Forever (Empire High Book 8)

Chapter 20

Monday

Brooklyn

“I’m so happy for you guys,” Daphne said as we all sat down on the couch.

“Thank you.” I didn’t know the Untouchables’ wives that well. But they already felt like family.

“If there’s one thing I know about the two of you, it’s that you do everything fast,” Kennedy said with a smile.

“We definitely weren’t planning this,” I said. When we were playing around with the pregnancy due date calculator, we figured out that I probably got pregnant when we’d had sex in the auditorium. None of that had been planned. But it had all happened for a reason. I was about to be swallowed whole by my pain. Matt had saved me. This baby saved me.

“So we have less than 4 weeks to plan this thing,” Penny said. “We’re all hands on deck. What do you need from us?”

“Well, Justin is already working on it. And Nigel is helping. I think the actual wedding will come together pretty quickly with those two.”

Penny nodded. “Definitely. Justin is the best.”

“He really is,” Bee said.

Daphne nodded in agreement.

I couldn’t believe that they’d all used Justin for their weddings. I was so proud of him for chasing his dreams. He’d wanted me to launch his career. But he’d never needed me. He just needed to believe in himself.

Justin definitely had the wedding handled. But that didn’t mean I didn’t need something from my friends. I couldn’t remember the last time I was so nervous. I cleared my throat. “I know we don’t know each other that well. But Matt was telling me about who he wanted for groomsmen…”

“Wait, do you know who he’s choosing as his best man?” Daphne asked. “Because please just rip the Band-Aid off. Rob is going to be going on and on about this until he knows.”

I laughed. I was sure he would be. “My lips are sealed.”

“Traitor,” Daphne said with a smile.

“I don’t know what they’re even doing over there,” Bee said.

We all turned to see the guys in the kitchen.

Nigel was lying in the middle of the kitchen island. At least he had all his clothes on this time.

“Why is he full spread on your kitchen counter?” Penny asked.

Bee laughed. “I feel like full spread would imply that he was nude with his legs spread.”

Penny wrinkled her nose. “That is not what I meant. Nigel would obviously never do that.”

Actually…he had kind of done that. At least he’d covered his junk with a pan. I had no idea what him being on the counter had to do with the best man competition. It seemed like Matt was freeballing it. I shook my head. That was a weird thing to think when I’d just been thinking about Nigel full spread on the kitchen counter.

I cleared my throat. “Anyway. What I was getting at was that Matt and I were hoping to have an even amount of bridesmaids and groomsmen. I know that I don’t know all of you very well. But at the same time it feels like I’ve known you forever. Penny, Bee, and Daphne, will you be my bridesmaids?”

“I was hoping you’d ask,” Penny said with a smile. “Of course!”

“Absolutely,” Bee said. “You’re going to be my new sister. I honestly would have been sad if you didn’t ask.”

“I can’t wait,” Daphne added. “This is going to be so much fun.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. This really was the best group of friends I could ask for.

I turned to Kennedy.

And she looked so…sad.

But she quickly hid the expression from her face and smiled. “It’s going to be a beautiful wedding, Brooklyn.” She reached out and squeezed my hand. “And you probably already have a photographer, but there’s no way I’m not sneaking in a few of all you guys together. More memories for your mantel.”

What was she talking about?

“I think the game is probably on now.” She grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.

I stared up at the mantel. There was one person noticeably missing from the pictures. My best friend. For so long I’d tried to forget about my past. I regretted shutting her out. Just thinking about all our time apart made my chest hurt. Did she seriously not think I was going to ask her to be part of my wedding party? After everything we’d been through? She was my best friend. She always had been. “Kennedy?”

She forced another smile to her face. “I really am so happy for you. There is no one else in the world that deserves all of this happiness more than you. And I can’t wait to meet your new baby.”

Even though she was hurting, I knew she meant every word. She took a big sip of her champagne.

I just stared at her. “Kennedy,” I said again. “I was hoping you’d be my maid of honor.”

She almost spit out her champagne. “What?” she coughed.

“Did you seriously think I wasn’t going to ask you to be one of my bridesmaids?”

“I…I don’t know. You just asked everyone else but me, what was I supposed to think?” She laughed.

“That I wanted you to be my maid of honor.” I leaned forward and hugged her. “Just like how I asked you before. Nothing has changed.” In 16 years, not much had changed at all. I still loved Matt. And Kennedy was still my best friend.

She squeezed me tight. “I would love to be your maid of honor.” She pulled back. “Puta mierda, Brooklyn. I was really sad for a minute there, but that was going to turn to anger real quick. I was getting ready to give a whole speech about my maid of honor credentials like those idiots in the other room.”

I laughed and turned to see what they were up to. And Rob, Tanner, and Nigel were all sprinting into the room.

I screamed as Rob lifted me up into his arms. “I win!”

“What are you doing?” I slapped his arm.

“Capture the Princess.”

“What the heck is Capture the Princess? Put me down.” The best man competition was out of control.

“I honestly have no idea. It’s something Tanner suggested.” Rob set me back down on the couch. “But I won. Even though it was his stupid idea.”

“You have to be able to save the bride in case of an emergency,” Tanner said and wiped something out of his eyes. It looked like he’d been splashed with water. “Which I’ve already proved when I helped save her from Locatelli.”

“I also helped,” Rob said.

“I threw the knife.”

“I brought the hand grenade,” Nigel said.

Tanner kept wiping his face.

“Tanner are you okay?” I asked. “Do you need a towel?”

“Young Robert threw his champagne in my face so he could get to you first.”

“Okay. That’s enough,” I said. “Matt just tell them.”

“I’m actually kind of enjoying this,” he said.

I shook my head. “Everyone just sit down and watch the game.” I grabbed Matt’s hand and pulled him into the kitchen. I got some paper towels and turned to face him. “Someone is going to get hurt.”

“They’re big boys. Their feelings won’t be hurt.”

“No, I mean actually hurt. Champagne in the eyes must sting. What if Rob had…I don’t know…thrown boiling water at Tanner?”

“Rob wouldn’t have done that.”

“How sure are you? Just tell them who the best man is.”

“We’ve only done a few of the things on the best man competition list though.”

I shook my head. “Why was Nigel on the counter again?”

Matt laughed. “I don’t know. Something about the best spread? He was showing us how much room all his food would take up that night. They keep coming up with their own ideas on how to prove that they’re the best man. I only got to one of my things. The bachelor party.”

“Well, who had the best idea for that?”

Matt shrugged. “They were all fine. But I already know what I’m doing for my bachelor party.”

“Which is?”

“You.”

I laughed. “Seriously, what are you planning on doing?”

“You,” he said again.

I rolled my eyes. “You’re really not going to tell me?”

He put his arms around me, his hands settling on my lower back. “It’s sexy when you roll your eyes at me.”

“Just tell me what you’re planning.” The fact that he wouldn’t tell me had me dying to know.

“I am telling you. Unless you want me to go to the Blue Parrot Resort like we did for James’ bachelor party. That was Rob’s suggestion.”

“I have no idea what the Blue Parrot Resort is.”

Matt smiled. “Well, maybe the two of us could go sometime.” His hands slid to my ass.

I sighed. “Matthew Caldwell, you’re trouble.”

“Am I?” He smiled down at me.

“So much trouble.” I couldn’t help but smile too. “Now go tell your friends that you love all of them. But that you already know who your best man is.”

“Or…I can at least make them do the ring test.”

“I thought you were joking about the ring test.”

Matt shook his head. “Definitely not. It’s what I was looking forward to most.”

“Where are you even planning on getting five monkeys?”

“Tanner has an animal guy.”

I stared at him. Claude, yeah. Tanner had mentioned him to me once too. I shook my head. “This is going to be a disaster.”

“Or it’s going to be really fun.”

“Well, in this made-up competition, who’s winning so far?” I asked.

“Actually? Probably Nigel. He knows me really well. Like…too well.”

I laughed. “Maybe you should add him as a groomsman. I think he’d really appreciate it. And his speech was really nice. He does help us out so much. I want him to know we care about him.”

“But we already have that all figured out. We want to have an even amount of groomsmen and bridesmaids.”

I bit the inside of my lip. “Actually, I have one more person I want to ask.”

“Is this like when you kept adding random people trying to make me add James and Rob back in high school? Because I’m sure Nigel would be fine just helping Justin out with the planning.”

I shook my head. “No. I really do have someone else I want to ask.”

“Okay. Who is it?”

“I know he’s going to be so busy that day. But I really want to ask Justin.”

Matt smiled. “I think that’s a great idea.” And then he sighed. “Shit, am I really about to ask Nigel to be in my wedding party? What is my life?”