Free Read Novels Online Home

Cement Heart (Viper's Heart Duet Book 1) by Beth Ehemann (31)

 

 

 

WEDDING DAY! NOT my own, but Michelle’s neighbor Jodi and her soon-to-be husband, Vince, who I had yet to meet. It probably made me a total douche, but when we’d been at Michelle’s the week before and Jodi was having her pre-wedding freak-out, I wasn’t all that disappointed at the thought of it being canceled. I had to get dressed up enough when the team traveled. Having to do it on my downtime was pure torture. The one positive thing about the wedding was I got to have Michelle to myself for a handful of hours, and that was worth wearing a monkey suit any day.

I pulled into Michelle’s driveway and straightened my jacket as I got out of the car. The front door opened as I walked up the steps, and Matthew stood there, shielding his eyes from the sun as he waited for me. The ground was already covered in snow, but the bright sunshine that day made it seem not so bad.

“What’s up, buddy?” I held my arms out.

He stared down at the ground, not as excited to see me as he normally was. “My mom said I can’t jump on you today or I’ll wrinkle your clothes,” he pouted.

“Oh.” I stepped in and closed the door behind me. “Well, she didn’t tell me I couldn’t hug you.” I knelt down to his level, holding my arms out again. His face lit up as he eagerly crashed into me so hard I almost fell over backward.

“I’ll be down in a minute!” Michelle called from up the stairs.

Matthew pulled back and rolled his little eyes. “She said that ten times already.”

“It’s best you learn it now, Matthew.” I laughed. “They never mean it when they say that.”

He nodded like he knew exactly what I was talking about and we walked hand in hand to the kitchen. A young girl sat at that kitchen table shoveling spoonfuls of yogurt into Maura’s mouth. When Maura noticed me walk into the room, she smiled so big yogurt oozed out the sides of her mouth.

“What are you smiling at, silly?” She followed Maura’s eyes over to me. “Oh, hi. I didn’t hear anyone come in. Sorry. I’m Desi, the babysitter.”

“Hi, Desi. I’m Viper.”

“Viper’s my best friend,” Matthew told Desi proudly as he stood next to me.

I looked down at him. “That’s absolutely right.”

“Ahhh!” Michelle yelled out as she carefully ran into the kitchen in her heels. “I can’t find my favorite lipstick.” She opened drawer after drawer, slamming them all shut again.

I don’t know shit about fashion and even less about women’s clothes, but when we’d texted earlier, she asked if I had a silver tie. I lied and said yes, immediately going out to buy one. I had no idea it would be to accompany that.

She had on a silver dress that clung to her in places that made me want to weep. Silver heels with straps and more straps wrapped around her beautiful little feet. Her hair was down and wavy, and it looked sexy as fuck. She didn’t wear her hair down often, and I had to close my hands into fists to keep from marching over and running them through it.

“Here it is! In the battery drawer. Makes sense.” She laughed, finally standing up straight. Our eyes locked and my mouth went dry. “I’m hurrying, I promise. I’m almost ready. Why are you staring at me like that?” She looked down and inspected herself before flipping her eyes back up to me.

I put my hands in my pockets and shook my head as I slowly moved my eyes from her face all the way down and back up again. “I was just thinking that if that is almost ready, I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

Her lips parted on a soft gasp as she walked over to kiss my cheek. At the last second, I turned and our lips touched. Not a full kiss—just the corners—but that almost-kiss was more intense than any other kiss I’d had in my entire life. I waited for her to pull back, but she didn’t. She closed her eyes and sighed, holding it right there, just as scared as I was to make it official and turn her head. Eventually, she did move away and smile at me. It was a sad smile. A smile that confirmed to me that she felt the same way I did, but she knew just as much as I did that it could never happen.

She swallowed hard and took a shaky breath. “I’ll be back in a couple minutes, okay?”

I nodded and watched her walk out of the room, already excited for when she’d come back.

 

Thirty minutes later, we finally kissed the kids good-bye and headed out the door. The short drive to the church bummed me out because, selfishly, I wanted to hog Michelle to myself all night long. Once seated in the pew, things got a little awkward. People whispered and stared. I even caught a couple of wedding guests snapping pics. I wasn’t the most famous guy on my team, but all it would take was for one person to recognize me and it would spread like wildfire. The last thing I wanted was to take away from Jodi and Vince’s day.

Michelle rested her hand on my knee and I practically jumped out of my skin. “Whoa. Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” I looked straight into her eyes and focused hard on drowning out the rest of the church. “I’m good. Just ready to get the show on the road.”

As if the wedding gods themselves were smiling down on me, the ceremony started right then. And even more awesome was how quick it went. Flower girls, ring bearer, bridesmaids, groomsmen, bride, vows, rings, kiss, done. My kind of ceremony.

Time to party!

The reception room was badass! The tables were decorated with red cloths, and there was a bar in the corner made out of ice. Very quickly after we sat, they introduced the bride and groom, cut the cake, and announced we could start eating, but there wasn’t a waiter on the floor.

I leaned in toward Michelle. “Clearly I don’t go to enough weddings. Where’s the food?”

Michelle giggled and leaned in closer, her hair brushing against my jaw as she did. “Vince had a very specific idea of what he wanted, so there’s a mashed potato bar over there.” She pointed toward the far corner of the room. “A stir-fry bar over there.” She pointed to another corner. “A meat bar over there, and finally, in that corner”—she paused and laughed again—“a pizza bar.”

I sat up straight and looked at her. “You’ve got to be shitting me.”

“I wish I were.”

 

After I’d made two trips to each food station, I was pretty sure someone was going to have to roll me to the car and take me to the hospital to have my stomach pumped—but it was worth every delicious bite. Before long, the DJ turned off the dinner music and started playing something more upbeat. Drinks were flowing at the bar and the brightly colored DJ lights were shining on all of our faces.

“Michelle?” We both turned in our seats at the sound of her name being yelled.

I had no idea who they were, but Michelle’s eyes bulged and her mouth fell open in shock as she stood and ran straight into the arms of two women. Then they all began squealing and jumping up and down together.

They hugged and celebrated for at least five minutes before they eventually made their way over to our table.

“Viper?” Michelle shouted my name as loudly as she could over the music. I stood and turned around as she motioned toward the women. “These are my friends from college, Sarah and Nicole. Ladies, this is my… friend Viper.”

“Hi, nice to meet you.” I held my hand out and shook both of their hands. “Did you all know you were gonna see each other here tonight?”

“No.” Michelle shook her head. “These two were my sorority sisters back in college, and by some weird twist of fate, they both teach at the same school Jodi does. I had no idea.”

“It’s the best surprise ever!” Sarah hollered as she clapped her hands together and tucked them under her chin while Nicole stood next to her, nodding like a bobblehead doll.

“It really is. It’s been like what… nine years since we’ve seen each other?” Michelle asked.

“Yeah, you had just started dating Mike,” Nicole answered, flashing me an awkward glance like she’d said something she shouldn’t have.

“We really should get together and catch up sometime, for sure.” Michelle leaned in close so they could hear her.

“Absolutely, but we’ll let you get back to your date here.” Sarah nodded toward me. “It was nice meeting you, Viper.” They both offered up a small wave.

“You too,” I called back as Michelle and I returned to our seats. I pulled Michelle’s chair out for her and bent down into her ear so she could hear me. “That was interesting, huh?”

“It really was.” Her eyes dropped sadly to the table as she picked at a spot on the tablecloth.

I rested my hand on her knee and leaned in toward her again. “What’s the matter?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I just forgot how much I missed them until I saw them. I really haven’t done a good job of keeping in contact with my old friends.”

I lifted my hand to her shoulder, enjoying the feeling of her soft, bare skin under my fingers. “I’m sorry.”

“No biggie.” She waved her hand. “I’m just in a funk tonight. I don’t know why.”

The loud music faded out as the DJ grabbed the microphone. “We’re gonna slow it down just a bit here, so grab the one you love and take them for a spin around the floor.”

I recognized the song as soon as he started playing it. I’d heard it on the radio every five minutes lately, and it made me think of Michelle each and every fucking time. “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran.

Completely oblivious to me staring at her, she turned around in her seat. She rested her chin on her arm and her arm on the back of her chair as she gazed out at the couples dancing around the floor. The white lights coming from the electronic disco ball bounced off her face, illuminating her sadness to the point that I couldn’t take it anymore.

I stood up and offered my hand to her. She frowned down at it for a second before realizing what I was asking. Her eyes flashed up to mine and she licked her lips as she gently put her hand in mine. “I thought Viper doesn’t dance?”

I kissed the top of it. “Viper breaks his own rules sometimes… but only for someone very special.”

As we walked out to the dance floor hand in hand, I was beyond proud to call her mine, at least for that night.

 

I stopped and held my hand up, twirling her out away from me before pulling her back against me as tight as I could.

“What was that?” She looked at me incredulously with the biggest grin I’d seen on her face all night.

“Don’t get your hopes up. That’s the only move I have,” I joked, wrapping my hands around her waist. She rested her forearms on my shoulders and gently rubbed the back of my neck, sending shivers all the way to my fucking toes. As we swayed to the music, she closed her eyes and rested her head on my chest.

After a minute, she straightened and glanced around the room quickly, dipping her face toward the ground just a bit. “People are staring at you.”

“I am absolutely one hundred percent certain that I’m not the one they’re staring at.”

Her eyes glistened and she pressed her lips together. “Viper—”

“Don’t,” I interrupted, smiling at her as I brushed her cheek with the back of my hand. “I know exactly what you’re going to say because you should say it, but don’t. For now, for just this song… let’s pretend, okay? You’re not Mike’s wife, and I’m not Mike’s best friend. Just this one song.”

A tear fell from her eye, but she didn’t argue as she laid her head back on my chest, right where it belonged.