“Let’s find you a place to sit down, Nevi,” Uncle Drake urged. “You’re sweating.”
The three of them disappeared into the crowd without so much as a look back at Shaw or me, and I watched them go, concerned about my cousin.
Moments later, I spotted my parents, and taking Shaw’s hand, I weaved our way to them.
“How was Tokyo?” Mom asked as soon as she stepped back from hugging me.
“Amazing,” I gushed. “We had so much fun. I want to go again when the cherry blossoms bloom.”
“You’re going to be home for a little while now, though, right?” Dad asked hopefully.
I shrugged. “We hadn’t talked about where we might go next.”
“Maybe I should make a few suggestions,” Dad grumbled, and Mom smacked his ar
m.
“Hush. She’s happy and having fun. That’s all that matters.”
He started to argue, but whatever he saw in Mom’s eyes stopped him. “Yeah,” he finally said with a sigh. “That’s all that matters.”
A few minutes later, the wedding started, and we all shifted to make an aisle for the brides to walk down with their father. Hayat and Emerson were both flower girls, and Evan was the ring bearer.
I couldn’t hold back my giggle when Little Em looked at Uncle Nik and shouted, “Look, Papa. Look! Am I doing this shit right?”
When her mother scolded her, the sassy little redhead looked at Mia and demanded, “Well, am I?” and the entire building lost it with laughter.
The smile was still on my face from her stealing the spotlight, even as the minister was telling Lyric to kiss his bride, then doing the same to Mila’s sister, Monroe, and her brand-new husband, Gian. As the minister pronounced both couples husband and wife, I finally let myself glance at Luca.
Only to wish I hadn’t.
His eyes were glued to me, as I knew they had been for most of the ceremony. I’d felt his gaze on me and told myself I didn’t care. I hadn’t allowed myself to look at him once until right then, and now I knew why.
This was supposed to be us, standing in front of our friends and family and declaring our love and undying loyalty to each other. If he hadn’t cheated and twisted our fates, it would have been us.
But now, it never would be.
A deep feeling of sadness hit me, and I gasped at the pain, but I quickly righted myself. Tears burned my eyes, but I blinked them back, refusing to let them fall.
I was only sad at what could have been. Our life together would have been so beautiful.
But the one I was living now would be even more so, I promised myself as I linked my arm through Shaw’s, and we followed the others out of the clubhouse.
Outside, the fresh air dried my tears, and I breathed in deeply, welcoming the raindrops on my bare arms. Everyone was rushing to get to their vehicles to avoid getting too wet since the reception was being held at the local bar in town. A car horn honked, and I turned my head to see the town car that had dropped us off earlier.
My heart lifted knowing Remington was in there waiting on me, and I took off running across the wet parking lot toward him. The door opened as I drew closer, and he stepped out. But his eyes weren’t on me.
They were on the guy who was watching me from the other side of the parking lot. I couldn’t read Remington’s face, but I felt a new tension in the air as the man who was my past locked eyes with the man who was my present and they had a stare down.
I knew then and there that if Remington and Luca were in a room together, they would end up fighting, and I doubted there was anything I could do to stop them. It would be a bloodbath. While Luca had more muscles on him, Remington could probably hold his own with my ex.
But I didn’t want either of them throwing punches at each other. Not only at Lyric’s wedding reception, but ever. It would only cause more trouble. I wanted my family to accept Remington as one of their own, but if he got into a fight with Luca, people would pick sides, and I didn’t want more discord between everyone.
Sensing Luca behind me, I didn’t stop as I threw myself into Remington’s arms and kissed him like it had been days since I’d last seen him rather than a little over an hour.
When I pulled back, Remington’s eyes locked with mine. “Still love me?”
I gasped at the question. “Did you think seeing him again would make me stop loving you?”