Married To My Billionaire Best Friend

AVA.

Today was the big day—the day I would become Mrs. Rainstorm. Like most others, I had the option to choose my groom. This marriage wasn't forced on me, despite the proposal being beneficial for my family's business.

Perks of being a billionaire—my dad had a lot of power in the business world, just like my best friend, Ace Valentino. However, it wasn’t Ace who I was marrying; it was Simon Rainstorm, the son of my father's friend. When Dad first told me to consider this wedding proposal, I gave it a serious thought at once since there was no point in putting it off.

After dating Simon for two months, I concluded that he was okay, and we decided to get married once he officially proposed to me.

I glanced at the mirror, fully dolled up like a bride. I was wearing a long white wedding gown with a cascading cape and sweetheart neckline, the gown itself embedded with crystals. My gray eyes complemented the slightly undone bun with some wispy, face-framing pieces.

Despite being satisfied with the way I looked, I sucked in a deep breath. I had a bad feeling about all this, which I knew I wasn't supposed to feel. Shrugging off the negative thoughts and overcoming my nervousness, I texted Ace.

Ava: Where are you? I'm nervous 😶

Ace replied at that instant.

Ace: I'm on my way. The meeting took much more time than expected. But don't worry. I'll reach on time.

I rolled my eyes. He had a meeting which he didn't reschedule despite my wedding. He was a workaholic, just like Dad, so I had gotten used to his antics.

Ava: Don't forget to meet me in my room for the last time before the ceremony.

Ace just replied with a small 'Ok' and I kept the phone back on the table, checking my makeup.

I heard a faint knock on my door. After I said to come in, the door opened and I found my dad looking at me with a bright smile.

“There is my princess,” said Dad and approached me. When I smiled at him, he breathed out, “Your smile is as beautiful as your mother’s—those same dimples. You know, I always wanted you to get Eleanor’s smile. She would be proud of you if she was here.” He placed his hand over my head, his eyes getting a little cloudy.

“Dad, she is proud, and I know it. I just need you to be happy. Don’t forget what you promised to me,” I reminded him, which made him chuckle.

I insisted Dad find a life partner for himself since, after Mom’s death, all he did was dedicate his entire life to raising me properly and in his business. I told him a lot to find a new partner, but he promised me he would, only after my wedding.

“Yes, Ma’am,” he said obediently, making me burst into laughter. “You look stunning, dear. I am so happy for you.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Is Ace attending the wedding, or he got stuck in a meeting?” he inquired, to avoid getting emotional in front of me. He loved Ace a lot, of course.

“He is on his way,” I informed Dad.

“Good to know.” Dad said after a while when I was scrolling through my phone, “That guy should think of his love life too. I had a daughter when I was fully into business, but he’s only twenty-seven and still, no sign of a woman, let alone getting married.”

I sighed. “You know him, Dad. He is arrogant and rude to almost everyone. Just not to his close ones. But women run away right after seeing his ruthless nature. They don’t stick around to see his soft side, and I don't blame them. That guy takes way too much time opening up. Seriously, I'm worried about him. Is there any woman on earth who can tolerate Ace Valentino?”

“There is,” came up a familiar voice from the door. “You can tolerate me, Ava,” Ace spoke up, his hands in his pockets like usual. He looked handsome wearing the tuxedo. Though he looked handsome in literally just anything.

A grin appeared on my lips seeing him. “Ace,” I uttered and rushed to give him a hug. He hugged me back. “Well, I can tolerate you because you can tolerate me. It's only fair, right?” He did a noncommittal shrug. “Anyways, now that your best friend is getting married, you have to find a life partner as well.” Obviously, he knew about the promise I took from Dad.

Ace raised his hands in surrender. “No promises.” Then he turned to my dad. “Hi, Robert. How are you?”

Dad smiled as they shook hands. “Doing good for now. Is everything good in business? We didn’t meet much after our deal ended two months ago. I am planning to renew it. What do you think?”

“I have the papers ready. It just awaits your signature,” responded Ace.

I rolled my eyes and pushed them away from each other. “No business talk on my special day,” I said sternly, standing in between them.

Dad chuckled. “Fine, I am going to give you two some time alone,” with that, he got out of the room, leaving Ace and me alone.

I sucked in a deep breath and looked at Ace. “So when are you planning to return to Utah?” I knew he was always running on the clock. Always this meeting, that deal, and so on.

Ace smiled and said, “I was supposed to return three days ago, but I didn’t want to miss your wedding. So I will stay till tonight and leave tomorrow morning.”

A smile formed on my lips as well. Of course, even if he was always busy, he somehow never failed to squeeze me into his schedule.

He grabbed my hand and looked at my engagement ring with a frown. “No offense, but Simon has horrible taste.”

“Excuse me?” I arched an eyebrow.

“Well, not in the case of girls,” Ace added.

“Good save, or else you would have found yourself blocked on every social media by me,” I retorted, and he shook his head in amusement. “Hey, how do I look?” I backed off from our closeness and stood farther away, keeping a hand on my hip.

Ace glanced at me from head to toe and twitched his lips. “You look okay…”

“Just okay?” I gasped in horror. “Ace Valentino, I didn’t spend five hours on makeup and two hours on my hair, just to hear I look okay.” I looked at the mirror of my room, trying to find flaws that probably Ace was seeing but I couldn’t.

Was I looking ugly? Why on my wedding day? Oh, my God.

My chain of thoughts was broken when I heard a burst of sweet laughter lightening the tense environment. I could see Ace laughing through the mirror in front of me.

Oh dear God, he was joking. He was impossible!

I shook my head with disappointment and pulled the chair, sitting there with a huff. He was playing with me even on my wedding day. Why does he have to joke with such a serious face? I really believe him all the time.

All of a sudden, I could hear minty breath near my ear from behind. I kept my eyes glued to the mirror. Ace leaned down, placing his head almost over my left shoulder, making my breath hitch.

He had to stop making me feel like that. I was getting married today for heaven’s sake.

Ace pushed a few strands of my hair behind my ear with his cold fingers and whispered in my ear, “You look absolutely stunning, Ava. No one will be able to take their eyes off of you today when you walk down the aisle.”

When Ace looked at the mirror as well, our eyes met for a brief moment. He lived in Utah while I was in Colorado, so our friendship was mostly long-distance. However, each time we met, I felt different with him—which was the first reason I agreed to date Simon—to not overthink about Ace.

You are getting married today, Ava Kace, I reminded myself and averted my gaze.

“Thank you,” I simply mumbled and got up from the chair, making my way to the closet room. “I forgot to wear my bracelet,” and with that, I closed the door of the closet room, with Ace still in my bedroom.

I opened the third drawer and took out the diamond bracelet with three small stars, engraved with my name ‘AVA’, which Ace gifted me last year, on my birthday. He had a busy schedule, yet he came to meet me at midnight by his jet, just to wish me right on time.

I clutched the bracelet closer to my chest, asking myself, Is getting married to Simon Rainstorm a good decision?

AVA

Once I got out of the closet room, I saw that Ace had already left my room.

I glanced at the time on my phone, only to find it was almost five in the evening. After an hour, I would be on my way to the church. I was getting married at the church my family owned, which was a ten-minute drive from here.

No more overthinking, Ava. You will be happy with Simon. This is the right decision.

I took a few deep breaths and sat on my bed. My hand landed on a small piece of white paper. I opened it and found the familiar neat handwriting, ‘Don’t be nervous. I’ll always be by your side.’

A smile formed on my lips, seeing the note Ace left for me. He could’ve texted me that easily, but he knew that I loved getting letters, whether small or big. He really did know me the best.

I saw a few texts from Simon, requesting to see my picture, so I didn’t ‘see’ his text and cleared the notification. I didn't know why I wasn't interested in talking to him at the moment. There were bigger issues on hand.

I wanted to practice my wedding dance steps now that I had an hour’s time. What if I tripped during the dance in front of everyone and the paparazzi, who were exclusively invited by my dad, made sure to spread the word of embarrassment like a fire?

Standing up, I started to move a little by little with my heavy gown. It was really hard to practice without a partner. No doubt it looked absolutely ridiculous as well.

Turning on the music on my phone, I started dancing. While I was lost in the dance, I didn’t realize Ace had left the door open.

As soon as my eyes fell on the door all of a sudden, a horrified gasp escaped my lips, and I placed a hand over my chest. “God! Ace, you scared the shit outta me. Why are you standing there like a creep?”

Ace was leaning against the door frame, standing with his arms crossed and watching me with a small smile playing on his lips. “Your dance…” he started to say, but I interrupted.

“Is looking horrible, right?” I completed it for him. “I know. But I need a partner to practice with. I cannot do these steps alone. If it was someone else instead of you, that person would think I was crazy.”

“Well, who said I don’t think you are crazy?” He raised his brows.

“Because you know it, so you don’t even have to think,” I deadpanned.

Ace stepped into my room once again. He put his hands in his pocket and asked, “Why are you practicing this at the last moment? I am sure you and Simon practiced a lot.”

I sighed. “I don’t know. What if I trip while dancing with Simon in front of thousands of people? It will be so embarrassing that I will dig my grave after I dig yours.”

“Why will you dig my grave?” he inquired, furrowing his brows in confusion.

I looked at him with my gray eyes and said innocently, “I can’t die alone, now can I?”

As soon as I said that, his eyes grew as wide as saucers. Ace shook his head and extended his hand to me, making me confused.

“I can be your partner,” he said softly. When I stayed quiet, he added, “Dance partner, for now, is what I meant. Though I know you will do just fine, if you dance perfectly once for now, it will ease your nervousness and assure you that you won’t trip at least.”

I nodded my head. “You are right.” I placed my hand over his hand, looking straight into his green eyes.

Ace placed my hand over his shoulder and held me close by my waist. The song continued playing as we started to sway together slowly, our eyes locked with each other.

I was trying to keep up with the slow pace until suddenly my right foot slipped due to taking one wrong step. Instantly, Ace grabbed me back, preventing me from falling. My hands were over his shoulders now, as we continued to sway slowly.

That blunder was enough to crush the little bit of dancing confidence I had left.

“I am forgetting the steps, Ace.” I was freaking out at this point.

“It’s okay, you are just nervous, nothing else,” he tried to assure me.

“What if I fall on my face out there?” I asked, anxiety clear in my voice. I never thought I would get cold feet before the wedding, yet here I was.

Ace gave me a big smile, his dimples popping out. He pulled me closer to him and whispered to me, “I will catch you every time you fall. As I said, I will always be by your side, Ava.”

His words were soothing, which made me feel a bit relieved. Ace was a man of words, so he meant every single word, and I knew that. He would always be there for me, come what may.

I just want to get over this wedding for once and all now. It was making me go crazy.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and a ginger woman rushed to us. One of my guards got inside my room, saying, “Excuse me, miss, you have to leave from here.”

Ace and I pushed each other slightly. Ace went to turn off the music playing from my phone while I looked at the crying ginger woman.

“Are you okay, miss?” I asked with concern. I took the glass filled with water, which was on the tray nearby and handed it to her. “Here, drink this.”

“Ma’am Ava, I am sorry,” said the guard. “She just burst in and—”

“It’s okay,” I told the guard. “You may leave.”

Once the guard left, Ace pulled me to one corner of my room.

“Ava, are you sure it’s safe to let a stranger stay here? She looks like a maniac,” Ace mumbled, concern visible in his voice.

I nodded my head. “It’s okay, Ace. Let’s see why she’s here. Besides, don’t worry about her being crazy. You will stay by my side as I talk to her.”

“So you are making me your bodyguard after making your actual guard leave,” Ace stated as if he solved the biggest puzzle in the world.

“Don’t blame me. You are the one who said will always be by my side,” I reminded him. “Now let’s go and ask her what’s wrong.”

We went to the woman, to find her scanning my room with her eyes.

I cleared my throat and started, “What brings you here, miss?”

The woman looked at me with her teary brown eyes and spoke up, “Please don’t marry Simon Rainstorm.”

“Huh?” I raised my brows in confusion. “Why?”

“Because I am carrying his baby.”