Quentin
Three days ago
For several days after our text exchange, I ruminated on the perfect way to introduce myself to Rei. I finally settled on doing it at Bryce and Jada’s wedding tonight. Rei would be there as Jada’s maid of honor, and I’d be in attendance as Bryce’s friend.
A dance was scheduled to follow the ceremony.
It would be the perfect time to approach her table and present her with a sticky note that said Will you dance with me?
I could already picture the look on her face, hopefully one of pleasant surprise when she learned I wasn’t, in fact, a stalker. At least not a dangerous one.
While we danced, I’d answer all of her questions—there were sure to be dozens, coming at me as quickly as rapid-fire text messages.
Although I should have been focusing on my friend’s wedding, my mind kept drifting to after, when I could finally place my hands on Rei’s curvy waist, feel her chest press against mine as we swayed on the dance floor and had our first real conversation.
Guitar music played as Bryce walked down the aisle, his dad and stepmom on either side of him.
His silver-haired father looked like he’d be more comfortable in cowboy boots, but his stepmom beamed beside him.
She was stunning, with her long salt-and-pepper hair in loose curls.
The light caught each silver strand along with the sequins on her glittering navy-blue dress.
Soon, my own mom would be in her place, and I would be in Bryce’s. Heaters lined the aisle to keep us all warm despite the December chill, yet I wrapped my coat tighter around me.
I’d taken for granted that my friends and I would be single for the foreseeable future. Simon, the old man sitting in the row in front of me, had changed all that with his conditions of inheritance.
Cruz sat on my right and Aaric on my left. Jude had said he was sick, though something felt off to me about that. He and Bryce had been best friends for as long as I’d known them. Jude would never miss Bryce’s wedding unless he was on his deathbed.
Bryce and his parents reached the end of the aisle.
He gave them both a hug, and then he stood proudly on the slightly elevated platform, grinning like this was the happiest day of his life.
Like we weren’t all being forced into a contractual, lifelong agreement that could make him broke or miserable, maybe both.
“This is crazy,” I whispered.
Aaric looked surprised that I’d spoken, blond eyebrows raising on his forehead. Cruz nodded in agreement though. “Batshit crazy,” he echoed.
Aaric tilted his head, murmuring, “He seems happy enough, no?”
He did, if I was being honest, but I only grunted.
People around us turned to look back at the farmhouse where Bryce grew up, and I followed their lead.
Rei stood by the back door, her arm hooked with another man’s. Bryce’s brother who had tattoos on almost every visible patch of skin and a smirk that never left his face.
Jealousy roared in my chest, saying it should be me standing next to her, but I couldn’t focus on him for too long with Rei looking like that.
My mouth went dry.
Her navy-blue dress had long sleeves and a plunging neckline that both covered her from the cold and tempted me like none other.
A slit parted her floor-length skirt nearly to her hip, showing her leg as she walked, coming in and out of view.
Just that patch of skin, the curve of her soft thigh, nearly did me in.
And her face... Rei didn’t typically wear makeup around the office, and she was beautiful in her natural state. But now she had smoky eyeshadow accenting the shape of her eyes and dark lipstick demanding my attention be drawn to her mouth.
Lustful thoughts commandeered my mind, running through everything she could do with her mouth, the stains that lipstick would leave. Thank God the coat I wore concealed just how much that mental image affected me.
When Rei and Bryce’s brother parted ways, relief softened my tense shoulders.
They stood on separate sides of the aisle, but some primal part of me decided that wasn’t far enough.
Even though his brother was married, I wanted her away from any man who could charm her when the animalistic part of my mind craved her myself.
Everyone around me stood up, and I realized I was staring for just a moment too long.
Aaric nudged me, and I rose to face my friend’s bride.
Her skin was dark and rich like mine, contrasting a flowing white dress that moved around her like water.
While we all admired her, she had eyes only for my friend.
Despite all odds, despite the compressed timeline, despite pressure from Simon and confusion from everyone who didn’t know the reason for the rush, I saw love in her eyes. When I looked toward Bryce, I saw that love mirrored in his gaze.
An unexpected crush of envy made it hard to breathe. I wanted someone to look at me like that. And I had been so focused on finding the perfect moment to introduce myself to Rei that I’d given up days, weeks, months to build something like what Bryce and Jada shared with each other.
I was done holding back when it came to Rei.
As Jada reached the end of the aisle, my eyes slid over to Rei again, beaming for her friend.
She was so pure. Transparent enough to be read from one moment to the next, so unlike the woman who’d broken my heart before and made it hard to trust again.
The preacher’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “Welcome, everyone, to my favorite celebration—the joining of a man and woman in holy matrimony...” While he continued, Bryce and Jada were speaking to each other, lost in their own world.
But then Bryce stopped the pastor, talking quietly with him.
For a second, my breath stalled. If the wedding got cancelled, it would be horrible for Bryce on multiple levels. Selfishly, I knew it would be that much harder to meet Simon’s demands with his prognosis as a proverbial ticking time bomb.
Looking up and over, I saw a murderous look on Jada’s grandma’s face. With the disruption in the ceremony, that woman looked ready to unclip her brooch and use it to stab someone if her grand baby got rejected in front of all these people.
Bryce’s conversation with the pastor ended, and my muscles felt tight as I waited for the pastor’s announcement that we should go home.
Except he didn’t dismiss the crowd.
He smiled.
“Jada, do you take this man to have and to hold, from this day forward, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?”
“I do,” she breathed, her voice amplified by the pastor’s mic.
He asked Bryce the same question, receiving an identical answer.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
My eyebrows drew together just as their lips did, and I gave Aaric a confused look. “Is that it?”
Aaric shrugged at me, shoulders brushing his straw-colored hair. On my other side, Cruz looked just as lost as I was. But everyone cheered around us, clapping for the couple. Bryce’s family was the loudest of them all, and a little girl happily threw yellow flower petals in the air.
Bryce took the microphone and asked, “I need Fletcher, Gen, Glamma, and Rei to come here, please.” There was a tension to his voice despite an amicable smile on his lips.
Was everything okay? I worried there was a medical issue, considering Fletcher was a doctor. Then my stomach sank.
Jada was pregnant.
I’d only found out yesterday, but knowing she was with child made me even more worried for a medical event.
My muscles tensed like I was on the offensive line in college all over again, but there was no one coming to tackle me, no quarterback behind me to defend.
My energy simply pooled in my muscles, itching to be used.
Their conversation seemed to be over because Rei helped Glamma down the steps and toward the gravel lot in front of the house, then Fletcher and Bryce flanked Jada.
Her arms were around their shoulders as they assisted her down the platform.
I hadn’t noticed it earlier, but she looked ashen compared to her earlier glow.
The best man stepped to the microphone, a smirk on his face. “They’re extra excited to hit the honeymoon suite,” he said, earning a gasp from one of the older women in attendance. “Just kidding. Turns out the baby’s a major cockblocker slash attention whore.”
“Hayes!” Bryce’s dad barked, going up to the platform.
In front of me, Simon’s shoulders shook with laughter.
Before the Madigan father could reach the mic, Hayes continued, “The happy couple, and soon-to-be parents, have requested that we enjoy our meal and the DJ. I, personally, will be enjoying the open bar.”
His dad shoved him out of the way while Hayes’s face glinted with glee. “I apologize for my son,” the old man said. “Before we head for dinner, let’s all say a prayer for Jada and the baby. Pastor?”
We bowed our heads while the pastor said a prayer of safety, and then everyone was dismissed to the tent.
Aaric fidgeted beside me, chewing at the inside of his cheek like he sometimes did. “Should we go to the hospital?” he asked. “Be there for Bryce?”
On the other side, Cruz made a face. “Please no. Childbirth freaks me out.”
Aaric gave Cruz an incredulous look. “We’re not asking you to catch the baby or anything.”
I sighed. “If Bryce wanted us there, he would have asked us to be there.” I pushed up from my chair, following the small crowd of murmuring guests toward the tent.
Aaric and Cruz fell behind me, still discussing the pros and cons of going to the city to help Bryce and Jada. Their voices blurred in with the rest of the murmuring and faded into background noise.
A chill settled over me as we walked, starting in my fingers and working to my spine. There were no heaters between the ceremony space and the tent, but that might not have been the only reason. Rei was with Jada on the way to the hospital.
“Quentin,” an older, raspy voice said from behind me.
I turned to see Simon shuffling to catch up. Slowing my step, I nodded to acknowledge him.
“That was quite the ordeal,” he said with a chuckle.
“No kidding,” I murmured.
“And finding out Jada was pregnant yesterday at the rehearsal dinner...” A worried look crossed his face. “I hope Jude’s not absent because he leaked the news before he was supposed to. Although the failed hostile takeover would be another good reason for Bryce to ask him to leave...”
“He told everyone he was sick,” I said, though now that Simon mentioned it, I wasn’t so sure.
Simon shook his head. “Do you know what’s happened between them?”
Things had been tense between Bryce and Jude since Jude proposed the vote of no confidence for whatever harebrained reason. “Jude won’t tell me or the others why he proposed that vote. We’ve asked.”
Simon’s lips rolled together, his ultra-short, white facial hair catching the light with the movement. “That quarterly retreat can’t come soon enough.”
My jaw clenched tighter. The only reason we had a retreat two weeks from now was because of Simon’s list of demands. I hated that he got to live his life—what was left of it—by his own will while we were making life-altering decisions and taking unnecessary trips at the mercy of his whims.
“It’s been tense around here since you shared your news,” I said pointedly. “Some people don’t do well under this kind of pressure.”
Simon arched a brow. “Pressure makes diamonds.”
I shook my head at him. “We’re not stone. We’re men, and we can break.”
He gave a noncommittal “hmm,” then excused himself to the trailer hauled in for bathrooms.
Walking into the tent with music playing over the speakers, my mind was caught somewhere between concern for Jada, frustration with Simon, and disappointment that my plan with Rei hadn’t worked.
I reached into my pocket with cold hands, crumpling the sticky note in my palm. I’d have to find another way.