“Everything okay, bro?” Theo asks when I get back to the table.

“Yeah, Adam is a fuck-up who can’t manage to take care of shit while I’m away for more than twenty-four hours.”

“Aww, poor widdle Kingston,” Jill teases.

I toss a napkin at her and growl.

“You don’t scare me,” she says rolling her eyes. “All bark and no bite. Unless it’s Pey, you two are like oil and water. One of these days you’re either going to kill each other or boink like rabbits.”

My eyes go wide, and I practically choke on my drink. Theo raises his eyebrow and laughs at my reaction. Thankfully, Jill doesn’t seem to notice.

“Where are the girls? And Douchebag Troy?” I ask, tacking Troy on as an after-thought, not wanting to draw attention to the fact that I’m looking for Peyton.

Theo points over his shoulder at a low-slung couch where Troy is practically mauling some blonde bimbo. “As you can see Troy is… occupied.”

Jill cuts in, “Tammy is over there dancing with some guy that looks like jailbait. Oh! And Pey is dancing with a real hottie!” she says excitedly. Then sucker punches me right in the gut when she adds. “I think she might get laid.”

My head flies to the dancefloor, looking for my wife and one dead man walking. When I see his hands all over her body, I lose my mind. I jump up so fast my stool falls to the floor in a crash. I break through the crowd and roar my rage when the man kisses her neck. Theo grips my shoulder, trying to hold me back, but I shrug him off. Nothing is going to stop me from stomping this little piss ant into the floor.

I grab Peyton and rip her away from the man. Shocked, she pushes against my chest trying to get away, but I hold tight. I refuse to let her get away from me, not after another man has had his hands on her.

“Hey dude, let the lady go,” the idiot unwisely says.

“Fuck you,” I snarl.

Peyton thrashes in my arms, putting more effort into getting away. “Get off me you… you jerk!”

“Kingston, why don’t we take this somewhere a little more private?” Theo says trying to talk reason into me. I hadn’t noticed the crowd that’s surrounding us until now.

“Yeah, Kingston,” Peyton screeches, finally breaking free of my hold. “Listen to your brother. Take your little pissing contest elsewhere. I’m dancing here.”

“No fucking way am I leaving you here with this asshole.”

Said asshole makes a grab for Peyton and my vision turns red. “Get your motherfucking hands off my wife!” I shout.

Shocked gasps come from behind me, and Peyton looks at me with murder in her eyes. Jill and Tammy dart between Peyton and me, they grab her arms and drag her away, shocked expressions on their faces. Theo grips my arm and drags me away. I follow reluctantly, mostly because I’m shocked at my own stupidity. When Peyton glances back at me the look on her face is sobering. She looks destroyed.

* * *

“What the fuck, Kingston?” Theo shouts for the hundredth time since we got back to the hotel. “I told you to pursue her, not fucking marry her.”

I run my hands through my hair in frustration. “I know that, Theo. It wasn’t the plan. I mean, marrying Peyton was the plan, but not like this.”

The expression on his face would be hilarious if this situation weren’t so fucked. “You planned to marry her?”

I start pacing the room, unable to stay still through my agitation. “Of course I did. She’s it for me.” I stop my pacing and meet my brother’s gaze head-on. “It’s always been Peyton for me. Always.”

“Okay, I get that, but why here? Why now?” he asks.

I resume pacing and raking my fingers through my hair. It almost feels like a betrayal to tell Theo the details, but he’s Peyton’s best friend… and if the way she acted this morning was any indication of what she remembers of last night, I’d have to guess she won’t be telling him the right version of the story.

“After you told me to go for it last night, I went and danced with her. Things got a little hot and heavy on the dancefloor, so we found a secluded corner. I stopped it before things went too far.” Theo snorts and shakes his head disbelievingly. “When I quit kissing her, she started crying, then slumped to the floor. Theo, she looked so fucking sad, I’ve never seen her look like that before. I sat with her and held her while she cried. She started talking about bridesmaids and weddings and not wanting to be a bridesmaid again. She proposed to me. I swear I told her no. I was taking her up to her room when she started asking random men to marry her. She was determined. I just knew if I took her upstairs, she would’ve bolted as soon as I left.”

“You should’ve called me or Jill or Tammy,” he practically shouts.

“Look, I know, okay?” I slump down onto the couch, elbows on my knees, head in my hands.

Theo sits beside me, putting his hand on my shoulder. “You really screwed the pooch on this one. You know that, right?”

“Yeah. I know. Somehow, I’m going to make this thing with Peyton work.”

“By ‘thing’ you mean marriage?” Theo questions.

I give him a dirty look. “Fuck yes, I mean the marriage. Now that I have her, I’m not letting her go… I just have to convince her.”