Lose Control (The Jewel Project #5)

Slow Song

The rest of the ceremony was a blur for Angie. She had no idea how and when they stepped out of the church, but before she knew it, she was smiling in wedding photographs with what used to be her family.

At some point, she wound up with just Jessie and Kay for a photograph and it almost made her cry. She'd missed her best friends so much.

What she didn't miss was seeing Tom and being unable to keep her eyes off him. It was hard when he looked so good in that suit and kept laughing. Harder when Lucy was on his arm constantly, shining like a diamond.

He was best man, she was the maid of honor. It made perfect sense that they'd appear next to Sam and Skye in almost every photo. But seeing them together made Angie's blood boil. Not like she could do anything about it since she'd practically given Lucy her blessing.

Then it was back to the hotel, giving Jessie her dress back, and putting on what Jessie had bought for her. It was a flowing light silver satin that made Angie feel like she was actually wearing sexy lingerie, but when she put it on, it fit her perfectly and looked elegant rather than indecent.

When Kyle and Kay picked her up, Angie felt slightly nauseous.

"What's wrong, Angie?" Kyle asked, though by his tone, he knew it even better than her. "Not looking forward to the party?"

"Oh no, of course I am."

Kyle just hummed, raising his eyebrows and Kay was too excited about something to comment. The way they held hands as they walked plunged an uncomfortable rock in Angie's stomach anyway. It made her feel foreign, like an intruder because she'd chosen to stop being a part of their life.

In normal circumstances, if she hadn't run, she'd be a real bridesmaid, maybe paired with Tom throughout the ceremony. Instead of Lucy.

Angie swallowed the bitter taste in her mouth. Why was she so jealous? It's not like she wanted to get back together. Right?

By the time she reached the ballroom and had a seat at a random table by herself, she felt even worse. Kyle and Kay had to go be part of the wedding, just like everyone else she knew and loved, and that just left her.

It hurt to be so far removed from everything, not even at the same table as Sarah who appeared soon with Jimmy. This peaked Angie's curiosity. Where were Jessie and Jerry then? She wished she could ask, but she was too far away from Sarah to do more than wave at her.

Sarah grinned and waved in return, obviously having no issue with babysitting Jimmy who fortunately seemed a lot less aggressive. Angie wondered if Jessie had wound up drugging him after all.

"Well, you're nice and friendly with her."

The familiar voice made Angie sigh with relief, even if it was Christine. And Tina. The two sat at her table, and Angie felt a little less lonely, even if she was obviously at the ex table.

"She's actually really cool."

"So I've heard." Christine smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Why aren't you with everyone else? And what happened to Jimmy?"

Angie stared. Christine was so out of the loop, it was scary. But then again, she had no reason to know details about their lives anymore. Not since she and Sam had broken up in less than friendly terms. Angie still couldn't compute why exactly she and Tina were there.

"Um, I actually just got here. And Tom and I broke up seven months ago." The subject of Jimmy was ignored, because she couldn't get into that.

Christine's eyes widened and to Angie's utter shock, she didn't say anything. She probably did the math and realized that was about the time she and Sam broke up. And yet, here they were at his wedding.