Page 95 of Of Pranks and Passion

“I’m sure.” Lifting my gaze, I locked eyes with him. “I appreciate you taking in and supporting me, and we’ll always be family, but it's about me and him now. I want to show him that.”

With a resigned smile, he nodded. “Alright. I can’t argue with that. Just promise you’ll still come home for dinner once a month.”

“I’ll never say no to free food.”

He laughed and pushed my shoulder, and I was nice enough to feign a stumble. My old man wasn’t a bad guy. He had his moments where his stubbornness and mine butted heads, but he tried. I knew many parents who didn’t. Gary’s parents were a prime example. I was good with what we had.

My phone rang and when Ben’s name popped up, I let slip a giddy smile. “Yeah?”

“Mr. Warner, we’ve got a problem at the gate. Can you come join me, please?”

“I’m on my way.”

This was about to get fun.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

GARY

“I still can’t believeshe sent someone to attack you while you were literally across the hall from Easton. Is she delusional or just stupid?”

“Both,” I answered honestly. “But also, I told Ben to tell her we’d be on different floors. I figured if something happened, it’d happen while we were getting ready, and I wanted him close by.”

I lifted my chin, giving him the room to fix my tie. We found the buttons to my shirt and sewed them on, and with a little Angel magic, it looked like it never happened. The shirt was pristine, my hair was fixed, and I was ready. Mostly.

“Whoever thought of bow ties was stupid,” he complained. He had his own bow tie, but apparently, Smiley was an expert and fixed it for him while they all got ready. Someone knocked on the door while he was still fussing with it, and Mrs. Warner poked her head in, smiling brightly at us both.

“Don’t you two look wonderful? Gary, dear, the last guests are arriving soon. Are you ready?”

“Sort of? As soon as we can figure out this tie, anyway.” I gestured to where Angel was cursing and pulling it apart again.Mrs. Warner gave a gentle laugh and pushed the rest of the way into the room, bumping Angel playfully with her hip.

“I’ve spent years helping my husband with any and all kinds of ties. Let me help. Do you have the ring?”

Angel nodded. Brienna may have tried to claim maid of honor, but since that position didn’t actually exist in our wedding, it didn’t really matter. Jayden was Easton’s best man. Angel was mine. He had the ring I used every dime I had to buy for Easton. Brienna wouldn’t even be in the audience, much less the wedding party.

Mrs. Warner straightened the tie and stepped back to study me. “There. You look perfect.” Her brows drew together, and she looked around. “But where’s your family? They should be here with you.”

“Oh, they–”

Chuckles dashed into the room, eyes wide. “Holy shit, you need to come outside. Quick.”

Here we go. I knew it was coming, but my stomach still twisted in knots as I hurried after Chuckles, who was already running back outside to watch the show. As soon as we all got downstairs, voices echoed through the speakers around the house. Brienna screaming, my parents shouting, and somewhere in the background Ben was saying that the mic shouldn’t be on and there was a malfunction. There totally wasn’t, he was leaving it on so that everyone could hear what was happening. The people in the backyard could see it, too, because there was a giant screen off to one side that was supposed to be to display pictures of me and Easton, but when everyone arrived, it showed a video of the guests arriving as a sort of art thing. Which meant it was pointed directly at where my family was arguing with Easton.

“Oh goodness. What’s happening?” Mrs. Warner asked beside me.

I feigned ignorance, a deep frown on my face. “I’m not sure. Let’s go find out.”

She and Angel followed me out front and down the stairs to the driveway. Guests were checked at the gate and valets moved their cars to another area, so Brienna and my parents didn’t even get past the main gate before they were stopped. I rushed down the long driveway, stopping beside Easton with a wide-eyed expression.

“What’s going on?” I glanced at Brienna, who was fake sobbing beside our mom, and did a double take. “Is she wearing a wedding dress?”

“A god awful one,” Angel said under his breath. I almost burst out laughing and had to fight to keep a straight face.

Easton looked down at me, his expression confused. Only the people who knew him best could see the mischief hiding underneath. “I don’t know what’s going on. When your sister showed up like this, they denied her entry, of course, but they’re trying to say they had permission.”

My brows furrowed tightly. “To do what? Have her walk down the aisle instead?”

My mom spun indignantly, glaring at me. “She was supposed to go first! We discussed it with Easton! She’s older and deserves to go first!”

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