The Wedding Rehearsal Game Broke Me Completely Chapter 04

The Wedding Rehearsal Game Broke Me Completely Chapter 04

At five in the morning, Grayson showed up right on time.

Seeing me looking perfectly normal, he visibly relaxed.

The heat was blasting in the car, and he held my hand the whole ride, thumb tracing slow circles over my palm.

“I got you a wedding present.”

“The new house is already in your name. And that children’s home you grew up in, I donated a whole activities building. Put your name on it.”

Grayson bent down and pressed a kiss to the back of my hand.

“I’m never going to let you feel unsafe again.”

For a moment, I almost believed him.

Until he added, smiling,

“The honeymoon’s booked too. The Maldives. I got us that five-star resort island Sienna’s been talking about forever.”

“She’s coming?”

“Of course.”

Grayson didn’t seem to notice anything wrong with that.

“I already booked her flight and her room. You always liked it best when the three of us were together, didn’t you?”

I pulled my hand back and let out a cold little laugh.

“So we’re playing the Ghost Game on our honeymoon too?”

He blinked, caught off guard.

“You’re still upset about that?”

“That’s just something fun between the three of us. Don’t blow it out of proportion. It’s our big day. Let’s not go there.”

He reached over and ruffled my hair.

“Be good.”

I turned my head away and didn’t say anything else.

Backstage, Sienna had already changed into a white pantsuit.

There was no best man at this wedding. No maid of honor, either.

Because Sienna had said an ordinary bridesmaid role couldn’t capture what she meant to us.

So she was standing in as both, all on her own.

The wedding planner had pushed back, but Grayson backed her up.

“The three of us grew up together. Obviously none of us can be left out.”

Looking back on it now, it was almost laughable how absurd that was.

If I hadn’t been the one in the wedding dress and veil, you probably couldn’t have told which of us up there was actually the bride.

Right before we went up, Sienna suddenly grabbed my hand, her voice cracking.

“After you two get married, will things still be the way they’ve always been between us?”

I didn’t answer.

She hugged me instead.

“I don’t care. Even after you’re married, you can’t shut me out.”

“Since your mom’s not here today, I’m the one standing in for your family. I’ve got your back.”

I looked at the tears in her eyes, pulled my hand back, and said nothing.

The truth was, I’d been the only one ever shut out.

The music started.

Grayson stood waiting at the end of the aisle, sharp in his suit, his eyes soft.

The light fell over him, and for a second, I lost myself in it.

I walked toward him, step by step.

He took my hand, slid the ring onto my finger, and said quietly,

“I’ve been waiting a long time for this day.”

Applause rippled through the room.

The officiant asked if he took me to be his wife.

Grayson didn’t hesitate.

“I do.”

The officiant turned to me.

That was when I saw Sienna shoot Grayson a wink.

A signal only the three of us understood.

He paused for a beat, then gave a small nod.

Sienna ducked her head, biting back a smile.

The Ghost Game had started again.

At my own wedding.

At the exact moment I was about to become Grayson’s wife.

Without a word, the two of them had picked right back up the twenty-year-old game of pretending I wasn’t there.

The officiant raised the mic.

“Do you, Lucy, take Grayson to be your husband, for richer or for poorer,”

The whole room went silent.

Grayson still wasn’t looking at me.

“I…”

My throat felt stuffed with wet cotton.

It took a long moment before I could dig my voice back out from underneath it.

Calm and clear, it carried through the speakers, ringing out across the silent hall.

“I don’t.”