The rehearsal dinner.

Vinny was already on his fourth whisky and water when Kyall made his way into the hotel bar. It hadn’t been more than half an hour since he’d left Alexa alone with that man, but the time felt like forever. Drinking and stewing were how Vinny decided to pass the time.

Kyall kept a good distance between himself and Vinny as he first went over to Leanne to check on her. He felt a strong pep in his step after finally getting to bang Alexa at last, despite the little bit of unpleasantness at the end. To Vinny’s glaring eyes, he looked far too pleased with himself.

Another ten minutes after Kyall’s arrival, Alexa finally made her appearance, the last of the main party to arrive for the rehearsal dinner. Vinny wanted to go to her immediately and check on her, but he remembered the need to keep up appearances and remained standing at the bar. Instead, he flagged the bartender and indicated he was ready for another top-up.

“Hey! Where have you been? I was getting worried,” Daniel Rigby said when Alexa hurried over.

“Sorry, darling. I had a problem that needed to be taken care of. Women stuff,” Alexa told her fiancé as he pulled her in for a kiss and a hug. In truth, she’d been squatting over the toilet in Vinny’s bathroom, trying to drain as much of Kyall’s cum out of her pussy as she could. The last thing she wanted was a tell-tale wet patch forming on the crotch of her jeans. As it was, she had a bundled-up wad of toilet paper tucked inside her panties. She prayed she’d be able to sneak away sometime in the morning tomorrow and pick up some Plan B.

“Ok. Well, as long as you don’t leave me waiting at the altar tomorrow," Daniel laughed.

Alexa tried to copy him, but it felt **** and unnatural to her ears. After speaking to Daniel, she went to check in with her parents.

Vinny tipped up the dregs of his glass as he continued forming plans for **** on Kyall. One of Alexa’s bridesmaids, a bosomy redhead called Bernice, had come up to Vinny earlier in an attempt to strike up a conversation with him. Vinny’s monosyllabic grunts in response had hampered the interested woman’s attempts and driven her away before too long.

Vinny only snapped out of his introspection when the woman Kyall had first spoken to came up to the bar and stood next to him, trying to order.

“You must be the ex-wife,” Vinny said as he turned his focus and attention towards her.

“I beg your pardon,” the woman answered, turning her cold, icy blue eyes towards him.

“Kyall, Daniel’s brother. I saw him talking to you. You look far too intelligent to remain married to him. Attractive too,” Vinny continued.

“Yes. I’m Leanne. And it’s Winters now, too. I remarried.” She held up her left hand to show off a wedding band along with a diamond engagement ring. She had long curly brunette hair that was tucked back behind her ears. She wore a pair of skinny-legged jeans and a tight black turtle neck. It gave off the look to Vinny of someone who wanted to show off the proportions of their body. Unknown to Vinny, Leanne had been working out continuously recently and had shed a great deal of weight.

Vinny ignored the wedding jewellery completely and instead smoothly took Leanne’s hand in his own and squeezed it tight without releasing. He rubbed the top of her hands' smooth skin with his thumb as he dropped their hands to their sides, forcing Leanne in closer to Vinny rather than having to snatch her own hand away.

“I’m Vinny. Groomsman. Pleased to meet you,” Vinny turned on every bit of his Italian charm.

For the moment, it appeared to be working as Leanne forgot about why she’d come to the bar and stayed to talk with the boxer.

“So… you’re one of Daniel’s friends. I’ve never seen you around,” Leanne asked.

“Alexa’s really. I’m just here to make up numbers. So why did you and Kyall split?”

“He’s an emotionally stunted narcissist who was incapable of committing to anybody other than himself.”

“Oh, so you have a type. Did I mention my name is Vinny?”

As he said it, Vinny reached out his spare hand and placed it on Leanne’s right hip, pulling them even closer together. His joke landed so well that Leanne barely even noticed and instead laughed out loud and playfully wacked Vinny’s chest with the hand he wasn’t holding still.

“You might just be my type if I weren’t married,” Leanne said back, joining Vinny in flirting now.

“Married women are my type,” Vinny said, reeling her in.

Kyall’s mind was on Alexa, so he didn’t notice until much later; Leanne and Vinny were seated next to each other at the bar, a bottle of red wine shared between them.

The rehearsal dinner was close to finishing, as was the latest bottle of wine Vinny and Leanne were sharing, when a slim, 18-year-old blonde girl in yoga wear came up to Leanne and interrupted the pair.

“Mom. Can I get the key to our room? I’m bored,” the teen complained.

“Of course, dear,” Leanne said and immediately started rifling through her purse for the key card. She suddenly felt guilty for ignoring her daughter all this time to flirt and talk with Vincent.

When the girl left with the card, Vinny cocked his eyebrow in question at Leanne. The two women didn’t look alike enough to be mother and daughter, and Vinny knew that Kyall and Leanne already had a son Nathan who was around the same age.

“That’s my step-daughter Tiffany,” Leanne admitted.

“You’re sharing a room.”

Leanne nodded.

“I’m not,” Vinny told her.

{Author's Note: This marks my 100th chapter in The Groomsman. If you could please like the chapter. It’s so encouraging to me and keeps me adding new material.

Many thanks

Dacia xoxox}