Page 87 of Reckless

“What did you say, boy?”

“Nothing, Aunt Millie,” Sylvia patted her on the back. “Tyler is just being Tyler. Come with me. I will help you find your table.” We watched them walk away and I leaned closer to Tyler.

“She’s related to your mother, isn’t she?” I whispered.

“How did you know?” He shot me look of faux surprise and we both laughed. Then I glanced over to Clem and Lucas, who were having a few pictures taken by themselves.

“It feels so surreal,” I sighed. “They are married. Can you imagine that?”

Tyler glared at me. “We just witnessed them getting hitched, so yes.”

“You know that I mean. Everything happened so fast.”

“Yeah, it did,” Tyler looked down at his feet again, shoving his hands into his pockets. He looked uncomfortable, but I didn’t want to push him with questions.

Half an hour later everyone was seated, and Tyler offered me the microphone to deliver my maid of honor speech. I received a few pity laughs at my jokes, but when Tyler proceeded with his own speech, he got people howling in under two minutes.

“As most of you probably know,” he continued with a serious expression. “I wasn’t the first choice for a best man. I presume I wasn’t the second one either.” Everyone chuckled. “Anyway, I would like to step out of that role for a few minutes and give it back to the person who should have been standing here, trying to say two coherent sentences while sweating in front of you guys.”

Tyler waved to a man from the hotel’s staff, who rolled in a huge screen and left it right next to our table. Chase appeared on that screen, wearing a tux, a glass in one hand and a microphone in the other.

My head turned in Tyler’s direction of its own accord. He did that for Lucas, the man he never even said he liked. For completely selfless reasons. He did it even though he found Chase absolutely annoying. My eyes watered and I could barely hold my tears in. I wondered what Sylvia would say about the face I was making in that particular moment.

I didn’t hear a single word Chase said, but when people started applauding, so did I. Standing up from my chair, I motioned over to Tyler. I waited for him to finish up his conversation with Lucas, who seemed really touched by what just happened. I knew that all my feelings for my fuck buddy were here on my wet-with-tears face, but I didn’t have the emotional stability to try to hide them.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked when Lucas finally left. He just waved a hand in the air. I wasn’t going to let him downplay this. “Everything you did…” my throat clenched with so much different emotions in that moment. I was bewildered. Tyler was misunderstood and mistreated, and it made me want to hug him and in the same time poke someone’s eyes out. “Clem and Lucas got married today because of you,” I whispered so that no one could hear me. “And you included Chase even though you don’t like him.” He started shrugging me off, but I didn’t let him. “I am so proud of you.”

I sounded nothing like a fuck buddy and everything like I was fangirling all over him. Tyler’s jaw ticked. Then he offered me his hand.

“Dance with me.”

I looked over to the dancefloor. There were a few couples, including the newlyweds already dancing. I nodded. He placed his hand on the small of my back and we joined the others.

Wrapping his hands around my waist, he tugged me against him with way too much familiarity for two people who supposedly hadn’t spent hours upon hours touching each other. I refused to look around to see if people were watching us, but I felt my cheeks heated both from his closeness and the fact he was publicly holding me in such an intimate manner. It felt like he was claiming me.

“I have a question for you, little Spencer,” he said with a lopsided grin.

“Shoot,” I smiled back, glad he didn’t make a comment about me blushing.

“It’s an important one, so listen carefully.”

I nodded, preparing myself to tell him the truth about my feelings for him, if that was what he wanted to ask me about. He deserved to know he was worthy of love even if it would make him run away from me.

“I know we agreed to be fuck buddies, but lately I’ve been rethinking this arrangement.”

“You have?” I asked, my heart in my throat.

“I have.”

“You want to break it off?”

“I do actually,” he said, his thumb making circles on my back.

“Oh,” I focused my eyes on his chest. “You don’t have to ask for my approval.”

“I am not. The question is about something else.”

“I’m all ears,” I said annoyed with the timing he chose to do this. Couldn’t he at least wait until after the wedding? His hand dropped lower on my back. My eyes shot up to his, sending him a disapproving look. He grinned.

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