Bad Bridesmaid (Billionaire's Club Book 11) by Elise Faber (important books to read txt) 📕

Kelsey grabbed Heidi’s cell from the table, held it out to her. “Why don’t you call her and invite her over?”

“Well, because her relationship isn’t the only thing broken.” Then she related the tale of Stef’s dog and the broken ankle and the surgery. “She’s been home for a bit now, but she’s not up for traveling much yet.”

“Oh my God,” Kelsey said. “Poor thing.”

Kate lifted her glass, already filled with a slushie margarita, courtesy of Cora having commandeered Heidi’s blender and getting busy with the tequila, and took a huge sip. “Next time, we bring the party to her.”

Cora nodded. “Totally agree. She won’t know what hit her.”

Kels grinned. “Exactly. We’re like the mafia. Once you’re in, there’s no getting out.”

Heidi relaxed, knowing that Stef would be right at home with her crew.

“What does she nerd out about?”

“You know,” she said slowly. “I don’t actually know.”

Kate rubbed her hands together, evil-genius style. “We’ll ply her with tequila and find out all of the deep and dirty secrets. Muahaha!”

“You’re still high from your honeymoon,” Cora said, shoving Kate’s shoulder.

“Maybe.” Kate shrugged, a smug smile on her lips. “Maybe not.”

They laughed, and then Kelsey asked about the resort, and Kate was off and running, talking about all the fun things she and Jaime had done—from parasailing to massages on the beach, they seemed to have hit all that the hotel had to offer.

“But mostly,” Kate said. “Mostly we had lots and lots of hot, monkey sex”—she reclined back on the couch—“and it was glorious.”

They all made the appropriate sounds of retching and, “Oh God, my ears!”

But they were happy for Kate, happy that their friend had found the person she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with.

And then their eyes turned to her.

“What?” she asked innocently, taking a long sip of her drink.

Which Cora promptly snatched from her, making her nearly choke on the slush she’d managed to get in her mouth.

“Details.” Kate bounced on the cushions next to her, cheeks highlighted pink from the power of tequila. “Now.”

Heidi thought about drawing it out, about torturing her friends, getting them to beg for details. But in the end, she couldn’t, and she didn’t want to, and hell, she was fighting back the urge to yell from the rooftops that she loved one Brad Huntington.

Loved?

She froze, words screeching to a halt inside her throat.

Because loved?

A blip as her heart began beating again, as surety slid through her.

Yes. Loved.

She loved Brad.

And she was so fucking excited about it.

So she told her friends about falling in the creek, and the dinners and the dates, she told them about coffee and muffins and pre-dawn hikes. She told them about books and keys and a man who cared where she was.

But the only thing she didn’t tell them was about the whole loving thing.

Because she was going to tell that to Brad first.

“Margaritas are the best,” she said, curling up on the couch and resting her head on Kate’s shoulder.

Kate tapped her glass against Heidi’s. “I totally agree.”

“Shh!” Cora hissed. “This is the best part!”

Dutifully, they both turned their gazes toward the TV, toward the knockdown, drag-out fight happening on the screen, then to their friend who was riveted by the action.

“You wouldn’t be shushing us if you hadn’t cheated and watched ahead,” Heidi muttered grumpily.

“If I hadn’t cheated and watched ahead, you would be missing this gloriousness right now,” Cora pointed out.

Rightly so.

Which was why Heidi didn’t argue, just put her glass to her lips and enjoyed the rest of her fourth margarita . . . or maybe it was her fifth? Lightweight that she was, she couldn’t remember anything after the second. Mentally shrugging, she decided she didn’t care. She could kick her friends to the curb, collapse into bed, and sleep until noon tomorrow if she wanted.

A table overturned on screen, sending an arrangement of cupcakes flying in all directions—and making her wince in memory of Kate’s ruined wedding cake—but then she couldn’t help but giggle.

Because the show’s stars had decided to attempt to save the remaining stack that was teetering this way and that. Unfortunately for them, that teetering ended up turning into splatting when two of the cast slipped on fluorescent blue frosting and managed to knock the remainder of the sweet confections to the ground.

“You should take lessons from them,” Kelsey said, her color high, the words carefully enunciated in a way that told Heidi she’d had more than three margaritas, too.

“Why?” she asked innocently. “It’s not like there are any weddings coming up for me to ruin.”

Kelsey took a sip. “Well, actually. Tanner and I did a thing.”

She held up her hand.

Heidi squinted through blurry vision, blinking until it focused . . . on the sparkling diamond band sitting next to the engagement ring on Kelsey’s finger.

Kate, the only one of them who had any skill in holding her alcohol, lurched up from the couch, nearly spilling the remnants of her margarita as she plunked the glass on the table and clambered over Cora’s legs to grab Kels’s hand.

“Are you fucking serious?” Cora asked, but it wasn’t directed at Kate and her clambering.

Rather, it was said to Kels.

Who they all waited with baited breath to answer.

Who . . . nodded, her lips curving into a huge smile. “We eloped,” she said. “We just . . . wanted to be married without all the hoopla.” She nibbled on her bottom lip. “I was hoping you guys might be able to help us plan a big party to celebrate.”

Heidi looked at Kate, who looked at Cora.

Then they all moved at once.

“Oh my God!” They all jumped up, throwing their arms around each other, a tequila-scented hug surrounding them all, their voices overlapping, the chatter indecipherable except that it was filled with excitement.

“When did you guys do it?” Kate asked once they’d managed to calm themselves enough to conduct actual adult conversation again.

“Last weekend. We just woke up on Saturday morning and decided to fly to Vegas,”