by Rie Warren
At the door, Josh’s shoulders racked up like two boulders when Frankie called out, “You ever get hungry for some fat Italian sausage, you know where to go. M’I right?”
I sniggered as Josh’s ass visibly clenched inside his jeans.
Chapter Thirteen
Best Man
ON THANKSGIVING EVENING, THERE weren’t limos lined up outside Gigi’s big house. Instead there was a long train of Harley’s, the usual mix ’n’ match souped-up vehicles belonging to the Stone’s garage crew, and Josh’s inferno red Camaro. The Camaro was already decked out in crazy string congrats covering all the windows, a huge fishtail of beer cans trailing from the bumper, and black and white streamers flying from the sideview mirrors.
He was going to have a fucking field day cleaning that shit up, after the heart attack once he saw how the boys had gone rogue on his prized muscle car.
The cars kept rolling up, the entire road taken over. Guests milled around the lawn that had been decorated for Josh and Leelee’s wedding. Trunks of live oaks and magnolias were festooned with ribbons and bows in black and white. Hurricane lanterns lit shoal pathways around the manicured grass. A huge reception tent took up one side of the yard, complete with candles and columns hosting hothouse flowers. Opposite the tent, double rows of cedar twig benches faced a small altar.
I bounded up the stairs to Gigi’s house, taking them two at a time. If I were lucky, I’d snag a moment with Cat before the wedding went down. Inside, the place was as packed with people as outside. Before I could perform a search operation for Wildcat, Gigi grabbed hold of me.
“Where you runnin’ off too, son?” She pressed her cheek to mine. Gigi didn’t give me a chance to answer, instead chuckling to herself, “What’s that? Can’t hear ya. Cat got your tongue?”
“Miss Gigi, don’t you look pretty as a party piece?” I admired her chic silk trouser suit that matched her silvery bob.
She smacked me on the arm. “Don’t get fresh with me, Nicky. You can save that for your girl. I just saw her headed thataway.” Gigi pointed to the left, and I started to head in that direction, only to be brought up short by Gigi’s hand clinching my arm. “Don’t be rushin’ off now, I want you to meet Leelee’s folks.”
A spry woman with all the curves of Leelee and the same striking green eyes stood with a smile beside Gigi. “Patsy Childes. Such a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Loveland.”
I was about to shake her hand when JJ practically bowled himself across the room and into my legs. “Hey, dude-man.”
“Uncle Wicky! Uncle Wicky! Did ya know I gonna get new gwandpawents with my new momma today?” He pointed at a beaming Patsy. “She gonna be my other Jamma!”
Lifting forty-plus-pounds of almost-four-year-old into my arms, I wiped off the sugar dust around his lips. “That’s real cool, JJ. You’re a lucky son-of-a-gun.”
“May I?” Patsy held her arms open, and JJ hopped from me to her like a flying squirrel. “Now I know you’re a handsome boy and you take after your daddy, but you’re just full of the giggles and wriggles, too.”
“Jamma P, that tickles!” He squirmed between his two ‘Jamma’s’, about to be spoiled to holy hell.
Tomorrow Josh and Leelee were off on their weeklong honeymoon. The three grandparents were sharing babysitter responsibilities while they were gone, with Leelee’s parents staying in town an extra couple of weeks.
“Where is that charming husband of yours? I want him to meet Nicky, here.” Gigi asked Patsy as she took the squirming bundle into her arms.
Charming? To hear Josh tell, Mr. Childes was a chainsaw murderer.
“I reckon he’s tryin’ to find another way to terrorize your son before the nuptials.”
They shared a conspiratorial—and somewhat witchy—laugh as I sneaked away. Scanning the large room and the hall leading to the stairs, I glimpsed midnight hair pinned in some tendrily formation I couldn’t wait to let loose. I took the stairs at a run, cutting through everyone between a disappearing vision of Cat and me. Just as I reached the second floor landing, I was snagged by the back of my collar and pulled into Josh’s boyhood bedroom.
Dammit.
He kicked the door shut, and I spun to look at him. “How’re you doing?”
“I feel like I might throw up my balls through my mouth, man.”
Ugh. Not pretty.
“Deep breaths. A beer? Got that old bong rattlin’ around here somewhere?”
He turned a deeper shade of green and fell onto the bed.
Fuck. I rubbed his shoulders, kneading the tight muscles. “Just tell me you didn’t eat any shellfish. Jesus.”
“Not an allergic reaction. I ain’t eaten anything all day. Nerves.”
I kept up with the massage. “What the fuck are you nervous about? Leelee’s your woman, she’s gonna be your wife. You’ve got two amazing people in your life—her and the kid.”
The slow deep breaths worked, and he relaxed under my hands. Green-blue eyes rose to mine as normal color returned to his face. “Three amazing people, dude, includin’ you.”
“I swear to fuck, if you make me spring a leak again I’m going to punch you in the head.” My throat tightened.
“I’m not trying to make you cry. Wussy.” But his eyes were wet, too.
I stood beside his old twin bed, no longer big enough to fit him. I remembered the last time we’d done this, four-and-a-half years ago with his wedding to Crazy Claire. This time would be different. Josh and Leelee were made to last.
Three neat garment bags hung on the back of his door, one pint-sized compared to ours. “It’s time to get ready, Josh.”
“Yeah.” He inhaled, exhaled, and rubbed the heel of his palm over his chest. “I got this, right?”
“Pffft. ’Course you do. And if you fuck it up, I’m right there beside you.”
His grin hit me before his punch on my arm did. “Douche.”
“Bag.”
As we had so many times before for the big life-altering events and the not-so-epic nights out, we dressed next to each other. This time it was for keeps. If any two people deserved a happily-ever-after, it was Josh and Leelee.
Buttoning up his pressed shirt, Josh asked, “You get any more of the ‘I loathe yous’ from Cat?”
“Fuck.”
“You.” He smirked.
“Dickhead.” I pulled on my pale gray jacket. “We’ve been busy all week. I haven’t seen her since Sunday, what with her short work-week and me tied up with Marjorie and her ever-lovin’ Google calendar.”
“So?” He tackled his cream-colored vest, adding his wallet chain in lieu of a pocket watch. Gangster. “What about you?”
He made a mess of his skinny tie. I brushed away his shaky hands and tackled a fancy knot. Afterward, I stood still while he did the same to mine. “What about me?”
“Are you in love with her? Don’t be so fucking obtuse.”
“Obtuse, nice one. I’m rubbing off on you.”
“You’ve probably been rubbing one off,” he riffed.
A loud knock interrupted our back-and-forth. Fuggin’ Frankie The Tailor popped his black-plumed head inside then threw the door wide open. “Eh, need any help in here?”
“You invited him?” I whispered.
“He came to check the tuxes, apparently.”
Of course he would. Frankie was the best of the best in the Tri-County area, hole-in-the-wall or not. If his tuxes were walking down the aisle, he’d want to make sure they hung right. And double-check that Josh hung straight.
The word was he’d been a BFD in The Family before he came out. Then he got kicked out. I reckoned he still had connections neither one of us wanted to cross. He’d always been cool and controlled around me. Seeing him so flamboyant and forward all of a sudden because of Josh amused me.
Josh? Not so much.
It didn’t matter. Frankie loved weddings. And if Frankie wanted to come to the nuptials, Frankie was coming to the nuptials.
At least we looked awesom
e.
Josh had had his dark blond hair trimmed but still worked the rakish stubble. My hair was pulled back in a low ponytail. We stood still during inspection, Frankie walking a circuit around us. He whistled through his unlit Cuban, and I figured we passed muster.
He leaned in close for a gruff whisper to Josh, “You sure you’re hetero? Because I’d bottom for you, an’ I don’t let just anyone dick my a-hole.”
Josh looked like the tie I’d knotted around his throat strangled his last breath. “No disrespect, Frankie. And thank you for putting such fine work into our suits, I appreciate it. But I’ve got eyes for one woman only. Leelee.”
“Can’t blame a guy for carrying a candle, huh?” Frankie backed off. “Lei è un tesoro. I just came from her room. A lucky little lady, that one.”
“You saw her?” Josh’s eyes lit up.
Frankie nodded.
“In her wedding dress?”
Another nod.
“How’d she look?”
Frankie puckered up and kissed the tips of his fingers. “Badda boom, badda bing, my friend. Know what I mean?”
“Yeah,” Josh sighed.
Pointing his cigar at us, Frankie squinted. “Now don’t mess up my work before you head down the aisle. I got a reputation to uphold.”
As he departed, JJ swerved into the room, rolling to a stop in front of us. Dressed in tot-sized jeans and a cartoon T-shirt, he was in no way ready to rock the ring bearer job. I hogtied him between my thighs while Josh stripped him down. A warm washcloth was sent over his face, his hair, and his little pumping chest as he tried to wiggle away as if warm water was Kryptonite to his skin.
His tiny suit was laid out on the bed—gray and ivory like Josh’s. Clean undies pulled up after a tug-of-war in the bathroom to get him to take a leak before the nuptials, JJ looked at the get-up and pouted. “Aw, Daddy. Do I gotta?”
“Do I have to?” Josh replied.
“Do you haveta what?”
The kid was made for comic genius. I ruffled his hair. Josh patted the cowlick back down.
“Yes, you have to wear the bow tie and the jacket. It’s just for half an hour, forty minutes tops. Then I don’t care if you strip naked and stage dive into the cake.”
JJ’s eyebrows scrunched as he scratched his belly. “Don’t think Weewee wants me to dive into the cake, Daddy.”
“Figure of speech.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
Between the two of us, we managed to dress him—a mini-man matched version of us. His shoes were next, all of ours polished to a high gleam. I checked my watch. Fifteen minutes to go. I slipped from the room and I hit Gigi’s liquor cabinet, the one in her bedside table we’d discovered in our teens. With two stiff neat whiskeys in hand, I made it back in time to see Josh at his best.
He bent down on his knees and gathered his baby boy close. “You look real handsome, kid, real handsome.”
JJ tapped his papa’s cheeks with both hands. “You weakin’ again.”
“Yeah. Fuck. Can’t help it sometimes.” He kissed JJ on the forehead. “You good with this?”
“I wuv Weewee sooooo much. And don’t worry, Daddy. I won’t tell Jamma ya cussed.”
The groom and I knocked back the scotch and headed outside to get the wedding started.
****
Night had fully fallen by the time Josh and I took our places on the slightly raised, candle-lit altar. It was another of those warmer than usual lowcountry evenings as we stood beneath the bower draped in roses and vines of ivy.
Josh and L had kept it real simple, just me as the best man, Cat as a bridesmaid and Leelee’s best babe Vivian from back home as the maid of honor. Jack Johnson’s “Bubble Toes” live version came across the speakers, softly starting with a little rhythm. The reggae beachy song made for an untraditional wedding march, which made it perfect for Josh and Leelee.
There was no way I could stop the smile spilling across my lips as the processional began. The notes picked up with the singing and when the harmonica and blues started, JJ skipped down the steps, his small hands holding two precious packages—the wedding rings. Somewhere between Josh’s old bedroom and the upper porch, the kid had tied his Superman cape over his miniature tux. Josh barked a laugh as his boy traipsed down the aisle, focused on keeping the ring boxes steady in his hands. Hollers went up all around.
Josh stooped down to capture the boy wonder in his arms.
“Did I do good, Daddy? I din’t drop the rings!”
The rings were handed to me, and I deposited them in my pocket
Josh kissed both JJ’s cheeks and passed him off to Gigi in the front row. “Freakin’ perfect, kid. Perfect.”
The steel drums began, and the friends and family gathered to witness Leelee and Josh’s wedding joined in with whistles and claps. It was like a Baptist congregation of hell raisers and holy rollers. It was fucking awesome. I gripped Josh’s shoulder for a moment while I blinked back a haze of tears.
Cat appeared next and holy shit. She grooved down the aisle. My tears dried up real fast, and so did my mouth. Fuck me.
Leelee and her Wooly Mammoth father with his big wiry beard came after Vivian. They didn’t march solemnly. They danced a slick two-step down the pathway. Everyone shot to their feet with more shrill whistles and boisterous “Hell yeah” shouts.
“Holy shit.” Josh rubbed his palms on his thighs. “She’s hot. Are brides supposed to look that hot?”
“Smokin’,” I murmured back.
Although admittedly Leelee in her elegant off-the-shoulder, ivory silk creation was the showstopper, Cat caught and held my attention when she’d stopped on the far side of Josh. She’d been pulling my leg about the bridesmaid dresses—the leg between my thighs. The full impact of her strutting down the aisle had nothing on seeing her up close and personal. The sleek black satin dress had a wide V-neck. It revealed the curling lines of ink on her rounded shoulders. A tight bodice flared to a full skirt cut just below her knees, and tall heels showed off her killer legs.
As the tropical tune slowed down and dissolved away, Leelee was handed off with a hushed word of possible future ass-kicking if Josh didn’t take care of Brian Childe’s baby girl. Josh’s hand shook as he took Leelee’s in his. He ran his fingers over her unveiled cheek, catching a glimmering tear on his thumb. He’d vetoed the veil idea, claiming he wanted to see every expression during the ceremony.
In my eyes, everything and everyone paled in comparison to Wildcat. I stepped beside Josh, making sure I didn’t miss a single moment of her beauty. Her hair coiled on top of her head like a soft black confection. Jet curls bounced down her neck. The excited flash of her icy blue irises met mine, igniting a burn so hot it made my heart pound in my chest.
“Dear friends and family, with great affection for Joshua Stone and Leelee Childes, we have gathered together to witness and bless their union in marriage.”
As the pastor intoned his short welcoming sermon, Josh breathed in deep. His chest filled out his suit as if his heart would take flight. The love between him and Leelee was so strong it was nearly visible as they stood facing one another. Their emotion electrified the air around them. It affected me in impossible ways as I greedily watched Cat.
A pink blush swept across her cheeks. Her half-hooded eyes clung to mine with questions asked, questions answered. The flowers in her hands trembled, and I had a hard time standing still beside Josh as best man instead of marching right up to her and making her mine.
Standing on the altar with Cat did something irrevocable to me. I wanted her. I wanted her love.
Josh and Leelee’s vows began.
“Do you, Joshua, take Leelee as your lawfully wedded wife—”
He lifted Leelee’s hand to his lips. “Bet your ass I do.”
Leelee’s green eyes briefly closed as she smiled.
The pastor coughed. “May I continue?”
“Aw shit, did I jump the gun?”
Thattaboy.
Javier bawled like a baby. Tate held him close, smiling as he kissed his lover’s damp cheek. Sitting next to his missus, Ray let little Emma Jane suckle his fingertip like a pacifier. The three-month-old held him in her thrall until the tuckered out daddy nodded off. His old lady elbowed him awake.
Janice, Missy, and Jacqueline withheld their brash whoop-whoop-whoops but just barely. The air buzzed around them, their grins huge and unmistakable as Josh and Leelee tied the knot.
Across from them the Widows took up an entire bench with their plus-ones. Fawn shared a slow kiss with her girlfriend. Felicity whipped out her phone, tapping frenziedly and aiming the camera toward the altar, probably Hootsuiting the entire wedding.
She wasn’t to be outdone by Jules Gem, who videoed the whole affair from the sidelines. Jules managed to keep her voice to a low whisper for a change.
She directed her ever-present camera-hunk of the month. “Zoom in, closer, closer. Puurrrrfect.”
Josh had put a gag order on Jules to keep the wedding hush-hush and off the LitLuv website in return for an exclusive full-page spread in the spring Con magazine. The video would be eyes-only for Josh and Leelee.
Mimi snared my gaze and gave two unsubtle thumbs up aimed in Cat’s direction, which led me right back to my woman. The vows became background noise of Josh speaking strongly, Leelee never faltering as they each said I do. I couldn’t tear my gaze from Cat, and when a single tear slid down her cheek, I wanted to capture it, to kiss her.
My heart beat to a faster rhythm.
An elbow jab to my ribs woke me from my daydreaming.
“Rings, dude,” Josh hissed.
I fumbled in my pockets. After I dug them out, I placed one in Josh’s palm then Leelee’s.
“With this ring, I thee wed.” Josh’s baritone came out strong and clear. He slid the platinum band inset with shimmering emeralds and diamonds down Leelee’s finger.
“With this ring, I thee wed.” A wide band in solid dark titanium passed Josh’s big knuckles until it sat fair and square on his ring finger. Leelee’s tears glittered as he cupped her cheeks and tipped up her face.
