I race toward the terminal, the garment bag with the gown inside thrown over my arms and shoulder. Many times on the cab ride here I’ve thought of slashing it, throwing it out the window, accidentally puking on it, or putting it up for auction on eBay. I haven’t done any of those things, obviously, but I sure as hell want to. I’m going to miss my plane. God, I do not want to get on that plane, but my job is at stake.

I saw the disappointment in Jacinta’s gaze when I told her I couldn’t attend the wedding. I also saw the delight in Katherine’s. After that meeting I went home, consumed a bottle of wine, ate a whole baker’s dozen of Magnolia Cupcakes, puked up the contents of my stomach, and resolved to put on my big-girl panties and see this wedding through ’til the end. Plus, Katherine had been gloating all week at the office, and she was not getting my promotion.

I will not miss my plane.

I will not miss my plane.

I will not miss my plane.

Though, would it really be the worst thing if I did? It’d mean I’d get to go back to bed with my new friend the head cold. I could curl up with Sam, Dean, and Cas, and watch Supernatural from start to finish, and I wouldn’t have to look at Claire and Chase’s lying faces ever again. Not the worst thing ever—though there would no doubt be questions. My mother would be calling me every five seconds until I answered. I could always get a new phone? But despite Jacinta giving me a free pass, I’d lose my shot at that promotion, and as much as I love my job, I cannot work under Katherine again. Ever. Besides—thanks to Katherine forgetting to pick it up—I have the wedding gown, and as tempting as it is to throw it onto the tarmac, I have a job to do.

I dash up to the gate just as the hostess is gathering her things. Beyond her, the doors to the jetway are closed, despite there being another twenty minutes until departure. “Please,” I pant collapsing against the counter in a heap. I really need to work on my cardio. “I have to get on that flight.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, they’ve already closed the doors.”

“No, you don’t understand.” I sniff, digging around in my pocket for a Kleenex. I hold my finger up to indicate that she should wait as my body is wracked with one sneeze after the other. “If I’m not on that plane I lose my job, Katherine will get that promotion, my family will never forgive me, and neither will my so-called best friend, not to mention that it will look deliberate because my ex-fiancé is marrying my ex-best friend, and the groomsman is a jackass who I’ll be forced to see every holiday when our parents get together, and I really can’t afford to miss that flight.” Sneeze. Cough. The woman glares at me as if I’ve lost my damn mind. “My whole life—and Sam, Dean and Cas’s lives—depend on you letting me on that flight.”

I take a deep breath. The hostess seems equal parts stunned and irritated, as if she’s having a hard time believing I said all of that without the need for oxygen. She rolls her eyes and holds out her hand. With an audible squee, I offer up my boarding pass. She checks it, picks up the scanner, and the loud, electronic beep confirms that she’s decided to take pity on me.

I breathe a sigh of relief and smile. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“Oh honey, don’t thank me. If you’re going to the wedding of your best friend to your ex-fiancé, you should be thanking god for the tequila you’ll be drowning yourself in at the reception.”

I smile, but inside I’m dying. Not because I feel anything other than hatred and disgust for Chase right now, but because it finally sinks in that I’m on my way to this wedding, and now there’s no way out.

I watch the hostess as she opens the door and radios the plane. Okay, this is it. I’m doing this. I’m really doing this. I’m a strong, single woman. I don’t need an asshole like Chase to make me feel validated as a person. I am woman, hear me—

“Well, don’t just stand there. Go,” the hostess says.

I shoot her a sheepish grin.

“Right, going.” I run down the jetway, carting Claire’s wedding gown and my carry-on case. As I hurry onto the flight I’m met with a whole bunch of unimpressed faces, all glaring at me. The attendant checks my boarding pass and directs me down the aisle to coach with a dismissive hand gesture. I glance around the first-class cabin and meet Claire’s anxious gaze.

“Where were you?” she whisper-hisses.

I set my carry-on at my feet and blow my sweaty bangs out of my face. “Deciding whether or not to light your dress on fire.”

“Oh my God.” Claire places a hand over her heart.

“Don’t worry, it’s still in perfect condition, and I haven’t let it out of my sight.” I gesture to it, and then glance at Chase sitting beside his bride-to-be. “You might want to think about doing the same with Chase, since he has a tendency to wander.”

Behind them, Leo chuckles. So does the Hottie McHotpants beside him. I blush and attempt to move past, but Claire grabs my arm. “Don’t smoosh it all up in the cabin back there, will you?”

“I’ll sit it in my lap. Hey, Chase, isn’t that what you did to Claire?”

“Ooh,” Leo says. Claire turns to glare at him.

“That’s enough, Poppy,” Chase says.

“You know what? Just give it to me. I’ll handle it myself,” Claire huffs.

“That’s what she said,” the dark-haired man beside Leo chimes, and hits an imaginary cymbal like you would at the end of a bad joke.

I smile at him. He winks back, and Leo all of a sudden looks pissed.

I clutch the dress tightly and turn my attention back to Claire. “I can do this. I have this.”

“No.” Claire attempts to snatch it from me. “I’d really rather take care of it myself.”

“Okay, sure. Here you go.” I dump it into her lap and feel as if a weight has been lifted. With a curt smile to the air hostess, who was more than likely coming to kick me off the plane, I pick up my suitcase and move down the aisle to my seat beside Katherine. She shoots me a smug smile and says, “You made it. For a second there I thought you’d miss the flight.”

“Nope. I’m here.”

“And the dress? You didn’t forget the dress, did you?”

“No, I didn’t forget.”

Katherine blushes. “Well, where is it?”

“In first class with Claire.”

“Oh, great.” She clears her throat and flicks through the notebook in her hand. “Well hurry up and get sorted. I want to go over the plan for tonight’s luau. I was looking at our event timeline, and I just don’t think it’s going to work. We’re going to need to shuffle a few of the speeches, and given your behavior in the last week we should just get rid of that maid of honor speech all together.”

I repress an eye roll, stow my luggage in the overhead compartment, and slump down in my seat. The one beside me is empty, and I’m grateful for small mercies. Once Katherine’s finished reorganizing everything and everyone, maybe I’ll get some shut-eye. Between the coughing and sniffling all week, God knows I could do with more sleep.

“Fine by me,” I say, when I realize she’s actually waiting for a response.

As I listen to Katherine drone on I find myself wishing I’d missed the flight. Then Claire really would have had something to be angry about. I’ve bent over backwards since she asked me to be her maid of honor, and all I got in return was a slap in the face. She doesn’t trust me with Chase because she doesn’t trust Chase. She doesn’t realize that even now I’d never hurt her, not the way they did me. A lump forms in my throat. I swallow back my frustration. I don’t love Chase, so why does their betrayal hurt so much?

Maybe it’s because I love Claire. She’s been a part of my family since before we were old enough to wear training bras, long before Chase ever came along. Maybe it stings so much because she was supposed to have my back, and instead she was schtüping my fiancé behind it. Whatever the case, there’s nothing for it now. I still have a job to do and a wedding to oversee, and I intend to make sure it goes without a hitch.

***

A short time into the flight, a man taps me on my shoulder. I glare at him from my computer, take in his dark hair, hazel eyes, the tattoos, and that smirk that’s strangely familiar. It’s Leo’s seatmate. “Little Poppy Porter, all grown up. It’s good to see you again, Pop Tart.”

Pop Tart? Only two men in the entire world have ever called me that infuriating name and two of them happen to have a surname that rhymes with Ass, but surely this is not . . . no. It can’t be. Can it?

“Jasper?” I roll my gaze over him appreciatively.

“The one and only.”

“Oh my God, looks like I’m not the only one who’s grown up,” I say, scooting into the empty seat so he can sit down. A quick glance at Katherine shows she’s still asleep with her eye mask in place, her mouth open, and a thin line of drool escaping her lips to pool on her shirt. I lower my voice to a whisper and turn back to Jas. “How are you?”

“Well, I’m not heading to some douchebag-who-left-me-at-the-altar’s wedding with what looks like the zombie plague, so I’d say I’m feeling a shitload better than you are right now.”

“I’m fine. It’s just a head cold, and he didn’t leave me at the altar. He slept with my best friend before we could even make it there.” I take a deep breath and release it slowly, focusing my anger on something more productive, like landing that promotion. Jasper’s mouth quirks up in the corner, as if he can’t figure me out. He no doubt thinks I’m crazy. “But enough about my awesome life, what’s new with you? You are heading to the douche bags’ wedding, right? Please say yes. One weekend alone with only your brother to torment me was enough.”

He laughs, and it lights up that perfect hazel gaze. “I heard about that. My condolences. And yes, I’m headed to the same place you are. Not sure why. Chase and I were never friends, but it will keep the robots happy and there’s free booze. So hey, who am I to turn it down?”

He presses the call button and an annoyed-looking stewardess comes to see what he wants. When she recognizes his face, she balks. “Mr. Nass, is everything alright? You’re not in your seat.”

“No, I’m not. Great observation there . . .” he glances at her name tag, “Sandra. Four bottles of champagne please.”

“Er, I’m afraid I can only bring one at a time per person here in coach, but if you’d like to return to your seat—”

“And miss talking to this beautiful young woman? Not likely.”

“Jas, you don’t have to stay,” I say, touching his forearm. He glances down at my hand on his and grins.

I’m suddenly struck by the fact that I’m no longer talking to Jasper Nass, the little curly haired boy who followed Leo, Chase, Claire and I around when we were teens. This is an entirely different person. He’s a man now, and while he’s incredibly different from his brother, he certainly has those Nass good looks. Those boys hit every cell in the genetic gene pool, and then some.

“I want to,” he whispers. “Besides, sitting next to you is a lot better than sitting beside my brother. I’m surprised his snoring hasn’t brought the plane down.”

I laugh. “He does snore pretty loudly.”

Jasper cocks a brow and gives me a wan smile. “And you would know this how?”

I roll my eyes. “Er . . . no, it’s not like that at all. I shared a room with him in Vegas and . . . he may have helped me through a rough spot a couple of weeks ago.”

Jasper’s brows shoot skyward. “Really?”

“Uh-huh.”

The stewardess saves me from having to discuss it further by returning with our drinks. We thank her, and she sashays away, though she doesn’t look happy.

Jasper leans over, unclasps my tray table, and pours champagne for the both of us, and just when I’m about to turn the conversation onto safer subjects than Nass the Ass, he asks, “What kind of rough spot?”

“Oh, you know. The kind where you get so drunk you head out for cupcakes and wind up falling face-first into a cab, and they call the paramedics, and then you’re forced to fight off some big crazy freak who thinks you need his help to get home safely because you have a concussion.”

“Um, nope. Can’t say I know that feeling well,” Jas says with a grin.

“Just me then?” I raise my plastic cup and clink it with his before downing my champagne in one go.

“So, what happened then? He spent the night? That’s not like my brother, unless there’s wild sex involved.”

“Nope, no sex. I passed out on the couch and the bastard took my bed. I woke in the morning and he was shaking the walls with his snoring.”

“Man, what an ass.” Jas winks. “I mean, how dare he help you get home safely and make sure you didn’t fall into a coma?” 

“Right?” I laugh. “I’m so glad you understand.”

Jasper and I talk for a while longer. We order another round and he tells me all about his latest band, his plans to stay in New York, and Leo’s newfound celibacy. That last one takes some convincing. Eventually, he decides to head back to his seat, but he surprises me by kissing my cheek before he stands. “You’ll save me a dance at the reception, yeah?”

“Oh, come on, you don’t want to dance with me. There will be scores of young women wanting to skip the dancing and head straight back to your bungalow, I’m sure.”

“Well naturally, but I only do that with the ones I actually like.” He gives me that all-too-familiar Nass grin and walks away.

I sink down into my seat and let out a deep breath. Jasper Nass is fully grown, and just as big a flirt as his brother, it seems.

“Okay, who was that?” Katherine asks, and I turn and find her eye mask pushed up on her forehead.

I clear my throat and hope to hell I’m not blushing. “I thought you were sleeping and didn’t want to be disturbed?”

“It’s a little difficult to sleep when the person next to you is cackling like a hen at everything he said.”

“Well, I would have introduced you, but Jas only dates women who don’t have sticks up their asses,” I say. It just slips out, and before I can do anything to cover the gaff, a sense of pride swells within me.

Katherine stares at me with her mouth gaping open. I shouldn’t have said that, but honestly, I’m tired of taking shit from everyone. I’m turning over a new leaf.

Poppy Porter will be a doormat no more.