The Wedding Engagement

Chapter Ten

Climbing the stairs to the first floor, Arran cast his gaze around the pub and settled on where the guests of honor were seated around a table with Maya, Elise, and Nico. His gaze did linger somewhat longer on the birthday girl in particular, though, his pulse firing a little more rapidly in response.

He made his way over, pleased to see that the one remaining seat was next to Liv. He placed a hand on her shoulder as he reached them, the heat from the contact driving up his arm and into his chest, zapping his heart. “Many happy returns, Aggie.”

She gave him a show-stopping smile that electrified his skin, and when she got to her feet to lean up and kiss his cheek, it scrambled his brain.

Arran moved over to embrace Sam, trying to regain his bearings. “And happy birthday to you too, you complete tosser.”

Sam grinned. “Thanks, pal.”

Arran greeted the others, then took off his jacket and settled in the seat next to Liv. “So.” He rubbed his hands together. “What did I miss?”

“An argument,” Liv replied, raising her eyebrows.

“An argument ?” He dropped his jaw in exaggerated surprise. “On the twins’ sacred birthday?”

Liv sniffed, giving her twin a mock-stern stare. “Sam says Matt Smith was the best Doctor Who.”

His jaw dropped for real, and Arran shot Sam a look of horror. “You’re joking.”

“Nope.” Sam took a swig of his beer. “Matt’s the best.”

Liv glanced at Arran. “Everyone knows the best Doctor is—”

“David Tennant,” Arran finished for her.

“ See ,” Liv accused Sam. “You know nothing, Sam Holland. I hereby claim your best friend for myself because we are more attuned than you and he.” She took hold of Arran’s hand, the soft pads of her fingers burning into his skin and making the hairs on the back of his arm stand on end.

Sam shrugged. “You can borrow him for a bit. As I said the other night, tit for tat.” He pulled Maya close.

“Pardon?” Arran asked, as Liv shot Sam a death stare.

“Nothing,” Liv replied quickly, releasing his hand. “Sam was saying some crap about me becoming your bestie as recompense for him claiming Maya as his.”

Arran’s fingers reached out of their own accord, aching with the loss of her touch. “Pimping me out to your sister, Holland?” he said, catching a little blush appearing on Liv’s cheeks.

Sam gave him a grin.

“Don’t be so hasty,” Nico chimed in. “I’ll throw my hat into the ring for the best-friend stakes, Liv. You don’t want Adebayo when you can have me.”

Elise raised her eyebrows at Nico.

“I’m good anyway,” Liv said. “I’m already in the lucky position of having two besties.” She nodded toward Elise. “Dr. K has my back.”

“I reckon Dr. Kowalski also needs my services,” Nico said, looking at Elise with a smile playing on his lips.

Elise openly rolled her eyes.

“Okay,” Liv said, smiling. “You versus Arran to be besties with Elise and me. But how will we decide?”

“Whoever got you the best birthday present,” Nico said. “Speaking of which…” He lifted a couple of gift bags, handing one each over to the twins. “You’d better open them simultaneously, because it’s the same thing.”

As soon as he said that, both Liv and Sam tore into the tissue paper inside the bags, each clearly determined to be the first to brandish the present, which was a big bottle of something, judging by the shape of the bag. Despite their efforts, they both pulled the bottles out simultaneously—a magnum of champagne each.

“Wow,” Liv said, eyeing the bottle with a sparkle in her eyes. “This is our favorite one. Thanks, Nico.”

“Yeah, thanks, man,” Sam added, holding his hand out above Maya’s and Elise’s heads for Nico to high-five.

Nico folded his arms, giving Arran the smuggest smile in the history of the universe. Arran raised an eyebrow in return, shooting Nico a look that said, “You’re toast, Hadid.”

“What’re you countering with?” Elise asked Arran hopefully, seeming keen for him to trump Nico.

Arran shrugged and pulled a couple of envelopes out of his pocket. He silently passed one to Sam and one to Liv. “You don’t need to perform synchronized present opening with these. They aren’t the same.” He absorbed the spark of excitement in Liv’s eyes and the deadpan arching of an eyebrow from Nico.

Sam was fastest. “Awesome. A voucher for the ski shop.” He gave Arran a fist bump.

Liv lifted the card out of her envelope, taking in the contents and looking up with wide eyes. The shining emotion on display in the sea of her gaze made his heart ache.

“Thank you,” she said, quietly.

“Don’t hold out on us,” Maya said, bouncing in her chair. “What is it?”

Liv cleared her throat. “It’s a voucher for afternoon tea for two at that posh hotel in Glasgow I was telling you about. It got a great write-up.” She met Arran’s eyes. “I told Arran about it recently.”

“That’s lovely, Arran,” Elise said, shooting Nico a smug smile, which clearly conveyed that Arran had won the best-present competition, hands down.

Nico, unfazed, gave Elise a wink in return, which seemed to cause color to flush her cheeks, and she glanced away. He smiled at Arran. “You win, bro. So, Liv. Who’s going to be the lucky person you take with you for your afternoon tea?”

Liv glanced between Maya and Elise. “I’m not sure. I don’t want to cause any scone-based arguments.” She leaned back, eyeing Arran. “I might have to choose you.” She cleared her throat. “In order to avoid any fallout, I mean.”

Arran dragged his eyes from the hypnotizing green hue of Liv’s to check out Maya’s and Elise’s reactions. They appeared more than happy with the idea, judging by the slightly sappy smiles on their faces.

Turning back to Liv, he swallowed against the dry sensation in his throat, his pulse surging at the idea of accompanying her on something that could, possibly, in some sense of the definition, be classed as a date. A real date, as opposed to their blind-date fiasco. “I can’t buy you a present and then use it for myself.”

She shrugged. “Yeah, you can. My present, my choice.” She gave him a defiant look that was more than a little sexy and stuck out her hand to shake on it. He grasped her hand and sealed the deal, trying to ignore the electrifying sensation caused by her skin grazing his. Every time he touched her was more intense than the last, and at some point soon he’d likely self-combust. Her eyes lingered on him and he was caught in her gaze for a couple of beats, his fingers slow to release hers. She seemed in no rush to let go either, and again he let himself wonder…Maybe she also felt the attraction between them.

Sam’s voice cut into the moment. “I got a call from Dave today.”

For a second, Arran had to think about who that was. And as he put two and two together his heart went from its dizzying going-on-a-kind-of-date-with-Liv heights right down to the soles of his boots. He shifted his eyes from Liv, her fingers slipping away. “Dave, as in…”

“Our shitty father, Douchebag Dave,” Liv concluded, her expression clouded.

Arran shot her a look of concern before addressing Sam. “What the hell did he want?”

Nico and Elise were leaning in, the frowns on their faces mirrored all around the table, and from the tension in his brow Arran knew he must look the same.

Maya was circling Sam’s shoulders as he continued. “Fuck knows. He called out of the blue. Said he’d heard from our uncle that I was getting married and was asking about it. I told him it wasn’t any of his business.”

Nico eyed Sam. “Stupid question, but could he have been calling out of genuine interest?”

Liv made a stifled noise that Arran could interpret as “not fucking likely.”

Sam shook his head. “I ended the call. Then Georgie phoned Mum not too long after, to let her know she’d chucked him out. He’s been playing her the way he did Mum, unsurprisingly. Had a string of affairs since they’ve been on Jersey and lied to her about them all.”

Arran let out a slow breath. Once a douchebag, always a douchebag.

Elise was wearing a concerned expression. “So, you think he called you to try to wheedle his way back into the family, now that Georgie’s given him the heave-ho?”

Sam sighed, and Maya kissed his cheek. “Maybe. I’m trying not to think about it.”

“I’m sorry, man,” Arran said, and Sam shot him a grateful smile.

Arran glanced at Liv, who appeared as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. They were slumped under an invisible ten-ton force.

Arran was about to ask her if she was okay, when Liv gave Sam a supportive smile. “Don’t worry, Sam. It’ll be okay.”

The twins exchanged a look of solidarity and, yet again, it occurred to Arran that Liv always deflected any sympathy regarding the Dave situation onto her brother. In fact, she always shone a light on everyone else’s struggles, yet he couldn’t remember her seeking or accepting any attention for herself.

His phone began to ring before he could ponder the idea further, and he saw that it was Jess. She’d been calling more frequently of late, even when he didn’t have Jayce. It was getting a little weird, but he still answered every time just in case she was calling because something was wrong with the wee one. He connected the call, mouthing, Sorry, it’s Jess , to his friends.

“Hey,” she said, her voice bright. “Are you out for Sam and Liv’s birthday?”

He hesitated, confused. “Yep, that’s right. Like I mentioned last time you called. What can I do you for? Is Jayce okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, fine. He’s good. I just needed to ask whether you could have him an extra weekend.”

He paused, unable to think that there were any weekends left for him to take from her, because he had pretty much all of them now. Apart from the two major ones—the weekend away and the wedding. But he’d told her about those. “Which weekend?”

She told him a date that he immediately recognized as the date of the Skye trip, and a sinking feeling dragged at his gut. He hated saying no, but he had to. “Sorry. No can do. That’s the weekend I’m away, remember?”

Sam shot him a WTF look and Arran shook his head in reassurance.

Disappointment infused her tone. “But there’s this party Rory wants us to go to. He says it’ll be epic.”

He took a breath, feeling guilty and resentful all at once. “Jess, I told you about that weekend already. It’s off-limits. Ask your mum instead.”

Her tone was short. “She’s busy.”

He swallowed. “Well, I’m sorry, but I can’t help you. That weekend is iron-clad. Liv and I have got all the activities arranged, Elise has a restaurant booked, and Nico’s got us accommodation.”

She was silent for a moment and his jaw clenched at the idea that she could possibly be mad about this.

“Fine,” Jess replied, in a tone suggesting that it was anything but. “By the way, did you get Sam a birthday present from me?”

Arran opened his mouth, then closed it again, unsure what to do with that question. Replying with “Why the holy fuck would I do that?” did seem rather impolite. “No. Why?”

“We used to always get joint presents for our best friends.”

He lifted a hand to rub his forehead. What’s going on? “That was when we were a couple, Jess. We aren’t anymore.” He closed his eyes briefly in discomfort. Being short wasn’t like him, but she was really testing his patience of late.

“Right.” She paused, and the uncomfortable moment’s silence caused his pulse to spike. “Bye, then.”

“Bye.” He hung up, feeling decidedly nauseated.

Liv’s eyebrows were knitted. “What was that all about?”

Arran let out a slow breath. “I have no idea.” Everyone was looking at him with a mix of sympathy and puzzlement.

“Was she asking you to take Jayce when you’re meant to be away with us?” Sam asked, his tone incredulous.

“Yeah,” he replied, trying to fathom what had been going through Jess’s head. It was an unreasonable request, but what made it worse was her having the audacity to be annoyed when he said no. And yet, he still felt guilty about it.

“For fuck’s sake,” Sam muttered. “You told her about that weekend.”

Liv nudged Arran’s arm. “What else did she say? Before you told her you weren’t a couple anymore?”

He ran a hand over the top of his hair. “She asked me if I’d bought Sam a present from her. Because we always used to get our best friends presents from each other.”

Liv nodded, clearly understanding why he’d answered Jess the way he had. “Do you think she’s okay?” she asked Arran. “I mean, she’s not usually possessive, is she?”

“Possessive” was a good way to describe Jess’s current behavior. “Not since we split. But why would she be? We haven’t been a couple for a year, and she was the one who ended it.”

Liv was nodding, a frown on her face.

“Sounds like she’s insecure, to me,” Elise chimed in.

Liv and Maya were nodding in agreement, and Arran absorbed their sympathetic outlook. Maybe they were right.

The others began to talk among themselves, and Liv leaned in toward Arran. “I hope it’s not me that’s upset Jess.”

He frowned, meeting her gaze. “What do you mean?”

Her eyes were wide with concern. “She was funny the other night on the phone, once she found out I was there. Now she’s calling you when she knows you’re out for our birthday and also trying to stop us being on the same weekend away together.”

He opened his mouth to protest that it couldn’t be the reason, because why would Jess care who he was socializing with? But then he closed it again, realizing that Jess’s keeping tabs had begun after that day she’d called when Liv was round.

“I wonder,” Liv continued, her head cocked to the side with a cute frown on her face, “whether Rory’s putting pressure on her too.”

Arran raised his eyebrows. “How do you mean?”

She pushed her glasses up her nose. “He’s quite the party animal. Perhaps he’s pressuring her to get you to have Jayce so they can go to all these parties together. It doesn’t sound like he’s the stay-in-and-play-happy-families sort.” She paused. “It must be hard to devote enough time to a new relationship, especially with someone high-maintenance like him.”

Arran hadn’t really taken any time to consider all that from Jess’s point of view before. He’d been distracted by his own hurt and had painted a mental picture of Jess and Rory running off hand in hand into an idyllic existence together.

Maya’s voice brought him out of his ruminations. “Isn’t it your date this weekend, Liv?”

It took a couple of seconds to process what Maya had said, and he snapped his gaze to Liv, his heart rate spiking. What date?

“Yeah,” she said, glancing away. “That’s right.”

“Come on, then,” Maya said, raising her eyebrows. “Give us the deets.”

Liv laughed, but it sounded slightly high-pitched. “Not much to say, really. We’re meeting for a drink.”

“Where?” Elise asked. “Here?”

Liv shook her head. “The new cocktail bar on the high street.”

Sam flashed her a grin. “Fancy.”

Liv gave another of those high-pitched laughs. “Not really. I don’t think anywhere in Glenavie could be described as fancy.”

Arran listened, desperate to ask whom she was going on a date with. But he was trying to figure out how to interject in a polite manner, rather than going with his current instinct, which was to shout, “Who the fuck are you going on a date with?”

“Who’s the lucky guy?” Nico asked, rescuing him from his dilemma.

“Brodie, Maya and Sam’s friend,” Liv said, glancing at Arran, then away again quickly.

“Oh yeah, he’s a cool guy,” Nico said. “I’ve got a date this Saturday too. Maybe we’ll see each other.” He flashed Liv a grin. “A double date.”

She laughed again; this time the pitch sounded more normal. “We can rescue each other if it goes wrong.”

If it goes wrong, I want to be the one to rescue her. Arran realized that he was hoping it would go wrong, and a wave of guilt washed over him. He lifted his beer and took a long sip, trying to douse the hot jealousy consuming his insides.