The Playboy's Princess (22 page)

“I’m coming!” Jade yelled as she ran from her bedroom to the front door. Someone had been knocking incessantly to wake her up.

She pulled the door open to see Clare, Pam, and several of the girls from work, all dressed up to go out. Jade was very aware of the fact she was in her PJs with her hair in a bird’s nest and a face mask on.

“Surprise!” her friends yelled in unison.

“What are you guys doing here?”

Clare grinned. “Well, I know you said you didn’t want a bachelorette party…but come on, girl. We weren’t going to let you get away with that. You’re getting
married!
We have to celebrate!”

“We’re so getting our drunk on tonight,” Pam cheered.

“Is that even proper English?” Jade asked over her shoulder as Clare dragged her to her bedroom.

“There’s no room for grammar lessons on our wild girls’ night,” Pam yelled after her.

“Why are you ready for bed?” Clare asked.

“I’m not
ready
for bed; I was
in
bed. It’s almost midnight.”

Clare pulled Jade’s closet doors open and started sorting through the clothes while the girls from work, Cinderella and Belle—Lisa and Jen, got to work washing the mask off Jade’s face. With a team of women working around her, Jade was primped into looking like a supermodel in less than an hour. The girls piled into a taxi and headed to Hollywood.

Jade had endured four dress fittings, six media lessons, and done a TV interview with Drew, all in preparation for her big day. She felt she deserved a good night’s sleep, but it didn’t look like her friends agreed.

Jade had never been in a strip club before.

“Why are we looking at naked women?” Jade asked once they were inside the smoke-filled room. It was dark, and she could barely see her friends. The only light came from the well-lit stage, where two girls were currently writhing around a pole.

“Because this is where the men hang out,” Pam said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“That’s true,” Jade said. “But we’re all taken. We’re not trying to pick up men.”

Clare and Pam looked at each other, and then they all burst out laughing.

“Maybe we’ll just go to the bar across the street and have some drinks?” Lisa suggested.

They all agreed and made their way to the bar. It was packed, and the music was so loud, they could barely speak to each other, so they left there too.

“Where are we going to go? We have to do something fun for your bachelorette party!” Pam said with a pout.

“Really, I meant it when I said I didn’t want a big fuss. Let’s just get some food and go home.”

“Wait, that club looks cool!” Clare said, pointing further up the street where there was a long line of people waiting outside a black building with blue lighting.

Jade made her way toward the end of the line, but Clare and Pam dragged her to the front.

“End of the line, ladies,” the bouncer said.

“Do we have to? My friend here—” Clare pushed Jade forward “—is getting married in two days, and we’re trying to give her a last night of freedom.”

The bouncer looked the girls up and down and then gestured for them to go inside. Several people in the line yelled out about favoritism.

“Hey! When you look as good as these girls, I’ll let you in too,” Jade heard the bouncer say before the door to the club closed. Then all she heard was the pumping music.

“We’re going to dance,” Lisa said, pulling Jen after her.

“I’ll get us some drinks,” Pam called above the music and then weaved her way through the crowd.

“I need a bathroom.” Clare disappeared as well, and Jade stood, alone, wishing she was at home in bed.

“Jade!”

Jade spun around, looking for who had called her name, but she couldn’t see anyone she knew. Perhaps she’d imagined it.

“Jade!”

She tried to ignore it this time, sure that someone standing near her had the same name. She didn’t want to be the girl that answered a call that wasn’t actually for her.

“I thought that was you. Is Drew with you?”

Jade looked over her shoulder and took a second to realize that Tully Whittaker was standing there, smiling.

“Oh, Tully, hello. We didn’t really get introduced properly at the dinner.”

To be honest, Jade was shocked that Tully recognized her at all. Or that she’d approached. Tully hadn’t been happy about the engagement and had made that fact well known to the media.

“So, is Drew here?” Tully looked around the crowd.

“No, he’s in Vegas with his friends. Bachelor party.”

“Oh, right.” She looked disappointed. “The wedding’s this weekend, isn’t it?”

As if she didn’t know. Drew said that Tully has asked him repeatedly if the wedding was still going ahead.

“Yes. Will you be there?”

“You don’t know your own guest list? Jesus. If I was getting married, I’d be all over every single detail.”

“I’m pretty relaxed about it, actually. Laura hired Cassandra to plan for us.”

“How’s everything going with you and Drew? All happy and smiles?”

“Yeah, we’re great.” Jade could have sworn she saw a look pass over Tully’s face when she said they were fine. And it wasn’t jealousy, which she would have expected. It was a smug, knowing look.

Jade felt a vibrating in her pocket and pulled out her phone. Drew’s name flashed on the screen.

“Speak of the devil,” she said to Tully and then answered the call. “Hey, Drew, how’s Vegas?”

“I didn’t wake you, did I?” There was a lot of noise in the background, and he sounded like he was yelling.

“No, I’m actually out in Hollywood with my friends. They threw me an impromptu bachelorette party.”

He laughed. “Are you having fun?”

“I don’t know if fun is the right word. I’ll catch you up when you get home.”

“Cool, cool. I’m at Aria, and it’s going off.”

“You sound drunk,” Jade said.

“What?” he yelled. Cheering went up in the background.

Jade laughed, really hamming it up for Tully. She needed to be convincing that she was in love with Drew.

“I miss you. Please be safe tonight. I don’t want to hear about you waking up in the Mexican desert or anything.”

“I can’t promise
anything
,” Drew said, also laughing. “Hey, Ariel, I miss you too.”

He hung up, but before she pulled the phone from her ear, she looked at Tully, smiling, and said, “I love you, too.”

The blonde’s eyes narrowed for a second, but she recovered quickly.

“How sweet. I could just eat you two up.”

“Drew is very romantic,” Jade agreed.

“You’re Tully Whittaker!” Clare yelled in Tully’s face.

“No shit, Sherlock.” Tully flicked her hair over her shoulder.

Jade opened her mouth, about to tell Tully off for being rude, but she didn’t get a chance. A flash of light went off in their faces. All three girls turned, stunned, to see several camera lenses pointed at them. Jade automatically turned away, but Tully pulled her into a hug and posed as the flashes continued.

“I just have to go to the bathroom,” Jade said, grabbing Clare’s hand, leaving Tully to the reporters.

In the crowd, they bumped into Pam, who was trying to carry three very full glasses without spilling anything.

“We’re going,” Jade said.

“But I got us Long Island iced teas!” Pam protested.

Jade dragged her friends out onto the street and started walking down the block, eager to get away from the cameras. Jen and Lisa were still inside, so she pulled out her phone and texted Lisa to let them know they’d left. Jen texted back a second later saying they were having fun and wanted to stay. They’d meet up later in the night. Jade sighed. She’d been having such a nice sleep before all of this craziness had happened.

“Can we
please
go home now?” she begged.

“We could,” Clare reasoned. “Or we could have an In-N-Out Burger.”

“Oh, you devil! Now I’m craving animal-style fries.” Jade glared at her friend.

“Let’s go!”

The three girls headed to the In-N-Out Burger on Sunset Boulevard, and Jade forgot all about Tully and the photos taken in the club.

Chapter Thirteen

The Words

“W
OULD
Y
OU
M
IND
sitting still, darling?” asked Jared, the hair stylist.

He wore more eyeliner than Jade had ever seen on any other human being, and his spiky hair was blue at the roots, fading to mauve and then silver on the tips. Despite the strange first impression, he really pulled off the look.

“Sorry,” Jade muttered, digging for her ringing phone. “Hello?” she said into the device, settling back into the chair so Jared could curl her hair.

“Operation Parent Pickup was a success,” Clare said. “You’re on speaker.”

“Hello, munchkin!” Jade’s mom, Lea, said in an echoing voice.

“Hi, Mom. I’m so glad you guys made it safely. Hi, Dad.”

“Your friend drives way too fast,” her dad, Greg, said.

Jade giggled. “Clare, please don’t give my parents a heart attack. I’d like them alive for the ceremony.”

“I’m doing the speed limit!” Clare protested. “Just because people drive slow in Florida, it isn’t my fault.”

“Are you excited, Jadey? Only a few hours until you’ll be married!” Lea’s voice was so excited that Jade felt like dirt. Her parents would be so disappointed next year when she told them she was getting a divorce.

“Yeah, I can’t believe it.”

“I’m dropping your folks at their hotel, and then I’m coming to you, okay?” Clare asked.

“See you soon, Clare. Mom, Dad, I can’t wait to see you guys.”

“We’ll be at the church,” Greg promised.

“Dad, we’re not getting married in a church, remember? I told you guys it’ll be at the country club.”

Her dad started grumbling about Hollywood people and their blasphemous ways, and with a laugh, Jade hung up the phone.

Having her parents around was a good feeling. She hadn’t seen them since she’d moved out to California, and she really missed them. Now that she was going to have some money in her bank account, she promised herself she’d try to visit them more often.

“You’re done. Off to makeup with you, princess. Pamela, get your perky little ass in my chair,” Jared said playfully.

Jade looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. Her hair was pinned, ready for the veil to be fitted, and fell in waves down her back. Pam sat down in the chair she’d just vacated, and Jared got to work on her blond tresses.

Jade went into the next room of the salon and saw an Asian woman wearing a white coat.

“Hi, I’m Jade.”

“Please have a seat. Are you the bride?”

“I am.”

Jade took a seat, and the woman put a cape around her neck.

“What color are your flowers?” she asked.

“White and red. I’m sorry. I didn’t get your name…”

“Victoria. Would you like red lips to match your flowers?”

“I don’t know. I’ve always felt that red lips with red hair was a bit much. Maybe neutral lips and bigger eyes?”

“Of course.”

Unlike Jared, who’d chatted the whole way through doing her hair, Victoria was silent as she worked. She wore a puff on her little finger that dusted against Jade’s cheek and presumably stopped her makeup from getting smudged.

“Smoky eyes or just eyelashes and liner?”

“Whatever is more bride-like,” Jade said.

She felt like the worst bride ever. She was sure every other woman who’d gotten married in the history of the world had studied for weeks about exactly which color blush they wanted and had done several makeup rehearsals. But, knowing this wedding wasn’t real, she just couldn’t put her heart into it.

The door opened, and Clare’s head popped around the corner.

“Just letting you know I’m here. I’ll go get my hair done. You look gorgeous, by the way!”

“Thanks for getting my parents. Did they look well?”

Clare rolled her eyes. “Your dad grumbled the whole time about the weather. Apparently the sun in California isn’t as nice as the sun in Florida. He’s also pretty hurt that you’re not getting married in a church.”

Jade sighed. “Yeah, I know. I tried to explain it to him over the phone, but I’ll talk to him again after the ceremony.”

“I need you to stop moving your lips, please,” Victoria said, holding a lipstick brush.

“Sorry.” Jade gave Clare a look, and Clare giggled, closing the door.

Victoria really was just all business. No joyous wedding giggles and chatting for her.