One Night - Forbidden Hearts Series Book 1

5. Late Night Kisses

Ryan smiled and got to his feet. "Good. Glad that's settled. " He walked over to his wet-bar and poured some bourbon. "So, I know you'll want your own room during the trip, but that might be a little risky. We can book the suite if that's cool with you? There's two bedrooms in it."

Okay, what the fuck was he talking about? "Okay, Ry, I have no idea what you're talking about right now. What trip?"

He turned to look at me with a frown. "Your mom didn't tell you?"

Oh, Christ. This woman is seriously getting on my last nerve. "No, I'm sorry, trip to where?"

He awkwardly ran a hand through his hair and took a swig of his drink. "Our parents kind of planned this reunion/party thing at the beach." Of course, they did. I could never catch a break with the Hale family.

I took a couple deep breaths before I lost my mind. This is really going too far. "What? Why? We just had the engagement party."

"I know, Anne. Believe me, I tried to talk them out of it. They wouldn't budge. They called in a bunch of distant relatives and are adamant about doing this."

I rubbed my temples before I spoke again. "How long?"

He met my gaze with a sorrowful look, "A week. We leave Friday."

Fucking perfect.

"Okay, I'll see you later, Ry."

I left his house extremely pissed off. Why do our parents keep doing this to us? I thought. We were already sacrificing our free will to get married for them. Now this too? They were being extremely selfish. It's like they fed off of our misery, or they were just bored with their own lives.

After I reversed out of Ryan's driveway, I pulled out my cell and dialed my mom's number.

"Hello?" She answered, chipper as always.

We'll see about that. "When were you planning on telling me about this beach trip?"

When she was silent for a few seconds, I thought gotcha. "I was going to call you today. It just got planned. How did you-"

"Find out? I was with Ryan and he pretty much had the whole week planned-so, I know this wasn't 'just planned' mom. We just had an engagement part. Why do we have to do this, too?"

"Because we are inviting family from out of state to come and celebrate your upcoming wedding, Harper. Because this is what people do and it's what's best for everyone."

I scoffed. "Better for you guys. Do you even see how selfish you're being?"

"Selfish? You get to spend your life with a nice man, and you will be financially stable. What more can you ask for?"

I needed to hang up before I said something I was going to regret. "I gotta go, Mom."

I threw the phone on the passenger seat and drove around aimlessly. I really couldn't believe this wasn't a big deal to her. Just like buying a car or a new pair of heels. Did it matter that I would be spending my life with someone I didn't love? No. Did it matter if I was happy? No. Ryan and I were doing this huge thing for them, and they didn't even appear grateful.

The ringing of my cell phone made me grip the steering wheel before answering it. I didn't even bother looking at the caller-id. It was probably my mother.

"What!"

The line was silent for a moment. "Is this a bad time?"

It was that same British voice that made me weak in the knees. "Sorry. Yeah, it's just..."