Page 70 of Fake It For Him

I winced as I glanced back at Polly, and she nodded and climbed back into her own bed. “Yeah, I know. I feel like death warmed over. Are you okay?” Real concern darkened her eyes and her brow furrowed, but on the other hand, our thick drapes were still drawn and the room was pretty dark.

Maybe I’m imagining it.

“I’m okay,” I said carefully. “Just very fucking hungover. Do you have any idea what happened last night? I’ve never blacked out before, but I don’t remember very much.”

Polly grimaced, turning her body toward me. She picked up a bottle of water from the nightstand between us. I reached out to grab the water and the painkillers she’d mentioned before. I took the pills along with a healthy swig of my water.

“It was pretty bad, Ella,” Polly said sympathetically as she glanced at the door. “You may not want to go out there too early.”

My heart stuttered. “What? Why not?”

Polly dragged in a deep breath, her face contorting as she shared the worst news I had heard in a long time. “Well, um, you sort of single-handedly imploded the bride’s entire side of the wedding party.”

A wave of nausea slammed into me, so intense that it bent me over. I clamped my hand over my mouth, rushed to the bathroom, and made it to the toilet just in time. I heaved a few times, glad that my hair was already in a ponytail. I didn’t know when it had happened or who had done it. It’d been loose last night.

I got up on shaky legs and went to brush my teeth. My face was deathly pale as I looked in the mirror over my vanity and my hands were as shaky as my legs. My knees felt numb, and even after brushing my teeth three times, I still felt sick.

But I knew I had to go out there and find out what I’d done. I couldn’t hide in here all day. I had to face the truth—even if I would probably be making a few return trips to the restroom.

“What did I do, Polly?” I asked as I stumbled back into bed, wishing the heavenly soft mattress could swallow me whole.

My new friend nodded at more painkillers on the nightstand. “Take those first. I’m pretty sure the others are long gone, and if you feel anything like me, you’re going to need them. The small pink one is a nausea tablet. Take that too.”

I nodded, determined to keep these down long enough to work. I swigged them down while she gave me the lowdown. “So, uh, long story short, you overheard two of the bridesmaids trash-talking Freya.”

“Yeah, I remember that, but nothing else,” I said softly. “What did I do?”

“Well, uh, by the time I caught up with you at the bar, you were drinking shots of vodka like you were trying to keep a distillery in business,” she explained. “I had some with you, which was when you told me what you heard.”

She winced and glanced at the door again. Her voice grew softer. “You got real angry while you were talking about it. We agreed we were going to leave, though. You kept saying it was none of your business and that you should keep your nose out of it.”

“I remember thinking that too,” I murmured, and I tried to recall any of these other things she was telling me. “I’m assuming we didn’t leave and I didn’t stay out of it?”

She shook her head, biting her lips for a moment before she let out a harsh breath. “No, you didn’t. I went to the bathroom and we were going to meet at the door, but when I got there, you weren’t there. By the time I found you, you’d tracked down the group.”

“Oh, God.” I buried my face in my hands, but I needed to hear this. What did I do this time? How is it possible that I’ve ruined more lives?

“You were confronting them,” she said quietly. “You called them users who had latched onto Freya because of her money. I mean, I’ve suspected that was the case since I met those girls, but you really gave it to them.”

“I overheard them admitting it,” I mumbled, scrubbing my hands over my face again and again. “It wasn’t just a suspicion. I heard them.”

“I know, honey,” she said sincerely. “Honestly, I think even Jim knows the truth. It’s just that no one has ever said anything and you did. You confronted them, but Freya wasn’t there.”

Relief washed over me, but it turned out to be premature. “When another bridesmaid came to the defense of the first two, it became pretty obvious that none of them are Freya’s friends. They were all leeches just associating with her for her money and what it could get them. Some of the stuff they said was horrible.”

“So you heard them too?” I peeked out at her between my fingers. “You did, right?”

She nodded, but then she let out a long sigh. “Obviously, I didn’t overhear the first stuff, but I did hear some of what was being said by the time I joined you. Anyway, once you knew that they were all in on it together, you got kind of mean and personal.”

My stomach revolted, but I managed to keep it down this time. “How? What did I do?”

Polly gave me a one-shouldered shrug. “You acted like any loyal friend would, but it wasn’t pretty. You jumped down their throats and told them all how ashamed they should be. How they were worthless pieces of shit and how Freya didn’t deserve to have such assholes in her life.”

A tiny part of me was proud for standing up for her like that, but if I’d single-handedly imploded the bride’s wedding party, then this obviously wasn’t the end of the story. “What happened next?”

“It turned out that Freya heard the whole thing. I’m not sure how, but we were all pretty drunk. I was so captivated by what you were saying that she could’ve been standing right next to me and I wouldn’t have realized it.”

“She heard it?” I whispered.