“YOU’RE FIDGETING,” the man with eyes as dead as stone but as piercing as a sharp knife pointed out.
“I am not.” I squirmed one last time in the black dress. The tulle hung loosely over my waist and down to my mid-thigh. Unfortunately, the corseted lace across my bodice left little to the imagination.
I should have ordered a size up.
My best friend, Brey, was marrying a musician-turned-music-app-nerd and every person was recognizable past the lush, expansive row of bushes. If I was going to walk down the aisle as a bridesmaid, I needed to look freaking amazing doing it. I just didn’t know how if I couldn’t take a breath. I pulled at the strapless sweetheart neckline digging into my cleavage one last time.
“Are you about done? You’ll look fine if you just stop squirming like a bee flew up your dress.”
Jett Stonewood. The groom’s brother. And the devil of a man who Brey paired me with for this ceremony. The other bridesmaid had been paired with Jaydon, the younger, fun-loving brother of the groom. Jett, on the other hand, was who you talked with if you wanted humor to die, your smile to disappear, or your belief in all things joyful to disintegrate.
Still, my knees buckled a little when I saw him in his suit. Stonewoods wore suits better than any other men on the planet. Jett wore his best. His broad shoulders set a perfect line for the jacket to sit on, accentuating his thick neck and strong jaw. Every part of him screamed masculinity and my body responded.
I licked my lips, turned toward the ceremony, and pointedly ignored him as best I could. The music started, a soft instrumental version of one of Jax’s songs. His one album had gone triple platinum, an album he admitted he wrote just for Brey. Then he effectively retired, saying he wanted her to hear it and didn’t care about the rest of the world.
My eyes watered thinking of their story.
Lush green rolling hills swelled up from the horizon of the private golf course. Clouds as white as cotton fluffs spotted the blue sky. The centerstage’s gondola overflowed with stargazer lilies and roses. The backdrop of it all was the sea, lapping at the sand. The sun hit the clear water in such a way that it looked as if diamonds sparkled everywhere.
I peeked around the corner to get a glimpse of everyone before Jett and I had to walk.
Jett growled, “What are you doing?”
“Just trying to see how it all looks,” I whispered.
“Probably about the same as it did when we rehearsed.”
I wasn’t sure if he was trying to be rude. So I shrugged. “The wedding planner said the sun would start to set over the ocean. The shimmer on the lilies with the Swarovski crystals would be out of this world.”
He looked toward the sky and took a deep breath, like my presence was an annoyance he could barely handle.
Yup, definitely trying to be rude.
Before I could say anything more, the wedding planner cued us. I gripped Jett like my life and reputation depended on it as my heels sunk into the sand with each wobbly step.
I did not want to fall face first in these heels when my best friend was about to get her happily ever after.
When we passed the wall of lush shrubs, I closed my eyes.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
It was a sound I heard only in my head. The same rhythm every time. The same high note, sounding off that I was still alive.
Barely.
I opened my eyes and drowned out the beeping with what was right in front of me. The sun shined on precious stones that had been positioned in white-and-red bouquets along the aisle. The flower arrangements stood tall in glass vases. They’d decorated pillars with more crystals and draped tresses of flowers around and above us. The sun basked every guest in their best light. With the waves crashing in the background, the music couldn’t have sounded better.
“This is stunning,” I whispered to Jett, choking back a sob.
“It’s ridiculous,” he said under his breath.
His words were so final, and filled with such anger, I forgot where I was. I halted to glare at him.
He nudged my arm, widening his eyes. “What are you doing?” he whisper-yelled at me.
“How can you say that?” I said behind a forced smile as I took measured step after measured step. “This is the perfect day with the most amazing couple.”
“You’re just as delusional as everyone else.”
My jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”
“This marriage is bound to be chock-full of problems. Probably won’t last. Most of them don’t. And we’ll have to pick up the pieces when it falls apart.”
“Marriages last when they’re meant to be together and those two are soulmates.”
A chuckle—dark and bleak—rolled out of him.
As we neared the altar, I tried one last time to change his mind. “This is going to be a moment in your life you’ll never forget. This is your brother and your future sister’s happily ever after.”
He made eye contact with me for the first time. I gasped at how strikingly blue his eyes were. The blue was direct, cutting. It sliced away at my happiness, so vivid and so stark that it seemed to mock anyone who dared to dream of anything. “Vick, everyone should know by now, there’s no such thing as happily ever afters.”
With that, his arm dropped mine like I was a very hot, very diseased potato. He turned to make his way over to the groom’s side.
I twirled toward the bride’s side and made sure I strutted with extra pep in my step.
I’d get him to change his mind by the end of the night.
I could make anyone believe in happily ever afters.
