One

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

ALYSSA

I hug the curves on the hillside up to my ex-best friend, Skylar Samuelson’s estate, hoping my Ferrari California doesn’t plummet off the edge of the cliff. Maybe that would save me from spending two whole weeks in an exotic resort with the man who made me feel for a brief time like love might not permanently elude me.

Not only was I going to have to play maid of honor to his best man for Savage and Sky, but I was also going to have to spend two wholes weeks playing nice with Dylan Fucking Castle—the  man who ghosted me like I was one of The Savages groupies, or some shit.  And as if that wasn’t enough, I found out about the elaborate wedding arrangements through an entertainment news article on the internet along with the rest of the goddamn world.

We’ve spent the past eight months in the studio with Brody recording new music for Sky and me and never once did either of them mention a vacation before the wedding. I took one long overdue trip to visit Jacob, my erstwhile father, who lost the right to be called dad a long time ago, and this is the surprise I get upon my return?

To say I’m pissed at Sky and Brody aka Savage right now is an understatement. I pull up so close to the ornate gate leading into her property my bumper is kissing it;  I then have to roll back to punch in the gate code. Fuck!

Malik Thompson, Sky’s security chief is standing in the middle of the circular drive in front of the house as I pull up, arms folded, face settled into his signature scowl, when I brake a foot from his hulking frame. I step out of the car and slam the door.

“I’m not up for any bullshit right now, Malik. Where’s Sky?”

“She and Brody hit the gym when I left them after they finished up in the studio. What’s got you so fucking salty this early in the day?”

“You don’t want me to go there with you. Trust.” Besides, I don’t want Malik or anyone else other than Sky, who’s listened to me bitch and moan about Dylan since his disappearing act last year, to know that it was a dick move for her to pull this stunt without giving me as much as a heads-up about their change of plans.

Malik obviously takes me at my word, because he trots off in the general direction of his on-property residence and leaves me to enter the house alone. I find the happy couple frolicking on the mats in Sky’s home gym. I mean, that’s the only word I could conjure for what they’re doing. The music is on, so they don’t hear me come in, but they are laughing as Sky tries to mimic an exercise move that Brody keeps showing her, and she gets it wrong every damn time.

I won’t allow their cuteness to derail my anger, because Sky knows better than anyone how much Dylan hurt me, and because she and Brody are joined at the fucking hip, I’m sure he knows by now too that his boy isn’t someone I want to spend two weeks in a romantic location with. I turn off the music and they look up from where their frolicking has turned into making out.

“Hey—,” Brody says. He stops short when he sees the look on my face. He and Sky look guiltily at each other, then back to me.

“So, was I ever going to get clued in to this honeymoon you guys are planning for all your fucking wedding guests?”

Sky scrambles up and moves toward me, while Brody makes a feeble attempt at explaining it away, “It’s not a honeymoon it’s... it’s a vacation. Our honeymoon is after the vacation.”

“Alyssa,” Sky says, as she reaches for me and tries to take my hand, which I pull away from her. “We thought you’d be back way before the press releases hit the airwaves.”

“I didn’t go off-planet or some shit, Sky. I was at Naveah visiting Jacob as you well know, and last I checked my goddamn cell phone was still working. How about yours?”

Sky’s soft green eyes glisten and she twists her mouth in that way she does when she’s trying not to cry. “We...we didn’t want to tell you over the phone. We wanted to tell you in person.”

Brody’s joined our little circle and chimes in, “Sky only wanted to do this because she knows the guys and I haven’t spent any quality time together in years, and you and she haven’t had any time with Marnie and Nicole to speak of, so we thought a couple of weeks in paradise with our friends would be perfect.”

“Brody stop trying to take the blame. I know why Sky did this.” I refuse to let her puppy dog eyes make me feel guilty for this shit she’s pulling. “You’re no better than your mother, you know that?”

Cue the waterworks. Sky tries a half-assed apology. “Alyssa, I’m so sorry. I wanted you and Dylan to have a chance—”

“A chance for what? For me to make a goddamn fool of myself over him again, or for him to rub what happened between us last year in my face for two weeks?”

Brody puts his arms around Sky, who’s still reaching for me, and pulls her into his arms. “Blame me if you want to blame someone for introducing you to Dylan, okay. I knew how he was. I should have warned you.” He turns Sky’s pleading eyes away from me and gently toward him. “Aw, Baby please don’t cry.”

I feel like a fucking bitch for making Sky cry, but she and Brody crossed the line with this matchmaking shit. Now they’re cuddling and I’m feeling all third wheel again. Leaving them in the gym, I make my way to her den and help myself to her wet bar. I break the seal on the bottle and knock back a shot of Patron, then mix a pitcher of Margaritas. It may be too damn early to drink, but I believe this situation calls for some fucking alcohol.

After my first couple of drinks Brody joins me in the den. “What the fuck, Alyssa? Sky’s already anxious about everything concerning this wedding, and you come over here making her feel even shittier about it than she already is.”

“So what are you’re doing now, Brody? Fighting her battles, too?”

He walks right up to me barely leaving a couple of inches between us. “Sky can do that just fine herself when she’s not agonizing over whether she should ban one of her parents from her wedding. Then you come in here comparing her to her mother. As if she could be that type of bitch, particularly to you!”

Of all the people surrounding Sky, I’ve known her the longest and have seen or heard first hand, all the stunts her mother’s pulled. Comparing Sky to Elaine Samuelson was pushing the envelope just a little too far. Even for me and my short-tempered ass. I’ve had just enough tequila to reduce me to tears when I realize I may have hurt my best and only friend, irreparably.

“Oh, Damn,” Brody says and wraps me in his arms for a sympathy hug. “I just got Sky to stop crying and now here you go.”

“I’m sorry, Brody,” I blubber like an idiot, which is something I don’t normally do. “Dylan did a number on me that I just wasn’t expecting, and spending your wedding day with him was going to be hard enough. Even I can tough out one day, but I’ve got to see him every day for two weeks?” I take a deep breath. “You and Sky are asking me to do something that I can barely do when I go to see Jacob.”

I pull away from him and grab a napkin from the bar to dab my face.

Brody slips his hands in the back pockets of his jeans and rocks back on his heels. “How did that go, by the way? Is your dad still clean?”

I take a sip of my third margarita. “Yeah, as far as I can tell. He’s going to a local sober house next week. Thanks for referring him to your rehab facility.”

“The folks at Naveah are really good. When he leaves the sober house, he’ll be fully prepared to handle whatever life throws at him, especially if he uses his sponsor when needed, and removes himself from the environment that causes him to slip.”

Something clicks in my brain. “Your sobriety is why you can’t do The Savages anymore, isn’t it?”

Brody nods. I can see just a hint of the pain he endures from no longer being able to do what he loves. He tries to cover it over with a smile, but not quickly enough. “It was a willing sacrifice. Performing is like a fucking drug for me.”

“If that’s the case you’d already be shooting up again, and Jacob doesn’t stand a fucking chance,” I say dryly.

Brody looks perplexed. “What?”

“Do you actually believe the line of bullshit you just fed me? Because no one should sacrifice what they are born to do because some other shit went sideways in their lives.” When Brody’s face contorts into anger, I know I’ve overstepped my boundaries with him. Yet he doesn’t unleash his wrath on me. His voice is steady, calm even when he addresses me.

“Sky’s in the shower. She’ll be down to talk to you in a few minutes. At least try speaking to her like a civil human being, okay?” He turns and walks away from me.