the boutique, leaving me there on my own.

I start to think about the feud between Andrew and Ethan. Surely there’s more to it than Ethan’s feelings for Olivia and the Alpha Chairman election. There’s something there that Ethan won’t tell me.

Andrew had a certain feeling that surrounded the air around him. It was slimy, cold. Ethan exuded the opposite: warm, strong. I thought back to the history of Andrew’s pack - it used to be Ehtan’s parents’ pack.

Could that have something to do with it? Was Ethan mad that Andrew was next in line to become alpha of that pack instead of him?

The thoughts burrowed into the back of my brain. I saved them for something to ponder later on. I had to get out of the boutique and go shopping for a clubbing dress for Olivia’s bachelorette party.

--

On Friday, the party was set to go underway at nine o’clock at night. The wedding was the next day. Time flew and still no word from Mars or Ethan on whether or not they’d be able to cancel the wedding.

Olivia’s hopes were dwindling with every passing day.

For her bachelorette, Olivia was ready at least. It would be her last night of freedom as far as we knew.

Sammy had been invited, and was incredibly excited to get drunk and dance with strangers at a crowded club.

Sammy met me at the house. Ethan was locked away in his studies on the phone with Mars, and the two of us were doing our makeup in the bathroom together.

“You look hot, by the way,” Sammy smiled and nudged my shoulder with her own. She hadn’t seen me much since I had undergone a sort of transformation in my appearance. I almost forgot she knew me as the weak, mousy little girl down the street. Now I was Luna to one of the most important packs in the world, and I finally looked at the part.

“You are looking amazing as well,” I laughed and nudged her back. “I’ve missed you.”

“It’s not easy being so important, huh?” She teased and finished up her mascara.

It didn’t take us too long to get ready together. I’d rented a limo that was waiting for us out front. We planned to take the limo to Olivia’s house, pick her up, and take her to the club I found that was supposed to be really fun to dance at.

For the last night of fun, we wanted to make sure that Olivia had the chance to do whatever she wanted before she was permanently stuck under Andrew’s thumb.

Sammy and I hopped in the limo once we were ready, and Olivia was waiting for us on her porch. She was practically vibrating. She was so excited for the night.

“Are you guys ready to party?!” She sang out, loudly. Something told me she was pregaming while she was getting ready.

Sammy and I shared a knowing look, but cheered along with her.

We were ready to party. I knew I definitely was ready for a night to put everything behind me for a few hours and just have fun.

We got to the club and it was far bigger than I imagined it would be.

The bouncer let us in, I placed a reservation and got our names on the list of course, and Olivia dragged Sammy and I straight to the dance floor.

We danced together, swaying our hips in time with each other, when Olivia decided that suddenly she was thirsty and needed to get drinks.

It went like that nearly every ten minutes. Sammy and I tried to keep up with Olivia’s drinking, and got incredibly drunk ourselves.

Halfway through the night, Olivia started throwing up her drinks, and I decided that it was time to go home.

I barely got us back to the limo, but we made it either way. Sammy decided she was going to stay with Olivia at her house just in case she needed anything - Olivia’s skin was a sickly green shade ever since we sat down.

The driver dropped them off, then let me out at Ethan’s house.

I barged through the doors, excited to see Ethan since he was working late when we left. I didn’t get to see him at all that day and I was ready to tell him every single thought I had about him.

I was almost as drunk as Olivia.

Ethan met me in the foyer, I was apparently yelling his name very loudly until he came down to see me.

“Ava?” He yawned.

“Ethan!” I squealed and melted into his arms.

He had to grip my ribcage to keep me upright.

“Ava, let’s get you to bed.” He sighed with a soft smile. Probably remembering when I came home in a very similar state and we spent the night together.

“I wish you didn’t love Olivia,” I murmured into his chest as he helped me up the stairs. “I want you to love me instead.”

When we got to the top of the stairs, Ethan looked down at me with that soft look I liked so much. Overcome with emotion, and a lack of inhibition, I pushed myself on my tiptoes to kiss him.

Ethan swung his head to the side so I’d miss his lips, and he murmured, “Not like this.”