Chapter Ten-Denials

I groan and rub my eyes, trying to block out the sunlight. I sit up and feel my body ache and my head pound. When I finally find the courage to open my eyes, I look around and realize that I'm not in my bed. I'm in Ray's living room. I frown as I look around. What the hell happened last night?

I get up and stretch. I notice I'm in the same clothes I wore yesterday and my jeans have grass stains on them. I groan again as I try to remember once more what happened the night before and how the hell I ended up in Ray's living room.

"Look who's finally awake."

I turn around when I see Elliot walking towards me in his suit.

"I was just coming down to wake you up," he tells me. I frown at him. How does he look so fresh? I feel like shit and I know I have to look like it.

"What's going on? Why are we here?" I ask him.

He smirks as he goes into the kitchen and gets a glass of water. "Well after we got home from the bar, you decided that you wanted to give your fiancée one last kiss as unmarried people, and then you just passed out. Or at least that's what I was told." He takes a sip. "Anyways, Ana said she didn't want to wake anyone up to help you get inside so she just dragged you in and threw you on the couch, apparently."

My eyes widen in surprise. "She dragged me in here?" I glance down at my ruined pants. "Well I guess that would explain the stains."

He nods. "Anyway you were completely out of it. I tried to wake you up like an hour ago but you were dead." He laughs. "We got so trashed last night."

"It doesn't look like you're suffering from the effects of it," I mumble.

"Yeah, well I've had years of practice. Anyway, since no one could get you up the girls decided to get ready at mom's and the men here." He glances at me. "By the way you better wash up and get ready. The ceremony starts in," he looks at his watch, "two hours and mom will have your balls if she saw you like this."

"You mean she doesn't know that we got trashed last night?" I ask.

He scoffs. "She would have a heart attack if she knew how fucked-up you were before the biggest day of your life." He grins at me. "You ready for this, bro?"

I sigh. "I don't know. Right now I feel like crawling into a hole." I glance at him. "I don't know how you're so bright and alert."

He laughs and then goes into the kitchen to retrieve something from the cabinet and gets another glass of water.

"Take this," he says, dropping two pills in my hand in handing me the glass of water.

I toss them into my mouth and wash it down with a big gulp of water. I hand him the glass and he turns around to put it into the sink. I find it slightly amusing how we're so comfortable at Ray's house. We were here a lot when we were younger so it's not that surprising.

"Better?" Elliot asks. I nod my head. "Good. Your tux is upstairs in the guestroom." He looks at me up and down. "I suggest you take a shower though, before you put it on. Wouldn't want your bride cringing away from you in disgust," he jokes.

I roll my eyes. "Like I would really go to my own wedding without taking a shower first."

"Well who knows with you."

I just shake my head and walk away.

Thirty minutes later I'm out of the shower and dressed in a tux, ready for the day that will pave the way for the rest of my life. I take a deep breath as I gaze at myself in the mirror. Shit. I feel the nerves kicking in. In little over an hour I will be standing in front of family and friends vowing to love someone who has agreed to help me deceive my family.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath as I try to rationalize all the negative possibilities floating through my mind. So many things can go wrong today. The worst of it would be my family finding out about this lie, and knowing that I bribed Ana into helping me. I could see my head hanging proudly above Ray's fire place if he found out how I'm essentially using his daughter to get what I want. But despite how I really want to feel I do care about Ana. I care about her a lot. Maybe more than I would like to admit.

I'm straightening my tie when I hear shouting and commotion going on downstairs. I leave the guestroom to go see what all the chaos is about.

I find my mom, Kate and Mia hounding Elliot and Ray asking them jumbled questions all at once.

"What's going on?" I ask, walking closer to them.

Everyone's looking at me with pale faces and wide eyes. No one answers me so I glare at them and repeat my question.

The girls all look at each other and Ray and Elliot are gazing at them, waiting for them answer me. My mom steps forward and takes my hands in hers. I look at her cautiously, knowing she's about to deliver bad news.

"Ana's gone missing," she says frantically, then takes a deep breath. "We can't find her anywhere. The ceremony starts in an hour and everyone's already arrived . . ."

I stare at her. "Well when was the last time you saw her and where?"

Kate steps forward. She gives me a weird look when she answers me. "I was helping her put on finishing touches with her makeup, then she asked me if I could give her a moment of privacy. I thought she had to pee or something, but I stepped out of the room and waited fifteen minutes for her to finish. When I came back into the room she was gone and the balcony doors were open in Mia's room."

"We've looked everywhere," Mia adds. "And none of the cars are gone. No one saw her leave either." She shakes her head. "My balcony faces the woods, she could've gone anywhere without being seen."

I don't say anything as I strut away. My first thought is that maybe she went to the cliff she showed me last week, but I quickly dismiss that thought when I realize Mia said none of the cars were missing. They said they checked everywhere but where exactly is everywhere? I'm sure they checked her room, all the guestrooms between both of our houses. They probably checked the lookout tower Ray built in a few years ago attached to Ana's room . . . I wonder if they checked the treehouse in Ray's backyard?

I quickly backtrack and turn back around and slip out the backdoor, quickly pacing towards the big oak tree on the side of Ray's house. I climb the ladder, push up the door and peek my head inside. My body relaxes when I see her pacing back and forth with her hand vigorously rubbing her forehead.

I pull myself up and step into the rather spacious treehouse. From the outside it looks small, but the inside is roomy and comfortable. In the middle is the thick tree trunk, and circling around it is the rectangular wooden floor. There are windows on each wall and up against the walls are custom-made plush brown cushions. Ana was ecstatic when Ray built this for her twelfth birthday. Perks of your father being a successful carpenter with his own business, I guess.

She still hasn't noticed me when I step further inside. I stand and watch her for a moment while unnoticed. She's in her wedding dress, her arms and chest covered in white lace while her back is bare. The entire dress is covered in lace, but from her chest down is a satin-looking dress that hugs her body. Her face is made up with light natural-looking makeup and her hair is pinned up in dainty curls, a lace veil hangs from the bottom of her up-do.

She looks absolutely breathtaking. My breath catches as I gaze at her and I feel my chest stir with an emotion I don't want to acknowledge. I've never seen anything or anyone so beautiful.

She seems to finally realize she's not alone. She jumps and gasps when she sees me. "Christian," she breathes. "W-what are you . . . How did you know I was here?"

I shrug and step towards her. "Lucky guess," I say. "Everyone's looking for you, Anastasia. Why are you hiding up here?"

She stares up at me with wary eyes. I see something else lingering in her eyes. "Christian—I can't do this."

I step closer to her. "Do what?" I ask quietly.

She gestures to herself and me. "This. Us. The wedding. I can't . . . we can't." She looks up at me with a worried expression and begins to pace again.

I grab her shoulders and hold her in front of me. "Whoa, whoa. Calm down. Take a deep breath. In and out." I watch her begin to breathe in and out as I coach her. "Now tell me what's wrong? Why are you saying you can't do this?"

She looks down and shakes he head. "I just can't."

I feel myself getting irritated. She can't back out now. I won't let her. We've come so far, she can't just decide not to do this anymore.

"Why?"

She looks at me with a desperate gleam in her eyes. "Because . . . because it's not right. We're lying to everyone. And . . . and I can't do it. I don't want to lie to everyone. I'm lying to my father and your parents . . . to everyone. I can't . . ."

I look down at her. "You didn't seem to mind that fact in the beginning."

"Yeah, well, now everything's changed," she mutters.

I frown at her. "In what way?"

She tries to pull her arms from my grip. I hold her tighter. "It doesn't matter."

"How can you say that, Ana? Of course it matters, and I'm not letting you back out of this until you give me a logical reason as to why. You made me a promise as I did you. I'm holding up my end, now you hold up yours."

She bows her head. "I'm sorry. I can't do it." She struggles out of my hold.

She tries to walk away and she gets to the edge of the door built into the floor. I snap into action immediately and pull her back further into the room. Her back is against my chest and I wrap my arms around her.

Leaning down close to her ear I say, "I'm not letting you go until you give me a good reason why I should let you back out of this."

"Christian, let me go," she demands, struggling against my hold.

"Answer my question."

"No."

"Then I'm not letting you go. We had a deal, Ana. You know how much this means to me. I need to do this," I plead.

"Why? Why do you want me to do this with you so badly? Why me, Christian?" she asks, and there's an undercurrent to her tone.

I frown. She stops struggling against me so I loosen my hold and turn her around in my arms. She looks up at me with wide apprehensive eyes.

"I've already told you why. No one else would understand the way you would."

She stares at me. "And that's the only reason you want me to do this with you? Because I'm the only one who understands?" she asks wearily.

"Yes, Ana, I thought we already discussed this," I mutter, exasperated.

I don't understand why she's asking me these questions. Or why she seems to be worried about my reasons for doing this. And why this has come up suddenly. She's had an entire week to freak about this, and yet she's doing it an hour before our wedding. Something must've happened to provoke her. But what?

I gaze down at her. "Did something happen? Did someone say something to you?"

She only looks at me, unblinking. She cocks her head to the side as she whispers, "You don't remember what you said to me last night?"

I frown and wrack my brain. I don't remember shit from last night. "No," I say. "Did I say something to upset you?"

She takes a deep breath and looks away from me. An expression crosses her face and I'm having a hard time deciding whether it's relief or disappointment. I think it's a mixture of both.

She looks into my eyes and shakes her head. "No. You didn't say anything to upset me."

"Then what's th-"

She cuts me off with a shake of her head and she says. "I'm sorry; I just had a lapse in judgement. The wedding starts soon. We should get down there."

My mouth slightly falls open and a deep frown mars my face. "What . . .?" I mutter dumbfounded.

"Come on. Your mom and Mia will have a fit if they found out you saw me before the wedding."

She grabs my hand and leads me out of the treehouse, and because I feel so confused and addle-brained, I wordlessly let her guide me down the ladder and back towards the house.

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Happy Valentines Day! It's a day to share love so I hope you've all told someone you love them or have been told you're loved. Have a love-filled evening ;)