I Prepared For My Wedding, Only To Be Shut Out Of My Own Bridal Suite Chapter 02

I Prepared For My Wedding, Only To Be Shut Out Of My Own Bridal Suite Chapter 02

Twenty minutes to go.

The photographer kept his voice down. “The getting-ready shots are off the table now. Miss Whitlock, the first look with your parents alone takes eight minutes.”

Bennett didn’t miss a beat. “Cut the getting-ready photos. Her parents can get their pictures after the ceremony.”

My father’s whole back stiffened.

For those pictures, he’d rewritten his speech a dozen times, shutting himself in his study night after night to rehearse. Only yesterday, I’d caught him stumbling through the opening line.

“Maren, today… I’m not giving you away to another man…”

That speech was sitting in the inside pocket of his suit right now.

My eyes started burning.

“We can’t do them later. Those photos only happen today.”

Bennett’s voice went cold. “Then stop standing here wasting time.”

My friend Tessa Caldwell finally snapped. Her fist came down on the door, hard.

“Sloane! If you’re awake in there, open the door!”

She got two knocks in before Bennett caught her wrist and pulled her back..

“Stop banging on the door!”

Tessa staggered, white with fury. “Maren is the bride today!”

“She has a heart condition. Are you trying to put her in the hospital?”

The planner’s radio kept crackling. “Cameras are live. The officiant needs to know if the bride makes her entrance on time.”

Bennett grabbed the radio off her. “Tell him the bride’s got last-minute jitters. Push it back ten.”

I stared at him. “Why are you making it sound like I’m the one holding up the wedding?”

He wouldn’t look at me. “What do you want me to tell three hundred guests, that Sloane locked herself in your suite?”

“Her engagement just fell apart. She can’t take people whispering about her.”

“It’s just a white lie. Once this is over, nobody’s going to care.”

To keep Sloane Mercer’s name clean, he threw me under the bus without blinking.

Sixteen minutes.

Tessa glanced at her phone and froze. “Bennett. Sloane isn’t asleep.”

I pulled out mine.

One minute ago, Sloane had posted on Instagram. The shot was the Silverpine River through my hotel suite window, and right there in the glass was her own reflection, phone held high, hair curled to perfection.

The caption was one line.

[Some days hand other people everything and leave me with nothing but regrets. Lucky for me, someone still remembers.]

The first like was Bennett’s.

I shoved my phone in his face. “She’s awake.”

He flicked a look at it, then pushed my hand away. “Maybe she woke up for a minute.”

“She’s awake enough to post, but not to open the door?”

Silence. A few seconds of it. Then the excuses ran out.

“Today was supposed to be Sloane’s wedding day, too.”

“They called it off six months ago. But her date was today.”

“When she saw this hotel all decorated for us last night, she cried in that room for hours.”

“She’s already lost one wedding. You’re about to marry me. Can’t you give her a few quiet hours?”

A coldness crept into my fingertips.

“So she lost her wedding, and that means she gets to take over mine?”

“Nobody’s taking anything from you.” Now he was getting angry. “The ceremony happens. I marry you. Simple makeup, no photos, we start a few minutes late. Tell me what’s actually wrong with that.”

Every sentence out of his mouth, another piece of my wedding fell away. And as long as a ring ended up on my finger, he’d count himself blameless.

The elevator chimed. Bennett’s parents rushed out.

His mother came straight to me and took my hand. “Maren, honey, this is a happy day. Don’t turn it into a scene.”

“Sloane is still grieving her broken engagement. Be the bigger person.”

I slid my hand free. “If I have to be the bigger person for her, who’s looking out for me?”

“You’re marrying my son today. What more do you want?”

“She was supposed to be a bride today too. You’re walking away with everything, so why are you being so petty over a room?”

My mother was shaking. “My daughter can’t even get into her own wedding dress. Tell me, what exactly is she walking away with?”