Back to Me without you (Sibling Love Book 1) (8 page)

L
ater that night, the engagement party to celebrate the forthcoming marriage of Jessica and Justin was in full swing. Abby had arrived wearing the dress she bought earlier that day. As she expected, she hadn’t succeeded in blowing anyone’s socks off.

Men weren’t on her radar now, nor was she on theirs. She didn’t need a man in her life to complete her and be happy. She did have to admit that it might be nice to find a man who only had eyes for her. But that was a long shot.

“How’s your night going?” Abby turned around to find Sam talking to her. She was a little surprised. He hadn’t spoken two words to her since their meeting a couple of days earlier at the family dinner. Despite the party going on for almost two hours now, this was the first time Sam had even approached her to have a conversation.

Abby shrugged her shoulders. “Okay, I guess. And yourself?” Not exactly sparkling conversation, but it was the best she could do given they seemed to have nothing in common.

“Not too bad.” Sam paused, then asked, “Are you not enthusiastic about this wedding either?”

So, she wasn’t alone in thinking her sister was rushing into marrying Justin. Then again, how did she know this wasn’t some setup or something? She decided she’d better stay neutral.

Abby shrugged one shoulder and downed the last of her wine. “Maybe they’re making a mistake, and maybe they’re not. I don’t know Justin well enough to make that kind of judgement.”

“I could say the same thing about your sister. I don’t know her well enough to make assumptions. But I don’t think they’ve known each other long enough to make a rational decision.”

“So, is that what you think about our wedding plans?”

Sam and Abby turned around in shock when they heard his brother’s voice sound from behind.

Crap! Crap! Crap!

“Hey, Justin, you know that’s not what I meant.” Sam tried to justify his words with his brother.

“Save it!” Justin raised one hand at his brother. “I don’t want to hear it. Tonight is about our engagement.” His gaze turned to Jessica. He wrapped his arm around her waist. “If you can’t be happy for my fiancée and me then I don’t want you here. You’ll only bring my mood down and I don’t want that tonight.”

“The same goes for me,” Jessica chimed in, aiming her words towards Abby. “This a happy occasion celebrating the love that Justin and I plan to share with each other. I know you think I’m rushing into this marriage. And considering everything our family has been through, I would have thought you’d at least be able to support me tonight. I guess I was wrong.”

And then, just like that, Justin and Jessica walked away from them. Abby watched them head towards the other party guests. She lifted her glass to her lips and swallowed the last drops of red wine, wishing it would become her anchor for the rest of her night. When she finished, she clunked the glass down on the bar counter, propped one hand on her hip and turned to Sam. “Well, that went well. I hope you’re happy. Jessica doesn’t want me here anymore.”

“Hey, you can’t blame me for it all. You said things too.”

“I did, but they only heard what you said,” Abby was quick to point out. “And now my sister doesn’t even want me celebrating with her.”

“I’m sorry about that, but that’s not my fault.” Sam tucked his hand into the front pocket of his dress pants in a casual manner.

Abby pulled up her dress hem so she wouldn’t trip over it as she walked towards the exit. She needed to get some air—and she needed to get away from Sam—pronto!

“Wait! Where are you going?” Sam called out as he followed Abby out of the party.

“I’m leaving.” She didn’t look at him when she spoke. Her primary focus was on the phone in her hand as she called for a taxi to come and get her.

Abby was not prepared to head home. It was the last place she could even think about going, but she just could not stay here anymore.

“You’re leaving?” Sam asked. Curiosity filled his voice as he tucked his hands into the pockets of his dress pants.

“I am. My sister made it clear that she didn’t care if I was here or not. Why did you follow me outside? I’m a big girl. I can look after myself. Don’t forget I used to live here.”

“I needed some air,” Sam said, drawing in a deep breath of the cold night air. Sydney was beautiful, but there was still a frosty chill seeping through the evening air despite the spring season. “I’m not following you. I’m just checking on you. You did leave in a hurry. Do you believe your sister doesn’t want you there? I know I don’t know her, but I get the feeling that after everything you have been through, family is everything to her. I’m sure she’s just hurt because of what we said.”

Abby didn’t know what to think anymore. Family was everything to Jessica, and it meant more to Abby than she cared to admit to Sam. She would have liked to think Jessica would still want her there, but she knew her sister also wasn’t the kind of person to back down from her words. Abby didn’t want to ruin her sister’s night, any more than she already had.

“I don’t know…” Abby trailed off, running a hand through her thick brown hair that Jessica had encouraged her to curl for tonight. “I think maybe it’s just best I follow through on her wishes and leave. I have to get away before I make the situation any worse.”

“Then I will join you,” Sam said with a smile, showing his white teeth.

“I’m not going home right now.” Abby planned to try as hard as she could to manoeuvre her way out of spending any more time with Sam than she needed to. He’d been rude to her before he knew she was Jessica’s sister, after all. And take away the sandy blonde hair, piercing blue eyes and dashing smile, he wasn’t all that good looking.

Who was she kidding? He was charming as hell, but his charismatic good looks and “Mr Nice Guy” act were not going to work on her.

“I don’t care. Wherever you are going will be interesting to me. I’ve never been to Sydney before. You’ll be giving me an adventure.”

Despite his obvious intelligence, Sam was just not getting it. How much clearer did she have to be? Was she supposed to flat out tell him she didn’t want him there?

Before Abby could protest, the taxi she had called for pulled up and Sam made his way around to the other side of the car.

“S
o how do you know the happy couple?” a cute blonde waitress asked Steven. She approached the table at which he was sitting alone and began collecting empty glasses onto the tray she was carrying.

“The bride-to-be is my sister,” Steven said with a sulk.

“Why so gloomy then? I would have thought tonight would be a happy occasion for your family.”

“I am happy for her, but weddings aren’t my thing.”

“Yeah, you won’t find me getting married anytime soon either.”

For the first time, Steven directed his focus towards the woman’s incredible smile. She was gorgeous. And he was fairly sure she already knew just how pretty she was. She probably had a boyfriend to tell her. His eyes scanned the rest of her body, the work uniform she was wearing doing little to accentuate her obvious curves.

“Marriage isn’t your thing either?”

“Well, to be fair, I would need to be in an actual relationship with a man to consider marriage. No, getting married isn’t even on my radar right now.” When she talked, her ponytail swung from side to side.

Something told Steven she preferred casual sex to a relationship. He would have to be an idiot to let a sexy woman walk away without at least getting her number. “I don’t do this often but would you want to go out sometime? I’d love to see you again.” The look on her face was one Steven hadn’t seen before. “Did I take you by surprise?”

She nodded her head. “A little, yeah. You don’t even know my name and I don’t know yours.”

“Well, what is your name then? I’m Steven.”

“It’s Alexandra. Alex for short.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Alexandra.” Her name rolled off Steven’s tongue. He cocked his head to the side, showing his trademark smile. “So with that out of the way, would you look forward to having dinner or a drink with me?” he asked her again. He didn’t mean to sound so forward, but he had to have more of Alex.

“Okay then. I guess there’s no harm in having one drink together but I don’t want you to get the wrong impression of me. It’s just one drink. I finish work in half an hour. If you’re still interested, we can meet up then.”

Steven liked the idea of that—a lot.

He wasn’t sure where his sisters were. Normally, he didn’t like his siblings leaving him alone at a function where he didn’t know anyone. Tonight he was glad he had the chance to talk to a hot woman without Abby and Jessica’s presence beside him.

Maybe tonight would be better than he thought possible.

Jessica drifted off from the friends she was chatting with as she turned her focus towards another area of the function room. She smiled when she saw her brother chatting up the waitress. She had to hand it to him—he had guts. Steven couldn’t go anywhere without flirting with at least one woman. She hoped his flirting wouldn’t go farther than right here. She didn’t need her brother hooking up with one of the catering people tonight.

She also noticed that she hadn’t seen her sister for a while. That bothered more than she wanted to admit, despite the angry words she’d thrown at Abby earlier. Tonight was her engagement party and Abby was her sister. Her support meant the world to Jessica. She’d hoped Abby wouldn’t take her seriously, but apparently, she had.

Justin approached, wrapping his arms around Jessica’s waist. He embraced her in an affectionate way as he dipped his chin to her shoulder. “Are you okay?” he murmured into her neck.

“Yep,” Jessica said, fighting back tears. She couldn’t cry tonight. She was happy and loving her life right now. She would smile and show everyone around her just how thrilled she was to be marrying Justin.

“They’ll be okay. They’ll realise we’re in love.”

She hoped what he was saying would be true. Jessica didn’t think she could handle it if Abby was a no-show at her wedding.