Trapped in his End Game (Series)

ADRIANA

Maria grips my wrist in a vice-like hold as she steers me through the wedding cake store. Our appointment is in ten minutes, and Vince still hasn’t showed up. Her face glows with excitement as she walks through the store, clutching a clipboard of wedding material to her chest. I didn’t expect Maria to take her job as maid of honor so seriously, but she cut out and clipped hundreds of pictures from magazines and we analyzed hundreds of patterns and color themes that I like for over two hours. And this is just for the freaking cake. As far as cakes go-if I can eat it, I’ll like it.

But nothing is ever that simple.

“Did you ever decide if you wanted a traditional fondant or marshmallow fondant?”

I give Maria a blank look. I have no idea what the fuck that is.

She jumps suddenly. “Oh, and there’s also marzipan fondant. I personally prefer the taste of almonds to corn syrup, but that’s just me.”

Where the hell is he?

The glass door suddenly opens and I whirl around to see Vince, looking fresh in his black suit. A dark look weighing on his face brightens slightly when he sees me. He walks inside and gives me a strained smile.

“Hey.” He wraps an arm around my waist and gives me a quick peck on my cheek.

“There’s our angry young man!” Maria gives him a half amused, half exasperated look.

He does look angry. Last night, he came home and didn’t speak a word to me. I know better than to ask questions, but still. I can’t help but wonder if I did something wrong. Then he notices me watching him and his eyebrows lift slightly.

“I’m not angry, just busy.” He straightens his suit. “Where is this broad?”

I elbow Vince’s ribs, but it’s too late.

“I’m right here!” A cheerful voice with a heavy, Jersey accent emerges from behind the counter. The woman belonging to the voice is dressed in a leopard print, skintight one-suit. She wears large, golden hoops for earrings and her face looks like she dived headfirst into a makeup bag.

“Holy shit,” Vince mutters under his breath.

She extends a claw-like hand to Maria, who takes it immediately. “We’re so happy you could fit us in for today. I’ve heard so much about the bakery.”

“Of course! Are you the lucky bride?”

“No, I’m the maid of honor,” Maria blushes slightly as she looks at me.

She gestures to me with very long, fake fingernails. “Hello, how are you? I’m Danielle.”

“Adriana,” I say quickly, taking her hand lightly.

Vince extends his hand. “Vincent. Nice to meet you.”

Danielle clasps her hands together. “Oh, you two are so cute. You must be so excited!”

We’re slightly at a loss for words.

“Yeah-uh, we are.”

Maria’s eyes bulge at me and her fingers whiten on the clipboard.

“-and I’m really grateful that you fitted us in last minute.”

“No problem, no problem. Well, come in. We have a lot of different flavors for you to try. This is so exciting!”

She seems more excited by this than I am. Honestly, this is probably the part of wedding preparations that I looked forward to the most. Who doesn’t like eating a bunch of free cake? The only one who doesn’t look happy to be here is Vince, who sits down around the table with a long sigh, like it’s a waste of his time.

Geez. What’s wrong with him?

The table is already set up with at least two dozen small slices of cake. Some of the cake slices are red, some look like chocolate, others are white. I salivate as Danielle places glasses of water and a fork in front of us. I grab mine eagerly.

“All right, so we have a lot of flavors here and I really want you to try everything. The white cakes will have different flavors than the chocolate, and the same goes for the red-velvet. We have a chocolate salted caramel, chocolate strawberry, champagne strawberry, lemon flavored cake with a lemon buttercream, lavender…”

And she goes on and on until I feel like my brain might combust. She points at each slice as she names the flavor, and I have to inwardly applaud her for her amazing memorization skills.

I stab my fork into a random chocolate one and taste it. An explosion of rich chocolate and slightly salted caramel melts over my tongue. It’s delicious.

“Vince, you gotta try this one.”

I take it with my fingers and bring it to his mouth. Vince looks forbidding, but I press the cake against his lips and he takes a bite. He chews and swallows, his shoulders lifting up slightly in a shrug.

“Yeah, it’s good.”

Disappointed, I turn back towards the cakes. Maria shoves three of them towards me. “Try them, Ade. I’m thinking since you want lavender bridesmaid dresses, it’ll look fabulous in your wedding photos. It’ll complete your theme.” She gestures towards the white cake with the light purple filling.

“Maddon, it doesn’t all need to match for Christ’s sake.”

Maria shoots Vince a glare as I try the cakes. They’re much lighter than the chocolate ones, and also very delicious. I can’t decide. There are too many choices, and I’m starting to get full.

“I like that one,” Vince says with a mouthful of cake, pointing towards a white one with bits of strawberry.

“Ah, the champagne and strawberry cake.” Danielle sweeps over to his side. “You’ve got to try more, though.”

“I don’t need to try any more. I want this one.” He sets down his fork and shoves the piece towards me.

I pop it in my mouth and immediately taste the champagne soaking the cake. The strawberries add a wonderful light taste to the richness of the alcohol. “I like it, too. We’ll do this one.”

Danielle looks flustered. “But honey, you haven’t tried all of them yet. You should really-”

Vince’s face darkens and I know he’s a few seconds from yelling at her, so I cut him off.

“Danielle, thank you so much for all the choices, but we’ll take this one.”

Looking slightly appalled, she shrugs and gives a small sigh. “Well, okay. If you’re sure.” She then reaches towards the counter to take a sheet of paper. “Now, we’ll have to talk about the design of the cake.”

Maria leans forward, “Adriana hasn’t decided what kind of fondant she would like.”

“Oh, would you like to try some samples?”

“Sure.”

Danielle whisks away to the back to get samples and I take the opportunity to lean closer to Vince, who looks vaguely annoyed.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing, I just have a lot on my mind.” He forces a smile and rubs my back, but as soon as he thinks I’m looking away, his face falls with discontent.

“Vince, you only get married once. If you didn’t want to come here, you could have just said so.”

He looks at me sharply. “I do want to be here.”

Then what’s the problem?

His face strains as he fights to keep whatever it is inside him.

“Well, here we are!”

Danielle returns with a plate of pieces of white and cream colored frosting. I hold one in my hand. It shines under the light.

“That one is regular fondant.”

My first thought is that it’s very gummy and sugary. Vince makes a face and I grab for the less shiny, but sticky fondant.

“That one’s marzipan.”

The sweet, nutty flavor of almonds explodes over my mouth. It reminds me of those Almond Joy chocolate bars.

“I like that one.”