"It's when you hide things that you choke on them."
~Charles Bukowski

Elsa

It'd been torture seeing Spencer in his tuxedo.

When we got home, I went straight to my room, making up the excuse I had a headache and needed rest. Thankfully, sleep came swiftly, although the dreams that came along with the nap were bizarre. I traveled to an alternate dimension where I was a girl named Annie. It wasn't a bad dream, but it was still strange nonetheless.

I'd rather have continued the dream than deal with people. Unfortunately, life had other plans for me because someone knocked on my door. It wasn't any of my siblings. Hunter would bang on it, Caleb would knock in rapid sets of threes, Anna and Ember would poke their heads in, and mom and dad would call my name before entering.

Sighing, I sat up, calling for the person to come in. To my surprise, it was Killian. He shifted nervously as he said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's fine. I needed to get up. What's going on?" I'd completely lied, but he was nervous. I didn't want to make it worse.

Killian shut the door and sat down, fiddling his thumbs. "I wanted to talk to you about something. I heard some things, and I think we have a lot in common."

"What do you mean?"

"There are rumors you and Spencer; Finn alluded they were true but that only he and Anna knew. Before you get mad- because I can tell you want to go rip his throat out- he told me because he knew you're not the only one who got into a relationship with a Stark."

"Oh?"

"The Borealis pack lived nearby, and there was this girl named Emma. She and her sister... I don't know what happened to their pack. Whatever happened to mine and Finn's, I think it happened to theirs too. I don't know if they're alive..." Killian glanced down at his hands. His heart beat so fast, I thought it was going to fly out of his chest. "I wanted to let you know if you need someone to vent to, someone who can relate, I'm here."

With another shy smile, Killian got up and headed to the door, stopping when I said, "Tell me about her."

"What?"

"Emma. Tell me about her. You're right; I need to vent. I think you do too. As much as Anna and Finn understand, there's still a lot they don't. But you do."

"Yeah, I do," he said softly, retaking his seat. I gave him my undivided attention as he dove into the story of how one day, he was carrying one too many books, one of which slipped off the top and fell onto the head of a girl with flaming red hair.

Spencer

The whole house was abuzz with the arrival of Emma and Ellie Parks, They were sweet, the former slightly more outgoing than her sister. But even they got on my nerves because, like everyone else, they discussed the impending wedding all hours of the day.

Everyone but me.

Dom and Rey avoided talking about it for my sake, but I knew they were excited to be attending a wedding. We hadn't had one in our family before, so they were looking forward to it.

The wedding was in three days. My bachelor party occurred over the weekend; the boys and I went to Cancun. We drank enough alcohol that even our bodies couldn't metabolize it fast enough, so we all got drunk. Jack and Max ripped off their shirts and danced on the bar. Fred thought he was Spiderman and tried to leap from one counter to another, the result being him landing face-down on the floor. It didn't help that Tommy encouraged him. Grey and Harry were in the middle of the dance floor making out with random girls. Meanwhile, Brian, Dom, and I sat at the bar, drinking away.

The amusement came the next morning. Fred had a busted chin and bruises dotting his abdomen. Grey and Harry had multiple hickies. Tommy had a black eye from Fred punching him after realizing he was, in fact, not Spiderman and that Tommy had encouraged his bad behavior. Jack and Max were violently hungover. Everything was too loud for them, so after eating breakfast, they went back upstairs to sleep some more.

Brian, Dom, and I were relatively okay. I wish I could've gotten drunk; it would've made dealing with this wedding easier. But I worried if I did, I'd slip about Elsa, and the shit storm we'd already created would become infinitely worse.

But, sitting at my desk in our Denver hotel, I wished I was back in Cancun. At least there it was warm and sunny. Here it was cold and dreary. I knew I was being an idiot working two days before my wedding, but I needed out of the house. Dad said the only way I could go was to bring Dom or Rey. I chose Dom, not wanting to take Rey from her sister, who needed her in the last forty-eight hours.

I pinched the bridge of my nose as my phone rang again. It was Callie. I hit ignore, texting her back saying I was in the middle of something. That was a far cry from the truth. I just didn't want to speak to her, but I couldn't tell her that. None of this was her fault.

"I found that report," Dom said, entering the room with a file in hand. "I'm not finding anything wrong with it other than some typos. I'll fix those. I have a sales meeting in an hour, but you want to grab lunch first?"

"Yeah, I can do that," I said.

"Chick-Fil-A?"

"Chicken nuggets and a chocolate milkshake do sound good," I admitted.

"Chicken nuggets and chocolate milkshake it is. It's a shame they don't have one in Estes."

"I could eat it every day."

"I don't think even our metabolisms could keep up with that."

"I'm willing to try."

Dom snorted. "Come on."

The two of us walked to the restaurant, bundled up in our coats. Upon arriving, I secured a table while Dom ordered the food. I was grateful it didn't take long because I was starving. I had a feeling he and I would be going for seconds, possibly thirds.

For the next forty-five minutes, Dom and I chatted about everything we could manage in the time limit we had. We talked about cars, business, sports, news, and even random Buzzfeed quizzes we took to procrastinate. But he had my utmost gratitude for avoiding the wedding topic. Tt was easy to do now that we were away from the pack.

Once we finished, we made our way back to the hotel. Dom went straight in, but I headed to my car to grab my iPod so I could listen to music while I worked. It was annoying having to change the YouTube song every three minutes.

As I straightened up and shut the door, a presence made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It wasn't sinister, but it was something that told me I needed to turn around.

I should've just faced the hotel.

I should've walked straight into the hotel.

But no.

I turned around.

Elsa, dressed in a white pea-coat and sky-high black boots, strutted down the street with the same guy from the tuxedo shop: Killian Kennedy. An involuntary growl erupted from my throat, causing people nearby to stare at me warily. I ignored them.

It should be me walking next to her.

It should be me helping her with the shopping bags.

It should be me going back into the hotel with her.

It should be her I'm marrying.

It should be her I'm marrying.

The last thought jarred me into my senses enough that I stopped staring. My feet moved on their own accord, leading me to my office. I calmly and mechanically gathered my things and shut everything off. I proceeded upstairs to my room. This is where all my frustration, all my pent up anger, all my fury, finally unleashed itself.

I want to say I threw one thing, and that was it.

But unfortunately, swiping the plant off the table wasn't enough. The rolling chair was next, followed by papers, magazines, and everything else I could get my hands on.

I lost all sanity because I hated everything. I hated my parents for not having the guts to stand up to the Controllers. I hated the Controllers even more. I hated my pack for being okay with this, for participating in an arranged marriage.

Most of all, I hated myself.

I hated that I let myself fall for Elsa. I hated myself for not standing up to my parents. I hated myself for not standing up to the Controllers. I hated myself for allowing me and Callie to be forced into this. I hated myself for not leaving when I should have.

Dom

In the middle of the sales meeting, a front desk worker knocked on the door and poked his head in, saying, "Mr. Stark, I'm sorry to bother you, but I need to talk to you about something. Now."

"Excuse me," I said, getting up. "I'll be right back."

Once outside, the assistant informed me there'd been multiple complaints from guests below and around Spencer's room about things crashing and someone stomping and yelling. Considering our walls were soundproof, my brother must've been pissed, or he was being attacked. Either way, I needed to check on him.

Acting like I had everything under control, I made my way up to his room. I couldn't hear anything, but that didn't mean a thing. Opening the door, I was greeted with Spencer chucking his phone at my head. I caught it, exclaiming, "Whoa! Easy, this conversation does not require objects being thrown about."

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"What the hell happened?" I asked, staring at the wreckage of his room. Plants were knocked over, dirt-covered the floor, magazines and papers were scattered everywhere, and every chair was tipped over. Pillows had been thrown off the couch and bed, contents of his briefcase were strewn throughout... it was absolute mayhem.

"I saw Elsa. She was walking down the street with that Killian guy and seeing that, I... I lost my head..." he confessed. "Why'd you come up here? You're supposed to be in a meeting."

"Front desk received complaints about a bunch of ruckus coming from this room. I wanted to check on you. I'm glad I did. I'm going to go downstairs, get myself out of this meeting, tell the front desk everything is okay, and-"

Spencer shook his head. "No, we need this sale. I'll clean up. I'm fine. Really."

"That sounds fake, but okay." I observed the destruction of the room once more. "You sure you're okay?"

"I am. Go. I'll start cleaning. Sorry about all this," Spencer apologized.

"All right. I'll wrap it up as fast as I can. I'll see you later."

"Yeah, see you later." I shut the door, leaving him with the wreck of the room. I strode down the hallway, taking out my phone. I pulled up my contacts list and hit dial, praying the person picked up.

"Hello?" I let out a sigh of relief at the sound of their voice.

"It's Dom. Please don't hang up. I need to talk to you about something. It's important."