"Wake up, baby. We're going out," said Scott's gentle voice a few hours later.
"But I'm so tired," I complained as his fingers glided through my hair.
"I know, but Kenny's a fucking mess. As his best man and friend, we need to make sure he loosens up a little before tomorrow," he said, wearing the title of best man like a badge of honor, despite pretending it didn't mean the world to him.
"Marlene looked like she was going to rip my head off when he hugged me. Nope, there's no we," I said, sitting up slowly.
"Marlene just has wedding jitters. She'll get over it. We already missed so much. He'll hate if you're not there for his last night of freedom," said Scott, guilting me into going.
What started out as just drinks between the three of us soon blew up into bar hopping with the groomsmen, of whom there were seven, not including Scott. Three of them
"You don't go on the run with someone without telling them that. He knows," I said, feeling like Kenny deserved to be the first to know that Scott and I finally got there."Well that's awkward. Scott uses sex to get out of saying it back. He never says it back," said Kenny, squeezing my hand with sympathy in his eyes.So this was the trickery women used to get Scott into bed. Despite what Scott thought, I didn't think they were lying when they said I love you to him. Sure most said it way too early, but falling in love with him really was that effortless. He was so fucking hot it was almost painful looking at him. He was audacious and confident. The kind of guy you have a whirlwind romance with. He made you laugh and paid attention to you. He made you feel alive and like you were the only girl in the room.Any other guy and I would have thought he was a dick for taking these women to bed knowing he didn't fee
When I slapped Scott's hand away from my thighs as we sat in the pew thirty minutes before the wedding, he pulled away instantly. Of course it was what I wanted. For fuck's sake, we were in a church and it was Kenny's wedding day. After two months of not saying no to him touching me though, it felt wrong. "It's Kenny's wedding day. You saw him when we woke up this morning. He's nervous as fuck. We should—" I started rattling on."It's okay, princess. I'll be good for you," he said, kissing my cheek sweetly before he lowered his lips to my ear. "Just so you know though, I will fuck you in a church. I promise."I turned to him slowly. Passionate, calm eyes stared back at me as I swallowed. "Hey best man, your brother is freaking out. He has cold feet," Alex yelled, stomping his way down the aisle until he reached us."What's wrong?" I asked, welcoming the distraction that was Alex. "His fiancee became a born again virgin the second he put the rock on her finger. Bet you didn't know t
Scott got up too as the betrotheds met in the middle of the room, touching and kissing sweetly. Whispering to each other about how wrong they both were to let things get so out of hand."I don't think we're supposed to be here for this part," he said, taking my hand and leading me out the door. "Nice job, Kendrick," he said to me, flashing me his dimples as everyone in the wedding party descended on the door, screaming over each other, wanting answers.He squeezed my hand, our heads turned to each other as we stood guard for Marlene and Kenny. Despite the chaos descending on us, I was walking on air."Back at you, Brady," I said, smiling back at him.The fifteen minutes left before the ceremony was supposed to begin came and went, leaving Helen scrambling to calm the waiting guests. It was another thirty minutes of Scott and I standing firm in front of that door, giving
"It's stupid," Kenny said with a smile. "When she was really having a hard time, she'd ask to see old videos of me going live. She could sit next to me and watch them for hours. After a few stories, she'd start asking questions about them and my day. She'd be the woman I love again. We'd cook together. We would swim together. It wasn't perfect, but we were hanging in there." "So what happened?" I persisted. "Why do you want to leave all that behind?" "It's too fast. I rushed into this. We don't know everything about each other," said Kenny, the smile disappearing from his face. "About a month ago, she came home one night and fucking lost it. Said things had gotten out of hand and she hated inviting all her father's clients. She bawled her fucking eyes out. So I said fuck it, let's cancel everything and elope. She still wanted the big wedding, but she couldn't handle the stress, so yay Fiji. Destination wedding. Except not yay, because she fucking just got worse. In the last two d
"Chocolate. Always chocolate," he said, referring to my piece. "What did you get?" I asked, poking at his piece. "The dreaded ice cream cake," he said, mocking me. "It's deceptive and not what it claims to be," I said, defending my lack of desire to try ice cream cakes. "That's too bad. It's double fudge brownie. You would love this," he said, taunting me with my favorite ice cream flavor before putting the spoon in his mouth. "So good."As I took a stab at my cake, my mind wandered back to what he said to Kenny about sex. Last time I asked if he meant it, he wouldn't give me a straight answer. "So what would you do if you could never fuck my pussy again?" I asked him as I ate my first bite of the cake. "What the fuck are you talking about?" he asked, choking on his ice cream. "Just, hypothetically, if you could never have my pussy again in any way, would you still want me?" I asked, losing interest in th
"This was easily one of the most romantic days of my life," I acknowledged, scooting closer to him to get a better look. "What else you got?" "Prague. You loved this castle so much. I was going to fuck you silly in it, but you wouldn't stop walking around and spitting out random shit you learned the day before. You're so beautiful when you're captivated by something. Sometimes it's hard not to just stare and drink you in. Be overwhelmed by you," he said, showing me a photo of us picnicking in the castle ruins. "This was in Barcelona. We were stupid homesick. More than usual. So we got high and yes things did get freaky that night, but before that you spent the whole day with me with your guide book in hand. You made me go out to take photos when I hit a slump and hadn't gone on my own in a few days. We were so stoned that most of the photos from that day are shit, but by the end of the day, I was so happy. I felt so wanted," he said, showing me a photo of us blow
Six weeks later…"What do you think? Is this what you had in mind?" my mom asked me, showing me a preliminary sketch for Stacy's engagement ring. My mom and Willow only just made it to New York to see us since we got back from being on the run. They were staying with Kenny and Marlene, as they had far more room than us. Keeping things from them was hard, but it was for their own safety. This was something I was more than ready to share with my artistic mom though. I was having Stacy's engagement ring custom made for her. After I finally got a gallery owner to take a shine to the photos I took of Europe's vibrant sights, I was having my first show tomorrow night. Fingers crossed I sold enough photos to afford this elaborate piece I had in my head."Will two weeks be enough time to have it made? What if she hates it? Should I just buy a ring? You can stop me anytime here guys," I said nervously, passing my mom's sketch pad to Willow. "It
The idea was so outrageous, I threw my head back and laughed. "That's ridiculous. You're here to help me design her engagement ring. Our one year anniversary is in two weeks, at which point I will propose. Why would you—" Before I could finish, one of my charming bodyguards walked into the room and said, "Delivery" then handed me a key right before my phone dinged. That was some fucking timing. All eyes in the room went to me. Fucking fantastic. Had things really gone this far? "What's the key for?" Willow asked suspiciously. "I don't know," I lied, taking my phone out of my pocket. I lived for these texts. They brightened my day every time. When her name showed up on my screen with an address to meet her at, I couldn't help but smile. "Who is it from?" a determined Kenny asked. How would I even begin to explain the situation I found myself in three weeks ago to them?
That last part was such a her thing to say. Was that really what she thought? It would explain how I apparently caught her off guard. "Please, for the love of God, let me sleep and shower first. There are dark circles under my eyes. And my make up—" What the fuck was she talking about? She was fucking flawless. Perfect in all her imperfections. "Shut up. I won the bet about Kenny and Marlene," I said, laying the phone down on the ground and starting the five minute timer. "So now Scott says shut up. You've said more than enough in the last few hours. Now just listen." She clasped her hands behind her back, swaying back and forth nervously, her eyes dropping to the timer. Words failed me. I had a whole speech and everything. Even if I didn't, I was me. I always knew what to say, except right that second I was tongue tied. "That photo's taunting me," I said, spitting out the thought in my he
By this point, she had me watching her from behind a lens. Flashes of the thousands of times she had me taking her photo went through my mind. Watching her was my favorite thing to do until she started letting me touch her. I loved every last one of them. Studied the thousands of photos frequently, especially this past week, like some junkie trying to get a fix. The sweet ones where she looked like an angel. The dirty ones where she looked like the perfect whore. The goofy ones that I made sure I was a part of. The everyday ones where she had a pencil in her hair while she read or picked something out at the grocery store. Every last photo I took of her and every memory attached to it flooded my brain. "Fucking stunning every time," I said, trying to calm my raging heart as the sun began to rise, the silhouette of her before it. Slightly trembling fingers took several photos, as the excitement of holding a camera surg
"Can't we do this another time? Surises come along every day and it's been such a long night," Stacy moped. Not this sunrise. Not this moment I wanted to give her. It was all she could do to hold onto the tripod towards the end, so I let her get on my back and gave her a piggyback ride the rest of the way up my mountain. "You knew this was coming. I warned you I'd be making you miserable by bringing you out here before the crack of dawn while we were in Fiji. Sacrifices have to be made to please your future husband, Stace," I said, enjoying the feel of her body pressed up against my back. The morning was chilly, contrasting with her body heat. Or was I sweating? Maybe she was right and this just wasn't our moment. It would come once though. The sunrise of our one year anniversary. I had this picture of how it was going to go down in my head and I just wasn't ready to give it up. "On our anniversary? We just spent two ho
"Is the world's greatest commitment phobe still proposing today after this shit storm?" Kenny asked me as I watched Stacy sit across from Jeff to read through her immunity deal. "You just get the champagne ready. Be on standby, Ken. Call in sick. You'll get the call soon," I said, sharing an excited smile with him before I opened the door to Jeff's office to sit down next to Stacy. "You can have your lawyer look it over before you sign. Take your time," said Jeff, waiting patiently on her. "She's her own lawyer. She's like two classes away from being one?" I boasted as I watched her brilliant mind go to work while she read. "Three," she corrected me, eyes still darting over the words on the page. "Besides, we trust you. Don't we, Scott?" That's what she said, but she carried on combing the document. In about two minutes, she'd have tons of questions for him. "Yes, we do," I said to my fath
"I will never let anyone hurt him, Ken. On my life, I will always keep him safe," she professed one more time. "I know you will, Stace. For the record, you were always my favorite best friend," he said, cautiously wrapping his arms around her as he started sobbing. "Same Ken," she said, returning his embrace readily, rubbing his back. Eyes still on me, she stuck her tongue out at me, making me chuckle as I got up to join them. "Un-fucking-believable. What am I, chopped liver?" I said, watching Kenny pull back as I shot him a nasty look. "You're okay. Tolerable. Second best. I keep you around because of her," he said, wiping away his tears with the back of his sleeves. "I can't believe you fucking told her you were proposing. What the fuck is wrong with you? How will you survive marriage?" His stupid remark had us chuckling between the three of us. We all wrapped an arm around the other an
There was that promise of forever she said I couldn't have until I asked her to marry me. It was as good as a yes to my proposal. My heart was doing flip flops in my chest. I knew it was for their benefit, maybe even just because she was nervous about talking to them instead of me, but her words were aimed directly at me. Sweeping me right off my feet. Claiming every bit of me as hers. Allowing me to let go of the tiny part of me that wondered if she really could have killed me in those woods. It wasn't just luck or the words I said to her that made her want to save me. I was happy if I gave her the strength to do what she needed to do, but I firmly believed she would have gotten there anyway. She had been doing it for eight years. From the moment we met, she had been protecting me. Even when she pushed me away. She chose me for eight years. Came back again and again, no matter how many times Don Angelo called her home, to make me fall dee
He pulled out a chair for himself, then one for me, urging me to sit next to him. With a resigned sigh, I sat down two chairs away from Kenny, as close to Stacy as I could. I gave Willow and my mom a pleading look so they would follow suite across the table. Stacy took her seat and folded her hands in front of her. Folding her hands was her tell for when she was nervous. They all looked away uncomfortably. No anger. No malice. Just sadness and fear. It was all I could do to stay seated. Not grab Stacy's hand and storm out. She asked me to let her do this though. All I could do was sit back and watch helplessly. "Marlene, you're right. We should have reached out and talked to you all about what happened. It sucked that she was the only one of you to come by and ask us what happened though. Instead of going off the news and wherever else you got your information from. Still, I'm sorry we didn't reach out either. We were trying to figure things out betwe
"No, you're not leaving," said Marlene, grabbing Kenny's arms and turning him towards Stacy and I. "Your best friends are getting engaged today. You've been brooding about this whole situation for over a week and I'm sick of it. Deal with your shit, Kenny," said Marlene, her arms folded and chin jutted out. Go Marlene. Marriage looked good on her. She surprised me more and more all the time. "Does everyone know I'm proposing today?" I asked, focusing on the wrong thing entirely. It got my nervous, half asleep girlfriend to smile though. I'd take that. "You weren't exactly trying very hard to hide it," said Stacy, momentarily caught up in my eyes. I wished I could have her look like that for the rest of the day. A light blush tainted her cheeks and her smile was enough to bring armies to their knees. The way she looked at me made me feel like we were the only two people alive. As much as I appreciated wha
"Soooo… Do you think there's more?" he asked in his most innocent voice. "I'll kill you if you try and find out today," I said, equally as breathless and sweaty as him. It took me a moment to realize I just threatened him without flinching or apologizing. I forced myself to let it go and enjoy the afterglow of the best sex of my life. The heat and sweat coming off our bodies should have been enough to get me off him, but it wasn't. Despite my threat to get off him, his arms wrapped around me gently. "No promises. I love you," he said, completely at ease as he started stroking my hair. "I expect to be told about all future… Locations and phrases." "I love you too. That's no fun. I'm not doing that," I said, out right refusing his request. "Is that right? We'll see," he said cheekily, kissing my temple. "Let me take you to lunch. I want you to enjoy your first day of freedom."