Mine To Have (Southern Wedding 1)

"I didn’t," are the only two words that come out of me. My eyes don’t move from her as she laughs at something Jake is saying, and I want to throat punch him. "What the fuck?”

"So, it’s not just my eyes," Bennett says from beside me, and I force my eyes away from her and then turn to him. The shock on his face is apparent when he puts his hand over his mouth. "I can’t believe you invited her." He looks back at her, and even though my head tells me not to look over at her, I do it anyway. It’s even worse than before. I feel as if someone just kicked me in the balls, and my stomach has been pushed to my throat. She’s even more beautiful than she was four years ago. I shake my head and look around.

"Shelby," I say when I see her off to the side hidden in one of the rooms, and I storm over to her. Bennett follows me. "Shelby," I say when I step in the room and see that my sisters are all huddled and look like they are in the middle of a serious situation.

"Oh, hey," Clarabella says, trying not to show how much she’s panicking, but you can see her eyes move around the room.

"Can one of you explain why the fuck you sent an invitation to Harlow?" My voice goes from low to high, and Bennett jumps back to close the door. I turn back to my sisters, lowering my voice into a hiss. "Who the fuck invited Harlow to my wedding?"

"I told you that I was inviting your friend group from college." Shelby points out to me. "I wanted to go over the list with you, and what did you tell me?" She glares at me. "I don’t care, just invite whoever, go over it with Mom, so I did."

"Harlow?" Presley says. "Like Harlow, ‘the love of his life’ Harlow?" She looks at Shelby and then at me while I glare at her. "I mean, not your whole life." She puts her hands up. "The love of his life before Jennifer." She laughs nervously.

"Nice save there," Bennett quips, and she gives him the finger with a sweet smile.

"Okay, the question everyone needs to be asking is why is she here?" Clarabella asks, walking over to the door and opening it, and sticking her head out. She comes back in with her eyes wide. "Damn, not only is she here, that dress." I hold up my hand, and I’m biting so hard on my teeth I think that my teeth might actually shatter in my mouth.

"Clarabella." I growl her name through said clenched teeth.

"I’m just asking." She puts her hands up. "Is she here to object to the wedding?"

"I will kill someone," Shelby says. "There is no one objecting to anything. This fucking wedding is already a wedding that if you weren’t my brother, I would say to reschedule, but." She smiles, and I can see it’s fake. "We are going to make the best of it."

"What the hell does that mean?" I say to her, and she looks at my sisters, and neither of them wants to say it. "Guys, would you please?"

"Okay, well, the kitchen situation is somewhat handled," Shelby starts to say. "If only Clarabella would call Luke and beg him to cater it."

"I would rather get my asshole bleached with lesions." She folds her arms over her chest.

"What is wrong with you?" Bennett looks at her.

"One, he broke up with best friend." She holds up her hand.

"Ex-best friend," Presley corrects her. "Your ex-best friend."

"Whatever, it’s girl code." She throws her hands up to the ceiling.

"Wasn’t she cheating on him, and that is why you stopped talking to him?" Presley asks her.

"It doesn’t matter. He’s cocky and arrogant, and I don’t want to call him. You call him," she tells Shelby.

"He knows you," Shelby counters. "And if this was my part of the business, I would totally bury my pride and call him."

"You’re an asshole,” Clarabella declares. "And I’m going to do it." She takes her phone out of her pocket. "For Travis and Harlow." She corrects herself, "Jennifer." She looks at me, grimacing, knowing she fucked up. "It’s just, I saw her, and it’s like Harlow and Travis." She throws her hands up in the air. "I’m going to go and call Luke," she says, walking out of the room and closing the door behind her.

I hang my head down, my head spinning, and I walk over to the couch in the room and sit down. Running my hands through my hair. "I can’t believe you invited her." I look up, defeated, at Shelby. "I can’t believe she is here." I say the words out loud instead of to myself. It’s been four years; I’ve gotten over her. Or at least I thought I did until I actually saw her again. Fuck, I played this scene out in my head over and over again for the last four years. Well, not this scene at my wedding but when I would see her again. It did not go the way I thought it would, not even close.