2. Chapter 2
Chapter two
Cooper
Nate
You are going to regret skipping this wedding. This shit is wild.
Answer your damn phone, asshole.
I twirl the beer in my hand, bringing it to my lips as I read Nate’s millionth message. This is the problem with having a happily married best friend. All he wants to do is hang out with his wife. So when we hang out, Vivian is there, which isn’t an issue. She is amazing. I love the two of them together. Honestly, I couldn’t be happier for them. But it’s her best friend Sutton that’s the problem. The woman and I go together like fire and gasoline. Not that Nate cares. No, the little shit wants us all to be one happy family.
He’s been badgering me about going to that damn wedding for weeks now, and my answer has always been the same. No, with a mixture of something like “Sutton doesn’t want me there. She only invited me so you wouldn’t be lonely while she made your wife her maid for a day.” Or “I don’t like weddings.”
All true. She didn’t want me there as much as I didn’t want to be there. Everyone knew that she and Dillon getting married was a horrible idea, but no one would man up and tell her.
No one but me.
And we see how that worked…
She still went through with it like the stubborn idiot she is.
I haven’t even spoken to her since that day three months ago when I decided enough was enough. Every time she showed up when we were out, I would sneak out, not wanting a repeat of that explosive night.
So instead of spending my Saturday night with my friends, I’m drinking alone in my dark apartment. Wallowing.
I have enough stress on my plate as it is without adding Sutton marrying a total loser into the mix.
The email from work is still up on my computer screen. Hell, it’s another reason I’m drinking tonight.
Cooper,
Thanks for your contribution to Jorge’s gift. I know you haven’t been with the firm for long, but I’m glad to have you as a member of this firm/family.
I’m looking forward to finally meeting this amazing girlfriend we’ve heard so much about at Jorge’s retirement party.
-Mr. Avery
Astor and Avery Financials
Well, shit.
Scrubbing my face with my hand, I sigh as my stomach bottoms out for the tenth time tonight. How the hell am I going to spin myself out of the web of lies I’ve weaved?
See, I might have told an innocent little white lie in my job interview about being in a committed relationship when the board made it clear that they were only considering a candidate who was settled down and held the same family-first values as them.
I was so desperate to get out of my soul-crushing teaching career that I might have made up a girlfriend. And maybe I panicked after getting the job and never got up the nerve to set the record straight once everyone began to pester me with personal questions.
Yeah, so basically, I screwed myself. Because now they all want to meet this amazing woman who I’ve talked up to them.
I’m seriously contemplating packing a bag and taking the next flight to Canada to start over with a new identity when my phone pings with another text from Nate. I open it to find a picture of Sutton walking down the aisle. She is stunning. Her poise is ethereal in the ivory-laced wedding gown. My chest aches at the sight of her. I zoom in to examine every last detail of her. Torturing myself further like the dumbass I am.
Another ping.
I scroll to the next photo from Nate. It’s of Sutton and Dillon walking hand in hand. She’s smiling, but it isn’t bright. It doesn’t fill her face.
It’s wrong.
That isn’t Sutton’s happy smile. Or her overjoyed smile.
Fuck, it isn’t even her mischievous smile.
No, this smile is something I’ve never seen before. Sutton should be over the moon with love and happiness. Instead, everything about the picture is wrong. And I’m not talking about the fact that Dillon the Douche is walking beside her.
Nate answers on the first ring with a laugh. “Oh, so that got your attention.”
“Keep your gloating to yourself and tell me what the hell is wrong with her.”
“Never going to believe it.”
“We’ll never know if you don’t start moving your lips.”
“It was like something out of a movie, Coop. She walked in, looking like a beautiful bridal version of herself. But the moment she made it up to him, it was like there was a massive shift in the air. Like something changed in that instant. She no longer had that same Sutton spark she always has. But I thought she was nervous. She’s marrying Dillon, so of course she’s nervous. The man is mediocre at best, and she is selling herself short by tying herself to him. Even as she said ‘I do’ and walked past Viv and me, she seemed smaller. But that’s not what makes this entire thing so crazy. What does is what me, Viv, and Sheryl, Sutton’s mom, overheard when we went to sign the license.”
My footsteps speed up as I pace my living room, wondering what the fuck happened. Scared of what might have happened. “Stop dragging it out for dramatics and tell me.”
“Sutton refused to sign the license.”
I freeze. “She what?”
“Yeah,” he says, laughing again. “She said the whole thing was a mistake, and she refused to be legally married to him.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. Coop, you should have heard the nastiness he flung at her when she stood up for herself. It took everything in me not to burst into that room and punch the prick.”
Abandoning my pacing, I plop onto my couch and run my hand through my hair. “Is she okay?”
“Yeah, I think so. Viv is feeding her alcohol at the moment. So she will be for at least tonight. But I still think you should come. For moral support, that is.”
“Wait, are you guys still at the wedding?”
“No, don’t be stupid,” he gripes. “We’re at the reception, and so are a lot of other people who are curious about what’s going on.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I groan.
“Like I said. You should get down here. Your support is needed. Also, I will probably need your help to lift the two of them into a cab by the end of the night based on how much liquor is currently being consumed.”
Fuck . Pain shoots through my jaw with how hard I grit my teeth. “I’ll be there soon.”
I don’t bother to put on a suit or brush my hair. Instead, I place an Uber order, down the rest of my beer, and head to them.
It doesn’t take long to find the trio of idiots I’m searching for once I arrive at the reception. They’re huddled at a table in the back, forgoing the bride-and-groom table front and center. From the way they’re slouched, I can tell each of them has had their fair share of booze tonight. I walk past groups of guests milling around the dance floor.
Floral arrangements hang from the back of every chair in a whimsical yet elegant manner. It screams Sutton.
One thing is for sure, though—it doesn’t scream Dillon at all. The only thing that looks even remotely like him is some of the scowling faces from across the room.
As I approach their circular table covered in a cream tablecloth, Sutton catches a glimpse of me and groans. “Come to gloat?”
I toss my hands up. “I haven’t even said anything.”
“You didn’t have to. You said it all months ago.”
I bite back the remark itching to leave my lips about me being right about this wedding. About her and Dillon.
“Have a drink with us,” Nate encourages, waving me over to where he’s sitting with Vivian in his lap.
He passes me a beer from their secret stash of booze they have slipped beneath the table.
I raise an eyebrow in question at the hidden hooch.
“Dillon’s family and friends have made less than friendly comments when we go to the bar.”
“So hoarding it like teenagers was the solution?”
Vivian and Nate both nod as Sutton scoffs into her glass of clear liquid, sucking the substance down without hesitation. No flinch or grimace. I’d have thought it was water if I hadn’t just watched her refill her glass with vodka.
My stomach threatens to roil as I stare at her.
“He’s judging me again,” Sutton grumbles, giving me the stink eye.
“Who’s up for a drinking game?” I ask, taking a seat across from a glaring Sutton.
A group of scowling guests pass our table on their way out of the reception, which has slowly been emptying over the past two hours. Sutton fumbles her glass, splashing vodka onto the table where we’ve been drinking our feelings and talking about anything other than the elephant in the room—Sutton’s untimely breakup.
Vivian wraps her arms and legs around Nate like a monkey trying to cling to a tree for dear life. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Cherry.” He smiles at her with a look that makes my heart crack with jealousy.
“I want you to do that thing with your tongue that I love tonight. You know, the one where you—”
Wide-eyed, Nate clamps a hand over her mouth. “Okay, kids, time to pack it up and go home.”
“On it,” I agree, pulling out my phone to order a ride.
“He’s always so embarrassed when I start to talk about his sexual prowess.” Viv presses a kiss into his neck.
Looking up from my phone, I ask, “Sutton, where are we dropping you off? A hotel? Your mom’s? Home?”
“Go to my newlywed suite? No, thank you. And no way in hell am I going to Sheryl’s. She’ll just want to talk my ear off about everything that went down, what went wrong, and blah, blah, blah.”
I hold her glossy stare, her chestnut eyes lacking their normal mischievous glint that I love. “You’ve really thought about this?”
“Nope. I just know my mother, and she’s a talker. And right now, that’s the last thing I want to do.”
“So home it is.”
She cuts her gaze back to me in a glare that’s sharp enough to kill. “Whatever, just get me out of this hellhole of a wedding party, stat.”
“Are you done pouting and ready to be a runaway bride?”
Rolling her eyes, she shoulders past me, purposely hitting me as she stalks out the door. I’m on her heels, with Viv and Nate trailing behind us, making noises that sure as shit sound like sucking face. I don’t bother to look back to make sure because, honestly, even though I love the shit out of those two idiots, I’m not in the mood to see a happy couple right now.
The moment the SUV pulls up, Vivian practically pushes Sutton and me into the back so she can sit in the middle row with Nate and continue to make out like they’ll never have the chance again.
“Ugh,” Sutton groans, closing her eyes and throwing her head back against the seat.
“What? Don’t tell me, you plan to be bitter now?” I whisper in her ear.
“No,” she scoffs, and I pin her with a knowing look until she spits out, “Fine. Maybe a little. I don’t plan on it after today. Is it so wrong to want this night, of all nights, to not have”—she gestures to Nate and Viv panting and dry humping—“that?”
I glance at them and wince. “They are very passionate.”
She nods. “They could tone it down.”
“They could. But also, why should they? Nate and Vivian aren’t responsible for your feelings. And they sure as shit didn’t cause your wedding to be… unsuccessful.”
“Can you just once be on my side?” Sutton asks, turning to watch the beautiful chapel and attached reception hall fade into the background.
Silence lingers between us. Only the sounds of Matchbox Twenty playing on the radio and Viv and Nate’s kissing filling the SUV.
I reach across the seat and squeeze her hand, drawing her gaze away from the chapel of broken vows and down to where we’re connected as I whisper, “I’m always, always on your side, Sutton. Whether you realize it or not.”
My hand only lingers against hers for a moment before I pull away without another word until the car stops at Viv and Nate’s house.
The two untangle for long enough to shout their goodbyes before stumbling up their driveway, leaving us to move into the now-evacuated middle row as I give the driver directions to Sutton’s house.