Broken (Broken 1)

“Layton? Reed?” Courtney put her hands on her hips.

I glanced over toward Reed. “There was a disagreement of sorts. Reed and Mitch got pissed at each other, and Mitch started punching Reed. I jumped in to break it up, and Mitch accidently hit me. ”

Courtney’s mouth dropped. “What were you fighting over?”

“Nothing. It was stupid, and it was my fault. I’ll apologize to Mitch before the wedding,” Reed said.

I quickly turned my head to look at Reed.

Why in the hell is he lying?

Courtney started shaking her head. “Are you ever going to grow the fuck up, Reed? Oh my God. If Layton gets a black eye, do you know how upset Whitley is going to be? It’s his wedding day, Reed!”

“I know, Courtney. I know. ” Reed let out a long sigh.

“See…this is exactly why…” Courtney stopped talking.

Reed snapped his head up and looked at her. “This is exactly why…what?” he asked.

Courtney was staring at Reed. She walked up to him and looked at his nose. She went into the bathroom and came out with a wet washcloth.

“You have some, um…some dried blood still on your nose. You should probably go say sorry to Mitch. I have to go help Whit get ready. ”

They stood there for a good minute, just staring at each other.

For Christ’s sake, why can’t they just both admit that they love each other?

Mitch walked back into the room and cleared his throat. “Reed, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to provoke you and start this whole mess. Layton, I’ll understand if you don’t want me in the wedding. ”

Courtney looked around at each of us, confused as hell, before turning back to look at Reed.

Reed glanced at Courtney before he stood. “Don’t worry about it. I better go check on things. ”

He started to walk away when Courtney grabbed his arm. “Wait, Reed, why did you say it was your fault…”

“It doesn’t matter, Courtney. You better go help, Whit. It’s getting close now. ” He moved past Courtney and walked around Mitch as he headed out of the bedroom and down the stairs.

Courtney looked at me and then slowly started walking out. She stopped in front of Mitch and asked, “Are you hurt anywhere?”

He shook his head, and she nodded before heading back down to Whitley.

Mitch turned to leave, and everyone else followed out of the room. I was alone now—sitting here on my wedding day, holding a fucking piece of ice up to my eye.

I swear if I get a black eye, I’m firing Mitch.

We’d already had it out the day after I asked Whitley to marry me. I’d confronted him about keeping in contact with my father. Things hadn’t been the same between us since then. I really hated to lose him as a friend and as the foreman to the ranch because he really knew his shit, but it looked more and more like that might happen.

Kevin walked back into the room and smiled. “Dude, I saw Whitley. ”

I smiled at just the mention of her name. “Yeah? How did she look? I mean, I couldn’t really tell, but it looks like her hair is all the way up with some curls hanging down. ”

Kevin laughed as he walked up and hit me on the back. “She looked beautiful. You’re just gonna have to be patient. ”

I tried to smile, but all I wanted to do was hit someone. I was so frustrated. “Fuck! How much longer?”

Kevin looked at his watch. “Forty minutes. You’ll have to head downstairs soon and make your way to the gazebo. You have to get there before Whit. ”

I nodded and picked up my mother’s small cross necklace and put it into my pocket. She had given it to me when she was in the hospital. She’d told me that when I got married, I had to put it into my pocket, so she could be with me the whole time. I turned and picked up Mike’s dog tags and put them into my other pocket.