Chapter 29

Chapter 29

POV: *Adelaide*

“Ugh, my head.”

I groaned, dropping my head on my folded arms on top of the kitchen table. With my eyes closed, I

could almost believe I was back in bed, sleeping away the banging drums pounding in my head.

“I told you to take it easy,” Damon smirked as he laid a cup of piping hot coffee in front of me.

“Thank god,” I breathed, gripping the coffee like it was a lifeline. Despite the scorching heat, I

desperately needed the caffeine.

Before I could even take a sip, however, the front door slammed open-shaking the walls and rattling the

pictures.

“Good morning!”

The high-pitched cry was like a chorus of screaming sirens to my hungover brain as Lacey burst into

the kitchen with a massive grin.

“No,” I groaned, gripping my temples to try to keep my brain from exploding.

“Oops,” Lacey giggled.

“What are you even doing here?” I complained, softly, glaring at her. The ringing in my ears had yet to

go away, and I was hurting badly.

“I called her,” Damon said, calmly. “She’s helping to plan the wedding, remember?”

“And I’ve got something special planned for today!” Lacey squealed, before turning to Damon with an

expecting look.

He raised an eyebrow and she huffed, holding out her hand in a you-know-the-drill motion.

He smirked, pulling a gold credit card from his pocket and slapping it onto her palm.

“Oooh, shiny,” Lacey grinned, turning the card back and forth in her hand.

“What is that for?” I asked, bewildered at the flashy credit card. What had

Chapter 29

these two been up to?

“Alright, let’s go!” Lacey ignored my question as she pulled out my kitchen chair and grabbed my hand

to pull me to my feet.

“Go where?” I asked, confused. I tried to dig my heels in to stop her, but Lacey was stronger than she

looked. Or maybe I was just weak from the hangover.

“Shopping, of course!” Lacey replied, excitedly, dragging me to the front door.

“Shopping?” I exclaimed, alarmed. “For what?”

Lacey giggled, pushing against my shoulder blades to get me out of the door. I didn’t even have time to

grab my coffee off the kitchen counter.

When I glanced over my shoulder, Damon stood there uselessly, a smirk on his face as he waved

goodbye.

“Have fun, dear,” he called, mockingly and blew me a kiss.

“What is going on?” I cried, then winced at my over-the-top volume. It was too early to deal with any of

this.

“Isn’t it obvious, Addie?” Lacey rolled her eyes, goodnaturedly. “Every bride needs a dress.”

“This bride needs coffee first.”

“Hmm.” Lacey stared at me intently, tapping her chin with her finger. “I don’t think the layered tulle is for

you.”

I sighed. I hadn’t realized what Lacey meant by “shopping.” It was really let’s play Barbie with Adelaide

for hours on end. From the podium in the bridal shop, I was surrounded on three sides by identical

mirrors-all sides of the dress were able to be seen at one glance.

I stared at myself in the mirror-a frown on my lips.

“You’re right, she looks…” the bridal consultant tilted her head with a frown, “kinda like a child?”

“That’s what it is!” Lacey exclaimed. “Thank you. She does, doesn’t she?”

“Wow,” I deadpanned. “Just what a bride wants to hear.”

Chapter 29

“Okay, what about a mermaid cut?” Lacey ignored me, turning to the

three bridal consultants. I really should’ve known that Damon would’ve gone over the top.

The entire bridal shop was empty except for me, Lacey, and the three consultants.

“It is out of style this year,” one consultant murmured. “But it might work?”

“Wouldn’t hurt to try,” another said with a grin. “I’ll get Vitani 27B.”

“Good choice, I’ll get a few others,” the third said as she took off like a rocket to the back of the store.

“When is this going to end?” I groaned.

“When you have the perfect dress, of course!” Lacey said, firmly. “You don’t want to lose to your sister,

do you?”

“It’s just a wedding!” I threw my hands up. “Why does everything have to be a competition?”

“Look,” Lacey stepped up to me to pull a few pins out of the dress I was wearing.

As she helped me out of it, she continued softly, “Damon has been looking forward to this for a long

time, and even if this isn’t how you thought things would go, I know you want this wedding, too. Your

sister, from what I’ve heard, is going to take every chance she gets to show you up.”

I hated how easily she had grasped onto Corinna’s personality. Corinna hated me. She always had,

and I never knew why.

But it was clear that so long as I had even the tiniest spark of happiness, she would try to steal it from

me. She had always been that way, and things were only getting worse as we got older.

Our weddings were on the same day now, at the same time, and I knew where our family’s priorities

lay. They were always with Corinna.

“We can’t let her take this from you, too,” Lacey said quietly with a serious look on her face. I

appreciated how much effort she was going through to help me.

“Here it is!” The consultants were back with nearly a dozen more dresses

Chapter 29

to try on.

I really wanted to cry at the sight.

“You’re going to kill me,” I complained as the consultant dragged me behind the changing curtains to

help me put on the new dress.

“You’ll be fine,” Lacey laughed. “Beauty is pain. You didn’t tell me about. the dinner you went to. Damon

said something happened, but he didn’t specify.”

“Oh, yeah,” I said, my annoyance rising. “Ashton and Corinna moved their wedding up.”

“To when?” I heard her ask.

“Saturday.”

“Are you kidding me?” Lacey snapped, “They can’t be that petty, can they?”

“Don’t underestimate Corinna’s level of pettiness.”

“I guess so. What’d your parents say?”

“The usual. My dad tried to convince us to move back our wedding so Corinna and Ashton could get

married on Saturday. Damon’s dad congratulated Ashton and didn’t say a word to us. So, the usual,” I

said, shrugging.

“God, I can’t believe people like that ever became parents,” Lacey scoffed.

I snorted as I pulled back the changing curtains, revealing myself to Lacey.

“Oh,” Lacey gasped. “You’re so beautiful.”

I glanced down at the dress which hugged my curves before flaring out at the bottom. It was pretty

but…

The moment I tried to take a step forward, the fabric squeezing my legs together caught me off guard,

and I lost my balance.

I grabbed onto the nearest object, a vase of flowers, and went tumbling to the ground, the fake flowers

spilling out onto my face.

“Or maybe not,” Lacey said with a grimace. “I don’t think that one suits you either”

Chapter 29

“You think?” I snapped. “This is pointless!”

“I mean, we could always go for a looser design. There’s no need to throw in the towel yet.”

Lacey kneeled next to me, helping to gather the fake flowers back into the vase. I was lucky it didn’t

break in the commotion.

“What’s the point of holding a wedding ceremony if nobody’s going to show up?” I brushed my long hair

away from my face, the frustration hitting me all at once. “We should just postpone it, and let them have

it.”

“No,” Lacey retorted, “You are not going to do that.”

“Like it’s your decision?” I bit back but immediately regretted it. “Sorry. I know you’re trying to help. It

just seems so pointless.”

“Listen to me, Addie,” Lacey placed her hands on my shoulders firmly, her eyes stern and steady as

she glared into my eyes.

“You are not going to let your ugly stepsister and that phony douchebag ruin your wedding day. You are

going to be the most beautiful bride, and you will get up there and all you will see is him.”

She grabbed my hand, a small smile stretching across her lips, “This is about you and him, not anyone

else. So make the most of it.”

“Thanks,” I said, quietly, my anxiety quieting down. She was right. I couldn’t let Corinna ruin my

wedding day with Damon. I would marry him whether he was wearing a tux or nothing at all.

He felt the same, I was sure of it. He loved me.

Screw Ashton and Corinna.

“Though,” Lacey started, a dark smirk stretching across her face. “I heard you two have some kind of

revenge plan to take the two of them down. I haven’t met them yet, but I can tell you, I really, really

want to punch them both in the face.”

I burst into giggles, the two of us sitting on the floor of a bridal shop surrounded by dresses in white. My

heart felt lighter now.

“So, if you don’t mind,” Lacey grinned, “I want in.”