COLLATERAL ADDICTION

IVANA’S POV✓

“As a symbol of your love and commitment to one another, you may now exchange your rings,” the reverend announces. He’s standing between us, looking all holy and serious in his purple robes.

I can’t stop giggling. Like, my chest feels so light because it’s finally happening.

Three whole years with Stefan, and we’re seconds away from making it official. I’ve been daydreaming about this wedding forever, and honestly, everything is so perfect.

Stefan brings out the little velvet box, and my heart does a weird drop.

I’m already sticking my fingers out to let him slide it on, but then I actually look at the ring.

That's when I realize it's not the ring I chose.

It’s not even close to the cute band I cried over during our ring shopping last week.

Stefan sees the face I’m making and he leans closer. “Come on, sweetheart, I know this isn't exactly the one you chose but... look at this masterpiece. It’ll look heavenly on those beautiful fingers.”

He tilts the box so the diamond glitters under the church lights.

It’s a big, blinding purple diamond ring. Like, yeah, it glitters or whatever, but it’s so ugly and it’s completely not what I wanted.

Stefan was obsessed with it that day at the store, but I told him straight up I wasn’t feeling it.

I look up at him, at his perfectly combed black hair, his immaculate black suit, and those deep blue eyes that make me swoon.

He is the absolute love of my life, and for three years, he’s been my entire world.

But my smile still feels incredibly fake right now. He just dumped the ring I said I loved and bought this one instead, just because he liked it better.

I look out at the crowd, and God help me, everyone is staring at us.

Stefan’s fancy business partners, all his friends, his family, his twin brother Mikael and his girlfriend... literally everyone is just waiting for me to not fuck this up.

I don't see my ever creepy roommate anywhere. She explicitly told me she's not a bridesmaid type, but she promised to show up.

The only person I miss in this crowd is my mom. God bless her soul.

She always dreamt of seeing this day, but she didn't even make it to see me get married to Stefan.

I'm sure she would've given me a sign to grab the ring already without wasting a second.

So I just force my lips to stay up, slide my hand forward, so Stefan can take my fingers.

“Take your hands off her, bro!” a girl’s voice roars from the entrance.

The whole church starts muttering, and all eyes snap towards the church door.

At this point I can't tell if I'm hallucinating because… What the actual fuck? Eve?

Chills hit the back of my neck real quick.

I'm staring at my roommate, who is supposed to be in the crowd, standing right at the entrance of the church.

She’s wearing this huge black trench coat, her usual black beret slanted stylishly on her head, and this dark silver net mask, covering her lower face.

She honestly looks like a highway stripper who got lost and accidentally burst into a church.

But that’s not the scary part. This girl has a literal gun pointed straight at my fiancé.

“Drop her hand right now, pretty boy,” Eve says, her voice so threatening it makes my ears ring.

“And you, roomie, step the fuck down the aisle. Right now or I’m blowing his brains out. Try me.”

“Jesus Christ, Eve!” I scream, my voice going totally high-pitched.

Stefan grabs my arm. “Who the hell is that? Ivana, who is that?!”

“She’s my roommate, Stefan!”

“Your roommate? You live at your mom’s house with someone?” Stefan’s voice is shaking, but he’s glaring at me like this is somehow my fault.

“Yes, but she just moved in! Like, a month ago!”

“Now what the fuck is your roommate doing at our wedding with a fucking gun? Explain that to me, Ivana!”

“Damn it Stefan! I don't have a single explanation for this!”

I cannot believe this is happening myself. Eve only moved into my space like a month ago, and honestly, we're barely even friends.

She doesn't even talk much or chat like normal girls do.

Half the time she just stares at me like I’m something she's slowly studying, so the fact that she’s crashing my actual wedding ground is totally unhinged to me.

*Click.*

We both hear the gun get cocked, and we freeze completely solid.

Without thinking, I just step in front of Stefan to shield him with all my dress layers.

“Eve, put the gun down, what the hell are you doing?!” I scream at her.

“I’m not leaving this church without you roomie. And don't even think blocking him is gonna stop me from getting a clean shot. Now move before I lose my shit!”

A guy suddenly flies off his seat to rush and grab Eve.

*BANG!* She fires into the roof.

The gunshot sound is so deafening I feel like she just damaged my eardrums.

“Did she just fire the damn gun?!” Stefan shrieks from behind me.

“IT’S LOADED! THE GUN IS FUCKING LOADED!” The man screams, and all of a sudden, the whole place goes into total chaos.

Everyone is throwing themselves onto the floor with their hands up in the air.

“God, I should have paid for security guards,” Stefan mutters, hiding behind my dress.

“Eve, why are you doing this? Just tell me why the fuck you're…?”

“Ain't got time for this, roomie,” Eve says, her leather thigh boots stomping on the floor as she comes closer.

“Just step down the Aisle and we’ll talk about it during the ride home.”

“The ride home? What the actual heck, Eve?”

“I am in the middle of my own wedding and you’re talking about a ride home? Like… have you lost your nuts?”

“I’m not repeating myself!” Eve says.

“On the count of three, your fiancé is gonna be sucking the devil’s dick in hell. One!”

“Eve, you’re not gonna do that!”

“Two!” She roars, still holding Stefan at gun point.

“Oh Jesus Christ!” Stefan gasps, his hands completely wet with sweat while holding mine.

“Three!”

“Okay, I’m coming down!” I scream, totally giving up and running down the three altar steps.

I look back at Stefan and nod at him so he knows I’m just trying to save his life.

His eyes are totally red, and he looks so angry but so scared at the same time.

The second I reach the bottom, Eve grabs my arm and drags me all the way out of the building.

She moves so fast I don’t even get a second to look at all the horrified faces of our guests. I can only hear their loud murmurs.

My feet are hurting so bad inside my heels as she drags me down the concrete stairs outside.

She stops me in front of a big jeep I haven't seen before. She throws the door open and tilts her head at me.

“Get in!” She demands.

“Eve do you mind explaining…”

“Get in the fucking car Iva!” she screams through her silver net mask.

“This can't be fucking happening!” I grunt as I guide my heavy gown into the front passenger seat.

As soon as I settle in, she gently helps me arrange the veil, then shuts the car.

I watch her walk around to the driver's seat and honestly, my mind is going to explode if she doesn't start talking.

“Eve, what the hell is going on? Like, explain it to me!”

Eve throws the car into drive. Her voice is so authoritative and intense, but she sounds so protective it confuses me.

“I can’t let you get married to that fucker, Ivana.”

“What do you mean fucker? Stefan is a good guy!” I keep screaming at her but she ignores me.

Eve finally reaches up and pulls the silver chain mask off her face, flinging it carelessly to the back seat of the car.

I freeze for a minute and just stare.

She looks... stunning.

Her makeup is totally done up, her lips are dark red, and she looks completely lethal.

I don’t understand how someone can look this drop-dead gorgeous while they’re ending a wedding with a gun.

I look down at the steering wheel and see the Mercedes G-Wagon emblem as she drives us into the main street with fast hands, speeding past traffic.

I don’t even know where the heck she got this car, but honestly, that’s not my main problem right now.

“Are you gonna tell me now?” I finally ask.

Eve shakes her head with a dry laugh. “You really have zero patience, don't you, roomie? All this crying over your stupid little love for a total creep.”

“Stefan is not a creep!” I snap back, dragging my tangled veil off my head.

“Stop calling him that, you don't even know him!”

“Oh, I know enough,” she clicks her tongue, completely unfazed by me yelling at her. “I’m trying to save your life.”

“Save my life? By kidnapping me away from my wedding?”

Eve stops chewing her lip and finally spares me a glare. “Are you aware he's a literal a cheat, Iva?”

My heart drops straight into my belly. “Stefan will never cheat on me!”

“Ohhh really?”

“Yes! I can vouch for Stefan when it comes to being loyal, Eve. He would never cheat on me, he’s not like that.”

Eve looks at me like she’s utterly speechless. “Excuse the fuck out of me girl? Never seen a woman defend a man like that. It’s wild.”

"Because I know him! I don't know about other guys, okay? But my fiancé? I can defend him because he's worth it, Eve”

Eve just rolls her eyes. “What if he did cheat, Ivana? Would you actually leave him then?”

“Jesus Christ, Eve! Tell me what the fuck is going on!” I scream, completely losing my filter.

“Stop asking me these stupid questions because I sure as hell know Stefan! I’ve been with him for three good years and he’s never done such a thing to me!”

“Find my phone in the stash between us.” She cuts me off.”

My hands hurry through the center console, digging through a total mess of lip glosses, random keys, and pens until my fingers touch her phone.

The fact that she's got lip gloss and stuff here means this must actually be her car.

At this point I don't even who the fuck I brought into my own home.

I pull out her phone immediately.

“I don't know your password.”

“A416,” Eve says.

This is insane. Not sure why the heck she's telling me her phone password so freely. Like, we’re barely even friends.

I type it in anyway, and the screen opens.

“Head to the gallery,” she says.

I tap the gallery app, and my heart jerks with pure panic. My mind’s racing with a million worst-case thoughts.

There’s only one video in her gallery, which is very weird because girls as pretty as her should have tons of videos where they're obsessing over themselves.

I quickly tap on the video and it loads.

“Damn it, Selene, you’re gonna ruin my fucking suit,” a guy’s voice grunts from the speaker.

The video looks like it was recorded from a very far end of a hotel hallway.

It’s kind of blurry, but I can see the man pinning a girl against the wall. Both of them have all their clothes on, but they’re going hard at it.

I zoom in on the man’s face, and I'm literally spooked to fuck.

“What the heck...?” I gasp, the shock completely stealing my oxygen.

Eve smiles next to me, turning the wheel. “Told you. He’s a total fucker. Gonna thank me for getting you out of there yet?”

I slowly turn my head to look at her profile. God this better be a dream I'm having because I'm about to kill my roommate.

“Eve?” I call her na

me.

“Yes?” she says, totally casual.

I lift the phone up to her face, pointing at the frozen screen so she has to look at it again.

“This is Stefan’s twin brother, Mikael,” I whisper. “And that’s his girlfriend, Selene.”

The G-Wagon swerves instantly to the side of the road, the tires making this horrible squeaking sound as Eve hits on the brakes.

She hits the park button and kills the engine real fast.

The car goes dead silent.

Eve turns around in her seat, her jaw dropping open as she stares at the phone, then looks at my white dress, then looks back at the phone.

“Please… tell me that was a joke, Iva.”