Chapter 3

UNEDITED

River is stuck, stuck between the door, and the rooftop. She didn't know if it was fear of being so high or the yucky feeling she gets when she looks at Ryan and Anastasia, she just froze.

After taking a different elevator up the rest of the way, they finally made it to the rooftop. Its a dark, cloud-free, cool night. The party had already begun. Music and loud chatter wisped through the air. The guest had arrived and was standing around.

The Brenner family weren't the best dancers. No one danced, except a few of Fredrick's sisters. Four of them, in their late forties, early fifties. At every single event River's been too, they take over the dance floor. Not that anyone else wanted to dance. She wondered for a second if that was still happening.

"Come here River," Lucille calls from the direction of the couple of honor's table, where Angela was sitting near her husband. Where ever Angela is, her mother is too. They're almost inseparable. Normally, River wouldn't care but, it's not helping her right now. She doesn't want to be around Ryan too much, and he is one of the people standing near his mother, and of course with his fiancé at his side.

Her stomach churned. "Coming." She takes the step over.

"Congratulations." She walks around the table and gives Fredrick a hug. She had already given her aunt an awkward congratulation in the elevator.

"Thank you, Sweetheart." He stays sitting and hugs her back. "Are you alright?"

She nods "I'm fine. Thankfully Ryan was there."

"Good, I'm glad."

"Hello everyone." River hears a warm male's voice directly behind her, and she knew exactly who he is.

"Where have you two been?" Angela questions.

"We got held up." He replies.

River turns around and connects eyes with Landen. He resembles his brother. Same honey brown eyes, and dark head of hair. He was well built, clean-shaven, tall, and always wore a devilish smile. She didn't remember him being this handsome or having his forearms covered in tattoos. He wore a black dress shirt and had the sleeves folded up so she could see the details of either a snake or a dragon.

"Hi River." His voice was like a humming. Soft and dangerous.

"Landen." She blinks a few times to get adjusted to the sight of him.

He reaches out and pulls her into a hug. "You haven't grown." He jokes.

"Yeah not much." She agrees.

"Not at all." He takes a good look at her. "I heard you've been back for a few weeks now. He waves his brows in an accusatory way.

"So why haven't you come to see me?" She turns it back on him.

"I could ask you the same thing. You know I moved out."

"Are you still working for your dad's company?" She changes the subject. The Brenner's Owned a multimillion-dollar Real-estate empire. Landen's face is on billboards all around."

"Yeah, pays the bills, make my own schedule, inherit some shares; the face of the company; why would I leave?"

"I don't know, I remember you telling me before about having other plans."

"Hey River." Zackary interrupts.

She barely saw him standing behind Landen.

"Zack." River forgets about Landen momentarily and approaches his little brother. She was so happy to see him. He's the only one she hasn't been hiding from. She feels so comfortable with him. Too bad he had to go back to college soon. She was about to give him a hug but he moves.

"I'm starving. Let's get something for me to eat." He walks towards the buffet line.

"Gladly." She follows him.

Zack looked more like his dad than Landen. He has the same black hair, but green eyes. He wore frameless glasses, has a smaller build.

Once they collected their food, she followed him back to his table. A table that was close to the guest of honors, where he, his siblings, and grandma Brenner were all placed to sit. It's only their grandmother sitting there for now. "Hi, grandma Brenner." River greets her before she takes a seat a couple of chairs across from her.

Grandma Brenner squints her eyes at River in an unrecognizing way. "I don't know you." She turns away rudely. She's a bit of a grump and stuck in her ways.

"Grandma, its River." Zack takes the seat beside River and tries to help.

She completely ignores him.

"Its okay Zack." She forks a mouth full of ravioli in her mouth. "Hmm. This is so good."

"I'm starving. Landen had me waiting out front of his girl of the week house for over an hour." He fills his mouth.

River knows Landen's whorish ways very well. "Wow."

He swallows. "I thought we were coming straight here. He said he was only going to be a minute."

"What an ass. You should've left him there."

"He took the keys."

"Aww." River feels sorry for him. He was eating like a starving man.

With Zack's mouth full, and not being able to distract herself; she looks up at the sprinkles of stars in the sky. It's magnificent looking, she thought. Then she did what she was trying not to do, she turns her head and looks at Ryan.

He's now standing by the men's bathroom having a conversation with his uncle. To think about how she was behaving with him when he belonged to someone else.

She needed to get a better handle of herself, and she promises herself she will. Watching him with Anastasia is a huge eye-opener. She just has to stay away from him until she could control her emotions. When it hurt less.

Zack taps her on the shoulder. "Look." He points over to the dance floor.

The Brenner sisters have started early with the dance floor, and one of Zack's little cousins was begging and pleading with his mom to get off. Going so far as to pull her by her leg and dress, with real tears in his eyes.

River and Zackary look at each other and burst into quiet, uncontrollable laughter, but it's short-lived.

"River." She's called.

She looks to her side to see Ryan's scolding face.

Her eyes widen, and she sits up straight for some reason. "Yeah?"

"Put the fork down."

She looks at her hand and realizes she was holding a fork pointy side up, and it may have been close to her face. She bites her lips and gently sets the fork on the table. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize." Landen takes the seat near his grandma. "His middle name is 'fun sucker.' He sucks the fun out of everyone. It's nothing you did." He wraps his arm around grandma Brenner. "Hey granny"

She pushes his arm annoyingly. "You know I have shoulder pain boy."

Zack laughs.

Ryan jaw set in its place. He glares at Landen but doesn't reply.

"Ryan." Anastasia comes to his side. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah." He doesn't glance at her. "River." He calls.

She sits up straight again.

"Be more careful."

She nods.

"Come on." He guides Anastasia away from the table.

"Oh no. I didn't mean to make him leave the table." River almost cries.

"He doesn't sit with us," Landen admits. "It's not you." His phone vibrates. He pulls it out of his pocket and smiles at whatever message he got. "Excuse me." He gets up and leaves the table.

"Has their fighting gotten worse?" River asks

"Yeah. Did you think it was going to get better?" Zack continues to eat.

"It seems like they don't get along at all anymore."

He swallows first. "That's because they don't, they put on a good show for our mom, but that's it."

"What happened?"

"I don't know."

"Something must have."

He chewed and swallowed the too big mouthful he was consuming. "Landen would always say that Ryan is boring."

"How so?"

"If you haven't noticed, He doesn't drink, smoke, or even curse."

"So."

"They have nothing in common."

"That can't be all." She picks up her fork and continues to eat.

"Your earring is missing."

"Oh shoot." She grabs her lobes. Her whole mood went south.

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