Chapter 42
chapter forty-two
Mateo
Palm trees swayed at the entrance of the pristine Key West oceanside resort, and salty air caressed us the second we stepped out of the car and a valet unloaded our bags under the stone porte cochère. Inside the lobby, the white marble was so shiny I could see my reflection in the floor, and massive gold-framed mirrors decorated the walls from ceiling to crown molding. It was bright and Grecian, and a hotel concierge was waiting for us with a bottle of prosecco before showing us to our bridal suite. What more could you ask for?
Most of my family was flying in from New York in batches, some trickling in throughout the morning, and I was mentally preparing myself to be reacquainted with people I hadn’t seen or heard from in several years. I had to remind myself that it was my wedding, and I needed to take time to enjoy it without the pressure of entertaining my guests, at least not the entire time. I didn’t want to be the married couple who spent their reception hopping from table to table making small talk while everyone else got drunk and had fun, and I would absolutely make sure that wasn’t Natalia. She did all the work, and she deserved to enjoy it.
In the first few hours at the hotel Natalia met Uncle Tony, Uncle Enzo, and Uncle Sal and his son Sal, who I hadn’t realized just graduated from high school. The last time I saw him he had been walking around the backyard in a pull-up diaper full of shit. My mom and dad were having lunch at one of the cabana restaurants with my nonna Maria, my mother’s sister Victoria, and her new husband. They had their moment fawning over Tally, and how she was “even more stunning than the photos online” because all they’d ever seen of her was a passing reposted picture from my mother.
After that it was my cousins and their spouses. Most of the people I was introducing to Tally were also introducing me to their own partners; I’d been gone so long I never even met them myself. Angelo showed up at the hotel just in time to be a backboard for those conversations so I didn’t feel entirely out of my element.
When he walked in I almost didn't recognize him. He’d cut his hair from the scraggly, curled mop of brown to a short taper, and his beard was as trim and neat as I’d ever seen it. The pressure of all the family photos must have gotten to him—that, or the promise of a resort full of women in bathing suits for a whole weekend. Either way it was good to see my brother growing into himself, filling out. Giving a shit, to put it bluntly. My parents reacted to seeing him for the first time in months like he was their long-lost son returning home from war. That irony wasn’t lost on me.
Our rehearsal dinner was at seven o’clock, and by four o’clock my other groomsmen had arrived. We met them out by the oblong pool as the sun started dipping lower on the horizon. A new, foreign addition to the crew caught my attention immediately, sitting beside Wink. He stood and she followed suit, wringing her hands together at her waist like she didn’t know what to do with them.
“Holy fucking shit, he really did bring a date,” I said, tugging Sam into a rough hug. “I’m shocked.”
She was a pretty blonde. Her hair fell just past her shoulders in waves, freckles speckled her cheeks beneath light green eyes, and I almost missed the cochlear implant hiding behind her ear. They complimented one another, but their body language was too stiff to be comfortable. It was how I imagined two people on their first date would act. Too unsure to touch, too new to play. Or maybe I was reading it wrong and Wink was as gentlemanly outside of the bedroom as I imagined he was in it. A true good boy.
Natalia hugged her right away. “Hi, I’m Natalia. So nice to meet you.”
“Hailey,” she replied warmly. “Thanks for having me. This place is incredible. Congratulations, by the way.”
“He’s been hiding you from us,” I said. “Where did you guys meet?” Sam’s tongue perused his bottom lip and he looked to her like he didn’t actually know the answer. My eyebrow raised. “Trick question?”
“He doesn’t want to tell you that Hailey’s his boss.” Echo spread out in a lounge chair, tucking his hands behind his head. “You might accuse him of sleeping his way to the top.”
“War Paws is a nonprofit,” Wink cut in.
“What, does that mean you only do it doggy style so it doesn’t count?”
Hailey snorted, and Sam’s jaw twitched as he glared down at his brother. The animosity was palpable between them, but Hailey’s ability to laugh at Tyler at her own expense meant she was going to fit in just fine with the rest of us. You had to have thick skin and roll with the punches. That was why Ophelia was such a perfect fit for Pike, and Tally and I would last a lifetime.
“Just because all the women you have sex with want to do it face down doesn’t mean the same is true for your brother,” Pike added. “Sam is a hell of a lot prettier than you, blockhead.”
“Younger brothers usually are,” Angelo tossed into the mix.
“Younger brothers get the shorter sticks.” Echo laughed. “I mean the short end of the stick.”
I shot a finger gun at him in solidarity.
“You boys are going to scare her right back to Utah.” Ophelia shook her head. “Ignore our vulgar counterparts. I promise they’re not always this misbehaved.”
“Yes we are” rang out in a chorus of deep voices.
“I’m used to it. My two older brothers are Marines, and my dad was too. Trust me, there’s nothing you can say that would make me blink an eye.”
Echo opened his mouth, lifting his finger.
“That doesn’t mean try it,” Tally rushed out frantically, and Tyler deflated into the cushioned chair with a mischievous smirk.
Ophelia took a seat on Frankie’s thigh. Her arm draped over his shoulder, and his fingers got lost right under the seam of her flowy sundress. “Can you believe it’s finally here? You’re getting married tomorrow!” she sang giddily.
“It’s surreal.” Natalia squeezed my hip. I dragged her in front of me and hugged her tight around the waist, planting a kiss to the side of her head and her body decompressed against mine.
“Hey, who ended up winning that scavenger hunt, anyway?” Angelo asked.
“I think the game ended when you got arrested,” Pike noted.
My brother shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first party I’ve ruined.”
Ophelia sank her teeth into her lip. “It was tied before that. But I never got an answer about the Elvis impersonator. Did you end up finding him, Nat?”
Natalia stiffened. The tiebreaker was our trip to the Little White Wedding Chapel, and technically it was a draw, because we’d both found our sweaty, bloated, wig-wearing King of Rock ‘n’ Roll at the end of the makeshift altar, together. That was our big secret in a world of little secrets between us. The cam work used to be the most important one, but with that cat abruptly out of the bag, this was what he had left that was ours.
Tally was the mastermind, though. She went to the chapel, and I followed because I always would, because I needed to have her back no matter how much groveling it took. It ended up being the most chaotic, spontaneous, memorable, purely magical moment of my life. My greatest victory.
I heaved a deep sigh and cleared my throat. Later, I’d make her promise to take this to the grave for my own well-being when it came to my groomsmen. They’d never forgive me for what I was about to do to them.
“Tally found him fair and square,” I announced. “I was too late.”
Natalia twisted in my arms, big brown eyes staring glossily up at me. Her perfect lips parted and I sank mine down on top of them to hush whatever protest I knew she was seconds away from hollering.
She would let me have this whether she wanted to or not. It sat right in my soul.
If the worst thing I ever had to do to keep my bride happy was dance like an idiot in front of her, I was luckier than most. I already did that any chance I got. Down the line there would be more weddings, more parties, and a whole hell of a lot more shenanigans where this group was involved, I was absolutely sure of it. Even now, the night was still promisingly young.
“So the girls won.” Ophelia clapped her hands together. She bounced one too many times on Pike’s lap in excitement that he had to reel her back in. “You guys have a dance to rehearse!”
“I want a recount,” Echo complained. “Are you telling me I did that Blow Job shot for nothing?”
“For the memories,” Tally replied. “Don’t act like you didn’t enjoy every second of it.”
I blew a raspberry through my lips. “I can’t believe I missed that.”
Wink hunched over on his chair with his elbows on his knees and his hands over his eyes, swearing under his breath. Hailey rubbed the space between his shoulder blades in a way that was less consoling and more encouraging, a sparkle in her emerald eyes.
“I think going to jail should count for two,” Angelo mumbled, crashing down into a lounge chair. He peeled a cigarette out of his pocket. “Just saying.”
Natalia’s tiny hands fisted my shirt, and she leaned in close to my ear. “You didn’t need to do that.”
“I know.” I brushed my mouth against her temple. “I love you.”
“Does love make you crazy?”
“ You make me crazy.” I ran my thumb down the curve of her nose, dragged it over her lips as they curled into a smile that showed off her straight white teeth. “The love was just an added perk, but man am I fucking glad you decided yours was for me.”
Loving her made everything easy. Even the hard stuff. Even the things that would break most other people and brittle their relationships. Because at the end of the hard thing there was an even bigger, brighter thing waiting for us.