Forever - Chapter 28 #2
Someone groaned.
One of the guys had definitely been hit based on that groan. Probably by Penny.
“Flip the couch!” Bee yelled.
That was a good idea.
Before I could move, someone put their hand on my shoulder. Men I didn’t know really needed to stop touching me. I threw out my elbow. But whoever my elbow collided with didn’t even flinch. He put his hand over my mouth. He was messing with the wrong person. I bit down on one of his fingers.
He cursed under his breath and released me from his grip.
I crouched down feeling along the ground for a piece of glass.
I’d heard something else shatter. I wrapped my hand around the stem of a wine glass.
This will do. Whoever these guys were, they’d walked into the wrong house.
I’d been kidnapped for the last fucking time!
I stood up and spun in a circle, waiting for my eyes to adjust in the darkness.
“Get my mommy!” Jacob yelled.
“Jacob?” Panic wrapped around my throat. “Jacob, where are you?!” I reached out my empty hand in the darkness, searching for him.
“I’m a kidnapper!” he said happily.
Wait. What?
The lights turned back on. Broken glass and wine covered the floor.
And pillows had been thrown everywhere. A glass lamp was shattered.
I recognized Matt, Rob, James, Mason, Tanner, and Nigel even though only Rob had his mask off.
They were scattered around the room. I was pretty sure it was Mason who’d knocked over the lamp because he was trying and failing to put it back on the end table.
There was also a very little kidnapper I hadn’t seen before because you could only just see the top of his head over the couch. Jacob. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Jesus, Brooklyn,” said Mason and he dropped the lamp again.
I looked down at the wine glass in my hand. The top was broken, the glass shards sticking out precariously. It was the perfect weapon. But not against my friend. I let it fall to the ground.
“Oh, sorry,” Rob said who had his arms wrapped around Penny. “Thought you were my wife.” He let go of Penny’s waist.
“I didn’t mean to give you a black eye!” Penny threw her hand over her mouth. “I’m so sorry, Rob.”
Rob laughed. “You definitely didn’t give me a black eye. You lightly swatted my thigh. I thought you were just groping me.” He winked at her and then grimaced from his black eye.
Penny made a grossed out face and Rob laughed.
“How did you get a black eye?!” Daphne said and hurried over to him.
“I don’t remember,” he said. But then he quickly added: “But you should see the other guy.”
Tanner chuckled beside him. “Yeah, right.” He pulled off his mask.
“You guys,” James said and pulled off his mask too. “I thought we weren’t taking our masks off?”
Penny gasped. “James, what happened to your face?!” She rushed over to him, cradling his face in her hands.
Why were they all beat up? God, they were going to look like a street fight gang in the wedding photos.
“Did you kidnap a bunch of big strong men with mean right hooks before this segment of kidnapping or something?” Justin asked. He was looking back and forth between James and Rob. “Tell me more.”
“Kidnap, kidnap!” Jacob said and started jumping up and down on the couch.
“Is that a yes?” Justin asked with a smile.
“Kidnap, kidnap!” Jacob kept hopping.
He went to leap off the couch but I grabbed him before he could jump down onto the glass on the floor. I turned around and saw Matt. He’d been standing behind me. I should have felt bad about elbowing him so hard. And biting his hand. But I did not.
“Enough of the chitter chatter,” Nigel said. “We need to kidnap our prey.”
“Dude, read the room,” Rob said. “The ladies are pissed.”
That was an understatement. “Matt, what the…” my voice trailed off because I was seconds away from cursing and I didn’t want to curse in front of Jacob. I stared at Matt’s masked face. “What is wrong with you?! Kidnapping? Really? You thought that of all things was a good idea after everything?”
He cleared his throat. “Baby…”
“Yeah we did,” Rob said and lifted his hand for a high five. But Matt didn’t high five him.
I had a feeling this had been Rob’s master plan…
“Kidnapping commence!” Rob yelled. He threw a bag over Daphne’s head and then flipped the light switch.
Fuck.
Bee screamed.
“Coach, over here!” Jacob yelled.
I felt Matt’s arms around me again. And this time I breathed in his familiar scent. “Kidnapping, Matt? Really?”
“If you’ll excuse me, little dude,” Matt said and pulled Jacob out of my arms. And then Matt put a bag over my head and lifted me over his shoulder. The bag was silky soft. And it felt more like something from a sex club than a hardware store. Maybe Tanner had planned this instead of Rob…
The whole thing was ridiculous. But for some reason as I was hanging upside down, I was smiling.
“Who’s touching my butt?!” Kennedy yelled.
“Sorry,” Tanner said. “My hand slipped. It’s hard to make purchase in the dark with gloves.”
“And who’s touching my butt?” Justin asked in a much more excited tone.
“I’m not touching your butt,” Nigel said. “My hand is definitely on your thigh.”
“Then raise it,” Justin said.
“No thank you, sir,” Nigel said.
“Call me sir again.”
“No.”
Was Nigel carrying Justin right now? Justin had a whole foot on him. How was he doing that?
Matt carried me out of the apartment.
“Why does everyone look like they got into a brawl?” I asked. No wonder Matt hadn’t told me what his plans were. Because I would have said no to all of this.
“We were playing football,” Matt said.
Of course they were.
“Don’t worry, Mistress Brooklyn,” Nigel said. “I will have them looking right as rain before the wedding. Fresh faced and dapper. Because they get to be in pictures.”
He was throwing too many sayings at me to believe him. There was no way Rob wouldn’t be sporting a black eye at the wedding.
“You’re so strong, Nigel,” Justin said. “What’s your workout routine?”
“Thank you,” Nigel replied. “I’m a natural athlete. I don’t need to waste time with modern boy jazzercise.”
What is he talking about? I shook my head. “And you have an eye on Jacob?” I asked Matt.
“I’m right here, Mommy,” Jacob said.
“I haven’t let him out of my sight,” Matt said.
That wasn’t entirely true. Because no one had been able to see anything back there.
It was like he knew I didn’t believe him, because he added: “I’m holding his hand. He’s right here. He’s safe.”
I smiled. This must be the strangest sight ever. A bunch of men with women thrown over their shoulders. And one man over Nigel. And Matt holding a miniature kidnapper’s hand.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“It wouldn’t be a proper kidnapping if I told you that.”
“You should probably tell your fiancée who’s been legitimately kidnapped a few times where we’re going.”
“It was Rob’s idea,” Matt said as he pulled me off his shoulder and set me down on a leather seat.
I had a feeling we were in a fancy car.
“He was sad about not being the best man. I thought he could have this win. Besides, this isn’t the real surprise.”
“And what’s the real surprise?” The car started moving and I grabbed onto Matt.
“You’ll see.”
I kept a hold of Matt’s arm. I could make out a few other voices. Penny and James were definitely here. And I heard Rob laughing. We must have been in a limo.
I couldn’t believe Rob had come up with this plan. Right after telling me he was going to pull a prank during my rehearsal dinner. He was out of control. It was like my coming back to town had turned him into a high schooler all over again. Or maybe he was just always this poorly behaved?
We pulled to a stop and Matt grabbed my hand, helping me out of the limo.
“Ready?” he asked.
“As long as this is where the kidnapping bit ends.”
He laughed. “No more kidnapping, I promise.” He pulled the bag off my head.
I blinked. We were standing on the Empire High football field. But there were several tents erected on the field and a fire pit on the 50-yard-line.
Oh my God, we’re going to get arrested.