“What happened to not holding grudges anymore?”
Evans teases.
“Yeah, yeah,” I mutter as he twirls me around. “You do know that marriage is a lot of hard work right?”
“Yeah, I know, Sienna. I know all of this feels abrupt but it feels right. For us.” Evans sighs, reeling me in again. “We’ll have a happy and fulfilling marriage, I promise.”
“You better,” I mutter. “Thanks for leaving my single ass behind, by the way.”
“Aww, you’ll be fine,” he says amusingly. “Besides, you being married would have a terrible ‘ring’ to it.”
I roll my eyes but fail to fight the smile growing on my face at the pun. Brent is such a bad influence.
We end up swaying for the rest of the song in a slow circle, bathing in the silence and just being in each other’s presence. I want to tell him the only reason I worry is because I care about him and Brent, and I don’t want them to end in a terrible separation that’ll scar them. But at the end of the day, I figure it’s not my business. I should have faith in them, that they know what they’re doing and they’ll do whatever it takes to make the marriage work.
Evans’s eyes stretch to the two empty seats at the head table that had been reserved for his parents and I frown, already knowing what he’s thinking about.
“Still holding out they’re gonna show?” I ask, barely a whisper.
“Maybe.” He shrugs, not wanting to let it show that he misses them. “But . . . I think it’s okay. I don’t need their blessing. I’ve got you guys.”
I squeeze him harder. “I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks.” I feel him grinning as he rests his chin on top of my head. A sigh pulls out of him as we do another circle.
“I think Kayden would be too.”
I stiffen at the sound of his name. I can’t get used to hearing it without my heart clenching at the flashes of memories that accompany it. It’s interesting how differently I’ve grieved the two relationships I’ve been in. With Jax, it had been nothing but pure, blinding rage stacked on top of a mountain of ruin and hurt, but with Kayden . . .
I feel only sorrow.
It isn’t even the kind of sorrow that makes me feel like if we’d done a few things differently, we would have managed to stay together. I think what makes it worse is that regardless of the what-ifs, the end had still been inevitable.
Someone behind me clears his throat and I turn around to find Brent, hands clasped behind his back, waiting for my dance with Evans to end so he can join his husband again. I let him cut in, joining Cara by the sidelines as we watch the happy couple dancing together, drunk in their own married bliss.
“Look at them go,” Cara says, tilting her champagne glass toward Brent and Evans. “Think they’ll last?”
“Absolutely,” I say confidently, then jerk my head at the couple beside them. “How about them?”
Cara stifles a laugh when she spots her best friend in a heated argument with her boyfriend. To shut her up, Daniel drags Alex to him and smashes their lips together. She’s momentarily startled by the gesture but soon enough, sighs and leans into the kiss wholeheartedly, clinging to him like he’s her only lifeline.
“Oh, no doubt,” Cara says with conviction, cracking a half smile. “Alex and Daniel may drive each other crazy, but it’s the type of crazy only they understand.”
I laugh quietly to myself. Cara’s right; I’ll never understand what they have. And I don’t have to. Their love is only theirs to share.
“Oh shit,” Cara mutters under her breath, cutting me out of my thoughts. “Here comes trouble.”
“What?” I follow in the direction she’s pointing.
It’s then that I notice that the music has died down, and the curious murmurings from guests are the only sounds drifting across the room. The two bouncers who have been guarding the tent have strolled in, cutting Brent and Evans’s dance short. Evans has his lips pressed into a grim line and Brent looks shell-shocked when one of the bouncers starts talking. More words are exchanged before the bouncer gestures to someone behind them— a man—as he steps into the tent.
Oh.
My.
God.
It’s him.