Page 44 of My Summer Fling

“I’ve been ready for it since the day I met her, man. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere but here.”

“Millie has put together a fantastic wedding for you guys. I can’t wait for you to see it.”

“I know you two have been working all summer on it, and I can’t tell you how thankful I am to you both. Yes, even you. Because aside from all the drama, you were still here to help her organize everything and make sure she was still taking time for herself in between. I had a lot of regrets this past year from asking her to take all of this on.”

“What? Why? She loved it, Teddy. She had so much fun with it.”

“Because she’s my little sister. I’m not supposed to depend on her for these types of things. I should be the one taking care of her.”

“Trust me, she wanted to do this to give you something back for all the times you’ve taken care of her over the years. Don’t feel guilty about this. I was here to help her, and she loved that you trusted her enough to let her do it for you. She didn’t even want me to help her. She was determined to do everything herself.”

“She got that from mom,” he says, smiling as he turns to look out the window. “I hope I’ve done enough over the years.”

“You’ve done plenty.” I reach over and nudge his knee.

He takes a deep breath and changes the subject.

“I also may have heard that Roman and Millie’s friend Tiff hit it off?” he asks, giving me a knowing grin.

“That was all Millie’s doing,” I say with a laugh. “She thought they’d hit it off so we left them alone the night we all went out to dinner together. Roman, ever the gentleman, just escorted her home and then left.”

“Sounds like him.”

I glance down at my phone. It’s a habit ever since Millie left that day. I’m always checking to see if she’s texted me or tried to call. Nothing. But I do notice it’s getting late, and I need to leave Teddy alone so that he doesn’t look like raccoon in the morning. Beth would kill me.

“Alright, man. I’ll leave you. Get some sleep.” I stand and leave my glass on the bar. “I’ll be back first thing in the morning.”

“Maybe not first thing,” he says, cringing. He never was an early riser.

“Ten is the latest I can offer you,” I tell him.

“Fine.” He groans. “See you in the morning. And try not to obsess over what might happen with Millie tomorrow. Just let it happen. She’s reasonable. I have faith she’ll talk to you.”

We say our goodbyes, and I set off on the walk back to Millie’s house. I knew I’d be drinking so I didn’t even bother driving to the hotel. And it’s not like this island is that big. I can pretty much walk anywhere from her house.

I get lost in my thoughts, so lost that I don’t see Brandon stumbling toward me until it’s too late. He gets in one good swing, cracking me hard against my cheekbone. Fuck, Beth isnotgoing to be happy about that being in pictures.

“What the fuck!” I shout at him, backing up to try and avoid a full on fight as he continues to come towards me. I can smell the liquor on him from here. He’s been drinking enough that I could light a match and he’d breath fire.

“I hope you and that slut are happy together,” he spits out. “Enjoy my sloppy seconds. I broke her in real nice for you.”

He sneers and that’s it. I swear to god I just black out. Because the next thing I know he’s on the ground with blood coming out of his mouth and a dark circle forming around his eye. I must’ve gotten a few good licks in before he fell to the ground.

He groans and rolls over, spitting out blood as a couple of his friends come running from the bar on the other side of the road.

“Get him back inside!” I yell over to them. “And if you try this shit again or I ever even so much as hear Millie’s name come out of your worthless mouth”—I lean over his face as I grip his jaw—“I will make sure you don’t walk away from our next discussion. Got it?”

He groans.

“Not good enough. Answer me.”

“Yes! Yes I fucking get it now let me go, man!”

I let him go as his friends walk up to us. They don’t say anything, don’t even look at me. So I ignore them as well and start walking the rest of the way back to Millie’s.

That was the last fucking thing I needed before the wedding tomorrow. If I get a black eye, I don’t think the make-up artist is going to be able to completely cover it up, and that’s really going to piss Beth off. No one wants some idiot with a black eye in their wedding pictures. Memorialized forever.

When I finally make it back, I go straight to the bathroom mirror to check out the damage. It doesn’t look too bad. Hurt worse than it looks, but there will definitely still be some swelling and a bit of a dark spot.

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