The Bride Saw Red Threads of Desire, Then Fled the Wedding Chapter 02

The Bride Saw Red Threads of Desire, Then Fled the Wedding Chapter 02

Audrey moved fast. She grabbed Camille’s wrist, pinned her hand flat, and swiped the phone open.

“The less you want us to see, the more we want to look.”

Audrey flipped to the first photo and let out a low whistle.

Camille in profile. Eyes rimmed red, and just below her collarbone, a trail of bruising love bites in every shade of purple disappearing under her neckline.

“Wow.” Sienna tilted the screen toward me.

The second photo was a close-up—two hands, fingers laced together, the kind of grip that claimed possession.

The man’s wrist wore a black-faced mechanical watch. I knew that watch. I knew the scratch near the bottom right of the face—Graham had knocked it against a cart at Whole Foods the last time we went shopping together.

My nails bit into my palm.

Then Audrey tapped into their messages.

The contact name was [GC]. Profile picture: an open field of grass.

Good morning texts. Good night texts. Voice calls that stretched past midnight. Months and months of them.

The oldest message was dated a year back.

[Camille, I can’t get you out of my head.]

[I miss you too, GC. Had a dream about you last night. You were holding me and I just drifted off.]

I got to a message from three months ago, and the air left my lungs.

[The concert was so perfect today. But when do we get to hold hands like that without hiding?]

His reply was two words. [Soon. Wait.]

Three months ago. Our seventh anniversary.

I’d spent two hours on my makeup that day. Cooked a massive three-course dinner. Waited five hours. His text came at eleven. [Working late tonight. Go ahead and eat. Don’t wait up.]

Camille gasped, grabbed her phone back, and jumped to her feet. “Oh my God, I hate all of you.”

She buried her face in her hands and bolted for the stairwell.

She’d barely been gone two minutes when Graham’s phone lit up.

He glanced at the screen and silenced it.

“My mom needs me to sort out hotel rooms, some family just got into town. You girls have fun, but don’t keep her up too late, okay? She’s got an early morning tomorrow.”

He leaned down and kissed my forehead. The girls cooed.

The second he was gone, I made an excuse about the bathroom.

Camille’s voice drifted out of the stairwell.

“I thought you said we weren’t doing this tonight.”