by Cora Brent
“Anytime.”
“Where’s Cassie?” Breck looked around hopefully. He adored my girlfriend.
“She’s staying at Cord and Saylor’s place tonight.”
He nodded. “Right. I forgot.”
“Why’d you get home late?” I asked.
Brecken shrugged. “I told Thomas I’d stay at the field for a while and catch the balls he pitched.”
Thomas was Cassie’s cousin. The two boys were about the same age and they were both into baseball so they’d become good friends.
“Oh,” I said, wondering how to pick my words. “So you and Thomas…”
“Aw, jeez.” Brecken rolled his eyes. “Thomas is my buddy. That’s all.”
“Okay.”
“He’s not my type.”
“Fine.”
“And he’s into girls. He’s got like seventy girlfriends.”
I held up a defensive hand. “All right, all right.”
“Besides.” Brecken grew thoughtful and then blushed. “I like someone else.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Who?”
My kid brother’s blush deepened. “I know him from school. We’ve been talking. You’d like him. Bushwick’s super smart.”
“His name’s Bushwick?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you call him Bush or Wick for short?”
Breck tried to punch me. I dodged the blow.
“Never mind,” he said in a huff.
I grinned. “Just messing with you. Tell me more.”
Breck considered. “I’ll tell you more if you buy me a few hamburgers.”
“You’re still hungry after all that pasta salad?”
Now it was his turn to grin. “Naturally.”
“All right.” I searched around for my keys and found them on the couch beside my tux.
“Is that your penguin suit?” Breck asked.
“It is. Which reminds me, did you press your shirt and pants for tomorrow?”
“No, but I will.”
“Make sure you do.”
He rolled his eyes again. It was getting to be a habit with that kid. “I said I will.”
“Great.” I flipped my key ring around one finger. “Hamburger Haven awaits.”
Brecken brightened. “Two burgers with double cheese and mushrooms.”
“Fine. It’s your heartburn.”
He beat me to the door and I chuckled. But as I turned around to lock the door a dark feeling swept over me. I didn’t know why. Tomorrow was going to be a happy day. All was well. Maybe it was because I’d been thinking of Tristan earlier. Maybe it was some buried instinct for looming danger that may or may not be real.
Whatever the reason, I couldn’t shake the vague feeling of restlessness for the rest of the night.
CHAPTER TWO
Dalton
“Take the last one.”
“Nah, you take the last one.”
“Quit being such an unselfish motherfucker and eat the last damn chip.”
“Fine.” I flipped off my brother and reached for the sole loaded nacho still hanging out on the platter. Hale was quicker and swiped it right out from under me, depositing the chip in his mouth with a triumphant wink, reminding me that no matter how old we got he was still the big brother who knew how to get the best of me if he wanted to.
“Asshole.” I threw a napkin at him.
He swallowed and laughed. “I’ll make it up to you,” he said and tossed five crisp twenties on the table.
“Any change?” the waitress asked when she stopped by to settle the bill.
My brother waved a hand and said, “Keep it,” while offering up a flirtatious grin even though the woman was on the tired side of fifty and wearing a wedding band.
Still, she blushed. “Thanks,” she said and disappeared with the money.
I stood up, patting my back pocket in search of my keys. “That must have been a hundred percent tip.”
Hale drained the last ounce remaining in his beer glass. It might have been his third. Or his fourth. I hadn’t paid attention.
“I’m a generous guy,” he insisted.
“I guess things are going well then,” I said, choosing my words carefully. Direct questions would get you nowhere with Hale. Long ago I’d figured out he had his reasons and the reasons probably weren’t on the cooperative side of the law. But he never hinted about any trouble and at this point I was fairly convinced my brother was invincible.
Hale set his glass down and shifted his gaze toward the bar. “I’m doing well enough,” he said but because I was watching him I noticed a slight wrinkle crease the skin between his brows. Maybe there was something bothering him after all. Or maybe he was wishing for another drink. At any rate, the troubled look disappeared as quickly as it came. He smirked at me as he rose from his chair and stretched.
“You sure I can’t talk you into seeking a more exciting landscape tonight?” he asked.
I shook my head, knowing Hale’s idea of an exciting landscape probably involved hard liquor and bare tits. “I think I’ve got enough excitement on the horizon.”
He nodded, looking unsurprised, and let me lead the way out of the crowded restaurant. We passed a table of young women who were laughing with abandon while sucking back margaritas. The sight of them made me wonder what Cami was doing right now.
“I parked my bike all the way over in the next lot,” Hale said once we were outside. “So I guess this is where we say good night.”
I looked him over. He seemed steady, perfectly sober. I knew he wouldn’t take me up on the offer but I made it anyway. “I can give you a ride if you’ve had one too many.”
Hale was amused. “You know I can hold my alcohol better than three of you, little brother.”
“Right,” I nodded. “Just asking.”
He tipped his head back to check out the clear night sky and took his time before speaking. “Don’t worry, Dalton. I’m the last thing you should worry about right now.”
“Actually I’m not worried at all,” I said, joining Hale in a brief moment of star gazing. There were too many lights from the city to get a proper view of the sky. Two nights from now I’d have a different view. After spending our wedding night at a five star resort in Phoenix, Cami and I would drive up to the White Mountains and have our honeymoon at a remote cabin. Ten days, just me and her. Husband and wife. Fucking heaven.
“And then I told her you better suck that shit good, you bitch,” slurred a voice at my back. There was a pack of muscled frat boys lurching past us, probably en route to the Irish themed bar on the corner.
“Watch it, asshole,” Hale warned when one of them knocked into me. The college guy looked up with a defiant sneer, then thought better of the situation and kept walking. That was a good decision. Hale wasn’t the type to back down no matter the odds and I’d hate to have to deal with explaining to my bride why I was sporting a shiner in the wedding photos.
That reminded me of something.
I nudged Hale. “Hey, you picked up your tux, right?”
His narrowed eyes were still following the drunken college boys but he shifted his gaze and broke into a smile. “Of course I did. I’m the best man.”
“Yes you are,” I said. “And there’s no one I’d rather have by my side when I marry my dream girl.”
His grin widened. “Cami’s a winner, that’s for sure. From the moment I met her I knew she was worth going the distance for.”
“You won’t hear an argument from me,” I said, feeling a thrill of excitement that at this time tomorrow Camille Gentry would be my wife. It was hard to believe she hadn’t always been in my life, that only a few years ago I met this brilliant, gorgeous woman who was everything I could ever hope for.
Hale was staring at me. “You’re happy,” he observed. “No one deserves that more.”
“You know,” I told my brother, “I bet one of these days you’ll find your perfect match.”
I expected him to laugh off the comment but he d
idn’t. A strange look passed over his face and he squinted off into the distance.
“Maybe I already have,” he said.
“What?” I was a little stunned. As far as I knew Hale didn’t have much affection for monogamy. “What aren’t you telling me? Should I make a last minute addition to the guest list?”
Hale just shook his head and clapped a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll tell you all about it in due time,” he said. “For tonight, you go get your beauty sleep. Becoming a husband is bound to be hard work, not that I’d know.”
There was something in his tone, a tired kind of resignation that made me wonder.
“Is everything okay?” I pressed.
My brother, prone to impatience, was already walking away. “Never better,” he called, turning around and walking backward. “See you tomorrow.”
“Three o’clock,” I reminded him because my brother didn’t always make scheduling a priority. “Don’t be late, Hale. I need you by my side.”
Hale saluted to acknowledge he’d heard me.
I started to turn away and then heard my name.
“Hey Dalton,” Hale called from twenty feet away. “You can count on the fact that I’ll always be at your side, whether you know I’m there or not.” Then he continued on his way without waiting for a reply.
I watched him turn the corner and then headed for my truck. Hale was three years older and much of the time we hadn’t been the closest of brothers, our personalities always too different to really connect. But these last few years we’d tried a little harder and even if I didn’t know what went on inside his head I had no doubts about his loyalty. I meant it when I told him there was no one else I’d rather have next to me when I slipped a ring on Cami’s finger.
As I slid into my truck I made a last minute plan. Cami, who usually embodied the zenith of practicality, had decided to get all kinds of superstitious when it came to the wedding.
She didn’t want me to see her dress.
She insisted that we shouldn’t share our vows with each other ahead of time.
And she didn’t want to spend our last unmarried night in our condo.
But she never said that I was forbidden from driving to her father’s house and demanding a goodnight kiss. So that’s what I did.
The lights were still on at Cord Gentry’s home. After all, it wasn’t late, only half past nine. Everyone inside the house would still be awake, likely checking off to-do lists for last minute wedding preparations. If I’d walked up to the door and knocked, Cami’s parents would have invited me right in. But I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to share a private moment with my bride-to-be, to hold her in my arms and whisper the words that had been running through my mind all day.
Can’t wait to marry you.
There hadn’t been a rehearsal dinner. Cami and I agreed it would be redundant. What the hell did we need to rehearse for? It seemed I’d been ready to utter the words “I do,” since I met her.
The gate to the backyard was locked so I had to climb over it. It should have been an easy leap. Except when I landed I accidentally kicked over something that fell to the tiled patio with a splintering crack. I also managed to trip a motion sensor floodlight, freezing me in its glare as if I was being spotlighted on a stage. Inside the house the Gentrys’ friendly but ancient dog erupted in a barking frenzy. The blinds were raised at a nearby window, the window that I knew belonged to Cami’s old bedroom.
I was still standing in the spotlight by the gate when the window opened and a blonde head appeared.
Cassidy, Cami’s twin sister, gaped at me. “Dalton, is that you?”
“Hi,” I said and took a step, bumping into something else along the way. There was another loud crash and now I could see why. I’d made mincemeat of a stack of glazed ceramic pots.
By this time Cami had appeared at the window beside her sister. She was wearing a white tank top and no makeup, her chestnut hair spilling over her shoulders, a beautifully puzzled expression on her face.
“Dalton,” she sputtered. “WHAT are you doing?”
“Uh, well,” I started to explain when the side door to the house banged shut and the angry voice of Cord Gentry boomed in the darkness.
“Who the fuck is back there?”
“It’s me,” I said, waving my hand and feeling like a first class idiot. “It’s Dalton.”
I couldn’t see the expression on the face of Cami’s father. That was probably a good thing.
The door opened again and a woman emerged.
“What’s going on?” asked Saylor Gentry, Cami’s mother.
“Dalton’s here,” her husband grumbled.
“Where?”
“In the backyard.”
“Why?” Saylor asked.
“Hell if I know.”
I cleared my throat. “I just stopped by to say good night to Cami.”
“Most people ring the doorbell when they stop by,” Cord pointed out.
“Ah, yeah. I was trying not to disturb everyone.”
“Really? You failed.”
Cami and Cassie issued identical snorts of laughter. They were fraternal twins, differing in both looks and temperament. But their laughter always sounded the same.
“I’m really sorry,” I said, thinking I could hear the whistling sound of my stock plummeting by the second.
“Never mind,” laughed Saylor, pushing her husband back into the house. “We’ll see you tomorrow, Dalton. Oh, but watch out for my pots. They’re stacked up beside the gate.”
The door to the house closed.
“You didn’t watch out for the pots,” Cami sighed, observing the ceramic fragments.
“That’s too bad,” Cassie added. “You know, every few months she visits the plant nursery down the road and buys a batch of succulent cacti to fill them.”
“And they always die within a month,” Cami said.
Her sister sighed. “I’ve always been mystified how someone can manage to kill so much cactus here in the desert.”
Cami agreed. “If there’s a record for cactus slaughter I’m sure our darling mother has broken it.” She turned to me. “Dalton, why didn’t you just text to let me know you were here?”
I nudged the largest fragments aside with my shoe. “Call it a failed attempt at romantic spontaneity.”
“I wouldn’t say that.” Cami swung her legs around so they dangled from the low window ledge. “Come here.”
“If this is going to get mushy I’m closing the window,” Cassie warned.
Cami jumped from the window ledge and onto the patio. “It’s going to get mushy,” she told her sister. “And possibly pornographic.”
Cassie shut the window and closed the blinds while I stepped away from the mess I’d made of Saylor’s pottery.
“Don’t worry about that,” Cami said as she slipped into my arms. “I’ll clean it all up. My mom should pursue a hobby that’s healthier than cactus genocide anyway.”
Holding her always felt as natural as breathing. The floodlight clicked off now that I wasn’t in the path of the motion sensor. My hands settled on the curve of her waist and I pulled her closer while awakening a few feelings below the belt.
“Did you mean that? About things getting pornographic?” I asked.
She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and smiled up at me in the darkness. “No.”
“Tease.”
“Prowler.” She wrinkled her nose. “What was your plan anyway?”
“I don’t know. I thought maybe I’d knock on your bedroom window, deliver a Shakespearean ode and fuck you against the stucco wall over there.”
Cami clucked with mock disapproval. “Some might say it’s bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other the night before the wedding.”
“It’s dark out. And I’m not worried about bad luck.”
“What are you worried about Dalton?”
“Nothing.” I planted a kiss on her lips, every important impulse demanding to take more. My voice l
owered to a husky whisper. “There’s nothing to worry about, Camille. Tomorrow will be incredible.”
She pressed into me with a happy sigh. “It will be, won’t it?”
“Absolutely.”
“I almost can’t believe that by this time tomorrow I’ll be your wife.”
I slid my hand inside the elastic waistband of her shorts. “All mine. To do with as I please.”
Cami was amused. “That makes it sound like you’re going to carry me to your cave by my hair.”
I snuck a finger into her panties, felt how much she liked it. “We can play that game if you want to.”
“I want to,” she breathed. She moved her hand low and tinkered with my zipper. “But I need a little something from you now.”
I flicked the snap of my jeans open with one hand while the other continued to explore the inside of her underpants. There was no need to wait until the wedding night. I’d want her just as bad tomorrow as I did tonight.
“I can give you whatever you need, honey.”
Cami abruptly withdrew her hand from my dick, reached around and slapped me on the ass. “Go home, Dalton.”
“What?”
She wriggled out of my grip and even in the pale moonlight I could see her teasing grin. “I said go home. I need to get some sleep so I don’t have bags under my eyes when I am immortalized in our wedding photos.”
My brain was catching up to the turn of events but my dick was still in sex mode. “Come on, you know you always sleep better after an orgasm.”
Cami was already backing up in the direction of the window. She blew me a kiss. “Good night, my love.”
With a groan I tucked my dick away. There was nothing to do but turn around and retreat. My shoe kicked a pottery fragment.
“Shit,” I said. “Is there a broom around here?”
“I told you not to worry about that,” Cami said. “Cassie and I will deal with it.”
I didn’t like leaving a mess behind. “Isn’t there anything I can do?”
“Yes. Show up on time to marry me tomorrow.”
“I’ll be on time,” I promised. “Anyway, I really just came here tonight to say one thing to you.”
She cocked her head. “And what’s that?”
“I can’t fucking wait to marry you, Camille Gentry.”
