Page 124 of Messing With My Brother's Best Friends

“Pranked us on our wedding day?”

Kendall looked slightly abashed at Connor’s aggrieved tone, but just like before, that impish smile returned.

“Not our wedding day.”

Jesus, love, I thought furiously. Tread fucking carefully. Real carefully.

“Barbie and I talked about it, and we came to a conclusion. There’s the legalities of being in a relationship.” Alan stepped forward, handing our girl a thick manila envelope. “And then there’s the party, and the frock, and the fun. Let’s face it, half the people are here to get pissed on our dime.”

“Yeah!” Finn shouted, instantly met by a round of chuckles.

“And some want the opportunity to do some daggy dancing to 80s hits with their family.”

Mum did this breakdance move that was both amazing and cringey as fuck.

“And still others are just here for the gossip, wondering what the hell is going on between the four of us. Well, let me tell you.”

Kendall’s smile faded, but somehow she looked even more beautiful-because behind every one of her pranks was something far more fragile. Hope and anger, despair and need, and love, always love. My girl wasn’t running from anything, she was…

Running towards us.

“I can’t choose.” When tears filled her eyes, mine did the same, and by the sounds of the sniffles beside me, the guys were a mess too. “I can’t, and I won’t. I love each and every one of you, and I want everyone to know that. So we’re not having a wedding today.”

“We’re not?” Connor said.

“Nope, we’re having a commitment ceremony because that’s all the law will allow us to have right now. Maybe one day if things change, but right now…” She held out a hand and Barbie strode forward, handing Kendall a creased piece of paper. I caught the moment when Kendall’s hand shook as she went to open it and that had me moving. Across the courtyard, closer to her, always to her, the others doing the same. The entire crowd felt like it was screened out as she read this to us.

“Van.” Me fucking first. God, how I needed that, but it was her gaze locking with mine that helped settle me. “You’re like the sun on a winter’s day. You warm me up from the inside, chasing all the grey away. Sometimes you achieve this by pulling a blanket over my head and farting.”

“Van farted!” Benny shouted before he was shushed.

“And while I will never willingly make you baked beans again, I love you.” When her hands touched mine, nothing else mattered but this. I squeezed her fingers far too hard but couldn’t seem to stop. “I love your smile.” That was good, because I was grinning from ear to ear right now. “I love the way you make everything fun, even boring stuff. But I love that underneath it all, there’s a big, gooey centre that will cuddle me and listen as I whinge about my day. Never change.”

I had peaked. There was no getting better than this moment, ever. I stood taller than I ever had before, buoyed by her words in a way that I’d never come down from.

“Gage.” She was forced to let go of my hand then, but that was OK now. Everything was OK. “I love your stillness, your quiet. In a house full of three men, its something I need more often than not, but it’s not just that you know how to keep your mouth shut.”

“Well, he’s a keeper!” some old lady called out.

“When I’m with you, I feel like I can decompress. That nothing that was bothering me before mattered. I feel seen, heard, and at peace. I love your snarky asides. I love the running dick jokes. I love that you think you can cook pasta sauce and you really can’t. I love that you’re big enough, strong enough, to make me feel like you can protect me from the whole world. I love that I feel safe with you.”

She had more to say, but he surged forward, going to kiss her, but then stopping when he saw all of that perfect makeup, instead settling for pressing his forehead against hers.

“I always will, baby. Always.”

“That’s my boy,” Maggie crowed, then looked flushed when everyone else laughed.

“And Connor. Last but never least. Your dad was right in some ways. You’re too damn smart and would’ve made an amazing engineer, but I’m glad you didn’t. Some hot uni grad would’ve seen what I do.”

He gripped her hands like a lifeline, the paper fluttering to the ground.

“You are loyal to a fault and will burn the world to the ground if that’s what it takes to keep us safe. I see the sacrifices you’ve made for us. Not just in going no contact with your parents. In time, and energy, and focus, often to the detriment of your own mental health because you will never give up. On us, on our future.” A single tear rolled down her cheek. “On us. Sometimes I wonder what the hell I did to deserve it, but—”

“You,” he told her, in his voice and ours. “You don’t have to do anything but just be the girl I grew up with. Skinned knees and pigtails, or those very distracting yoga pants and your hair all loose, I don’t care. I’ll love you forever, Kendall. Enough to forgive you for pulling a fu—” He looked around, noticing our families and most notably the kids. “A bloody prank on our we—” He nodded slowly. “Commitment day. But I think I’ve learned my lesson. We pulled pranks because we had no other way to communicate how we felt. You used them years later for the same reason and now? Now you’ve used the best one of all to make clear what we should’ve realised all along. There is no choosing one of us. All or nothing.”

“All or nothing,” Gage said, stepping closer and hooking his arm around her waist.

“All or nothing,” I agreed before turning to face the crowd. “Now, let’s go get pissed!”

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