I think he wanted her to pull.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

COLTON

“Jason!” I held up my hands. “Calm down!”

Wrong thing to say. Milo tried to stand in front of me, but Jason easily moved her out of the way.

I should have run.

Instead I faced him like a man.

And got punched in the face.

Yeah, the wedding pics were going to hell in a handbasket.

“Damn it!” I fell over my chair and continued swearing until I made eye contact with the pale pastor across the table. “Sorry, uh, sir.”

He shook his head and took a substantial drink of wine.

“Mom, we’ll be right back,” Jason yelled as he grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and booted me out the door. Once we were in the yard, I turned to face him only to receive another punch in the face.

“What the hell, man?” I tasted blood in my mouth.

“You kiss her after she’s engaged?”

“Wait!” I held up my hands. “What?”

“You waited until she was taken before you kissed her, you bastard!”

I backed up and shook my head. “I’m confused.”

“Why couldn’t you have realized you loved her before she got engaged? She’s probably confused as hell and it’s all your fault! And she doesn’t deserve that and neither does Max, and you’re a bastard for waiting twenty-three years to finally see what the hell was in front of you all along.”

“Holy shit,” I whispered. “You knew?”

“Dude.” He shook out the hand he’d used to punch me. “I thought you were going to cry when she left for college, and then all those other chicks you were trying to date . . . I bet they paled in comparison. Then, when you knew she was coming back for the wedding, you wouldn’t leave me alone! You kept asking if you looked okay, was your hair too long? When was Milo coming? Was she bringing anyone? Hell, you’re a wreck.”

“I love her,” I blurted.

“No shit.”

“She’s marrying the wrong guy.”

“Well, apparently he’s gay, so at least you got that going for you.”

I laughed. Like really laughed. How the hell had things gotten so screwed up? Jason joined in until we were almost rolling on the ground.

“I thought it was one of those unspoken rules,” I finally said. “I thought you’d be pissed.”

Jason folded his arms across his chest. “It’s my job to be protective—which I was—but I trust you, man. If I was really against you guys hooking up—do you think I would have left you alone as much as I did? I swear I gave you so many chances to tell her and every single time you punked out.”

“Yeah,” I said, irritated as hell with myself. “I did.”

“So.” Jason shrugged. “Now what? Are you going to pull your head out of your ass or are you going to let her marry Max? Because frankly, they don’t act like they’re in love, and let’s be honest, that guy is as metrosexual as they come. Don’t get me wrong, he’s nice, but . . . I always pictured her with a homegrown guy, not a city one.”

“He likes nice clothes.” Why the hell was I defending him?

“He was also taken advantage of by women today—women!” Jason laughed. “If he can go into the lion’s den and come out alive—you can admit to Milo you have feelings. Hell, you don’t even have to drop the L-word.”

“And if she rejects me? And I ruin our friendship?”

Jason was silent for a minute.

I waited.

“Love is never a sure thing, man. You’re never going to be totally certain that the person you offer your heart to will accept it with open hands, but if you don’t take that risk you’ll never reap the benefits of what it has to offer. If she rejects you, at least you can move on with your life. Because right now you’re in a hell of your own making. Any movement on your part, whether it’s towards her or away, is better than staying where you’re at.”

“Hell,” I mumbled. “That was a lot of wisdom you just spouted right there.”

“Yeah, well.” Jason laughed. “Clearly that weed I used to smoke didn’t kill all my brain cells.”

We burst out laughing.

Jason sobered first, his eyes flickering to the ground as he shoved his hands in his pockets. “I screwed up.”

“No.”

“Yeah.” He rolled his eyes. “I dated her because I was bored, screwed her because she was hot, and proposed because I was trapped. So much for love, huh?”

“We’ll figure it out.” I tried to sound convincing even though I knew the odds were stacked against him. “You ready to head back in?”

“You go.” Jason turned away and started walking toward the end of the backyard, where the swing set stood. “I need a few minutes.”

“All right.” I walked back toward the house. Instead of going in the back door I went around the front, with the idea of avoiding the watchful eyes of the wedding party. Hopefully the rehearsal dinner was winding down—I’d rather set myself on fire than sit one more minute at that table.

The bachelor party couldn’t come soon enough. Jason had one best friend, me, and a dozen other friends we all hung out with regularly. He’d picked six of the closest ones to stand with him at the wedding. The ones not in the wedding would all be at the bachelor party, which meant I could get away from Milo for a few hours and try to figure out what to do. Being next to her was too distracting . . . and I was pretty sure if I tried to kiss her again she was going to knee me in the balls. I needed a better plan of action.