Chapter Two
Cooper
“How can you be such a stick-in-the-mud asshole?” I was on the verge of pulling my hair, but given how much time I’d spent on the coif, even the likes of Lachlan Briggs wasn’t enough for me to risk messing up my do. I glared at my nemesis—aka my sister’s fiancée’s beloved brother—and scowled.
“Why are you being so weird?”
“Like what?” My heart did a little pitter-patter when he blinked those deep dark-brown eyes.
Along with his longer-than expected dark-brown hair, he looked like the brooding dark hero from a gothic novel.
Which sometimes made it difficult to concentrate.
Like now. We were reviewing the floorplan for the ceremony.
Mr. Corporate had unprecedentedly taken a week off work, Taryn had pointed out.
Which meant I had to deal with stick-in-the-mud for that entire time.
It's going to feel like a million years.
Your cherished sister is getting married. You love her.
Oh, right.
So I’d be on my best behavior. “How would you like me to act? What would make me less weird?”
"Well, you could check the weather report. The ceremony is supposed to take place outside. What if it’s raining?" He growled the words.
"Surely you know you can’t trust a forecast. This is the wet coast. Wait five minutes and the weather will change. Unless you have some magic wand that you could do creative things with.” Like run it over my naked body while you—
He blinked. "No...." He cleared his throat. “I have to go to the washroom.”
“To remove the stick from your ass?”
His nostrils actually flared. He made a slashing motion with his hand. “I give up.”
“I didn’t know there was anything to give—”
He was already gone.
I pivoted and headed back to where Stephanie and Taryn sat.
Taryn spotted me coming. She pressed a hand to Steph’s arm.
“I’m going to…do something.” She pressed a kiss to her fiancée’s temple.
“Back in a few.” Her green eyes assessed me.
“Be good.” She tugged at her ponytail as she headed off toward what was going to be the seating area.
I thought she should wear her glorious red-gold hair down all the time, but she was a practical woman.
She only let her locks flow when she was on display.
Something she’d admitted to hating. But for my sister, she’d do anything.
I flopped into the chair next to my sister.
“Oh, Steph. Why must you make me put up with that man?
He's like, ice cold. No emotions. I can't imagine him having sex with anyone—he's too rigid for that.
What a waste—he's so handsome, too. I thought I could get him drunk and get him to loosen up—but instead I got drunk, and I think I did something dreadful like make a pass at him. .. I'm pretty sure he hates me.”
“You did not make a pass at him.” Stephanie feathered her hand through my hair. “You did make a pass at our server and, I believe, got his number.”
“But then I laundered the jeans.” I bit my lower lip. “I should go back there.”
“Well, we’re going to the bar for the bachelorette party tonight.”
The new gay club had opened in Langley earlier this year. I was friends with the interior designer, Orlando, and he’d gotten me two tickets to the opening. I’d taken Taryn—at Stephanie’s insistence. She wanted me to bond even more with the woman who was going to be my sister-in-law.
To both of our surprises, we’d had a really good time.
I loved that Cedar Valley was getting a gay club.
Taryn liked admiring other queer people who appeared, for the most part, uninhibited.
Although she’d been out to her coworkers—who were also her best friends—since she’d been a teenager, she hadn’t formally come out until she met Stephanie.
Her parents knew. Her close friends knew.
Her beloved brother—my nemesis—knew. He’d run interference for her with their parents for most of his life.
Supporting her when she’d wanted to wear pants instead of skirts.
Defending her and threatening to walk away from their parents if they didn’t accept her being gay.
Then he’d run to Toronto, and Taryn had found a tow truck driver near retirement who’d taught her how to do the job and who had then sold her his rig.
And I was so far off topic.
Stephanie watched me intently. She did that—let me work through my ruminations until I was able to come to a conclusion. Hell, sometimes not even that. Sometimes I needed time to find the next sentence. “I could hit on the server again.”
“To make Lachlan jealous?”
I squinted. “Steph, he’s straight. Like a ramrod. Did you see that picture of him and what’s-her-name?”
“Lydia? I thought they made a striking couple, but she wasn’t right for him. He needs someone…softer. More considerate. Less self-obsessed.”
I eyed my sister. I didn’t think Lachlan deserved any of those things. I sighed. “He hates me.”
“He doesn't hate you. Look—just keep him busy. He likes to be busy. He's busy all the time—no vacation time for Lachlan Briggs.”
“Fine, then. He and I can do all the last-minute wedding stuff.” After we finished with the venue tonight, we were headed to the party.
Taryn’s friends were coming, and a cute couple we all knew, Dickens and Spike, were joining us.
Stephanie’s high school friends hadn’t known she was queer—she’d come out just two years ago at age twenty-three.
None of them had embraced her. They hadn’t rejected her either. They’d just drifted away.
Watching that hurt my heart.
Taryn squeezed my shoulder when she returned from wherever she’d been. “We need to meet with the celebrant for a bit.”
“Oh, great.” As best man, I surely had—
“Just the two of us.” Stephanie squeezed my hand. “We’re having our third counseling session. When it’s done, we’ll come out and go over the ceremony.” She rose. “You behave while we’re gone.”
“I always behave.”
Taryn linked her arm in Steph’s. “I wish I could’ve recorded that declaration. Lachlan’s back. Try not to kill each other?” She gazed at Steph. “Let’s go.”
“Yeah.” Stephanie rose. They kissed, and then they left the room.
I got up as well, then made my way over to Lachlan. “So, why did you and Lydia break up?”
He gave me that look. The one that said fuck off. Please. “I don't want to talk about it, please. I think the tables are too close together. We should spread them out.” He was looking at the floor plan, but we’d be setting everything up a week from now.
“But then there won't be room for the dance floor. And what—did she dump you? Did she cheat on you, so you dumped her?”
He let out a long breath. Not quite a sigh. Or maybe a sigh of exasperation? With him, things like that were hard to tell.
“We just decided to go our separate ways. Why do we need a dance floor this big? People don't like dancing these days.” He eyed the space as if trying to figure out how to make things work.
“What? People like you maybe. But I like dancing. And you mean you broke up... no hard feelings?”
“I know you like dancing. I had the singular job of watching you dance back in Vancouver and having to watch two men try to put their hands down your trousers in the middle of the dance floor.” No hiding the disgust. Or, at the very least, annoyance.
I grinned. “I can't remember that. Did I have a good time?”
Another sigh. “I'm not sure. You didn't tell me. I nearly got into a barroom brawl trying to extract you from that situation, though.”
Oh, this is just way too much fun. “Who said I wanted to be extracted? And you never answered my question about your girlfriend.”
“What girlfriend?” He stepped away from the floor plan and took several strides between where we were and where the head table was going to be.
Taryn hadn’t been thrilled at the idea of being on display.
However, both sets of parents were contributing, and they’d asked to have at least some elements of a traditional wedding.
Well, Taryn's and Lachlan’s parents more than mine. One compromise had been the head table.
“Lydia? Remember her?” I had to raise my voice a bit as Lachlan was now on the other side of the room.
“Not really, no.” He muttered the words—likely thinking he’d said them under his breath. The acoustics, though, in this room, were amazing.
“What? You can remember me having a good time with two guys in a seedy, dimly lit bar from last year, but can't remember your ex from two weeks ago?”
You’re poking the bear.
Well, maybe, but it’s so much fun. And anyway, he’s not a bear…he’s not even a Daddy. He does have a Dom vibe, though…
He stood on the other side of the room, glaring at me.
“We’re keeping the dance floor. You can just sit at the head table while the rest of us dance.” I eyed him. “You remember you’re the White Rabbit at this point, right?”
“Oh Jesus fucking Christ.”
I glanced around. Truthfully, I’d never heard Lachlan swear. “Shush. This is Taryn's and Stephanie’s day. My sister is Alice, and your sister is the Mad Hatter. It’s freaking brilliant.”
“And you’re the Queen of Hearts.”
“Off with their heads.” I made a dramatic slicing motion.
He groaned. “With the costume and all.”
“I know. Isn’t that fantastic? I was so lucky the young woman who played the part at the local theater was tall. The tailor I hired let the dress down a bit, and it reaches my ankles. With those boots, the one with heels, I’ll look amazing.”
“Didn’t you say something about a bachelorette party? Anything is better than this.”
“Oh, yeah. Steph and Taryn will be back shortly. Then we can go.”
My work here is done.
Or just beginning.
Totally depends on your perspective.