He tilts his head and smirks. “Of course.”
I sigh. “Fine. I’ll do it.”
I place my hands on the table and push up as I stand. I don’t bother putting my heels back on. I’m burning those things first thing tomorrow morning.
It’s a small group for the bouquet toss since the wedding was so intimate.
I turn around and point at Jace and then my camera. “Take photos,” I mouth.
Rae is participating too, and I want to make sure there’s at least one photo of this for Thea and Xander to look back on. Jace might not be a photographer, but I think he can manage at least one or two photos.
“Me?” He points to himself.
“Yes, you.” I point again, and he picks up my camera, looking at it stupidly. “It’s that button right—”
Whack.
The bouquet hits me right in the back of the head.
I turn around and glare at the offending flowers now lying pathetically on the ground. Jace laughs uproariously in the background along with a few other people.
Thea turns around from her perch, confused by the laughter. “Who got them?” she asks.
“Apparently, Nova.” Rae bends and picks them up and hands them to me. My lip curls in disgust. I didn’t want to catch them, and I would’ve side-stepped it if I’d been turned that way. Instead, I was arguing with Jace over taking a photo and he didn’t even get one. “Don’t look so disgusted.” Rae laughs. “It’s funny.”
I sigh and shrug. It’s only a silly tradition, after all, and means nothing. I force a smile and say, “Yeah, it is pretty funny.”
Thea heads over to us, smiling from ear to ear. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her happier.
“They didn’t hurt you, did they?” she asks, concerned.
I shake my head. “They’re flowers. They can’t do much damage.”
She rests her arm casually on my shoulder and leans into me. “I didn’t mean to hit you in the head with them.”
“S’okay.” I wave away her concern. “You weren’t even looking where you were throwing. It’s my own fault. I was trying to get Jace to take a picture of it and he was being an idiot.”
“Hey, I take offense to that,” he remarks, striding over to us with my camera in hand.
“What would you prefer?”
“Lovable.” He grins and holds out my camera. I trade him the flowers, and he looks at them like they’re diseased. “Here, you want these back?” He holds them out to Thea.
She rolls her eyes as Xander comes up behind her, fitting his hands around her waist. “Nova caught them. They’re hers now.”
Jace looks at the flowers again and then me. “Does this mean you’re getting married next?”
I gag. “Never.”
He chuckles, and I lift my camera to get a shot of Xander’s hands around her waist. Then another of him dipping his head into the crook of her neck.
Cade joins our group, standing next to Rae with a smile on his face. She leans into him, and I don’t think she even realizes she does it.
“Come on.” Xander tugs on Thea’s waist. “Garter time.”
“Oh, no …” She laughs as he drags her away. “I don’t like the look in your eye.”
I must admit, she’s right. Xander has a mischievous glint in his eyes that promises trouble. He leads her to the chair that someone’s already placed in the center of the dance floor.