Page 64 of Papers Don't Lie

She shakes her head, laughing like I’m funny for saying that. “No, because it’s perfect!” She claps her hands, jumping in her place. “Now turn around.”

With a deep breath, I whirl on my tiptoes and face myself in the mirror.

“Wow,” I breathe out, my eyes wandering over the transparent material covered with white flower patches on my breasts to my legs, tight on my body. The cleavage is daring, and the sides of my legs are covered by the see-through material, the dress’s train long enough for Purple to sneak under it.

My vision blurs as tears pool in my eyes before falling on my cheeks. This dress is all I ever knew I wanted—it’s elegant and sexy, and it’s not showing too much, yet it’s showing enough.

“You look stunning, Esmer,” my sister whispers, wiping her own tears, one of her hands tracing her stomach.

Purple barks, and the four of us burst out laughing as the end of an exhausting day is finally announced. He jumps off the bed and comes to me, sniffing my dress with his little pink nose.

“Do you like it?" I ask, sniffling as the tears stop.

I don’t even know why I’m crying when this wedding isn’t even real. We’re doing this for his father, not because we want to. It’s true, we’ve started developing feelings for each other, no matter their kind, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less true. We’re having a wedding to make his dad happy, and yet my chest heavies at the thought of the event happening in less than a week.

Maybe I’m getting this emotional because this is something I chose on my own, without talking to my parents first or worrying about what they think. This signals the beginning of my freedom, and it only makes sense to be this way after the jail I lived in for years.

Purple barks again, leaving his brown hair everywhere as he stumps around the room.

I remove my tears with the top part of my palm, smiling at him. “So,” I murmur, looking at myself once again, the smile refusing to leave my lips. “I guess this is the one.“

The girls cheer, and I laugh, watching my body in the mirror with unshed tears in my eyes. Raven gets up on her feet, then brings me a glass of champagne with a victorious grin on her face. I take it, and she takes a cup of water, blinking at me.

“Can’t your wedding be, like, tomorrow?” Lacey sighs, throwing herself in the bed. “And did you think about what you are going to do with your hair?“

I glance at my sister and bite my lip. “Yes, actually,” I say before downing the glass.

“Mrs. Graves.”Kendrick picks up the call immediately, and at the sound of his voice, my idea doesn’t sound that grea anymore. I bite my lip, pacing in the room with Purple on my tracks.

“Kendrick, hi," I say and internally slap myself. “I was actually wondering if you know when Kai will get home?”

After I found the dress and the girls left, I spent the day alone, knowing Kai would come back at six p.m. It’s nine, and he still hasn’t come back home, which worries me more than I expected.

Kendrick sucks in a deep breath before replying, “He’s actually working late in his office.”

Wait.

“In his office?" I ask, and when I get no answer from the other end, I decide to go check it on my own. “Alright, thank you, Kendrick.”

I hang up the phone and open the door, not thinking twice before walking down the stairs. I know Kai has missed a lot of work opportunities since I showed up in his life, and I know he might be too busy to announce to me that he’s home, but my chest still tightens at the idea.

Truth is, I waited for the clock to show six p.m. the entire day like a child waiting for his gift on Christmas to tell him about today and the dresses I’ve been trying on. Yet three hours later, still no sign of him.

At first, I thought he was working overtime, but then my mind started to form scenarios about the worst things in the world, and now I find out he was in his office all night long.

I open the door to his office without knocking. He’s at his desk, laptop closed as he circles a glass of whiskey, the liquid moving while his glassy green eyes stare at it like it’s the most wonderful thing in the world. Kai’s shoulders are slumped, his tie open, and instead of removing it, he kept it on top of his coat and his exposed chest.

“Kai,” I murmur, my palm locked on my hip as I wait for him to look at me. He doesn’t. “Kai," I repeat, frowning.

“Did you find a dress you like?" he asks, taking a sip of his whiskey.

When I glance at the bar on the left, an expensive bottle is almost empty, which means this is what he’s done all day. Did I do something to make him act this way? What could be the reason to make him not want to see me?

I wipe my hands on the gray sweatpants I have on, walking further into the room before dropping down on the seat in front of him. “Yes.”

“Good.” He nods, then drinks what’s left in his glass. He gets up, his steps wobbly as he reaches the bottle to pour himself some more whiskey.

“Don’t you think that’s enough?”