Chapter 2 #2
But this had to be done. It was, in fact, the most important part of what I had to do today—even though it was going to hurt like hell.
As I approached the front of the tent where the men stood lined up on the right-hand side, the officiant standing to their left, Braden noticed me first—and his brows furrowed with concern. Now he knew something was wrong, but he was likely not thinking his bride had beat feet away from here.
I could feel all eyes on me as I stood in front of the groom. He asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Can we talk outside?”
With a quick nod, he followed me and, as we walked away, I couldn’t help but notice the expressions of the other two guys.
Zack looked guilty as hell—and, goddammit, he should.
I knew he was the reason Dani had never fully embraced the idea of Braden.
Whether Zack had directly influenced my friend or just been the asshole stringing her along, I had no idea—and I could forgive him eventually, but not right now.
Cy’s face was a little different, a mixture of confusion and annoyance…
really, not much different from usual, just more intense.
Once we got outside the tent, I said to Braden, “You need to read this first.” And I handed him the folded note.
I could see it in his eyes before he even opened it, that realization washing over him like a torrent of rain.
Nodding, he let out a slow breath and began to read.
Then, after what felt like hours, he looked up at me.
Oh, God, his eyes. I could see in them pain and anguish—and there wasn’t a single thing I could do about it.
Still, his voice was incredibly calm. “Did you talk to her?”
“Yes.”
“This is what she wants?”
He was controlled as his face relaxed, almost like he’d been given a shot of Novocain. It shot me back to my high school days when I’d taken a class on psychology and read about the stages of grief. Was I witnessing him processing his in real time? I said, “Yes. She didn’t want to hurt you, but—”
“But she did.”
I couldn’t deny that. “Do you want me to let the officiant know? Then he can tell the guests.”
“I should probably do it.”
Oh, God. “No, you don’t have to.” Putting myself in his shoes, I knew the last thing I’d want to do after being humiliated, left unwanted at the altar, would be to reveal my public shame to the people I cared about enough to ask to witness what was instead supposed to be the happiest of days.
“Let someone else do that. I can if you want. But can I, um, get someone for you to talk to?”
He shook his head. I thought he was going to say something else, but Mr. Possessive Dean approached me from behind.
I hadn’t heard him, his footsteps muffled by the lawn that was trying to revive itself after a long, cold winter—nor had I seen him.
But he placed himself so that he was in both my space and Braden’s, interrupting what should have been a quiet moment. “You’ve done your job, Roxy. Let’s go.”
Jesus. This was more of his usual bullshit and his timing sucked. Had I not already made up my mind that we were through, I probably would have acquiesced.
But now was not the time.
“Not yet. I’ll tell you when.”
Dean grabbed my arm, his fingers biting into the delicate flesh on its underside. “I’m tired of you ignoring me. We’re going now.”
As I tried wrenching my arm away, Braden said, his voice calm, “She said she’s not ready yet.” Something about his tone sent a shiver down my spine.
“Oh, yeah? And what’re you gonna do about it? You clearly have no idea what women want.”
I expected Braden to clock him right in the jaw, and no one would have blamed him.
This fucking asshole had it coming. Instead, Braden stepped closer—and the tone of his voice was far more threatening than any physical blow could have been.
“That’s where you’re wrong. You can’t speak for Dani any more than you can speak for Roxy.
She told you to wait, and that’s what you’re going to do. ”
Dean’s grip loosened on my arm, but his voice was still full of angry heat. “And if I don’t?”
“If you don’t, you’ll have to contend with me, my best man, and my groomsman.”
Again, Dean’s hold on my arm tightened as if he were going to drag me off—but then he let go, Braden’s message sinking in. “Fine. Whatever.”
As he started to break away, I said, “By the way, we’re done. Don’t call me. Don’t text me. Don’t wait for me. And don’t call me babe.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“No.”
With a weak chuckle, he said, “Guess it’s contagious.”
Neither Braden nor I laughed.
“C’mon, Rox. I can chill out. I just missed you, babe. I mean, aren’t you done here?”
“With you, yeah.”
“Okay, I’ll meet you at the front.”
Braden said, “Are you deaf? She just broke up with you. Take a hint.”
Dean started to say something and then shut his mouth.
I knew it wasn’t because I was glaring at him.
It was likely because the man I stood next to, probably the nicest guy in heavy metal, had turned out to be a little scary when push came to shove.
Dean just shook his head and walked away, and I got the feeling he still expected me to follow.
Once he was out of earshot, I said, “Thanks for that.” Braden simply nodded. “What can I do for you right now?”
“Nothing.” He drew in a long, shaky breath. “Actually, no. There is one thing you can do. You can tell me something.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Has…Dani always felt this way? I mean…um, has she always felt like she didn’t love me enough?”
This was way out of my fucking league. I loved my friend and wanted to help her, but telling Braden how she’d been struggling was something I knew I shouldn’t touch.
“I can’t really answer that, Braden.” But, yeah, she had.
She just hadn’t fully realized it until she’d been confronted with her choice. He had to know that, didn’t he?
“How did she seem when you talked to her?”
I didn’t want to minimize how much this had devastated him, but I did want him to know she hadn’t wanted to hurt him. “She regretted doing this to you.”
“I want to talk to her.”
Oh, fuck. “She, um…left, so I don’t know if you can. I don’t know where she went, but she took my car.”
I could see it in his eyes then—the finality. Maybe he’d considered talking with her to make sure it was what she wanted…but now he couldn’t even do that. Jesus. It was like a knife had been partly pushed into his chest and I’d just plunged it in the rest of the way.
With a slow nod, he let out a long breath. “Then I guess we need to let everyone know.”
“Please let me do it, Braden. I’m sure you need to process all this.”
He was quiet for a long moment. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.” Then he nodded again. “Thank you.”
For delivering the worst news of his life? Why the hell was he thanking me? But I just said, “Yeah, of course. Do you…need to talk?”
“Not right now. Thank you.” As he walked toward the barn, his shoulders looking like they could no longer hold the weight of the world, I turned and walked through the side entrance of the tent to deliver the bad news to the officiant so he could let the rest of the crowd know there would be no wedding here today.
But there was at least a little good news that had come from all this. I was done with controlling men like Dean. And, no matter how much I found myself wanting to help Braden, I wasn’t about to try to save him. I had my own shit to sort out.