Damn who knew that agreeing to be your best friend's best man could lead to such a commotion?

This was hell.

Brad realized he'd somehow taken a wrong turn somewhere and landed straight in hell.

He'd visited hell before when he left Iowa and turned his back on Trina, but he comforted himself with the knowledge that she was better off without him.

Right now he was back at that place where he felt numb from his decision to leave her, and he was uncertain of what to do.

He rescued her from the pool and watched her pass out from the impact of it all.

With Jennifer and her friend's in tow, Brad took her back to her room. While her friend's got some warm clothes on her, Jennifer grabbed his arm and ushered him outside.

"Brad. You'd better start talking right now. I'm serious. This is my best friend. When it comes to Trina nothing is more important. So spill it. How do you know her, and what the hell did you do to make her so upset?" Jennifer's eyes blazed as she folded her arms and stared him down.

He didn't want to say anything to anyone first before explaining things to Trina, but he felt that he owed Jennifer and Neil something on account of the upset he'd clearly caused everyone.

"We used to be a couple, back in Iowa. I broke her heart in the worse way possible."

"You cheated on her?" Jennifer pointed at him and squared her delicate shoulders off like she was going to take him down.

"No." He could never even contemplate cheating. When he'd been with Trina, the world revolved around her. "I left. I left, and I wasn't there when she needed me." He was referring to when her father died.

"That's it? There must be more than that. I've known Trina for over ten years, and she's never behaved this way. Never. She won't even have chocolate if there's any alcohol in it. But now she smells like she's been swimming in a bath full of rum. There has to be more."

He nodded, deciding to be truthful. "There is more, but that part I have to tell her before anyone else." He found out where Trina was staying from Neil. He was on his way to talk to her when she ran into him.

At that revelation, Jennifer's face softened. She looked back towards the door then returned her gaze to him.

"Okay." She pulled in a breath. "But whatever it is, you need to fix this. I don't know how we've known you all this time, and never knew you knew Trina. We've known you almost the same length of time. It's completely bizarre."

"I know." He couldn't explain it himself, but he knew how to fix the situation and the problem.

The solution was simple. He had to leave again, tonight. He couldn't be here and cause such problems and pain. Also, Jennifer and Neil deserved a magical wedding. They didn't need his mess.

"You never even knew she lived in Chicago?"

Brad shook his head. He couldn't believe the coincidence of that either. "I should go sit with her till she wakes up," he suggested.

Jennifer nodded agreeing.

* * *

Brad watched her for hours while she slept. Trina hardly stirred, and he feared what would happen when she did wake.

As he gazed ahead to the French doors that opened out to her terrace, he went over what he would say in his mind.

It was turning dark now. He'd been here all day and had kept Jennifer and the others updated. Neil came by twice to check on him.

A soft sound escaped her lips as she turned on her side. It was the first time she'd actually moved properly since he'd been here.

His stomach clenched when her eyes fluttered open, and she turned her head to face him.

She looked as furious as he imagined she would and jumped at the sight of him. At least the sleep had done her some good as her face wasn't as blotchy and swollen as it was this morning.

"Get out," she cried, sitting up and moving back over to the far corner of the bed.

"Trina please let me explain."

"No. Please, just go." She brought her hands up to her head as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"I will, but you have to know the truth," he insisted.

"I already know." She snapped. "And it doesn't matter. Go away Brad."

There was no point reasoning with her. She was stubborn then, and he could see the trait was still very much alive. The best thing to do was to start talking.

"I promised your father I would leave you alone.” He blurted. “I promised him that I'd leave so that you could have a better life. It was his dying wish."

There.

That grabbed her attention.

Her head snapped up and she dropped her hands to her lap. She stared at him never breaking eye contact while her mouth dropped open.

"What? What are you saying? And… you knew he was sick?" More tears ran down her cheek.

Brad nodded and straightened up in his chair. "He wanted to make sure you were happy and had the best life possible."

"So, he told you to leave me?" She looked at him in complete disbelief.

"Trina,” he gazed into her eyes. “Your dad knew you wouldn't have had the best life with me. He wanted you to be happy."

"Knew?"

"I was a thief, who was in and out of jail. I wasn't a good person." Losing what he treasured most made him change. In that one night, he whipped himself in shape. The first right thing Brad did was pay for the ring. That signaled the end of his bad lifestyle. "Your dad wanted the best for you, and it wasn't me."

She held his gaze with those beautiful eyes he'd fallen in love with from the first time that he saw her.

When he moved over and sat next to her on the bed, he was glad she didn't move away.

He started talking again when she looked at him, and he told her everything.

Brad told her everything she needed to know, except any details about the engagement ring and that whole crazy plan to propose. It was ridiculous now that he thought about it. Him with his criminal record, asking someone like her to marry him.

When he finished telling her what happened fresh tears spilled from her eyes.

"You shouldn't cry, Trina. It was a good thing. I wasn’t a good person."

"Did you change?" She held his gaze again the way she used to whenever she begged him to stop getting in trouble.

"I did."

"Why didn't you come to my dad's funeral?"

"I did." He said again. Unknown to her and everyone else Brad had gone. "I watched from the pinnacle of the church as they conducted the service, then I followed to the grave site, and I watched you for hours until your aunt took you away."

Her hands shook, and she broke down. He pulled her towards him and his spirits lifted when she sunk into his embrace and rested her head against his chest. To Brad holding her felt like coming home.

He held her as she cried and tried to comfort her. It wasn't until sometime later when she stopped. He was hoping to talk to her some more, but was prevented from doing so because Neil and Jennifer came back with her friends.

It was time for him to go. He needed to see if he could book himself on a flight. He thought he'd stop back here before he left and say goodbye.

While her friends gathered and started trying to cheer her up, Neil accompanied Brad back to his room. On their way, Brad filled him in on all the details. With Neil, he didn't withhold any information, so Brad told him everything.

"Why didn’t you ever tell me about Trina?" Neil asked as they got inside the room.

"Too painful."

“I get that, but I just can’t believe you never even mentioned her. If you had maybe we could have made the connection that I knew her.” Neil grimaced with a shrug.

“Maybe. I just never talked about what happened with anybody. It really was painful.” And, it still was. He would never kid himself into thinking that the pain was any less. Or, that time had made his loss feel any better.

“I must have mentioned her name,” Neil offered.

“You probably did, but Neil you were always trying to set me up with someone. I couldn’t keep up. Also, there’s no way that I would have thought any Trina you would have mentioned was my girl.”

“My girl?” Neil raised his brows with a question in his eyes.

“The girl I knew in Iowa. I mean. That’s what I meant.” She used to be his girl, in a different lifetime. In a different lifetime, she was his and he was hers.

It was so fucking messed up, and his brain still felt so numb he couldn’t think straight. It was best for him to go.

"What are you going to do now?" Neil asked as he watched Brad grab his suitcase and shove it on to the bed.

"I can't be your best man Neil. I'm leaving." Brad told him. The crestfallen look on Neil’s face made him feel guilty.

"That’s shit man. I won't accept that. You can't leave because this has happened. You're my best friend, and this is not something I'll be doing again. Jennifer's it for me. You have to be there to watch me marry her."

It was a real nice thing to say, and Brad appreciated it, but he couldn't be here.

"I'm really happy for you and Jennifer, but it's too painful for me to be here. I lived with the guilt of leaving Trina for a very long time.” He brought his hand up to his head and sighed. “I still do, and as good an idea as it was that I left I often wonder if maybe I should have stayed and put up a fight. That's what you do when you love someone. Right? You fight for them."

"Brad. From what you told me I doubt that you would have fought against a dying man's wish."

Brad bit the inside of his lip and frowned. Neil was right. Brad wouldn't have fought against Jim's wishes knowing he was dying. And, realistically he probably shouldn't have told Trina what happened, but he had to. Jim was dead, and Brad had already lost everything. There was nothing more to lose.

All he had left was the damn ring, which he foolishly still carried around with him. It was in his suitcase now, packed in with the stuff he always took with him on his travels. It was ridiculous that he kept it, that he had it still, and that it was here now like some sort of joke on him.

"I still can't be here Neil."

Neil shook his head, and a lock of his dark hair fell forward on to his forehead.

"Can you give it till morning? Everything's raw right now. I'd probably leave too if I were you, but on account of the wedding please just consider staying the night."

Brad looked at Neil and saw the eagerness in his eyes. He supposed he could stay the night and cool off. He'd exposed a lot of wounds today, and he needed to take a moment to process it all.

"Okay."