“No!” I hurried to say, my eyes widening. “I just figured that since you had it all planned out that the dress would have been chosen too.”
“Well, I have no idea about wedding dresses and Oona would have strung me up by my toes if I suggested she pick something for you.”
“Thank you.” My voice was quiet as my mind was already racing to think about what I would actually want to wear to my own wedding.
At least this time it actually felt like my own wedding.
Rhodes, who’d been silent since his last snarky comment, cleared his throat. “We’ve got Perrie’s first day of self-defense in twenty minutes and she needs to change.”
I’d forgotten all about it during what had turned out to be a completely illuminating lunch, but his words also gave me an out that I desperately needed right now.
Standing abruptly from my seat, I turned before Edison could see my expression and hurried for the door.
“Perrie?” His voice stopped me.
I turned, trying to smooth my expression into something not-so-embarrassing.
“What colors did you want for our wedding?”
Our wedding. The words curled up my spine like soft hands. They shouldn’t have thrilled me as much as they did and yet I nearly grinned at him like a lunatic.
I thought about his question for a moment, my lips opening and supplying the answer before my brain could catch up and save me. “Gold.”
Both of the men blinked with surprise before a slow smile spread across Edison’s face.
“Done,” he said to my back as I hurried out of the room.
“Oof!” I grunted as I was slammed into the mat for what felt like the hundredth time since I’d entered the mansion’s gym.
The space was full of treadmills, weight-lifting equipment, and wall to wall mirrors that showed off every twitch that I made as Rhodes stood over me and offered me his hand. I wanted to slap it away, but despite my pride I probably wouldn’t be able to get up on my own at this point.
“What part of keeping an eye on every part of my body do you not understand?” Rhodes asked as I wiped my palms on the fancy pair of leggings that Oona had given me before sending me off to be tortured by this man.
Rhodes the silent had turned into Rhodes the devil.
As soon as I entered the gym he’d given me all of thirty seconds before he was swinging at me with pad covered hands.
The next hour had been a mix of him verbally telling me how to defend myself against some unknown assailant… and actually being that unknown assailant.
“The part where you told me to keep an eye on every part of your body.” I rubbed my behind, wondering if it was going to be black and blue by the time we were done with this lesson. “I’m not sure how I’m supposed to do that when you move in a damn blur and I only have two eyes.”
That last part was muttered under my breath, but I knew he could hear me because the ghost of a laugh left him in a huff.
Because of course he couldn’t actually laugh at me. That would ruin the mystique he was trying so hard to keep up.
I’d only seen hints of humor on Rhodes’ face during the meals that we shared with Edison. The head of the Keane family seemed to have a talent for drawing a sunnier disposition out of the man, and if I had my way, I would develop that talent too.
But then he gave himself a shake and Mr. No-Expression was back again. “You have to be able to see and dodge everything, Perrie. You know what that one famous line is: if you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball.”
I frowned, confused. “Is that some kind of mafia reference?”
Rhodes’ stern expression slackened into a shock that he wasn’t fast enough to hide. “No, why would that be a mafia reference? It’s from the movie Dodgeball? The cinematic masterpiece?”
When I shrugged, he looked at me like I was insane.
“Ben Stiller? Vince Vaughn?” He kept trying.
“I dunno, what year did it come out?”
“2004.”
Then I offered him the most evil smile I could manage. “Oh, I was two then.”
I knew exactly what movie he was talking about. Romey had developed quite the addiction to early 2000’s movies and had spent the majority of his teens showing them to me while I was stuck in the hospital as a captive audience.
I preferred Legally Blonde if I was being completely honest. Elle Woods was infinitely more interesting than a bunch of dudes throwing balls around.
“Christ on a cracker.” Rhodes scrubbed a hand over his face as I reminded him yet again that he was fifteen years older than I was. “You knew exactly what I was talking about the entire time.”
“I did indeed, grandpa,” I teased.
I may have been kidnapped on my wedding day by Edison and Rhodes, but watching their eyes widen when I made them feel old was becoming a bit of a sick obsession of mine.
A girl had to get her kicks in somewhere, right?
The corners of Rhodes’ mouth twitched upwards so fast that I was sure that if I blinked I would miss it.
