Changing Fate (Changing Teams Series Book 3) Read online

  “First and last,” I said, repeating the promise we’d made the night we’d lost our virginity. “We’ll be each other’s firsts and lasts.”

  “I still mean it, Cin. I’ve never wanted anyone but you.” Sean pulled me into his arms, burying his face in my hair. “I’m so sorry about Emily. I never meant to betray you with her.”

  “I only married Patrick for Britt,” I choked out around my sobs. “I wanted to give Britt a good life, send her to a good school—”

  “I know, baby, I know.” Sean rubbed my back, soothing me. “I know you’d do anything for our girl, just like I would.” Sean tilted up my chin and pressed his lips to mine. “There’s nothing you could do that would make me not love you.”

  And those were the words that killed me. I sank my fingers into Sean’s hair and kissed him back, feeling a passion inside me that I’d thought long dead. My lips parted under his, and he stroked his tongue against mine.

  “Taste just as sweet as I remember,” he murmured, as his hands glided across my bare back. “Cinnamon sweet.” Sean unfastened the single hook at the back of my neck, kissing his way across my shoulders and breasts. I unknotted his tie and opened his shirt, sacrificing a few buttons as I spread my hands across his smooth skin.

  Sean backed me toward the couch, then he found the zipper at my lower back, opened my dress, and pushed it down past my hips. As my dress fell to the floor, he shed the rest of his clothing; he was just as toned as he’d been when he was our high school’s star pitcher. I laid back on the couch and he stretched himself out on top of me, all hot skin and hard cock.

  “Cin,” he said, taking my breast in his mouth. “I want you so much, baby. You want me too?”

  A smart woman would have said no. A smart woman would have stood up, blamed this incident on the lethal combination of alcohol and nostalgia, gotten dressed, and gotten the hell out of there. I’ve never been smart about Sean.

  I hooked my thumbs in my panties and yanked them off, then I wrapped my legs around Sean’s waist; a moment later he was thrusting into me. God, it burned, so much more than I remembered. It was like I was a virgin all over again, and got to give it up to Sean a second time.

  “Did I hurt you?” Sean asked when my nails scored his back.

  “No, it’s just…it’s been a while.”

  Sean chuckled, the low tone rumbling across my skin. “For me too, baby.” He resumed thrusting, over and over until I arched my back and cried out. Sean came a moment later, his muscular, sweaty body draped across mine.

  “I love you, Cin,” Sean said against my neck. “I’ll always love you. Leave that rich asshole and come back to me.”

  “Don’t you think I would if I could?” I countered. “Sean, you know I would.”

  “Hush, baby,” he soothed, smoothing back my hair. “I know.”

  We rested for a few minutes, whispering endearments as we lay in each other’s arms, but we were on borrowed time. “Sean, I have to get back.”

  Instead of letting me get up, he suggested, “We could run away.”

  “To an island?”

  “Nah, a faraway star system.” Sean’s mouth traveled across my neck, his warm breath tickling me. “It would be a peaceful land, full of jungles and waterfalls, and all the natives would be awed by your beauty. They’d make you their queen, and I’d be your humble servant.”

  “Would they shower me with gold and jewels?”

  “No, you’d get the good stuff. Croissants and coffee and that weird chocolate thing you like.”

  I smiled, winding my arms around Sean’s neck. “I did not know that alien planets had croissants. Or chocolate or coffee, for that matter.”

  “It’s an advanced civilization.”

  We smiled at each other for a few moments, then Sean cleared his throat and moved off of me. We dressed in silence, each of us avoiding looking at the other. It was like we were fourteen again. Once we were properly covered, I spun around and faced Sean.

  “Do me a favor?” I asked.

  “Anything, baby,” he replied. “Name it.”

  “Find Britt, and ask her to meet me in the bridal dressing suite?” I smiled tightly, and added, “I imagine I look like I’ve been having nefarious sex. I’m going to need some help before I return to my…return to Patrick.”

  “Nefarious,” Sean murmured. “I love it when you talk dirty.”

  I wrung my hands, and said, “Just find Britt. Please?”

  “Of course, Cin. Anything you need.”

  I smiled at Sean, then I stood on my toes and kissed his cheek. “I will never stop loving you, either,” I said, then I fled the room.

  Chapter Ten

  Sean

  Present Day

  I leaned against the doorframe and watched Cin run down the hall and duck into the bridal suite, beyond happy that she still loved me, yet furious at Patrick for what he’d done to her. My Cin had been a vivacious girl, happy, and smiling, and full of light and life. Patrick’s Cindy was so busy making sure she didn’t anger him while he controlled her every move, her light had dimmed to a flicker. It was still there, though; I’d seen it. Too bad her husband never had.

  Wait, Patrick had never fucked her. In my mind, that made him very much not Cin’s husband.

  God, I hadn’t felt this alive in years. Being with Cin had sloughed off layers of exhaustion and stress I hadn’t even known were there, and I felt like a young man again. The last time I’d felt this great was when I’d signed the papers for my house-slash-comic store, and imagined me and Cin and Britt all living there for years to come.

  Later that same day, I’d bought Cin a ring. Later still, she told me about Patrick.

  I shook my head to get rid of those memories. There was no way I was letting Patrick, present Patrick or the jerk that stole Cin from me all those years ago, ruin this moment. Not to mention, I had a promise to keep.

  After I’d given myself a quick once-over in the mirror, I left the room and went back down to the reception, intent on finding Britt. I found Sam before I found my daughter. He had set up camp at the bar, and was throwing back shots with his friends.

  “Sam,” I said, clapping him on the shoulder. “You seen Britt?”

  “Dad,” Sam said, lifting me up in a bear hug. He abruptly set me on my feet, his face worried. “Is it okay if I call you Dad?”

  “It’s fine,” I said. “Britt, your wife. Where is she?”

  Sam’s eyes glazed over, with inebriation or love, I couldn’t tell. Probably a little of both. “My wife. Yeah, I got me a wife.”

  “Yes, I know.” Since this was obviously going nowhere, I scanned the crowd. Britt wasn’t far from her new husband, goofing around on the dance floor with her sisters. The three of them looked so much alike, what with their pretty brown hair and matching dresses, it was as if Emily didn’t even exist.

  Whoa. Where had that come from?

  “Hey pumpkin,” I said when I reached Britt. “Your mother wants you to meet her up in the bridal suite.”

  “Really?” Britt asked. “Do you know why?”

  Did I ever. “Something about her makeup.”

  “Okay then,” Britt said, then she headed off toward the dressing rooms. I took Britt’s place dancing with Penny and Ronnie, and the three of us spun and twirled around the other dancers. A few minutes later Britt reappeared and whispered something in her step-cousin Melody’s ear, then she grabbed a bottle and four glasses from the bar and scuttled back toward the dressing room. Melody in turn found Britt’s maid of honor, Astrid, and the two of them went after Britt.

  Crap. What the hell was going on in that dressing room?

  Chapter Eleven

  Cindy

  Present Day

  I ran into the bridal suite and shut the door, leaning against the wood and gripping the doorknob as my heart pounded. I’d just cheated on Patrick. I’d just cheated on Patrick with Sean. Worse, I didn’t have a single regret.

  If Patrick figures out what happened, I’l
l have regrets.

  I entered the private bathroom and cleaned myself up as best I could. My panties were a wreck, so I slipped them off and tossed them into the trash. When Britt arrived she found me hunched over the sink, washing my hands and bawling hysterically.

  “Mom?” Britt rushed to my side, her hands on her hips as she looked me over. “What happened?” I tried responding, but only managed a few sobs and hiccups. Britt looked past me and gasped; there were my panties in the wastebasket, laying there right on top of the wadded up tissues.

  “Was it Patrick?” Britt demanded. “Did he hurt you?”

  “N-Nothing to do with Patrick,” I choked out. “I-I just need to fix my makeup before I go back to him.”

  “I’ll help you, but not until you tell me what happened,” Britt said. “You’re acting like a teenager that got caught with her boyfriend.” I gave Britt a long look, then she covered her mouth and backed away. “That’s it, isn’t it? God, Mom, of all the times for you to cheat on Patrick, it had to be at my wedding.”

  I sighed and hung my head. “It was with your father.”

  Britt dropped her hand, her anger visibly deflating. “Are you getting back together with Dad?”

  “Only in a parallel, perfect universe,” I muttered. “Please, Britt, I know I messed up. I’m so sorry this happened. But please, please help me keep Patrick from finding out.”

  Britt nodded. “Of course I’ll help. Let me get Melody.”

  “No,” I cried, leaping in front of her. The last person I needed seeing me like this was Patrick’s niece; just because she was angry with him now didn’t mean she would always be, and I did not need more people knowing about this. “Not her!”

  “Trust me, Melody’s on our side,” Britt said. “Also, we have a secret weapon that even Patrick doesn’t know about.”

  “Would that be a time machine?” I asked with a smirk.

  “Nope, even better. We have Astrid.”

  ***

  Britt darted out of the suite and returned a few minutes later with a bottle of champagne and four glasses. A minute later Melody arrived, with Astrid following close behind.

  “What’s the champagne for?” I asked dully.

  “Alibi,” Britt said. “When Patrick interrogates you about where you were, you can truthfully say that we were drinking champagne and having some mother-daughter bonding time in the bridal suite.”

  I nodded and took the glass, not because I thought Britt’s plan was sound. I was hoping I could drink enough to black out and assume what had happened with Sean and I was an alcohol-induced hallucination. Before I could drink, Astrid tilted my face up and clucked her tongue.

  “Is this situation what it looks like?” Astrid asked.

  “Oh, yeah,” Britt said. “Big time.”

  “What does it look like?” Melody asked. “Aunt Cindy, what happened?”

  I looked from Melody to Britt and back again, not sure if I was glad Britt had kept my secrets from her friends, or if it would have been better if she’d already told them. “I-I…with Sean…”

  Astrid looked down at the couch we were sitting on, and made a face. “Tell me it wasn’t in here, on this very piece of furniture.”

  “No,” I said. “We were on a different couch.”

  Melody gasped. “You cheated on Patrick? With your ex?”

  “Hey,” Britt said, “it’s not cheating if it’s with Dad. They’re each other’s lobster.”

  “Lobster?” Astrid repeated.

  “Supposedly, lobsters mate for life,” I mumbled. “Britt saw it on this stupid television show when she was a kid and has been saying it ever since. One year, she wanted Sean and me to dress up as lobsters for Halloween.”

  “And they did it,” Britt said, bouncing in her chair. “They were lobsters and I was a crab. We went door to door as The Crustaceans!”

  Astrid gave Britt a long look, then she turned her attention to my red, puffy face. “You really did a number on yourself,” she murmured. She set her makeup case on the floor next to my feet and rummaged through it. “Why did you do something like this if it only made you cry?”

  “I don’t know,” I wailed. “It was stupid. We were dancing, and I told Sean about Patrick’s condition. The next thing I knew we were upstairs having sex.”

  “Condition?” Astrid asked. She moistened a cotton ball with makeup remover and swiped it underneath my eyes.

  “Patrick’s dick is broken,” Britt said. “He hasn’t been able to get it up for years.”

  “Britannica!” I scolded. I did not need everyone knowing about my sexless marriage. It was bad enough that I had to live it.

  “Don’t be mad at Britt,” Melody said as she went to work on my hair. After my encounter with Sean it resembled nothing so much as a bird’s nest. A ratty, lopsided bird’s nest. “It’s not like the family doesn’t know. Don’t you remember when Britt and I found the dildo collection?”

  “Dildo collection?” Astrid repeated.

  Britt giggled. “Yeah, Mel and I thought they were lightsabers or something. We were having a swordfight when Mom found us.”

  Astrid shook her head. “White people.”

  I covered my face with my hands, fighting off a new batch of tears. “I just want to die.”

  “Hey, now,” Astrid murmured, taking my hands from my face. “That’s a little extreme, don’t you think? Now, it’s plain to see that you only hooked up with Mr. No-Nookie for Britt’s sake.”

  “Yes, that’s true,” I said. “I wanted Britt to have all the opportunities in the world.”

  “Well, look how great she turned out?” Astrid gestured toward Britt, who did a little vamping in her wedding gown. “She’s smart, beautiful, an amazing artist, and married to the man of her dreams to boot. You did great, Mama Bear.”

  Britt smiled. “You sure did.”

  “So maybe,” Astrid continued as she patted concealer around my nose, “now that the cub is safely out in the world, it’s time for Mama Bear to take care of herself.”

  I nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly with Astrid, but without the slightest clue how I could leave Patrick. Not knowing how else to proceed, I drank more champagne. Maybe if I got drunk and passed out I’d forget this entire incident.

  “Mom?” Britt asked. “Where’s your ring?”

  I looked at my left hand, and my naked ring finger. “Shit,” I said, lowering my glass. “Sean took it off of me before we…he put it on a table…”

  “How romantic,” Melody said.

  “Well, what table did he put it on?” Britt demanded. “We’ve got to get it back!”

  “The groomsman’s suite,” I said; apparently all of my secrets were being divulged. “We were in the groomsman’s suite.”

  “On it,” Melody said. She left, only to return a few moments later empty handed. “So, the suite’s locked.”

  “Locked?” I repeated, leaping to my feet. “We have to get in! Who has a key?”

  “Um.” Britt shrugged, spreading her hands. “Maybe Sam does?”

  “I’ll find out,” Melody said, and she was off again.

  “God,” I muttered, “can this get any worse?”

  ***

  Things got worse.

  Sam didn’t have the key to the groomsman suite, because he had entrusted it to his father’s keeping. Which meant that Britt, Astrid, and I were standing outside the locked door as the giant hulk of Lieutenant Thomas MacKellar in full military dress approached us, with Melody trailing close behind. While he had the same dark hair and large frame as his son, Sam was always smiling. Not only did Thomas rarely smile, he didn’t say much either.

  “Look, Sam’s father has the key,” Melody said in a rush. “Sam gave him the key for safekeeping. He came up to unlock the suite for us. Isn’t that nice of him?”

  “Mel,” Britt whispered. “You’re babbling.”

  “Sorry,” Melody murmured.

  Thomas looked at each of us, his gaze settling on Britt. “Well, let’s g
et this door unlocked,” he muttered. As soon as the door was open I rushed past him, grabbed my wedding ring, and shoved it onto my finger; I’d never been so happy to have that stupid, ugly rock on my finger. When I looked up, I saw four sets of eyes staring at me with expressions ranging from confusion to amusement. Then Thomas’s gaze caught on a man’s shirt button lying on the floor.

  “Exactly what went on in here?” Thomas demanded.

  “Mom took off her ring, and when we came back for it the door was locked,” Britt explained. “That’s all.”

  Thomas nodded at Britt, then he focused his gaze on me. “You took off your wedding ring in the groomsman’s suite,” he stated.

  “Yes, that is exactly what happened,” I said. “Now, if you’ll all excuse me, I need to return to my husband.”

  I sped downstairs from the suite and returned to the reception, and a very irritated Patrick. “Exactly where have you been?” Patrick hissed.

  “The bridal suite with Britt,” I replied, silently thanking my daughter for the alibi. “We had some mother-daughter bonding over champagne.”

  Patrick grabbed my elbow. “I hope that’s all it was.”

  I yanked my arm free of his grasp. “Go search the suite, if you’d like. You’ll find a half empty bottle, four glasses, and a crap ton of hair and makeup supplies.”

  “Four glasses?” Patrick repeated.

  “Yes. Melody and Astrid were there too.” Patrick moved to grab my elbow again, but I evaded him. “Patrick, I will not have you and your suspicions ruining my daughter’s wedding. Let it go.”

  “I can—”

  “I know perfectly well what you’re capable of,” I said over him. “For once, act like a normal stepfather and just be happy for Britt.”

  Patrick frowned, then he signaled a waiter for another drink. I looked across the dance floor and saw Sean, sitting against the wall with his girls on his lap. He was telling them a story, and all three were smiling. I glanced at my frowning husband, and wondered how I’d made so many wrong turns.