His forehead creases. “Are you telling me that you’ve been going out with Claire?”
“Yes,” I confess.
“Since when?”
“Since before Christmas.”
“Before you knew you were going to be my best man?”
Best man. For some reason, those words sting now.
“Yes.”
“And you continued even after you agreed to be my best man?”
“Yes.”
I can see Joel’s grip tighten around the handle of his umbrella.
“Why? You know she’s my sister. You, of all people, know how much she means to me.”
“I know. That’s why…”
“And you’re my best friend, my brother, my best man. At least, you were supposed to be.”
And I guess I’m not any longer. The fact stings more than I thought it would. But I don’t answer. Right now, Joel has every right to hurt me.
“You were supposed to be my man of honor, Ryker. Where was your honor?”
“My intentions are honorable,” I tell him.
“Your intentions mean shit,” he snaps back. “I don’t care what they were. You weren’t supposed to go out with my sister. My little sister.”
“I’m not little anymore,” Claire says.
He glares at her. “You are little until I say you’re not!”
Her lower lip trembles.
“It’s okay, Claire,” I tell her. “Just leave it to me.”
“Don’t you dare talk to her!” Joel stands on the porch step. “You knew her even when she was still a child. And you…” He shakes his head. “You took advantage of her.”
“I didn’t,” I tell him. “I never…”
“You had sex with her, didn’t you?”
I nod. “Yes.”
“How many times?” he asks.
“I’ve lost count.”
Joel’s jaw clenches.
“It was consensual,” Claire speaks up. “I wanted it as much as he did.”
Again, Joel glares at her. “The woman in Ryker’s apartment. The one whose phone rang. That was you?”
Claire nods.
Joel looks at me with daggers in his eyes. “So you lied to me. You’ve been lying to me this whole time.”
“I wanted to tell you about me and Claire, believe me,” I tell him. “But we decided to wait until after the wedding.”
Joel shakes his head. “You had the gall to fuck her but you didn’t have the guts to tell me. All this time, you were talking about some woman you were sleeping with but it didn’t occur to you to tell me it was Claire?”
“Like I said, I wanted to tell you.”
But he doesn’t hear it.
“So when you were talking about the woman who was tired of you not putting her first, that was Claire?”
“Yes,” I answer. “And I followed your advice. I’ve decided to put her first. That’s why even if I knew you’d be mad…”
“Are you saying I helped you get back together with my sister?”
“Yes.”
Joel falls silent for a moment. Then he laughs.
“I helped you get back together with my sister. Wow. You really made a fool out of me, didn’t you?”
“Joel…”
“I’m not mad.” He shakes his head. “I’m just going to kill you, you traitorous son of a bitch.”
He throws away the umbrella he’s holding and climbs up the porch steps. Claire screams.
“Joel, stop!”
She tries to stand in his way but he pushes her aside and walks towards me. I jump off the porch.
“Coward!” Joel shouts.
I plant my feet firmly on the sand. “I’m not running away. I’m just making sure you don’t destroy any property.”
See. Even now, I’m still being a good friend. But Joel doesn’t see that. He just sees me as an enemy now. He jumps off the porch and comes right at me.
“Joel!” Claire shouts.
Joel throws his fist at me. I dodge. I know I said I’d let him get a punch or two in, but I can’t have that when Claire’s watching.
He throws another punch. Again, I dodge. The same pattern repeats over and over.
“Fight back, coward,” Joel taunts me.
“Joel, no!” Claire shouts again.
“No,” I answer.
I’m not going to punch him.
“Then you’re dead meat!”
He tries to kick me this time and nearly succeeds. I remember that Joel studied karate in middle school. It’s a good thing I’ve studied a few martial arts myself.
When he tries to kick me again, I block. He tries to punch me again and I dodge. Still, he tries. Again and again and again.
I can tell he’s getting tired and his wet clothes are weighing him down. His swings are becoming lazy. His footwork is getting slower. Still, he goes on.
When is this going to end? Should I just let him punch me so that it will end?
But no. I’ve made my resolve to think of myself more. Joel helped me come up with it, actually.
“Why, you…”
After he throws yet another punch, he loses his balance and falls on his face on the sand.
“Joel!” Claire comes running.
I try to help him, but it’s another mistake. He pulls me down on the sand and aims his fist at my face. I block and he punches my arm.
“Joel, stop!”
Claire pulls him off me. She climbs on top of him, pinning him down on the sand.