WELL THAT WENT AS GOOD as fuck all, I think to myself as we pull up in a limo in front of the Bleeding Heart Tavern in Farringdon where the reception is already in full swing. I was moody the entire joyride around London. Thankfully, Leslie and Theo just let me stew. One way or another, I have to get Vi to listen to what I have to say. If I could just get past her thick fucking brother.
Her four brothers did a proper job of scaring me off all week. They parked outside of C. Designs or drove by over, and over, and over. Any time I had the urge to walk to Vi’s and beg her forgiveness, one of them was there, staring me down like they wanted to use my head as a football. So, much to my great dismay, I withheld calling Vi and ruminated over it the entire week. I anticipated tonight being the night I’d get her to hear everything I need to say. I never once suspected that she’d bring a bloody bodyguard with her.
Round one goes to Bunny.
We waltz into the tavern and Jaci no K is here to greet us. “Okay, everyone, you’re going to follow me. We’re going to enter the reception where Theo and Leslie will cut the cake and then immediately begin their first dance.”
“What about refreshments?” Frank croaks from somewhere behind me.
Jaci cuts him an evil glance. “There is a bar downstairs. You may grab a beverage as soon as the first dance begins. Not before. Not. Before.” Her eyes turn glacial.
“Blimey,” Frank murmurs beneath his breath. “Scary bird.”
Leslie giggles into Theo’s shoulder as he whispers something in her ear. The two look like a couple of horny teenagers while we wait for Jaci to walk us down.
“You…The brother,” Jaci says, snapping her fingers in my direction. “You will hold the baby during the first dance. The mother of the groom has her down there now. We want her to be able to enjoy her son’s first dance, so you shall fetch her.”
“Her name is Marisa,” I mumble.
“I know!” she snaps back defensively. “Marisa Winifred Clarke. Her birthday is March eleventh, and she has two teeth coming in already, which is unusually early for a four-and-a-half-month-old baby but not unheard of.”
My brows lift. Round two goes to Jaci no K.
She whisks us down to the lower level, six-hundred-year-old converted wine cellar. It’s apparently where Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon hosted a five-day party in the 1500s. It’s an impressive crypt full of exposed beams and candlelit oval tables. Every table is overwhelmed by spreads of wildflowers, as well as overflowing baskets scattered throughout the cosy room.
Jaci walks us by the filled tables where people have been eating hors d’oeuvres and sipping champagne for the past hour. We pause near the head table at the front of the room and wait patiently as Leslie scoops Marisa up into her arms from my mum. Leslie presses her lips to Marisa’s chubby cheeks, and I can’t tear my eyes away from my brother as he watches Leslie with a fondness that can’t be faked. Christ, he really loves her.
I scan the room for Vi but come up empty-handed. Gareth is sitting next to Benji and what look like the rest of Leslie’s coworkers from Nikon. He scowls at me angrily, and I just shake my head. I refuse to let him intimidate me. I don’t care how many bloody goals he’s stopped.
I chug down some water at the head table as Theo and Leslie cut the cake. Jaci no K snaps her fingers and two busboys fumble in to roll the cake away. Leslie looks over at me as the music for their first dance begins. I grin happily and stride over, pulling a face at Marisa as I approach. She flails her arms happily when I scoop her into my arms.
We retreat to a safe distance as Theo pulls Leslie against him. “Mummy and Daddy loved you enough to include you in the ceremony, but some things are just better for two people,” I whisper into Marisa’s ear. She lets out a mighty giggle as I nuzzle her neck with my chin. Leslie and Theo look over at me and smile as I sway her along with the notes of Ingrid Michaelson’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” The candlelight twinkles on the two of them moving together to the music, and I can’t help but think back to the night I asked Vi to dance with me in her living room. My heart sinks.
“Hey,” a voice says from behind me, interrupting my wayward thoughts.
I turn to find Rey standing behind me, looking a little sheepish in a black floor-length gown.
“Hiya,” I say cautiously, recalling our last encounter not going so well.
Glancing down at Marisa, she smiles and reaches her hand out to her in a greeting. “Look, I just want to apologise for the night at Frank’s. I don’t know what I was thinking.” She looks back up at me and pushes a hand through her long dark hair. “I guess I still feel protective of you. I’m having a harder time letting you go than I thought I would.”
I frown and shift Marisa into my other arm. “There’s no need for you to worry about me anymore, Rey. I’m doing fine. I have a solid support network around me.”
“I know,” she says with a sigh. “I see that, and I guess I’m just a little jealous.”
My brows lift. “Jealous?”
“You and I were codependent on each other, Hayden. For a long time, you were my crutch and I was yours. Just because I started going to therapy and you went to rehab doesn’t erase all of our history.”
“I know, Rey. But things are different now. I’m working on my own kind of happy.”
“Liam says you’re not seeing Vi anymore,” she states brazenly.
My jaw clenches. Reyna never was one to mince words. “Liam doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
“Don’t get defensive, Hayden,” she retorts. “Tell me what happened.”
“It’s complicated, Rey.” I pull Marisa up to my neck and tuck my head on top of her.
“Well, Hayden, I have a feeling you and I are cut from the same cloth when it comes to relationships and letting people in. And if you’re going through what I did last year, I don’t envy you.”
“Thanks for the pep talk, coach,” I reply dryly.
She giggles. “You’ll figure it out. If she’s worth it, you’ll figure it out.”
She turns to walk away, but before she gets too far, I call out, “Got any advice?”
She turns her head and purses her lips to the side for a moment. Finally, she replies, “Don’t waste another moment. Wasted moments are hard to overcome.” She smiles knowingly as she retreats, leaving me here holding the only woman in the world who has never doubted my level of devotion to her for a second.
After the dance, dinner is served. I can barely stand watching Vi from across the room. Ethan slithers over at one point while Gareth is at the bar, and I nearly crawl out of my skin with rage. Thankfully, he got distracted by a properly pissed Julie who, out of nowhere, leapt on his back. I haven’t seen them since.
Inspiration strikes when I see Gareth up at the bar nursing a beer. Maybe if I can get through to him, I can get through to Vi. I stride over to him, wishing like fuck I wasn’t wearing braces right now. Hip or not, waltzing up to a professional footballer in a three piece suit while I’m dressed like Stephan Fry isn’t exactly a confidence booster.
“What the hell do you want?” Gareth drawls and slides his phone back into his pocket.
“I want to talk to you,” I state seriously.
“You’re barking up the wrong tree.”
He moves to walk away, so I place a firm hand on his shoulder to stop him. “The way I see it, you’re the one obstacle between me and Vi, so you’re exactly the tree I need to pee on.”
He roars with laughter and lifts his brows at my hand on his shoulder. It’s a silent warning. I move my hand. “Hayden. You’re underestimating my sister. I’m not the one you should be troubling over. She has it in her head that you don’t care for her, and that shit is an issue for her. A big one. You’re lucky I’m not wringing your fucking neck for causing her so much pain.”
“Well, why aren’t you then?” I ask in a weak moment of flippant defensiveness. I’m tired of the empty threats. The drive-bys. The brooding glowers. Fuck! I’ve had enough.
He closes his eyes for a moment before opening them and glaring at me. “Look, Hayden. I don’t have a mum anymore. All I have is her.” He points back at the table where Vi is laughing at something Benji said. “That’s the single most important woman in my life, so you’ll forgive me and my brothers for being a bit protective. We liked you mate. You were in, and that’s not a fucking easy feat with Harris Brothers. In fact, it’s unprecedented. But you trashed it. You spit on it. On us. On her. You’re not getting through to her again.”
I slice my hands through my hair in frustration. “Don’t you get that is exactly why I’m fucking staying away from her?” I growl angrily. “Caring for people is what got me into trouble in the first place. So protect her all you want, mate. That’s all I was trying to do, too. And last week, I thought protecting her involved me leaving her. But that was before.”
“Before what?”
“Before I got a clue. Before I had the wake-up call of my life.” I clench my jaw and eye him seriously adding, “Before I realised I didn’t just like your sister.”
His eyes flash knowingly, but he’s still not convinced. “You should have known that long before now, mate.” He moves to walk away again, and I jerk him back…again.
Through desperate, clenched teeth, I add, “This isn’t a flippant kind of feeling for me, Gareth. It’s something I’ve never felt before. With anyone.” He huffs out a laugh, but I continue. “It’s the kind of love we all bore witness to in that chapel today.”
Gareth’s amusement drops and his jaw clenches, an angry muscle in it ticks ominously. My big mouth refuses to take a hint.
“Your sister is mine, Gareth. She’s tied to my heart whether you accept it or not.”
“Is that right?” He squints in challenge.
“She’s my forever,” I add seriously, surprising even myself with that statement.
His glower drops, and he leans closer to me. “Then what the fuck are you waiting for?”