Married to My Best Friend

I yawned and closed my eyes, still feeling like shit. I was lying flat on my stomach, head on my arm, looking at him. Alex was on his back, staring at the ceiling, blanket up to his waist. He needed to shave, but I kinda liked it when he was stubbly. It made him look older than me.

“Makes sense, considering you were supposed to get married yesterday.” I reached out, put my hand on his chest, brushed my thumb over his skin. “You okay? I know this can’t be as easy as you’re trying to make it seem.”

Alex rolled onto his side, making my hand fall away. I missed the contact, which was strange as fuck, but then his gaze held mine, and that felt just as comforting. Maybe he wasn’t the only one going through the emotional wringer. I shouldn’t have been, but I was because…because I’d thought I would lose him. That I wouldn’t be the most important person in his life anymore. Maybe that was selfish, but humans were selfish sometimes. That was normal, and anyone pretending otherwise was lying to themselves.

“Yeah, I’m good. Things are the way they’re supposed to be.” He gave me a small smile, then rolled out of bed. “I have to piss too.”

“I’ll order breakfast,” I said as I watched him go, and damn, those trunks were really fucking short.

We drank a bunch of water and coffee, took painkillers, and ate breakfast in bed in our underwear. The flight stuff was a mess because Jackass hadn’t canceled his ticket. Luckily, it wasn’t a full flight, so I was able to get a ticket, and Alex changed his seat to be beside me.

Feeling slightly more human again after a shower, I started throwing my stuff in my suitcase.

“Jesus, Caden. How do you look so good when you leave the house every day? You’re not even folding your clothes, just shoving them in.”

“I’m that good, baby,” I teased, winking at him. He pretended to gag.

God, I loved us.

Alex checked out of the room. We took a car service to the airport, went through security and all that, and before I knew it, we were on a plane for Puerto Vallarta.

“I got you Mike and Ikes in the airport,” I told Alex. They were his favorite. “You always need sugar after a hangover.” I pulled the box out of my carry-on. My finger brushed against some kind of paper, but I ignored it, distracted by the way Alex was looking at me and smiling. When he did that, it made me feel like the king of the world, like the luckiest person alive that he’d chosen me for his best friend.

“Thanks, man.”

“No problem.”

“Did they have your chewy chocolate chip cookies?” Alex asked.

“No! What the fuck? I don’t know what’s wrong with them. We should boycott.”

“You’re ridiculous.” He opened his candy, held it out, and poured some into my hand before eating some himself.

“Don’t you boys look happy,” a woman said from across the aisle. She looked to be in her eighties.

“We’re going on his honeymoon,” I told her.

Her brows creased. “Why is it only his?”

“Oh, because I’m not his husband. I’m his best friend. See, he was going to marry this other guy—he’s nice and all, but he’s not good enough for Alex.” I leaned closer to her and whispered, but loud enough for Alex to hear, “I knew it the whole time.”

She chuckled. “I bet you did.”

“Anyway, the wedding got called off last-minute. It wasn’t as dramatic as it is in the movies. I’m pretty sure everyone there knew it wasn’t supposed to happen. Alex finally caught on.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “Gee, thanks.”

“No drama?” she said. “I guess that’s a good thing, but a little drama is always fun.”

This lady was the best.

“Right? If he’d gone through with it, I probably would have gone that route—stood up during the ceremony when they asked if anyone objected.”

“It wasn’t a trial, and that doesn’t really happen,” Alex said.

“It did in my fantasy, thank you very much.”

Alex cocked a brow. “You fantasized about objecting to my marriage?”

Oops. Shit. “Just because I know you.” I turned to my new friend. “So no I do’s, and we decided to go on his honeymoon together. I’m Caden, and he’s Alex, by the way.”

“I’m Gladys. And sounds like everything worked out the way it was supposed to.”

“Agreed. Want some Mike and Ikes?” I plucked the box from Alex’s hand.

She shook her head. “They get stuck in my teeth.”

I ate some more and gave it back to Alex. “Are you traveling alone?” Alex always told me I’d never met a stranger. That I found friends everywhere. We’d both learned a lot about people from me having what he called Caden’s Random Conversations.

“I am. I’m an independent woman.” She smiled. “And I’m glad…that the wedding didn’t happen. Not everyone has a choice or is lucky enough to find the person they’re meant to be with, and even if they do, they don’t always get them. I didn’t end up with the love of my life…his name was Harry. His dad used to work for mine. We were different, and back then, those differences mattered more than they do now—class and such. My family came from money, and his didn’t. My parents caught us together and forced me to break it off with him. I was devastated, but…girls like me just didn’t disobey their parents back then.