Page 7 of And the Best Man Ran Away With the Groom

I shrug. “Well, I just figured—“

“Holy shit, drunk people are hilarious,” Alastor says with a chuckle, cutting into our conversation. “Especially when they get all high and mighty.”

“Huh?” I ask, my brows drawn together in confusion.

“Didn’t you see all this stuff about Macey at the end of the book?”

“Umm…no…”

Alastor lets out a rumbling laugh, his face lit up in a grin as his eyes scan over the page. “Listen to this:Jack should just suck his own face off since he’s a cockhead who loves sucking cock”

“Who wrote that?” I ask.

Alastor glances at the book again. “Sienna someone.”

“Jack’scousinSienna?”

Alastor shrugs. “She sounds fun. I’d like to be a fly on the wall at those family gatherings. Oh, there’s this:Jack is a bastard. Did you hear that? A BASTERD—um, that’s in all caps and spelled wrong. Anyway…He didn’t deserve you Xav. If you still wanna get married I’m right here. Too bad you don’t like VAGINAAAA.Yeah, for some reason that’s also in caps and has like a million As at the end.”

“I donotwant to know who that’s from,” Xavier says in a warning tone.

Alastor shakes his head. “Yeah, you really, really don’t. Hey, can I keep this,” he asks, holding up the guestbook. “I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface.”

Xavier just waves a dismissive hand at him. “Whatever.”

“I think you should go,” I tell Xavier, wanting to steer the topic away from the guestbook and the things people have written about Jack. I know what everyone must be thinking about him right now; I don’t need to hear it relayed back to me.

Xav just looks at me in bafflement. “Huh? This is my house. Maybeyoushould go.”

“I meant to Thailand,” I clarify. “You’ve still got your flights booked, right? Why not take a couple of weeks and just get away from everything?”

“A lot of hot guys in Thailand this time of year,” Alastor chimes in. “Not a bad way to put a certain cockhead in the rear-view.”

I sigh. “I wouldn’t word it like that, but his point’s valid. And even if you don’t get any rebound action there’s still the beaches and the cocktails and the food…”

“Fuck, if I didn’t have to work over the next two weeksI’dgo,” Alastor says, sounding genuinely regretful.

Xavier just shakes his head. “I appreciate the suggestion but I’m not going on my honeymoon alone. Do you realise how pathetic that is? And besides, I hate travelling by myself.”

“I’ll go with you.”

Alastor and Xavier both stare at me, completely stunned.

“What?”Xav finally manages to utter.

I shrug. “I have the rest of the month off work anyway. I could definitely spend a couple of weeks in Thailand.”

“But…you’re Jack’s best friend,” Xavier points out, still sounding completely freaked out by my suggestion.

“So? What does that have to do with anything?”

“I don’t know. It just seems…weird.”

“Mate, you worry too much about how things seem,” I tell him.

Alastor nods sagely. “It’s true. He does.”

“It’s a bad idea,”Alicia says with a shake of her head as soon as I’ve told her about my last-minute trip to Thailand. I’m currently staying with her and her family while I’m in Melbourne so there wasn’t really any way to avoid telling her, even though I could definitely do without her commentary on the matter.

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