Page 8 of Best Man
“Fucker!” Niko snarled and playfully kicked Jax’s leg. Then he drew in a long breath. “Look, man. I don’t know what happened to her.” He paused. “But this wedding made her go absolutely crazy.”
“Mywedding?” Jax asked, startled, and Niko nodded. “How?”
“Well, she started talking about whatourwedding was going to be like—”
“Oof,” Jax interjected.
“—and how she wouldneverwant to get married on a farm, so don’t I dare think of doing the same. She wanted to get married someplace exotic, perhaps the Maldives, and she wanted to be married before her twenty-second birthday, which didn’t exactly leave me a whole lot of time to decide if she was really the one, you know?” Niko gestured that the list went on and on. “Anyway, she never asked me what I wanted. It was all about her.” He sighed. “There were other problems, too, but I don’t want to get into it.”
“Well fuck, man,” Jax said. “Sorry to hear it. For what it’s worth, I think the girls had sniffed her out as a gold digger from the beginning.”
“Oh. Thanks for telling me that now,” Niko chuckled. “Anyway, it’s okay. I can think of worse things than being single at a wedding.” He grinned. “So does Piper have any hot, single friends?”
Jax scratched the back of his neck and laughed. “I dunno, man. Probably a few, yeah.”
“Come on! Youknowif she has hot friends or not.Don’t act like you can’t see attractive women anymore just because you’re so in love with your bride!”
“Of course she has hot friends!” Jax admitted at last. “Just don’t go breaking any hearts at our wedding, alright? Piper’ll be pissed.”
Niko waved his hand. “I won’t, I won’t.”
“Yeah? I got your word on that, then?” Jax teased.
“Of course. What kind of best man would I be, breaking hearts at your wedding like that?”
Jax chuckled. “Not exactly ideal, that’s for sure.”
Niko changed subjects. “So where are you going on your honeymoon, anyway?” he asked, even though he already knew the answer.
“Maui.” Jax raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t I tell you that?”
“I can’t remember,” he lied, “but that sounds nice. When are you leaving?” He already knew the answer to this question, too.
“Sunday. The very next day after the wedding,” Jax said in a slow, skeptical drawl. “Dude, I swear I told you all this already.”
“Oh. I see.” Slowly, Niko let himself smile. “And you bought your plane tickets already?”
Jax laughed, confused. “Uh,yeah,of course I did. That’s not something you wait until the last minute to buy. Why?”
Niko drew a thumb across his throat. “Cancel ’em.”
“What? Why would I do that?” Jax looked more confused than ever. “What are you saying, Niko?”
“I’m saying”—Niko spread his arms through the air, gesturing at the cabin—“this is my wedding present to you and Piper. I chartered this jet to fly you direct to Maui Sunday morning.”
Jax didn’t believe him. “Shut up. Don’t even play me like that.”
“I’m not playing. I’m serious,” Niko said.
Jax jumped out of his seat and stood. “Are you for real?!”
“For real.”
Jax grabbed Niko’s hand, hoisted him up out of his seat, and caught him midair with a hug. “You’re the fuckin’ best,” he said. “I fuckin’ love you, buddy.”
“Love you, too, man,” Niko replied.
“I can’t believe this!” Jax broke free and raced through the plane, grinning like a kid, his arms stretched out in victory. “Man, I can’t wait to see Piper’s face when you tell her!”
