27. Drew
Chapter Twenty-Seven
DREW
Kate’s red hat is lost in the sea of the wedding crowd. I need to get her back.
“Drew!” Kent grunts, forcefully tugging my arm again.
“What!” I yell back.
Kent looks left, then right, and leans in. “The wedding’s off.”
Dad approaches us with a clenched jaw as I try to process everything. Kate. Collin. Kent’s words. “I don’t know what is going on, but you two are making a scene,” he growls through gritted teeth so no one but us can hear.
Kent shoots him an apologetic look. “Sorry, Dad.”
I stare at Kent while he puts on his innocent act. Dad has no idea. There may be a scandal at his precious son’s wedding after all.
But what about Mick? Is he all right?
“We have to get back,” Kent says, pulling me away from the crowd. I look back once more for Kate, feeling sick over what’s happening. I want to go to her. I want to clobber Collin. But my brother needs me right now, so I stay close behind Kent and call Kate’s mobile. No answer.
We make it outside to the courtyard, shaded by a gray sky. Church bells ring overhead. Mick’s standing near the fountain with his head lowered in his hands.
“Hey, Mick.” I pat his shoulder, and he looks up, tears puddling in his blue eyes. “Are you all right?”
“No, I’m not all right. I have to go out there and tell all of London, including the fucking Prince, that the wedding’s off because my fiancée’s a gold-digging slag!” he shouts so loud that I’m pretty sure he doesn’t need to make the announcement again.
“What happened?” I look to Kent, who’s clenching his jaw, then back at Mick.
Mick drops his head. “I got jittery about the wedding, a bad feeling or something. So, when I got here I went to look for Davina so that I could at least talk to her. To know everything was okay. When I found her, some twit was fucking her against the counter. In her wedding dress.”
“Who was it?” I ask. Collin? I wouldn’t put it past him right now.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s over.” Mick seems to be taking in his own words and becomes emotional again. “She had the nerve to come after me, trying to convince me that it wasn’t anything. That she loved me and wanted to marry me. Even after that?”
Never in my life have I seen my brother so heartbroken. “I’m so sorry.”
“You were right, Drew. Love. Marriage. It’s for fucking wankers.” Mick kicks the ground as the sky grows grayer and grayer.
“What can I do?”
He looks at me, red-faced and in immense pain. “Can you make it go away? Can you make it like this day never happened?”
I shake my head. “I would if I could.”
“I have to get out of here,” Mick says, wiping the last of his angry, hot tears. “Can you get me out of here?”
“Yeah, give me a second.” I find Kent, who’s speaking to a woman dressed in a black suit near the corner of the courtyard.
“I’m getting Mick out of here. Can you take care of this mess?”
“Already on it,” Kent says like a boss, keeping cool in this holy hell of a situation.
“Mates. There you are.” Collin comes out of the shadows with his arms open.
“You,” I growl through gritted teeth and get in his face. “I know what you did to Kate. Why would you do that? You know she’s mine.”
“She doesn’t belong to you. Nobody does. I was just having a bit of fun. Like old times.” Collin and I had a bad habit of going after each other’s girlfriends when we were younger. More like a messed-up game, really. But we were kids. And we’re not kids anymore. We have to grow up.
“What about your wife, huh? Your kid?”
His expression turns cold. “You don’t get it, do you?”
“No, I have no bloody clue why you act like such a fucking asshole. Why you’d treat anyone like that. Especially Kate. She came to you for help.”
“So what? You’re going to do me in at Mick’s wedding?”
Might as well. We’ve already got a scandal. No one will care if this git gets it in the mouth after what Davina’s done. I grab him by the collar and shove him hard against the stone wall.
“Watch it. This is a ten thousand pound suit!” he yells in my face as I keep him pinned.
Then I realize something I’ve been avoiding for a long time. Collin isn’t the same guy he was when we became mates. Or maybe he is, but I couldn’t see it until now. Either way, I don’t recognize my friend anymore. And I want nothing to do with him.
“When did you become a guy who only cares about suits?” I let him go. He’s not worth it. Not when Mick’s standing here, emotionally castrated.
“I knew you were a good man.” Collin dusts himself off, and I turn away. “At least one of us got into her knickers.”
I stop dead in my tracks. Fuck him and his fancy suit. He’s going down. I whirl back around, bringing a raging fist along for the ride. My knuckles crash into his cheekbone, and he falls to the ground. Taking a boxing stance, I ready myself for Collin to jump up and retaliate. But he doesn’t. He knows he deserved it.
“What the hell, Drew?” Mick shouts. Poor guy. This is way more chaos than he’s used to.
“Sorry, but he asked for it,” I say, rubbing my stinging hand. “Let’s go.”
Mick stares at Collin, seeming to still be in shock over the scene. I lead him off, and we dodge the crowd while I call my driver to pick us up a block away from the cathedral. My brother’s dying to get out of his tux, and my place is closest. The ride home is quiet, but my mind is racing.
Inside my penthouse, Mick drags his feet and strips off a piece of his suit with every step he takes into the living room. By the time he reaches the sofa, he’s in his underpants and black socks. He lies face down on the couch.
“Let me get you some clothes,” I say.
“And a whiskey too,” he says, smearing his mouth over the cushion.
I hurry to my closet, trying Kate’s phone again. Still no answer. I change into my jeans and grab a pair for Mick, then stop by my bar for a couple of short glasses and a bottle of Macallan.
“How are you?” I toss him the pants and fill the glasses with the bitter, brown liquor.
“I’ll be a lot better after a few of these,” he says, taking one of the drinks and chugging it like his life depends on it. This is surreal. I’ve never had to babysit my big brother before. He’s the one who always has everything together. Always the perfect one. Now I see that no one has it all together, even when they think they do. And for the first time ever, I can finally relate to Mick.
“Pour me another, would you?” Mick hands the empty glass over and slides into the jeans. I hand him a fresh drink. He takes a swig and stumbles over to the fireplace. “How do you turn this on?”
I click a button on my house remote, and flames erupt from behind the glass. He seems satisfied enough and wanders aimlessly around the flat. Then, he picks up the pieces of his black tuxedo and piles them up on the floor.
I narrow my eyes. “What are you doing?”
“I can’t stand the sight of this damn thing. I want it gone.” Mick opens the glass fireplace doors and chucks his bowtie into the blaze. Then his cummerbund.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to?—”
“Supposed to what?” Mick looks at me, dazed and in despair.
“Never mind,” I say and sit beside him on the floor. We watch quietly as what is supposed to be the happiest day of his life goes up in flames.
“I’ll never trust women again. I’ll be single for the rest of my life. I’ll never have children, and I’ll die alone.”
“You won’t be alone,” I say. “You’ll have me and Kent.”
Mick’s a really good man. He saves people’s lives for a living. He doesn’t deserve this in the least. I hate that he’s hurting. I just hope he’s wrong. I hope he doesn’t hurt forever.
“You’re right. We’ll be the Bonnaire bachelors together forever.” He clinks his glass against mine. Bonnaire bachelors forever ? Mick takes another sip, and his movements are fluid. Is he already smashed?
“Have you eaten today?” I ask.
“Not really.”
I pat his shoulder and rise to my feet. “C’mon, let’s go get you something to eat.”
“As long as we can keep drinking.”