Chapter 15

Chapter 15

“It’s going to be fine,” Lily assured me via video chat. “You don’t need to shoulder all the responsibility. We’ll handle things when I get back.”

My heart sank. The last thing I wanted to do was interrupt Lily’s honeymoon, especially for this. No, I should. be able to handle this myself.

“It’s fine, really,” I lied, hoping that she wouldn’t be able to detect it. “You just enjoy the rest of your

honeymoon, I can take care of this, especially with Terri and the others helping.”

Lily arched a brow at me. “Are you sure? Just a minute ago, you were acting as though you thought it was the end of the world.”

I brushed it off with a wave of my hand.

“I was just being overly dramatic. You know how I can be.”

“Yes, and that’s not really you.”

“I was just caught up in the moment. I can handle things here, really.” Lily hummed.

“Okay, if you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.”

“Just don’t hesitate to call if you need anything, all right?”

“Definitely. Now, go enjoy yourself and don’t worry about a thing.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to you later, then.”

“Bye.”

As soon as we hung up, I regretted telling her that I could handle everything, but there was no going back. I had to take care of this myself. That included making a call that I really did not want to make.

My hand shaking slightly, I took a deep breath and dialed Andrew’s number.

“Hello?” he answered.

“Hi, Andrew. It’s Crystal.”

“Hi, Crystal. Is everything okay? You sound..off.”

I tried hard to remain composed.

“No, everything is not all right.”

I proceeded to explain to him about the fire and the dress. When he didn’t immediately answer, I expected him to be mad, to call me incompetent or something along those lines.

“Is everyone all right?” he finally said.

“Yes, yes, everyone’s fine.”

“Good. I’m going to cancel my meeting and come meet with you in person right away. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

“Okay, thanks.”

The twenty minutes after Andrew and I hung up were the longest twenty minutes of my life. I tried to busy myself with cleaning up the store, but I couldn’t get my mind off of him and how he would react once he saw everything, especially Lisa’s ruined dress. I knew that I just had to take responsibility for it, but it also wasn’t a pleasant thought.

I saw his gold Aston Martin pull up through the window. I braced myself for the worst.

Andrew charged in through the front door. As soon as his eyes landed on me, relief washed over his features.

“Thank goddess you’re okay,” he said.

I smiled, some of the stress lifting off my shoulders.

“Thank you,” I said, “I’ve been so worried about the losses. It’s so good to hear-”

“What’s that?” He pointed to my burnt arm.

“Oh, that?” I instinctually hid it behind my back, wincing as the movement hurt the arm. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing. Did you get that in the fire?”

I nodded

“You should see a doctor.”

“No that’s not important. The wedding dress-

“That’s not important.”

“What are you saying?”

My eyes widened.

“Come with me,” Andrew said.

He motioned for me to follow him out to his car.

“What? Where are we going?”

“Get in the car.”

He opened the passenger door for me, and I squeezed in. He got in the driver’s side and, after we had our seatbelts secured, took off as fast as he could. I thought about asking once more where we were going, but seeing the serious look on Andrew’s face, I decided against it.

Soon, we pulled up to a private clinic. I had never been there, but I had heard that they had some of the best physicians in the city. What’s more, they had the best werewolf physicians in the entire country.

Wordlessly, Andrew unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car, obviously expecting me to follow him. I did so without question.

Inside, Andrew asked to see Dr. Loup, and we were immediately taken to the back without an appointment or any wait time. It was as though the doctor were willing to clear his entire schedule for Andrew at a moment’s notice. Then I remembered that I was with the Alpha King, and it made sense that we were seen so quickly. Dr. Loup was a friendly middle–aged gentleman with a good bedside manner. He did his best to keep talking to me while he examined and cleaned the wound, trying to distract me from the pain, but none of his attempts at conversation really worked on me. Instead, I turned my attention to Andrew.

“Thank you for this,” I said, wincing as Dr. Loup removed some dead skin from the burnt area.

“No problem,” Andrew replied. “Just doing what should have been done in the first place.”

I blushed, feeling a little chastised. I decided to change the subject.

“I’m so sorry about the dress. I promise that I will take full responsibility for it.”

Of course, the dress cost far more than I could afford–as did the loss of the other dresses in the shop–but I had to take responsibility for it. This happened on my watch, after all. I still thought that Bob did it, but since I had no way of proving it–if only I could figure out what that smell was–then I could only go with what the firemen told me.

It was my responsibility to put the dresses in a safe place. According to the firemen, that hadn’t happened, so I had to pay for it

The look on Andrew’s face seemed impressed

1 appreciate your sincerity and responsibility in your work,” he said, “not to mention your confidence and composure while handling a crisis.”

I beamed from the praise.

“However, I must insist on paying for a new custom–made dress myself. I simply was not satisfied with the previous one.”

His l*ps quirked. He was lying. The previous one was utter perfection.

If he wanted to pay for a new one, though, who was I to stop him?

“And what about the wedding?”

Andrew shrugged.

“We’ll postpone it.”

I let out a sigh of relief, both from the news and from Dr. Loup dabbing some antibiotic ointment on my burn.

“Thank you,” I said, my voice a mix of pleasure and surprise.

Dr. Loup placed a bandage on my burn.

“There we go. Keep the area covered and clean, changing the bandage daily. Here is a prescription for oral antibiotics that you can get filled at any pharmacy.”

I took the prescription and thanked Dr. Loup, but my attention remained on Andrew. I followed him out of the clinic and back to his car.

Once again, Andrew opened and closed the passenger door for me before getting in on the driver’s side. He drove back to the bridal shop, this time at a more leisurely pace.

Desperate to break the silence, I said, “Thank you again for everything. I promise, the dress and the wedding will be absolutely beautiful.”

Andrew grinned.

“I’m certain of that. Neither will compare to your beauty, though.”

I blushed again, this time from the compliment. Was he flirting with me?