by Ali Parker
“Maybe he’s drowning in a bottle of vodka,” Easton said.
I shifted in my seat. “Hopefully not.”
Easton shrugged. “Losing Piper hit him hard. Harder than the rest of us, I’d say. Well, minus Mr. Canadian over there.”
If Joshua heard Easton’s comment, he didn’t let on.
Easton chuckled. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t put it past Levi. He’s an addict. You know? When something hits you hard like this, it’s hard not to reach for the things that used to give you comfort.”
“He’s come a long way,” Aaron offered. He always had a nice thing to say, I’d noticed. He wasn’t cocky like the others. Or proud. “It would be a shame if he threw away all his hard work because of this.”
“Because of her?” Easton corrected. “I don’t know. She did a number on a few of you. I could see it in your eyes that night.”
“And not you?” I challenged.
Easton ran a hand over his buzzed head and sank down deeper in his chair. “Oh, don’t get me wrong. She fucked me up good. But I knew from the very beginning she wouldn’t end up with me. I’m too much bullshit. She’s straight and narrow and good.”
I arched an eyebrow. “That’s the first thing you’ve said all year that I actually respect.”
A couple of men laughed.
Easton nodded at Cooper. “You’re the same, right?”
Cooper had just helped himself to a cold beer. He went to an open chair and fell heavily into it before popping the cap off the bottle and tilting it to drain the neck. He smacked his lips when he let the bottle rest on his knee. “First off, there was no way in hell she was choosing me. But if she had, I would’ve told her no. She’s too good for the likes of me. All I had to offer was sand and some good parties. The girl needs a hell of a lot more than that. She deserves it, too. And you know what? Wyatt can give that to her. I, for one, am looking forward to going to this wedding and closing the door on the year.”
I wished I could share in that sentiment. I rubbed at my temples. “Never thought I’d envy you, Cooper.”
Cooper Diaz chuckled. “Yeah. Well, crazier things have happened, right?”
“Right.”
Cooper cast a glance at his watch and sighed. “As for the rock star? Give him time. He’ll show.”
“How do you know?” Easton asked.
Cooper shrugged. “Because he still loves her. And he needs to see it with his own two eyes.”
“See what?” Joshua piped up from the back.
Cooper looked around knowingly at all of us. “The end of the line.”
Chapter 16
Jeremiah
The men all got to their feet and the private Casanova jet plane suddenly felt very crowded.
I stayed where I was, hunkered down in my seat, and finished sipping on the martini I’d ordered before landing. I watched the others crowd each other to get their luggage, and I tried to hide my smirk when they all eventually sat back down and waited for the pilot to clear us to get off the flight.
I’d spent my time in the air talking with the three others seated in my quadrant, Miles, Aaron, and Joshua.
The three artists and I didn’t have much in common. I came from a life of hard physical labor and exposure to the elements, and they came from a softer side. Aaron talked about his publishing success since Piper left and how he started writing a new line of books that were more in his interest niche. Miles talked about the travel he’d done, taking photos for magazines, and how his career had doubled in growth once his time with Piper was done.
Joshua didn’t say much of anything. He listened intently and indulged the others, but for the most part, he kept to himself, and I wondered if he was feeling the same way I was about this whole thing.
Which was, quite simply, terrible.
Even though it had only been weeks since we’d learned Piper had chosen Wyatt, it still felt like it had only been minutes. I woke up some mornings still believing that there was time left and I was still waiting on Piper’s decision. Then that last day at the Casanova Club would come back to me in a blur and I’d recall the way Wyatt had walked out of that room, like a man who’d just been taken off death row and told he was free.
I ached for that.
And for her.
But the truth was settling into my bones now. And it had to. We were here for her wedding, after all. And I hoped it would give me the closure I so desperately needed to be more like Aaron and Miles. Maybe after the wedding was over and the door was officially closed on Piper and me, I’d be able to find the silver lining in all of this. There would be a saving grace for me.
If not, I didn’t know what I would do with myself. Moving on sounded easier said than done. She’d turned my whole world topsy turvy in a matter of thirty days. My log house had never felt so big and empty before. Where I used to love the peace and quiet, I now found the solitude isolating. It didn’t bring the same calm it used to.
Instead, it made me a little stir crazy.
I wished for more nights with Piper in the kitchen. I wished for opportunities to do dishes with her, to sit outside under plaid blankets sipping coffee in the early mornings, to drive to work with her riding shotgun in my truck, her hardhat in her lap, her jeans hugging her ass and thighs just right.
“You coming, man?”
I looked up and found Joshua staring expectantly down at me. Everyone was getting off the plane.
I stood up, pulled my bag down from the overhead compartment, and slung it over my shoulder. “Yeah. Sorry. Got a little distracted.”
“Story of my life lately,” Joshua grumbled as he moved along down the aisle behind me.
The temperature was pleasant outside when my boots hit the tarmac. Winter in Austin wasn’t nearly what it was like back home. Right now, there was probably snow on the ground and it was the kind of wet cold that seeped right into your bones and left you permanently chilled until you had a hot shower.
I’d always liked the cold. But this was a nice reprieve.
A stretch Hummer limo met us out on the tarmac. The others got in ahead of me, and when I slid into the last seat, I was beside Cooper Diaz. He flashed me a white smile and offered me a bottle of beer, which he’d pulled out of the ice bucket in the side compartment.
I considered saying no.
Then I remembered I was on my way to Piper’s wedding. I held out my hand.
Cooper slapped the beer into my palm. “Wise choice, man. A little liquid courage never hurt anyone, right? Well, maybe the musician,” he added under his breath, “but you and me? We’re all right.”
I looked down the length of the limo to Levi.
He was tucked into one corner, his back braced against the closed window between the back of the limo and the driver’s seat. He had one knee raised, his hand dangling off of it, and he was staring out the window. I suspected he wasn’t really seeing the airport we left behind. He was probably seeing something else entirely. Memories of him and Piper, perhaps.
Poor bastard.
“Sucks to be him,” I said before popping the top off my beer and lifting it to my lips.
It was only ten in the morning. I didn’t give a damn. Several of the men seemed to share my sentiments because they were cutting into the beer, too. Christian was already halfway through his bottle. It was probably wise of him. Of all of us he was probably the least welcome at this wedding after the stunt he pulled at the party last month.
“How long of a drive did Jackson say it was again?” Aaron piped up from his spot beside Levi, who didn’t move a muscle.
Joshua sighed. “About an hour and a half.”
“Fuck me,” Cooper hissed beside me. “You know, it’s a little sadistic that we’re expected to go to this fucking thing and watch her marry another man. I mean, I knew all along I didn’t have a shot with a girl like Piper, but still. There’s only so much a man’s ego can take.”
Cooper had been one of the two most hated men in the group at the beginning of thi
s process. Now? Things had shifted. He wasn’t as deplorable as I’d first thought he was. Maybe part of that was due to the fact that he knew full well he wasn’t good enough for Piper. There was something likable about a man who knew what he had to offer and what he was worth. Sure, he was worth billions—more than the rest of us combined, potentially—but that didn’t mean he was worthy of love from a girl like Piper James.
“Wyatt is one lucky bastard,” Easton groaned from his spot across from Joshua. He picked at a loose thread on his shirt sleeve before looking around at the rest of us. “I can’t find it in me to be happy for him.”
“Then just be happy for her,” Asher said.
“Easier said than done,” Max noted before sipping his beer.
“I have the cure,” Cooper said.
Everyone turned to look at him. None of them looked particularly eager to hear what he had to say, but he captured their attention nevertheless, and knowing he had it, he paused for dramatic effect before bending and telling them what he thought they wanted to hear.
Cooper lifted a hand and pointed a finger at the ceiling. “You all need to get laid.”
Several of the men groaned.
“It doesn’t help,” one man said.
It took several seconds for me to realize it had been Levi.
All heads turned as if on a swivel from Cooper to the rock star, who was still staring out the window. His chest swelled as he heaved a mighty sigh. “You might think it would help. But it doesn’t. It just sort of… erases what you had left of her.”
Cooper laughed. “Leave it to the brooding musician to spoil a good fuck.”
“Shut up, Cooper,” I said dryly. “You’re not helping.”
He shrugged one shoulder and polished off his beer. “I’m not being a soul-sucking mope, either. You’ll be all right, Levi. You all will be. I know you don’t want to hear this right now but here’s a wake-up call. She’s just a girl. Albeit a brilliant, beautiful, wonderful, charming girl. Any of us would’ve been lucky to end up with her. But we’re not going to, all right? She chose her man. And from where I’m sitting, it’s obvious she chose right. If Wyatt was sitting amongst us in place of one of you, I doubt he’d be making such a sorry spectacle of himself.”
That was probably true. For this entire year, Wyatt had been the firm voice of reason. He’d been the one to stand up when others wouldn’t, the one to put men like Cooper and Easton in their place when they stepped too far out of line. The one to keep things respectable.
“Maybe you should be the one marrying the cowboy then, hey, Coop?” Miles teased.
The limo shook with deep chuckling.
Cooper flashed his smile around at us. “If Piper gets cold feet, maybe I will.”
More laughter ensued. It felt good. These men, not all of them, but some of them, had become friends over the course of the year. And even though I was hurting, it didn’t take away from the fact that they were too. We’d started this thing together and we’d finish it that way too.
We spent the rest of the drive fucking around. Some of the guys, like Cooper, tried to take our minds off the impending day with funny stories or jokes at each other’s expense. The distractions were more than welcome and only made Cooper bolder, which, if history was any indication, wasn’t usually a good thing.
“So Christian,” Cooper said as he leaned back against the leather seat beside me.
Christian looked up from where he was sitting wedged between Miles and Max. He arched an eyebrow as if to say ‘what do you want’, but didn’t say a word.
Cooper didn’t need an invitation to speak. “What went down between you and Piper out on the patio that night? Now that this whole thing is over I don’t see any reason why you can’t let us in on the scoop.”
Nobody laughed. Hell, nobody breathed. The limo was stiff and quiet and all eyes were on Christian, who tugged at the crisp white collar of his shirt.
“Nothing that matters,” Christian said. “Not anymore, anyway.”
Cooper’s lips pursed and he nudged me in the ribs with his elbow like he wanted me to back him up. “I don’t know,” Cooper mused. “It sure looked like it mattered.”
Christian stared darkly at the other man from beneath his brows. “It was between me and Piper. She told me private things during our time together. And I... I acted rashly. I confronted her when I should have left it alone. That’s the only reason why I’m here.”
“What’s that?” I asked. Cooper drank his beer with a cocky smirk, clearly pleased that someone else was getting in on the action with him.
Christian’s eyes flicked to me. “I need to apologize. Then I can close the door on this. And you sorry lot as well.”
Cooper chuckled. Some of the men nodded their heads in understanding. I still wondered what on earth was so bad he had to suffer through Piper’s wedding all to give her an in person apology.
The drive passed quicker than I expected. Before we realized it, we were slowing down to turn off a narrow country road and driving through a set of wrought-iron gates.
Cooper peered out the window at the rolling hills that stretched on for miles. “Jesus fucking hell,” he breathed. “There’s not a thing in sight. Who the hell would want to live way out here?”
“Cowboys,” I muttered.
“And Piper apparently,” Cooper added. “Fuck that. No ocean. No clubs.”
“We get it,” Camden said. “To each their own.”
The limo rolled down the long drive. All the men peered out the windows up at the ranch house, a beautiful testament to country architecture. The red barn stood tall and proud, its white trim almost seeming to glow in the morning sunlight. There were people milling around the property, the men in suits and the women in nice dresses with shawls draped over their shoulders.
I grimaced. “Well, it looks like this is happening.”
The limo stopped. One by one, we spilled out, our dress shoes crunching on the gravel. We straightened our ties and tugged at our cufflinks and looked around. We received a lot of curious stares from strangers passing by, and as we approached the barn, more and more people were beginning to arrive. One of the fields on the opposite side of the driveway from the ranch was being used as a parking lot. Signs driven into fence posts directed us past the barn and through the grass to the ceremony.
Somehow, I ended up walking alongside Levi, who walked with his head down and his hands in his pockets.
I considered asking him how he was holding up. But it was redundant. I knew he was having a hard time. Like me.
So we walked quietly, the others coming up behind us, until we reached the ceremony site, a beautiful weeping willow tree. The vines were parted like a curtain for guests to step through, and inside, under the canopy of leaves and petals, were rows of white chairs. An aisle of white fabric ran through the middle up to the trunk of the tree, where a floral archway had been put together.
I swallowed. In less than an hour, Piper and Wyatt would say “I do” under that archway and this would be over for good.
All eleven of us slid into the back row on the left side. Levi crossed one leg over the other and stared at the archway while the others inspected the whole area.
It was magical. I couldn’t deny that. I felt like I’d been transported to another world entirely. A world where Piper’s vision had been realized.
Levi let out a long sigh.
Without thinking, my lips formed words. “How are you hanging in there?”
Levi chuckled. “Oh, I’m fucking fantastic.”
I nodded.
He shot me a dark look. “Do me a favor tonight, man?”
“Sure.”
“Keep me the hell away from the bar.”
Chapter 17
Piper
I watched the bubbles climbing up the walls of my champagne glass as the makeup artist hired by Laurel worked to paint my lips a beautiful rich berry color. Initially, I was going to do red, but it hadn’t worked well with my dress. The berry,
almost a plum shade with a red undertone, complemented the look better. While she worked, my hairstylist wrapped strands of my hair around her curling wand, doused them in hairspray, and pulled the wand away to hold the curl in her palm while it cooled. As the stylists worked, the photographer snapped shots, moving around us like a ghost.
My stomach was as bubbly as the champagne. My nerves were at an all-time high but in the best possible way. The never-ending swirl of anticipation in my belly constantly reminded me to be present and mindful of today, of how far I’d come.
And of everything that still lay ahead for me and Wyatt.
Just over a year ago, I had been a waitress at a failing restaurant with no prospects. I had dreams, sure, but none of them felt like they could ever come true. They were the things I thought about at night to keep me going and give me the will I needed to face the next day bright and early with a smile on my face.
Now I woke with a genuine smile. I didn’t have to force it. It was part of me. And so was the resounding joy that sang in my veins every morning I rolled over and looked at the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with.
It hadn’t been easy getting to him. But it sure as hell had been worth it.
“Let’s put one last coat on those lovely lashes,” my makeup artist said when she finished with my lips. I looked up at the ceiling so she could apply another layer of mascara, and when she was done, she put a light dusting of shimmer across my collarbones. She stood back and nodded, pleased with her work, and stepped out of the way so I could see myself in the mirror.
My mother stood over my shoulder. “Oh my. Piper, you look absolutely beautiful.”
I felt it, too.
My fair skin was as smooth as porcelain. My cheeks were rosy and a white gold highlighter pulled focus to the high points of my face, my cheekbones, my brow bone, the tip of my nose, my chin, and my cupid’s bow. It caught the light and added contrast, as did the light dusting of bronzer and peachy blush. My dark berry lips were crisp and perfect, a bold but perfect choice for my wedding. My eyes were done in a light shimmery champagne that faded out past my crease, and she’d lined them in a dark brown to avoid it looking too harsh.
