Jensen exhaled hard, letting the phone fall to the bar as he looked up at Wells and Vaughn, who were sitting across from him in the kitchen. “They aren’t going to have to amputate Dad’s leg.”
“Oh, thank God,” Wells said as Elaine came over, wrapping her arms around him.
“So he’s good?” she asked, and he shrugged, hugging her back.
“They are getting the infection under control, and it seems that way. Things are still up in the air, though. Dad claims he’s fine. But Mum said she’ll send me updates as she gets them. She wished you a beautiful wedding,” he said to Wells, and his best friend smiled.
Getting his phone out, Wells said, “I’ll text her.”
“I’m so glad. I was very worried,” Elaine said, and Winston nodded from the breakfast nook.
“So was I. I’m texting him now, and he says he’s fine,” Winston said with a laugh, and Jensen smiled.
Man, what a weight off his chest. He felt a lot better, yet he was still very tired since he didn’t catch a wink the rest of the morning. He felt like shit that Wren hadn’t slept at all either. She’d stayed wide awake beside him, holding him before they both decided there was no point and got up for the day. She even made it to her hair and makeup appointment, which was surprising to all, especially Elaine since Wren had thrown a fit that she didn’t want to leave Jensen.
Reaching back for his phone, he dialed her number. “Hey, you good?” she asked.
“Yeah, my dad just called.”
“Oh! Did he? What did he say?”
“Things are good. They don’t have to amputate, and they think they’ve got it under control.”
“Oh, thank God! I’m so happy. I’m gonna call them.”
“Okay, love you.”
“Love you,” she said before hanging up, and he set his phone down, shaking his head.
“What?” Wells asked, and Jensen grinned up at him.
“She was really worried, and I like hearing her peppy after being pretty down this morning.”
“Yeah, she loves your parents. We all do. I would have understood if you had to miss it, dude. Plus, I would have been pissed if you hadn’t gone and something went wrong.”
Jensen nodded. “I know, and I appreciate that.”
“We all would have understood. Antoine is family.”
Drawing in a breath, he exhaled it hard before saying, “I’m just glad he’s okay.”
“We all are,” Elaine added, rubbing his arm softly. “Very much so.”
While he was happy his father was okay, he still felt a bit of guilt as he stared down at his phone. Maybe he should have been there. Stayed in Canada a bit longer, but he knew that couldn’t happen with the plans in Colorado. “I feel like I need to visit more. I don’t because I’m always so busy, and man, it’s about to get harder with Gunner coming.”
Wells looked up, nodding his head. “Yup, life is about to get busy as hell for all of us, and that’s cool. That’s life, but you’ll make the time to go see your mom and dad. I know you will.”
Vaughn agreed, “Yeah, maybe we can all go up at the end of the summer. He’ll love having all of us, and Brie has been wanting to check out Canada.”
Jensen loved the sound of that. “We’ll have to see if Wren will be allowed. She’s getting big.”
“Yeah, she is. My nephew is gonna be huge,” Wells added, shaking his head.
“He’ll be perfect, just like our Jensen,” Elaine cooed from the sink, and Jensen chuckled as Wells and Vaughn made faces at her.
“Gag, Mom,” Wells teased, and Vaughn scoffed.
“Yeah, Mom, we all know who your favorite is. You don’t have to keep reminding us.”
She glared. “I love all three of you the same.”
“Lies, all lies, Jensen’s her favorite,” Winston called from the table, and she glared back at him while all three men laughed. There wasn’t a moment growing up that this hadn’t already happened. Everyone was always fighting for the love of Elaine Lemiere.
No wonder Wren felt so left out.
But she’d never feel left out again.
Not with him around.
“Oh, look, I gotta get to the salon.”
“Why didn’t you go with Wren and Brie?” Wells asked, and she waved him off.
“I don’t have as much hair as they do, so my appointment was later,” she answered, reaching for her purse. “Now listen, all of you need to be at the venue by three, get ready, and be ready to go by five. There are drinks and food there.”
“Like beer? Right?” Vaughn asked, and she shot him a look.
“No, I’m not giving you three beer so that you can’t act right at this wedding.” She paused and then shook her head. “Who am I kidding? You three can’t act right together sober. Alcohol wouldn’t have mattered.”
“This is true,” Wells said as she rolled her eyes, going out the back door as Vaughn laughed.
“Are we really that bad?” he asked and Jensen nodded.
“We weren’t good, that’s for sure.”
“For damn sure,” Winston added.
“My dad was telling Wren about that summer we went up there and all those girls were next door—”
“Maxie, Trinity, Layla, and Selena,” Vaughn said with the stupidest grin on his face. Jensen and Wells both looked at him with such perplexed gazes.
“How the hell do you remember their names?” Jensen asked, completely flabbergasted since he couldn’t remember them to save his ass.
“You always remember the girls who gave you blow jobs and who you had sex with.”
“You had sex with all of them?” Wells asked, his eyes wide.
Vaughn shrugged. “I mean, you weren’t hollering at them. Poor Layla was in love with you, and I told her I could give her more, so I did. And then Selena and Trinity were all about Jenny, but I told them my dick was bigger. And that’s how that happened. But Maxie, that was my sweetie, and man, she rocked my young little heart.”
“I’m disgusted,” Wells said, shaking his head while Jensen laughed.
“I can’t believe you.”
“Hey, some of us love sex.”
“Yeah, all of us, just not with multiple women—or men, in Wells’s case.”
“Thank you,” Wells said with a nod, and they all laughed as Winston just shook his head.
“Man, it’s like old times with you three home.”
They all nodded, sharing a familiar moment as Winston got up, heading out of the room toward the bathroom. Watching as his father left, Wells shook his head. “How’d he not know?”
Jensen shrugged. “Denial, probably.”
“Yeah, because you never brought home a girl. Oh! But remember, man, what was his name?” Vaughn said, snapping his fingers, and Wells scoffed.
“So you can remember all the girls you were with, but not my first boyfriend?”
Jensen laughed at that as Vaughn shrugged innocently. “Yeah, sorry.”
“Nicolas,” Wells said, shaking his head with a grin pulling at his lips. “Man, I loved him.”
“Yeah, and I’ll never forget your dad catching you guys kissing. I heard him down the road,” Vaughn laughed.
“I wouldn’t leave my room. Neither would Wren,” Jensen chuckled. “We sat on the bathroom counter and just listened to the screaming.”
Wells’s face didn’t change, a grin on his face as he shrugged. “That’s when I came out to him. It was nasty.” Exhaling hard, he looked out the door and shook his head. “At least he stopped screaming at me about it, and he’s coming to the wedding.”
Jensen and Vaughn both agreed, but only with a nod as a silence fell over them. Jensen wasn’t sure what everyone else was thinking about as they ate the pie that Elaine had made for them, but Jensen’s mind went back to his dad. He couldn’t imagine not being able to talk to his dad without raised voices. But that was Wells’s life since his dad had found out. They used to be best friends, but that all changed when Wells came out. To that day, Jensen still felt bad for them. While it wasn’t Jensen’s cup of tea, Wells was his best friend, and he loved him for him, not for who he loved. Jensen just wished Winston could see that.
“So you’re still gonna marry him?” Vaughn asked, and Jensen closed his eyes.
“Really, Jo?”
Vaughn looked over at Jensen. “What? I mean, I’m just making sure.”
Wells scoffed. “Yeah, man, I’m marrying him.”
“You sure? We can head out, no questions asked.”
Reaching out, Wells wrapped his arm around Vaughn’s shoulder. “I love him.”
But Vaughn wasn’t convinced. “You sure?”
“Jo! Stop.”
“Hey, this is our best friend. We have to make sure, and you know damn well he doesn’t look at Alex the way he looked at Matty.”
Jensen pressed his lips together, looking away. “It doesn’t matter. It matters what he feels. He loves the guy, leave him be.”
When Jensen glanced up, Vaughn and Wells were sharing a look. “I only ask because I love you, man. I don’t want you to make a mistake.”
Wells sighed heavily as he shook his head. “The only mistake I made was giving Matty my whole heart when he didn’t even give me a piece of his.”
Vaughn looked to Jensen with his eyes wide, and of course, he was telling him clearly that he was right. But Jensen shook his head before looking over to his friend. “Do you want to marry him? Alex?”
“Yeah, because I have to.”
“You don’t have to do shit, son.” They all three looked to the door, where Winston stood, his brows pulled together as he glared at Wells. “If you don’t want to marry this boy, don’t. I don’t care how much money we’ve spent. I want you to be happy.”
A little taken aback, Wells’s hand came to his chest. “No, Dad, it’s not that. I do love Alex, I do. Which is why I have to. It’s the right time.”
Winston slowly nodded. “Then that’s that.”
With that, he turned and headed out the back door, and Jensen assumed he was going to his woodshed. Looking back to Wells, he found his best friend with his mouth hanging open as he watched his father cross the backyard to his shed. “What just happened?”
“No clue,” Vaughn said, his mouth hanging open too.
Pointing to his father’s woodshed, Wells asked, “Did my dad just accept my lifestyle?”
“I think so,” Jensen said, a little shocked too.
“Or we all blacked out, and this is a dream,” Vaughn supplied, but all three of them nodded.
“That seems more believable,” Wells muttered before the three them found themselves laughing from the gut.
Leaning on the counter, Jensen looked over at the two men who had been his constant buddies. Two men he knew he couldn’t do life without. His best friends. As Wells’s laughter subsided, he looked between them and grinned. “I’m thankful to have you two. Honestly. You’ve never stopped loving me in a non-gay way, and I truly love both of you, in a non-gay way, for that.”
“I mean, we are all pretty much the coolest dudes ever. It’s only natural we flock together,” Vaughn said in his own cocky manner.
Snorting, Jensen reached out, squeezing Wells’s shoulder. “Right back at you. I was just thinking the same thing, that this life would be boring without you two.”
Rolling his eyes, Vaughn scoffed. “Whatever, you’ve replaced us with Wren.”
“Oh yeah, she’s your life now,” Wells teased, and Jensen flipped them off.
“While, yes, she is my everything and so is my son, I know I need you two assholes, too,” he admitted, looking down at the counter. “So I hope you two are ready to raise my son with me.”
Wells let out a sigh as Vaughn laughed. “And my daughter with me.”
“I can get a dog for you guys to help raise if I need to since Alex doesn’t want kids yet, but I’m so down for raising some babies!” Wells announced, and Jensen’s face started to hurt, he was grinning so hard.
“In due time. But in the meantime, let’s go get you married.”
“Or drunk so you can get married,” Vaughn supplied, and Jensen shot him another dirty look. “What? I still don’t think it’s gonna happen.”
“I hate you,” Wells groaned, but then he squeezed Vaughn. “But I love you too.”
“It’s complicated with me.”
“Everyone knows that,” Jensen informed him. “Like everyone.”
“Poor Brie,” Wells teased and Jensen chuckled.
“Right?” Vaughn added.
Again, the kitchen was filled with laughter from three guys who grew up together and who had continued to be brothers for the last fifteen years. There was never a dull moment with them. If they weren’t laughing, they were fighting, or they were crying. They were brothers. And while, now, all of them were older, probably not a bit wiser, they were still the best of friends.
All Jensen could think was that he was living a dream.
The same best friends?
And the girl he had loved just as long as he had known them, and a kid on the way?
Yeah. It was all just too good to be true.
* * *
“Mom, I want to go hang in the room with the guys.” Her mother rolled her eyes, taking a big gold bow from the stack of bows Wren was holding and tying it to the pew. “Isn’t there someone else who can do this?”
Elaine shot her an evil look. “You think if that were the case, I would have asked you? Everyone is getting the reception ready since everything was late getting here. Wren, please, just help me.”
“Fine,” she groaned, but her feet were killing her. There was no way she was going to make it in these insanely high heels Wells had insisted she wear with her suit. Which was all a little tighter that morning. She probably should have skipped that packet of Snickers she snuck when Jensen was hanging with the guys this morning. Maybe she should listen and take better care of her body before she turned into a whale. “Mom, these shoes suck,” she complained, kicking them off.
“I told Wells they weren’t gonna work. You’re damn well pregnant!”
“This is true,” Wren agreed as she moved with her mom, putting bows everywhere.
“Just go barefoot, and if he complains, I’ll throw them at him.”
Wren’s lips quirked as she giggled. “Ah, you’ll inflict pain on your favorite for me?”
Elaine glared back at her. “I’m not doing that with you, Wren. You’re my favorite.”
“I know, Mom,” she said sweetly as they continued to hang the bows.
“Did you talk to Emma?”
“I did,” Wren said with a grin tugging at her mouth. “Antoine is doing much better today. No fever thus far, but they’re keeping a close eye on him.”
“Good, that’s what she told me, and Dad texted Ant too, heard the same thing. I know Jensen was worried.”
Wren nodded. “Worried is one word. I don’t see him freak out often, but when he does, it’s scary.”
“Oh, I’m sure. He is his daddy’s boy.”
“And his mom’s.”
“Right? And mine, hell,” she laughed, and Wren chuckled. “He’s a good boy, really good boy.”
“The best,” Wren decided.
“I walked in right on time, eh?”
Turning, she found Jensen coming toward her dressed in a slick black suit that was tailored to his body and made him completely scrumptious. His hair was smoothed to the side, his face free of stubble while his brown eyes sparkled as he drank her in. She wasn’t sure she was sold on the whole pregnant woman in a suit idea, but she had to admit, she was cute. It didn’t fit her the way it fit Jensen, but she did love that she didn’t have to wear a bow tie, leaving the first couple buttons open to show off her chest. Her hair was in big, beautiful curls down to her shoulders, while her makeup was dramatic and beautiful, capped off by dark red lips.
She was feeling herself.
She was feeling Jensen more, but then, he was a hundred shades of gorgeous.
“What right time? We aren’t talking about you,” she teased as he wrapped her up, smiling down at her belly.
“Sure, you aren’t.”
“Nope, we were talking about these bows.”
He laughed as he kissed the side of her mouth, sending hot waves of lust through her whole body with just the simple motion. “Well, that’s disappointing. I needed an ego boost. Wells said my ass looks big in these pants, and I blame it on you and all the Snickers I eat to keep you from eating them.”
Laughing out loud, she shook her head. “Your ass is beautiful.”
“It is,” Elaine added, and Wren sputtered with laughter.
“Ew! Creepy cougar!”
Elaine scoffed with laughter. “Please.”
But Jensen was beet red. “Is your mom hitting on me?”
Still laughing, Wren shook her head as she handed her mom a bow. “She’s losing her mind.”
“I am,” Elaine decided. “And aren’t you supposed to be helping Wells, Winston, and Vaughn with taking all the boxes into the reception area? Oh, and did someone make sure they grabbed the Céline Dion CD from the counter? Alex wanted it to be authentic from his childhood.”
“This wedding is so damn cliché,” Wren muttered, and Jensen laughed.
“Yes, I grabbed it and got it to the DJ. I was doing that, but then I saw my beautiful wife and obviously needed a kiss.”
“Obviously,” she gushed before pressing her mouth to his. “Take me with you,” she mouthed as they parted, and he smirked back at her.
“Nope, enjoy the bows,” he teased before kissing her once more and heading back down the aisle and out of the room.
“That man is smitten with you, Wren. You are a lucky lady.”
“I know,” she said as an exhale, her lips turning up. “Mom, I’m hungry.”
“You’re always hungry. We’re done, but listen. Before you run off in the search for whatever you’ll go find to eat, please fill the vases with that gold glitter for the becoming one ceremony.”
A blank look came over her face. “Do you know how insane this is getting?”
Elaine just looked at her. “You have no clue, but since you didn’t give me a wedding to plan, here we are.”
Wren scoffed as Elaine took the empty bow box from her and pointed to the other box with glitter inside before disappearing out the back. Curling her toes into the carpet of the venue, Wren looked up and smiled. The altar was completely insane with big white flowers and glitter adorning it, while a huge W and A—made of glitter, of course—were hung in the middle. It was beautiful, but she didn’t get why her brother wanted so much glitter. He usually wasn’t this sparkly. Or maybe it was Alex? Who knew.
Nevertheless, her mother had done a beautiful job, and Wren sort of wished she had given her mom a chance to plan her wedding. But the thought made her laugh. She didn’t even want a wedding six months ago. She had just wanted a husband, but she got more than that.
She got her future.
Pulling out her phone from her handy pocket, probably the best thing about the suit, she clicked Jensen’s name.
Wren: We should plan a wedding when Gunner gets here.
Jensen: I’m sorry, who is this? It says this text is from my hot-ass wife, but my hot-ass wife doesn’t do weddings.
She laughed, the room filling with the sound, and she almost didn’t believe it.
Wren: Right? I must be drunk.
Jensen: Or you have a sugar high since I found your empty bag of miniature Snickers.
Wren: Those were my mom’s.
Jensen: That you ate, in the bath.
Wren: I have no clue what you’re talking about.
Jensen: Sure you don’t.
When she sent him the wacky emoji, he sent back a peach with a hand beside it, which meant he was going to get her ass. Within seconds, she was hot as she giggled and texted him back.
Wren: Promise?
Jensen: Name the place and time.
Wren: Here, now
Jensen: Not fair. I’m unloading packs of glitter with your dad, while your mom yells at us because Vaughn decided to throw some on me and Wells. It’s in my nose and my mouth, Wren. I might kill him today.
Sputtering with laughter, she shook her head.
Wren: Fine, rain check?
Jensen: Yup, like tonight, me and you.
Wren: Sounds like a plan.
Jensen: Agreed.
With a smile that took up most of her face, she tucked her phone into her pocket before opening the box and getting out the three bags of glitter that she needed for the tall vases that were under the W&A. When she dropped one of the bags, she complained to herself, bending down and struggling to get back up, but her grin stayed in place.
Jensen drove her absolutely wild.
Before she could get to the center table, she heard, “Well, well, there you are.”
She froze, his voice crawling down her spine as she looked down the aisle before Bradley started up it. He hadn’t changed. Still so big, taking up the room, but she did notice he had put on some weight. His face was a little thicker than she recalled. Once upon a time, she remembered getting that fluttery feeling for him, but she felt nothing now. Not even anger. She just didn’t want to see him. He was nothing to her.
“You’re a hard one to get ahold of Wren.”
She was holding her breath, clinging to the packs of glitter as her eyes widened but never left his. “Maybe ’cause I don’t want to be gotten ahold of.”
His eyes narrowed to slits. “I figured that. But then, surely that wasn’t the case for the father of that baby inside of you. A boy, I hear.”
“Bradley,” she breathed because she didn’t want him to know that. She didn’t want anything from him.
“Wren, gorgeous as ever.” Coming up to her, he reached for her, but she moved out of his reach. “How’s my guy doing?”
She swallowed hard. “He’s not yours.”
“Oh, he is,” he said, looking up at her. She was disgusted. She’d cared for this fucker at one point, but why? He did look like a douche, an unhappy one. “At least that was the claim before. Were you wrong?”
She stepped back from him. “What do you want?”
“To talk.”
“You said we have nothing to talk about, multiple times, and I think you were right.”
“I think I was wrong.”
Her brows shot up to the damn ceiling. “Excuse me?”
“I was wrong,” he admitted. “We obviously have a lot to talk about since I talked to your husband, Jensen Monroe, and found out a whole bunch of fun stuff.”
Her eyes narrowed. She didn’t like the way he said Jensen’s name. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Nothing has changed.”
“Oh, sweetheart, a lot has changed,” he said, his voice deep and sinister. She used to be turned on by his dark parts of his voice, but that wasn’t the case any longer. Now, fear built up inside of her. “I shouldn’t have done what I did.”
“While that is true, it doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Sure, it does. Because I want to make this work.”
Her brows came together as her face twisted in repulsion. “Now? Out of the blue? Aren’t you married?” she spat back, not believing a single word he was saying.
“I mean seeing you, being near you, is doing things to me, something that Misty doesn’t do.”
She felt filthy, and when he tried to touch her, she moved out of his reach once more. “Don’t touch me. I’m married, and Jensen is way more of a man than you’ll ever be.”
He snorted, his eyes narrowing in a way that had fear settling deep inside of her. “So you have him thinking he’s the father. Jesus, Wren, that is dirty.”
She was shaking. “Jensen knows the truth. He didn’t run, he stood by my side.”
Bradley rolled his eyes. “Ha, no, baby girl, he heard you needed someone to be your baby daddy. And he knows darn well around that inheritance you’ll get for being married and with child. So of course, he’s in. For the money. Don’t be dumb.”
“Oh, fuck off, that’s not true,” she said sternly, shaking her head. She wouldn’t let him get in her head. Try to put that fucking doubt that liked to peek its ugly head into hers. Because even though she didn’t realize it from the beginning, she knew it now. The truth was that Jensen loved her. “He loves me, and I know that.”
“No one loves you, Wren, be real. You know that. You’ve always complained that your family doesn’t pay you any mind. Why do you think that? They use you. Everyone does—for a damn good time. Because they don’t care. But, sweetheart, I care.”
She glared, her chest hurting as she shook her head. “No. The hell you don’t.”
“Yes, and you know it. Look at me. You know I love you, sweetheart.”
As he took another step toward her, she held her hands up. He made the term sweetheart disgusting, and she found herself hating the word. Her stomach hurt, not where her son was, but behind him. It hurt; Bradley was making her ill. “You’re delusional. So I’m going to ask you one more time. What the fuck do you want?”
Giving her a hard look, he pointed to her belly. “I want to be the father I need to be for my son. Jensen isn’t the father. I am.”
“No. Not even no, but fuck no. Jensen is the father. More so than you. Even if he has your fucking blood, it’s all he’ll ever get from you.”
“Wren, be real. Jensen is nothing, except someone trying to get some money. He doesn’t care about you or our—”
“He is our son, mine and Jensen’s. Not yours. You were just the sperm donor,” she reiterated firmly. “You walked out on us, you didn’t want us, and by the grace of God, he gave me a man who wants us—”
“I’m not listening to that because we can both get quick divorces and then be together. I want you back.”
When he reached for her, she smacked his hand away as her heart pounded in her chest. “Again, not even no could cover my answer here. It’s fuck no again.”
His face filled with anger as he glared down at her, reaching for her once more, taking ahold of her waist. “I’m his father.”
Pushing into his chest, she yelled, “I don’t—”
“Get the fuck away from her.”
Wren froze.
She knew that voice. It was Vaughn’s. And as she turned slowly, Bradley finally letting her go, to look to the end of the room, she prayed Jensen wasn’t there with his best friend.
Please, God, please.
But God must have been saving someone else at that moment because not only was Jensen standing beside Vaughn, but so was her brother.
And her mom.
And her dad.
Fucking. Awesome.