Love Hurts (2 page)

“Watch this.” Flynn winked at Cortland. He turned to Hazel then cupped her face, giving her a slow and gentle kiss. She tried to pull away but he held her steady. Within seconds, she was melting into him.

He ended their kiss, showing her red and calm face. “See? She’s crazy about me.”

Hazel crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.

Only one seat was available but we all knew who it was for. Cortland kept eyeing the door, waiting for Monnique to appear. The last time I was with both of them, everything seemed fine. They really were friends and could get along just fine. If Cassandra and I broke up, I couldn’t be around her. It would hurt too much. And I knew from experience.

Monnique finally walked inside, a baggy sweater hanging off one shoulder. Her hair was pulled back, but it was still curly from the night before. She didn’t look as bad as the rest of us, but she didn’t wear any make up or did anything special to her appearance. She wore black leggings with army boots. She returned to her formal self after quitting her job at the magazine, but she adopted a new style of clothing.

“Hey,” she said to everyone.

“Muh,” Sean said.

Hazel cringed. “Blah…”

She laughed then sat beside Cortland. “I guess everyone is still hung over.”

“What gave us away?” Sean asked sarcastically.

Monnique turned to Cortland. “Thank you for taking me home last night.”

“No problem.” He stared at her for a long time, the intensity of his gaze burning into her face. The look clearly said exactly how he felt. That guy was still mad
ly in love with her. I could feel the need all the way over here. I was pretty sure everyone noticed it too.

Monnique returned his look but she didn’t say anything. All they did was stare at each other, a silent conversation passing between them.

I didn’t know if I should speak or wait for them to finish.

Cassandra beat me to the punch. “We have to plan this wedding quick.”

“Why?” Scarlet asked.

“I don’t want to look like humpty dumpty on my wedding day,” Cassandra said.

I rolled my eyes. “Not possible.”

“I understand,” Scarlet said. “Well, how do we do this?”

“Well, first of all, I need to pick my bridesmaids. Obviously, all of you are chosen.”

“Yay,” Janice said excitedly. “This will be so much fun.”

“I’m really excited even if I don’t look like it,” Hazel said.

Flynn eyed her hair then tried to fix it, but it just got worse.

Cassandra turned to Scarlet. “Will you be my maid of honor?”

Scarlet look surprised. “Me?”

“Yeah, of course,” Cassandra said.

Scarlet’s mouth was still open. “I’m shocked. I assumed you would ask one of your friends.”

“But you’re going to be my sister-in-law. I thought you were perfect. Plus, now my girlfriends can’t get mad at me.” She smiled at her. “So, will you?”

“Duh!” Scarlet said excitedly. “But now I have a busy year doing this for two weddings.”

“Two?” Sean asked. “Who else are you a maid of honor for?”

“Actually, I’m Ryan’s best man.”

I started laughing so hard, a few tears escaped.

“What?” Sean asked. “He asked you?” He spoke like the idea was impossible.

“So much for it being you,” I jabbed.

“What the hell?” Sean asked. He turned to Ryan. “I thought you hated your sister?”

“I do,” Ryan said simply. “I fucking hate her guts.”

Sean looked confused. “So why did you ask her…?”

“Because I kinda love her…” He shrugged. “Most of the time.”

“Well, you would have picked me if it weren’t for her?” Sean asked.

Ryan shook his head slightly. “Uh…Cortland would have next pick.”

I laughed again. “God, you’re such an idiot.”

Cortland fist pounded him. “Thanks, man.”

Sean leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Whatever.”

“Does that mean I’m invited to the bachelor party?” Scarlet asked.

“Unfortunately,” Ryan said. He was smiling so we all knew he
was joking.

“Oooh,” Scarlet said excitedly. “That will be so much fun.”

If Scarlet was going, I wondered if I could drag my fiancé along.

“Since we’re discussing my wedding, I guess I should announce my best man,” I said.

Sean looked at me, assuming it would be him.

I turned to Cortland. “You’ll be my best man?”

Sean turned red in the face. “Are you kidding me? You’re going to ask him over your own brother?”

Cortland played along. “Of course I will.”

“This is bullshit,” Sean snapped.

“Calm the hell down,” I said. “I’m kidding.”

“You are?” Sean asked timidly.

“Of course I want it to be you.”

Sean calmed down. “Oh.” I could tell he felt like an idiot. “Thanks. That means a lot to me.”

“There’s no one I’d rather stand beside me.” I didn’t mean for this to turn mushy-mushy, but it did really quickly.

“Yeah…” Sean looked away, the emotion becoming too much.

Ryan looked at Scarlet. “Your husband is a pussy.”

She smiled. “Leave him alone, Ryan. You made me cry when you asked me to be your best man, so I’m a pussy too.” She hooked her arm around his neck and kissed him.

Sean rested his hand on her thigh and returned the kiss.

“So, where are we having this wedding?” Monnique asked.

“Well, we haven’t discussed it,” Cassandra said. She turned to me. “I was hoping to have it at the house right on the beach…”

My fiancé could have whatever she wanted. “That sounds great.”

“Really?” she asked.

“Yeah. We can sneak away and have sex whenever we want.”

She rolled her eyes.
“Do you think of anything else?”

I put my hand on her stomach. “What do you think?”

She rolled her eyes again.

“If you get the guest list to me, I can make and send out the invitations,” Monnique offered. “And whatever else you need.”

“And I can do the center pieces and flowers,” Janice volunteered. “I already know a lot about that because of my wedding.”

“That would be great,” Cassandra said. “Thanks.”

“We can pick out the food,” Scarlet said. “The people who catered our wedding did a pretty good job. I can give you their name.”

“It was good,” I said. “I ate two plates.”

“You always eat two plates,” Cassandra said.

“Well, I’m this big for a r
eason.” I gave her a firm look.

“And I love all of it.” She rubbed her hand down my hard chest.

“Anyway…” Sean looked away.

I wanted to piss him off. “Baby, what’s my nickname?”

Her cheeks reddened. “Baby.” She knew that wasn’t the right one. I could tell by the look on her face.

“No. Not that one.”

She looked away. “Let’s just keep that between us.”

“Come on, baby.” I rested my hand on her neck. “Tell them.”

“Now I’m curious,” Scarlet said.

Cassandra’s cheeks were red. “Mr. Ten Inches.”

Sean cringed. “Gross.”

“Because I’m twice your size,” I jabbed.

Sean shook his head. “Definitely not. Tell them, Scar.”

“I’m not going to discuss my husband’s privacy with everyone else.”

“That’s a first,” Ryan jabbed.

“Tell them,” Sean said firmly. “Or I’ll have to whip it out myself.”

Scarlet rolled her eyes. “He’s about the same size.” She looked at Sean. “There?”

“Thank you.” He smirked at her.

“About?” I asked. “That sounds shaky.”

“I don’t measure it,” she snapped. “I don’t even have enough time to look at it before it’s inside me.”

Ryan closed his eyes and sighed. “I’m not drunk enough for this.”

“Let’s talk about something else,” Cassandra said.

“Thank you,” Ryan said. “Because I’d put both of you to shame.”

Janice pressed her chest into him. “Yes, you would.”

Flynn looked at Hazel and winked at her.

Hazel shook her head and glared back.

Cortland was the only one not bothering to defend his size. It didn’t seem like he cared about the conversation.

Monnique glanced at him and spoke. “When a guy has the whole package, he doesn’t need to advertise it. It’s just known…”

Cortland glanced at her but didn’t say anything.

Monnique just put us all in our place.

“Anyway,” Cassandra said. “Anything else?”

“That’s about it,” Scarlet said. “We’ll need to get chairs and tables. Janice has all of that information in her wedding binder, and if we put the cake order in soon, we should be able to get it in time.”

Cassandra breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m glad I have you guys to help me out. This is already stressful enough.”

“We got you,” Scarlet said.

“Now we have to plan Mike’s bachelor party,” Sean said. He gave me a dark look. “What should we do…?”

He better not say strip club.

“Cigars and drinks at the Rainbow Room?” Sean said.

That didn’t sound so bad.

“And we’ll play poker at a hotel room,” Ryan added.

“And we’ll hire private strippers,” Sean said.

I glared at him. “No strippers.”

“You just said no strip clubs,” Sean argued.

Cassandra looked at him. “It’s okay, baby. I really don’t mind. It’s your only bachelor party and I want you to have a good time.”

“No,” I said firmly. “Forget it. If you do it anyway, I’ll walk out. I’m not going to start my engagement by cheating on my fiancé.”

“Looking doesn’t constitute as cheating,” Sean said.

“It does to me,” I said. “I’m not going. I’m almost a dad. No.”

“That’s fine,” Sean said. “I just wanted to make sure.”

“I’m sure,” I said firmly.

“I wouldn’t want to see strippers either,” Cortland said. “Not my thing.”

“We know,” Ryan said sarcastically. “You’re Mr. Perfect.”

“He is,” Monnique whispered.

They were weird. They weren’t together, but they acted like they kind
a were.

“But I’m going to pass on the strippers too,” Ryan said. “I can barely handle Janice as it is.”

“Well, that solves that problem,” Sean said. “I already live with the hottest woman in the world.”

Scarlet smirked. “You think I’m hot?”

“You want me to prove it right here on this table?” Sean threatened.

“Please don’t,” I said.

We discussed other aspects of the wedding and got the details together.  Cassandra didn’t seem so stressed out about it now that she had help. I was indifferent to the wedding. We could get married at City Hall and I’d be fine with that. As long as she was my wife, I didn’t care.

Everyone left, but I asked Sean and Scarlet to stay behind. We said our goodbyes then sat back down at the table.

“What’s up?” Sean asked. “We want to head home and hit the sack.”

Scarlet moved to her own chair. “I’m going to sleep so good tonight.”

I held Cassandra’s hand. “We want you to be our baby’s godparents. Will you?”

Sean’s eyes widened. “What…? Us? We don’t even have our own kids yet. How do
you know we’ll be good parents?”

I gave him a hard look. “We both know you’d do a great job. We trust you.”

Scarlet fanned her eyes because she was getting teary-eyed. “I don’t even know what to say…”

“Say yes,” Cassandra said. “It would give us peace of mind to know you’d be there if something horrible happened to us.”

I hated thinking about that, but I wanted to make sure my baby had a family who would love him like their own. “Just say yes.”

“Of course, man. I’m moved you’re trusting me with this,” my brother said.

“I trust you more than anyone,” I said.

We stood up and hugged.

Sean clapped my back. “I’ll do my best.”

“And I know that will be enough.”

Scarlet and Cassandra hugged a few feet away. Since they were distracted, I pulled Sean aside.

“I have another favor.”

“First, you ask me to be your best man, and then you ask me to be your baby’s godfather. You’re already dropping a lot on me…”

“It’s just one more.”

“Okay.”

“If something happens to me, could you please take care of my family?” I hated thinking about the possibility. What if I got in a car accident and I left Cassandra all alone? I would obviously give her all my assets, but I would need someone to protect her and my kids.