Bound to Be His ( The Archer Family 2)

"He's gone? But what about his speech? What about—"

"My question exactly."

"I have to find him."

"Losing the maid of honor on top of the best man is the last thing we need right now."

"But if I can just explain to him—"

"Shay, I'm telling you. Stay."

"No. I have to find him." Cursing herself with every passing moment, she shoved through the fabric flap of the tent, kicked off her flip-flops, and sprinted through the sand, searching front and back for any spec of a person in the distance. She had no idea how much time he had on her, or where he might have gone. Hell, for all she knew, he could have gotten in his car and headed back to the house. Still, she had to find him. If she could just spot him, if she could just explain—

Then there he was. A faint silhouette in the distance, walking so close to the waves that they were probably lapping at the edges of his tan suit.

"Matt!" she shouted, and the figure turned and then walked away, faster and faster.

Her jog became a full-on run, and soon she was out of breath, her hair falling free around her face from the force of the wind. "Matt! Stop!"

He didn't, but it didn't matter. She was gaining on him too quickly for him to outpace her now, and when she finally reached him, she gripped the collar of his suit jacket and yanked him to a halt.

Panting, she doubled over and said, "We need to talk."

"I don't want to," he said, and the usual edge of laughter in his voice was gone. Abandoned for something icier.

"If you'll just let me explain—"

"I said no."

"Matt—"

"Why does this have to be on your terms? Why do you have to be in control?"

"I—"

"No, do you know what this is like? What it's like to work your entire life for something and have it ripped away from you because of something you can't control? Then have little threads of that control pulled away from you bit by bit like you're some fucking cat playing with yarn? You don't know."

"I do. Growing up—"

"Fuck that. Your situation changed a lot. Sorry. It happened. You didn't work for that and have it mean nothing. You didn't have everything taken away from you."

"I can't change what happened!" she rasped.

"No, you can't, but you could have warned me. If you cared about me, you would have told me. You would have let me be prepared."

"I didn't want it hanging over your head at the wedding."

"No, you just didn't want to deal with it. You wanted to wait until the wedding was over and then I was my sister's problem again. Plus, you'd still get to fuck me before I found out. Pretty convenient there, Shay."

"That wasn't it at all."

"Well, it looks a hell of a lot like that from where I'm sitting, and the best part is, for once, I'm in control. We're not fucking talking about this. Not now. Not ever."

He turned on his heel and headed back for the tent, leaving her there speechless. "You're going to behave as though nothing happened," he said. "My sister deserves as much on her wedding day. Don't come near me."

Then he was a spec on the beach again, getting smaller and smaller while she watched him walk away from her.

Forever.