Chapter 36
Friday
Matt
Scarlett opened the door when I knocked. “Hi, Uncle Matt! Hi, Jacob!”
I sighed. “Kiddo, we’ve been over this. You really shouldn’t be opening the door.”
I set Jacob down on the ground. Luckily the building wasn’t as many floors as Tanner’s. But I was still a little out of breath.
Scarlett shrugged. “Okay, I won’t.”
But the shrug kind of contradicted her words.
“What do you want to play?” she asked. “Kickball?”
Jacob nodded.
Scarlett rarely offered to play anything but Barbie with me. She was much sweeter to Jacob. But we weren’t here to play.
“Come on, guys,” she said and turned to start running down the hall.
Penny walked out of the kitchen just in time to grab her. “Nope, no kickball in the house.”
“Can we go to the park then?” Scarlett asked.
“Not today. We’re on our way to Aunt Brooklyn’s.”
I smiled. It was the first time I’d heard anyone call Brooklyn that.
“But I want to play kickball with Jacob and Uncle Matt,” Scarlett said.
“As fun as that sounds…” Penny smiled at me and then looked back down at Scarlett. “You get to get ready for the wedding with all girls and you finally get to wear your yellow dress.”
Scarlett’s eyes grew round. “Okay, Mommy, you have a deal.”
She was terrible at negotiating. But I’d teach her more about making proper boardroom deals after the wedding.
“James!” Penny called over her shoulder. “We’re heading out.”
James walked into the hall in nothing but boxers. He was taking the skin on skin thing a little too seriously. But Liam was sleeping peacefully in his arms.
“See you in a few hours.” He kissed Penny’s cheek. “And be good, pumpkin,” he said to Scarlett and kissed the top of her head.
“I’m always good,” Scarlett said.
Eh.She’d literally just answered the door even though she knew it was against the rules.
But James didn’t disagree with her.
Penny pushed a little hair off of Liam’s forehead. “Have fun guys,” she said. “If you need anything just call me.” Which was code for: If Liam wakes up and starts crying, I’ll come back to help.
But we had this.
Jacob watched the two of them walk out the door, his eyes trained on Scarlett the whole time.
She waved down at him and then blew him a kiss.
Jacob’s cheeks turned rosy.
It was the cutest thing ever.
Jacob turned toward me after the door closed. “Can’t I go with Scarlett? Pleeeeease?”
“Nope,” James said. He didn’t seem to think it was as cute as I did.
“You get to get ready with all the guys,” I said. “I promise it’ll be fun.”
Jacob eyed James warily.
And so did I. “Where are your pants, man?” I asked him.
“I’ll change into my tux in a few hours.”
“Changing kind of requires an outfit change. Not just putting on clothes.”
James laughed. “Liam burped up on my shirt earlier.”
That still didn’t explain his lack of pants. But it was his house. I just didn’t want to give Jacob any ideas. He’d finally started wearing clothes thanks to Tanner’s Odegaard line that I was pretty sure was exclusively for Jacob.
“Don’t worry, Jacob,” James said. “We’re going to have fun.”
“Are we playing football again?” Jacob asked.
Brooklyn would kill me if we played football right before the wedding. We were lucky James and Rob’s faces were good at not swelling. Or Nigel’s juice had just worked its wonders. Also, I was pretty sure Penny wouldn’t love us breaking everything in her living room.
Rob walked in without knocking, holding RJ in his arms. RJ’s eyes were closed and he was sniffling, like he’d been crying the whole way here. And I was grateful for the distraction. Maybe Jacob would forget about playing football for a few minutes.
“Coach.” Jacob tugged on my hand. “Is Axel coming?”
Jacob did not seem that excited to hang out with a bunch of babies. Which I understood. Especially since they were both sleeping. “No,” I said. “But he’ll be at the wedding later. And your abuelo will be here any minute.”
Jacob’s eyes lit up.
“Why do you call Tanner your abuelo?” Rob asked.
“Because he’s my abuelo,” Jacob said.
“But like…why?”
Jacob shrugged. “Because he is.”
“What about your actual grandfather? Mr. Pruitt?”
Jacob lowered his eyebrows. “Me and my daddy don’t like him. If I see him again I’m going to have to hit him again.”
Whoa, what?“Did you hit Mr. Pruitt?”
Jacob nodded. “Yeah. When I met him. I hit him like this.” He threw his fist out toward me, but stopped an inch in front of my nuts. “Like my daddy taught me.”
Holy hell.Jacob was a little boss.
Rob laughed. “Are you seriously telling me that you hit Mr. Pruitt in the nuts?”
Jacob looked confused.
“Right there,” Rob said and pointed to my groin. “In the nuts.”
Stop pointing at my dick, man.I pushed his arm away.
“Yessie,” Jacob said. “I punched him right in the nuts.”
“That’s amazing.” Rob laughed. “I think we’ve all wanted to do that in our lives.”
James put his hand up for a high five and Jacob high fived him.
“Mommy hit him too,” Jacob said. “She gave him a black eye.”
I knew about that one. Honestly, it kind of made sense that Mr. Pruitt had skipped town. He was probably sick of being hit by his family members. I probably should have told Jacob not to hit his grandfather. We were trying to move forward with Mr. Pruitt. But it wasn’t really my place. If his father had told him to do it, I was going to respect Miller’s wishes.
James smiled. “You’re a good kid, Jacob. Come on, let’s go hang out in the family room.” Everyone started walking out of the hall. A few minutes ago he didn’t like the way Jacob was looking at his daughter. But now he seemed thrilled with Jacob. He probably thought Jacob would be a little bodyguard for Scarlett.
I knew James hated the way Axel seemed smitten with his daughter. They were just kids, but James was reading this wrong. Jacob looked at Scarlett with stars in his eyes. The same way Axel looked at Scarlett. Scarlett was going to be trouble when she grew up if she already had two boys obsessed with her. James was probably going to try to lock her at the top of a tower when she turned 13.
I sat down on the couch and Rob plopped down beside me and handed me RJ.
RJ was sound asleep now, his sniffling done.
“It’s weird how much like you he is,” Rob said.
I looked up from RJ. “I swear I didn’t have sex with Daphne.”
Rob laughed. “I meant Jacob, not RJ. But good to know.”
I looked over at Jacob who was tossing a football up and down. I smiled. Yeah. He was a little piece of me.
The bell rang and James went to go answer the door.
“Did you have a good morning?” Rob waggled his eyebrows at me.
“Um…yes? What are you doing with your face?”
Rob laughed. “I’ve just always wondered how good Brooklyn was at giving head. I mean, probably better now than she was in high school. A lot more practice and what not.”
I didn’t love thinking about that.
“On a scale of one to ten,” Rob said. “Hit me.”
“Are you watching our security feed or something?”
“Nah,” was all he offered.
I’d change the password, but only Nigel had access to it. I’d have to talk to him about that. “A ten,” I said. God, she was so fucking sexy with her lips wrapped around my cock.
“Knew it.”
“Knew what?” Mason asked. He and Tanner had both walked into the room.
“I was just asking about how good Brooklyn is at giving head,” Rob said.
Tanner smiled. “I’m guessing you had a good morning, Matt?” He winked at me.
“Why does everyone know I got head this morning?”
“Because Brooklyn called me,” Rob said.
At the same time, Tanner said: “Because Brooklyn called me for some advice.”
They glared at each other.
“She called you?” Rob said and stood up.
“Probably first,” Tanner said.
“Lies,” Rob said. “I’m Matt’s best friend so she called me about giving him head.”
Why was Brooklyn calling any of them about this?
Tanner shook his head. “If she called you about giving him head it was because I already suggested it to her…”
Mason laughed. “All this best friend talk. While I’m sitting here as the best man.” He sat down next to me, stealing Rob’s seat.
“I’m sorry, why was Brooklyn talking to you two about blowjobs?” I asked.
Rob and Tanner looked at each other.
Rob sighed. “She wanted to know what to get you for a wedding present because she didn’t know they were a thing. And needed something last minute.”
I opened my mouth and closed it. So that’s why she left the bedroom for a while this morning. She didn’t need to get me anything. Her marrying me was the best gift possible. But I did really love this morning.
“Young Robert, I never took you for a snitch.” Tanner looked very disappointed in him.
“I’m not a snitch. But I’m not going to lie to my friend.”
“Brooklyn is our friend too.”
“I don’t like the our in your sentence.”
Tanner shrugged.
“Which one of you told her I’d get off if she wore my jersey?” I asked. Because honestly, whoever gave her that advice was my best friend.
Mason laughed. “Damn that’s hot.”
“Sexy,” Rob said. “But I didn’t tell her that.”
Tanner shook his head. “Me neither. I would have told her to wear a football jersey.”
I knew he meant soccer by that. But that meant that no one had told her to dress up. They’d just told her to give me head. I smiled. I said whoever told her to wear my jersey was my best friend. It made sense that Brooklyn had come up with it all by herself. She knew me best.
***
I never thought this day would come. It’s what I’d always wanted. But for 16 years I’d given up on it. I’d given up on living.
There was a knock on the door. “It’s almost time,” Mason said from the other side. “You ready?”
“Yeah, one second.” I finished putting on my tie and then opened the door. Mason was dressed just like I was. In a navy tux with a yellow tie. The tie matched the yellow bridesmaid dresses. “Could you help me with these?” I handed him the box of cufflinks that Penny had given me as I finished buttoning my vest.
Mason popped open the lid and pulled one of the cufflinks out. He stared at the inscription but didn’t say anything. He put one on and then the next, not saying anything about the second inscription either.
I slid my tuxedo jacket on and straightened my lapels.
“Were those from Brooklyn?” Mason asked.
I shook my head. “No. Penny.”
He smiled. “Figures.”
“The day my life stopped. And the day my life started again.” But today felt the most momentous to me. Everything had led me to this point.
Mason folded his arms and leaned back against the vanity. “I was worried about that for a while.”
“Worried about what?”
“Penny.”
Yeah, all my friends had been worried about that.
“You put me in a very awkward position,” Mason said. “And I think I would have had to beat the shit out of you if you ever tried to pull something on her.”
I laughed. I’d certainly thought about it. I’d tried to fill this hole in my heart with anything I possibly could. My crush on Penny was probably the most destructive though. Because it would have hurt all my friends. Penny included. And James and I had been through enough fighting for one lifetime.
“But it was hard to be mad at you when you were walking around like your life was over,” Mason said. “I’m so glad Brooklyn came back.”
“Me too.” I think I’d always have a hard time thinking about the time she’d chosen to stay away. But the important thing was that she’d come back to me. And that was all that fucking mattered.
Mason cleared his throat. “And here you are saying that you’re ready, and your tie isn’t even straight.” He adjusted my tie for me. “There. Let’s do this thing.” He cleared his throat again.
My brother was not an emotional guy. But I could tell he felt it today. I’d put him through hell the past 16 years. I think I’d worried him the most because he saw me the most. “Thank you, man.”
He nodded. Like he knew I was thanking him for more than straightening my tie.
We walked out of the bathroom, down the hall, and into James’ living room. My father and all my friends were all dressed, standing around talking. Except for Nigel.
“Where is Nigel?” I asked. He’d been popping in and out all afternoon, but he promised he’d be ready on time. I had no idea where he’d been running off to all day.
James turned around in a circle. “I swear he was just here. Liam was crying and he quieted him down.”
“He was definitely here a minute ago,” Rob agreed.
“I think he may have said to just meet him at the venue,” Tanner said. He snapped his fingers. “That was definitely it. He’s just helping out with last minute stuff, I’m sure.”
“Should we leave him a note just in case?” I asked.
“The door will be locked,” James said.
“A note on the door then.”
“Sure, I guess,” Tanner said. He pulled a pad of sticky notes out of his pants’ pocket and grabbed a pen from his breast pocket. He quickly scrawled something across the note. “There. That’ll do.”
I could only see the note out of the corner of my eye, but I swear it said: “Stop it right now before they pull out the binoculars!”
Who the hell would be bringing binoculars to the wedding? Nigel was so strange sometimes.
“Looking dapper, Matt,” Tanner said as he walked toward the door to hang his note.
I laughed since we were all dressed exactly the same. Jacob was in a miniature version of the same tux too.
“You ready, son?” my dad asked and put his hand on my shoulder.
I nodded and looked down at Jacob. “You ready?” I asked him.
He nodded. “Ready, Coach.”