Page 15 of Jilted
“Really?” Vanessa pulled away and looked at him.
“Yeah.” He faked a smile.
It really pissed him off that Vanessa was happy about the fact that he’d given up his best friend for her. That was a huge sacrifice. Was it one he was willing to fully make for her? He was starting to question his choices as far as Vanessa was concerned.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I love you.”
He responded with another smile.
“I’m telling you, man, this is a mistake,” Craig said.
Brett glanced at his brother with an annoyed look. “Mom said the same thing to me earlier.”
The wedding was scheduled to start in less than twenty minutes, and he was going to take his place at the altar to wait for his bride. Once he took his spot, he looked out at the seated guests.
Craig put his hand on Brett’s shoulder. “We all know the woman you should be marrying is sitting out there,” Craig nodded, “fourth pew back.”
Brett’s gaze landed on Amy, who was talking to his mom. Amy looked gorgeous as usual. She said something to his mom and then laughed. The sight of her smiling face made him smile. Until he realized that he wouldn’t get to see her like that very often anymore.
“Amy and I just friends,” Brett said as if on autopilot.
Craig laughed. “Stop wearing your ass as a hat and open your eyes. Amy King has never just been your friend.”
“That’s real nice, Craig.” Brett sighed and shook his head.
Marrying Vanessa wasn’t a mistake. And Amy was just his friend. He was doing the right thing by marrying Vanessa. Wasn’t he?
“I’m your brother. I don’t want to see you make a mistake.”
“Exactly. You’re my brother, which means you should support my decision. I love Vanessa. I’m going to marry her.”
Craig shrugged. “If you say so.”
Brett turned and glared at him. “And you’re choosing to have this conversation with me now? Ten minutes before Vanessa will be walking down that aisle. Nice timing.” He went to run his hand through his hair, but stopped, not wanting to mess it up.
Vanessa hated it when his hair was all messy. She said it made him look sloppy, like he didn’t care. Amy never seemed to mind though. In fact, she would laugh at him every time he messed up his hair. He sighed and turned back around to look out over the pews. His gaze once again wandered to Amy.
“It’s not like you’ve been around much. Been kind of hard to talk to you,” Craig muttered.
He was right. Brett had been very occupied with Vanessa and pulling this wedding together in such a short amount of time. “I know. Sorry.”
They were silent for a few moments before Craig leaned close to Brett’s ear and whispered, “It’s not too late, Brett. You can still call this off.”
Brett jerked his head around to stare at Craig. “Call it off? Are you crazy?”
“I’m just saying…”
Brett’s heart thundered in his chest, and the tips of his ears burned hot. Breathing became difficult. Could he do that? Could he really call off the wedding? He loved Vanessa, but he didn’t love her enough to give up Amy – and that’s exactly what he agreed to do by marrying her. Oh, God. This was a mistake. There was no way he could marry her.
He had to stop this, now, before she started to walk down the aisle. Unfortunately for him, the wedding march began, and he knew he was out of time.
His throat constricted as the guests rose to their feet, their faces turned toward the entrance, eagerly awaiting Vanessa’s approach. He tugged at his bowtie. It suddenly felt much too tight. Plastering a fake smile on his face, he pretended to wait for his bride. In reality, he was thinking of a way out of this. He didn’t want to embarrass her, but there was no way in hell he could marry her, either.
Maybe he could fake a sickness, stop the ceremony long enough to tell Vanessa that the wedding was off. Or maybe he could pretend to pass out, act like he was too weak to continue with the ceremony. No. Those were all stupid ideas. He just had to be a man and face her – tell her the wedding was off and that they were over. Brett took another deep breath and let his gaze fall on Amy. The simple sight of her calmed him, gave him the strength to do what had to be done. One thing was for certain, once he told Vanessa, he was going to…
The music stopped, but Vanessa was nowhere to be found. Brett looked around the church, and then he heard the guests murmuring, whispering, looking around. His heart felt like it stopped beating as he realized what happened. The urge to pump his fists in the air and scream with joy was all-consuming. Instead, he frowned and quickly walked down the aisle, out of the church and away from the prying eyes of his guests.
He rushed downstairs and into the basement, to the room he’d used not more than an hour ago to dress. There was a folded piece of paper taped to the outside of the door. He snatched it and unfolded it.
