After Ever Happy (After 4)

“How are you two? It’s been a year now, hasn’t it?” His voice betrays the emotion he’s trying to hide.

“What about you? You and that blonde. What was her name?” This aisle is a lot longer to walk down than it looked from the hallway. “Oh, yeah, Eliza or something?”

He chuckles. “Ha-ha.”

I like to give him shit about a fan-turned-stalker of his named Eliza. I know he hasn’t slept with her, but it’s fun to tease him when I see him.

“Baby, the last blonde I had in my bed was you.” He smiles. My feet catch, and Hardin grips my elbow, steadying me before I fall face-first onto the white silk covering the aisle.

“Is that so?”

“Yep.” He keeps his eyes toward the front of the church where Landon stands.

“You put your lip ring back in.” I change the subject before I embarrass myself further. We walk past my mother, sitting quietly next to her husband, David. She looks slightly worried, but I give her credit when she smiles at Hardin and me when we pass. David leans into her, whispering something, and she smiles again, nodding to him.

“She seems much happier now,” Hardin whispers. We probably shouldn’t be talking as we walk down the aisle, but Hardin and I are known for doing things that we shouldn’t do.

I’ve missed him more than I’m letting on. I’ve only seen him six times in the last two years, and each time only made me ache for him more.

“She is. David has been an incredible influence on her.”

“I know, she told me.”

I stop again. This time Hardin smiles while helping me continue down the never-ending aisle. “What do you mean?”

“Your mum, I’ve spoken to her a few times. You know that.”

I have no clue what he’s talking about.

“She came to a signing last month, when my second book came out.”

What? “What did she say?” My voice is too loud, and a few guests stare at us for much too long.

“We will talk after this. I promised Landon that I wouldn’t ruin his wedding.”

Hardin smiles at me as we reach the altar, and I try, I really do try, to focus on my best friend’s wedding.

But I can’t keep my eyes or mind off the best man.

Chapter seventy-nine

HARDIN

The reception of a wedding is its most tolerable part. Everyone is a little less uptight and easily loosened up by a few glasses of free booze and an overpriced complimentary meal.

The wedding was flawless: the groom cried more than the bride, and I am proud of myself for only staring at Tessa ninety-nine percent of the time. I heard some of the vows, I swear I did. That’s about it, though. Judging by the way Landon’s arms are wrapped around his new wife’s waist and the way she’s laughing at something he’s saying as they dance across the floor in front of everyone, I would say the wedding went well.

“I’ll take a club soda, if you have it,” I tell the woman behind the bar.

“With vodka or gin?” she asks, pointing to the row of bottles of liquor.

“Neither, just the soda. No liquor.”

She stares at me for a moment before nodding and filling a clear glass with ice and soda.

“There you are,” a familiar voice says as a hand touches my shoulder. Vance is behind me, his pregnant wife next to him.

“Been looking for me, have you?” I sarcastically remark.

“He has not.” Kimberly smiles, her hand resting on her giant belly.

“You okay? You look like you’re going to fall over with that thing.” I look down at her swollen feet, then back up to her sour expression.

“That thing is my baby in there. I’m nine months pregnant, but I will still slap you.”

Well, guess her sass is still intact.

“If you can reach past that stomach of yours, of course,” I tease.

She proves me wrong: sure enough, I’m slapped by a pregnant woman at a wedding.

I rub my arm as if she actually hurt me, and she laughs when Vance calls me an asshole for goading his wife.

“You looked nice walking down the aisle with Tessa,” he says, raising a suggestive brow.

My breath catches, and I clear my throat, searching the dark room for her long blond hair and that sinful satin dress. “Yeah, I wasn’t going to be doing any wedding-party shit outside of being Landon’s best man, but it wasn’t so bad.”

“That other guy’s here now,” Kim says knowingly. “But he’s not actually her boyfriend. You didn’t buy that crap, did you? She spends time with him, but you can tell by the way they act that it’s nothing serious. Not like you two are.”

“Were.”

Kim grins at me, a cunning look, and nods her head to direct me to the table closest to the bar. Tessa is sitting there, silky dress shining under the moving lights. Her eyes are on me, or maybe Kimberly. No, her eyes are on me, and she quickly looks away.

“See, like I said, you two are.” Smug and pregnant, Kimberly laughs at my expense, and I down my club soda and toss the cup in the trash before ordering a water. My stomach is twisting and turning, and I’m acting like a little fucking child right now, trying not to stare at the beautiful girl who stole my heart all those years ago.

She didn’t just steal the damned thing. She found it; she was the one to discover that I even had a heart to begin with, and she dug it out. Struggle after struggle, she never gave up. She found my heart, and she kept it safe. She hid it from the fucked-up world. Most important, she hid it from me, until I was ready to care for it myself. She tried to give it back two years ago, but my heart refused to leave her side. It will never, ever leave her side.