Page 32 of The Best Man

“No one knows,” he teases, grabbing my waist and tugging me close.

We make our entrance and everyone claps and cheers. Several people give me looks that seem to say, “you have a lot of explaining to do,” but I can’t find it in me to care.

Marcus holds me close for our first dance. It’s not the song I picked out for me and Joey. I didn’t think to change it, but Marcus must have. The whole song is about how great I am and how lucky he is to have me, so clearly he picked it out.

He reallyisthe best man.

“May I cut in?”

When our first dance ended, we didn’t bother leaving the dance floor, but I have no desire to leave it—or my husband—so I glance over at his brother and cheerfully say, “No.”

“Oh,” James says, surprised. “Well. Okay, then.”

Marcus smirks. “We’ll find you after the song is over.” Once his brother is gone, he teases me, “Is my new bride getting sassy?”

“No,” I murmur, lovingly locking my arms around his neck and leaning in to kiss his jaw. “But if I can dance with you, why would I ever want to dance with anybody else?”

“Mm, good question,” he murmurs, tipping my chin up so he can kiss me.

As promised, when we finish our dance, we make our way over to see his brothers. We’re heading for James since he was the one who came looking for us, but we find Jared first, sitting alone at his table nursing a whiskey and looking miserable.

“What’s this? Open bar and a great party and you can’t muster a smile?” Marcus asks.

Jared’s gaze jumps past his brother to land on me. Guilt forces him to look away and swallow another drink of whiskey.

I feel similarly embarrassed as memories of being fucked by Marcus while I sucked Jared’s cock resurface. I would never knowingly hook up with a married man, but last night was… I didn’t feel like I had a choice. Marcus had a plan, and it was going to happen whether I liked it or I didn’t.

Thankfully, I mostly liked it, but that makes it harder to look at Jared, just like it made it excruciating to accept Julia’s support before the wedding.

“What’s wrong?” Marcus asks.

“What do you think is wrong?” his brother asks, glaring at him.

Marcus’ dark eyebrows rise. “Is Julia mad at you?”

Jared shakes his head miserably. “She’s not. That makes it worse.”

Marcus looks away from the table, scanning the crowd until he finds his brother’s wife.

Since no one else is talking, Jared’s gaze sneaks toward me. “I’m really sorry, by the way. I had no idea he did that to you. I never would’ve…”

“It’s fine,” I say awkwardly.

“I don’t know how the hell he got you to marry him after that. Fucking psycho,” he mutters, picking up his glass.

“Instead of wallowing in that drink, why don’t you go find your wife and get your fucking house in order?” Marcus suggests.

“I can’t look at my wife today, thanks to you.”

Marcus rolls his eyes at his brother’s dramatics. “Why don’t you just tell her?”

“What?” Jared and I both say at the same time.

“I think she can handle it. Julia’s a sensible woman, even keeled, understanding. Let her know what you did. Tell her why. Tell her you’re sorry. Tell her you want to let go of all the inconsiderate bullshit you’ve done and stop letting your egos prevent your relationship from blossoming. You’re both on the same team, and you need to get back to that. Then grab her ass and give her a kiss, and move on with your fucking life. That was the point of all this, wasn’t it? You weren’t giving her enough love and attention, so she made a mistake. You’ve been hung up on it ever since, so your relationship has been stunted. Now you’ve fucked my beautiful wife; you can let it go. And every time youseemy wife at a family function, you can be reminded of how glad you are to have yours. Fuck her a little harder that night. Eather pussy when she’s not expecting it. Make her happy. Show her she’s yours. That’s how you can make it up to her, not by sitting here like a self-pitying asshole drinking whiskey while you make her circulate alone.”

Jared stares at him for a moment, and then the damndest thing happens.

He nods, resembling a man hypnotized who just snapped awake with a lighter load and a new life mission. “You’re right.”

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