As if he didn’t hear him, Tristan walked back to the doors leading to the sanctuary. He peeked through the small windows at the top of each double door and turned back to Ricky, pointing his finger towards the church. “That’s my girl in there!”
“Lower your voice man.”
Tristan punched himself in the chest hard, enunciating each word. “That’s my girl!”
Ricky continued to sympathetically look at Tristan, which made Tristan feel even worse. The last thing he needed was someone to feel sorry for him. He’d done enough of that the past seven years. What he needed was someone to stop this wedding from happening.
Tristan’s eyes widened in disbelief and his insides turned sour as he heard the unmistakable sound of applause coming from the sanctuary. The ceremony was over!
Tristan rushed back to the double doors and looked through the windows to find Serenity and Nyle kissing passionately. Their friends and family stood on their feet in wild applause as the minister pronounced them man and wife.
“No,” Tristan weakly said as he backed away from the door with his hands to his head. “No.”
“Tristan…” Ricky firmly began. “Tristan, listen to me…”
“No,” Tristan kept repeating as he paced back and forth. “No.”
Ricky felt helpless to the situation. He hated what was happening to his friend but there was nothing he could do about any of it. Tristan had been gone for seven years but he and Ricky kept in touch and talked at least once a week. Back in the day they had run the streets together, getting into all kinds of mischief and once Knight and Nyle had become famous, they’d enjoyed the perks of what fame and wealth had brought them. They even chased girls together.
Unfortunately, some of those girls were chased and caught while Tristan was in a relationship with Serenity. It was something Ricky wasn’t proud of, but he’d worked like hell to be a great friend to her over the years, sometimes offering her a shoulder to cry on during the rare times Nyle wasn’t around.
Serenity didn’t know Ricky was still in touch with Tristan. Tristan hadn’t wanted him to tell her and he’d honored Tristan’s wishes. Sometimes he wished he hadn’t.
Ricky cringed and shook his head as Tristan stalked to the wall beside the double doors and viciously punched. “Tristan, come on. Don’t do this to yourself man.”
Tristan momentarily stopped punching the wall and stalked back to the window on the doors, tears forming in his eyes as he watched Nyle and Serenity receiving their guests, their hands joined tightly between them as they hugged with their free hands. His heart ripped at the sight. That was supposed to be him in there. It was supposed to be him.
He abruptly turned back to Ricky, his lips trembling as the tears in his eyes started to fall. “She can’t marry him Ricky,” he painfully whimpered.
“Tristan- “
“She can’t.”
“It’s too late man. You need to leave. They’ll be out here in a minute. Spare them and yourself the embarrassment of seeing you here and get out of here now.”
Tristan put his hand to the door. “I’ve got to put a stop to this.”
Ricky rushed over to Tristan and grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the door. “Tristan, you left bro. You left.”
“Ricky, I told you why- “
“Yes, I know. But you still left. You haven’t been back. Not a word, a letter, nothing. Leave them alone. Let her be happy man. Just move on.”
Tristan put his hands on his hips and shook his head as he paced back and forth, crying quietly. “She’s everything to me man. Everything. She can’t be with Nyle, she can’t. I didn’t mean to hurt her. I didn’t mean to… I was trying to protect her… You know that. I wasn’t ready. So much was fucked up about me, and I just wanted to fix it.”
He stopped and heavily sighed, almost keeling over from the pain in his chest. “I just wish I could start all over again. I wish I could start over…”
Ricky didn’t know what to say. “I know. But you can’t.”
“You know this isn’t right Ricky.” Tristan stopped walking and looked over at him. “You know it’s not right.”
“It doesn’t matter what’s right or what’s wrong man. The only thing that matters is Serenity is in a better place now, she’s happy- “
“Ricky this is wrong, and you know it’s wrong! That bastard knows the truth. And he didn’t tell her. I’d bet my life on that. If he did, I guarantee you this wedding wouldn’t be happening right now. It wouldn’t.”
“It doesn’t matter if she knows the truth or not; the end result would still be the same. The past seven years would still be the past seven years and you still left her alone like a coward. Don’t look at me like that, it’s true. You weren’t here to see her suffer man. You didn’t see her fall apart. This is the happiest I’ve seen her since before you left.
“I know you don’t want to hear this but Nyle is the best thing that ever happened to her. She deserves this happily ever after with everything she’s been through. Don’t rob her of that happiness man, I’m begging you. Don’t do that to her.”
Tristan stopped pacing and looked at Ricky, his face singed with heavy emotion as he listened silently.
“You say you love her? Then leave her alone. That’s the best thing you can do for her. Seeing you now would just turn her world upside down again.”
Tristan swore under his breath and looked down at the floor. He knew what Ricky said made sense, but he couldn’t walk away from her now. Not after what he’d just seen in that church. Not after he’d seen the love and passion in her eyes. Not after he’d seen her forgiveness.
Tristan stilled as his blood ran cold. He’d also seen those emotions wither away like dust. He’d seen the love transform into simmering anger. She still loved him; that he was sure of. But he wasn’t sure if the love trumped the anger.
Tristan walked over to Ricky, his eyes desperate and anxious. “Just get her for me Ricky. Just let me talk to her for a second. Let me try to explain.”
“No.”
“Come on man. You owe me that.”
“I owe you?” Ricky scoffed. He dryly chuckled and shook his head. He handed the gun back to Tristan and pushed him towards the front entrance of the church. “Get out of here man. I’m serious. Take that gun somewhere and dump it. I don’t know what the fuck you were thinking bringing that shit in here.”
“I was going to do what I had to do.”
“What? Kill him? What was that going to solve? She still wouldn’t come back to you. Especially after something like that.”
“Maybe not. But she wouldn’t be with him either.”
Ricky resignedly shook his head at his friend and turned to go back inside the sanctuary. “I’ve gotta go back inside. They’ll be coming out in a minute. You better go.”
“No. I’m not going anywhere.”
Ricky loudly sighed and turned back. “Tristan- “
“Tristan!” a feminine voice loud-whispered from the other side of the room.
Ricky and Tristan both stopped and looked to the side of them, their eyes widening at the sight of Tristan’s mother Katherine exiting from a side door in the sanctuary.
Tristan gulped and quickly put the gun behind his back. He hastily wiped his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair, hopelessly attempting to look presentable to his mother.
Katherine approached him guardedly, her beautiful mature face clouded with a mixture of maternal love and disappointment. She stopped just in front of Tristan and tilted her head at him. Her hand went up to stroke his face and Tristan steeled himself, trying hard not to start crying again.
“Son…” she warily began.
Tristan’s lip beginning trembling, betraying his steely resolve. The tears he was working so hard to hold at bay began cascading down his cheeks once again. “M-Mom…”
Katherine closed her eyes and shook her head, pressing a warm finger to his lips. She opened hazel eyes to reveal her own brimming tears and leaned forward,
kissing him chastely on the cheek. “Go home baby. Go home.”
“Mom- “
“Go home Tristan,” she stated with no-nonsense finality. “Now.”
Tristan looked towards the doors of the sanctuary, a toxic mix of defiance, pain, and fury swirling wildly inside of him like an F-5 tornado. He looked at his mother and fiercely clenched his jaw.
“I mean it,” she said. She stared at him for a long moment, then turned and left, walking back through the door she’d exited.
Tristan could still hear the cries of happiness and excitement from inside when the door opened. He clutched the gun at his back and gritted his teeth, willing himself to calm down.
“Tristan…” Ricky began.
Tristan looked over at him with dangerously narrowed eyes.
“Do you really want to be standing here when they come out?”
Tristan silently looked at Ricky for a few seconds; then viciously swore under his breath and went over to a chair situated by one of the front bathrooms. He grabbed a huge duffel bag from beneath it and walked back over to Ricky, shoving it into his chest.
“I want you to give this to Serenity,” he seriously began.
Ricky looked down at the bag and looked up at Tristan in question.
“There are letters in there,” Tristan explained. “Letters that I wrote to Serenity. From the day I left, I’ve written a letter to her every day. Every. Single. Day. There are 365 letters in that bag.”
Tristan reached in the right pocket of his jeans and pulled out a key. “This is a key to a safe deposit box I have at a bank downtown. In that safe deposit box are the rest of the letters. There are over 2,000 of them. All for her. All to her. I want you to give her this bag, and I want you to give her this key. I want you to give it to her alone. I don’t want Nyle to see it or know about it. I need you to do this for me man. It explains everything. Everything. Can you do that for me?”
Ricky thoughtfully looked at Tristan for a moment, looked down at the bag again, looked back up at Tristan and mutely nodded.
“Make sure she gets it.” Tristan emotionally stood staring at his friend for a moment; then haltingly raised his eyes to the windows on the double doors. He could see Nyle and Serenity making their way up the aisle to exit.
Tristan quickly lifted his shirt, stuffed the gun down the front of his left jean pocket, and pulled his shirt back down. Without another word, he turned and swiftly left the church. The door closed behind him just as Nyle and Serenity ran through the double doors, talking animatedly and laughing with excitement. The sound of their laughter haunted him all the way back to his hotel.
NYLE
I am the luckiest man in the world…
The wedding was over and Nyle Wentworth was on cloud nine. The wedding had gone off without a hitch and he had married the woman of his dreams and the love of his life, without incident. The reception was dwindling down and only a few people remained, including his mother and stepfather. Nyle was idly standing in the back of the huge reception hall of the church, beaming widely, taking it all in and counting his blessings. He couldn’t have dreamed a more appropriate wedding day. The reception had been fun and festive. He and Serenity had danced their first dance to an original composition that Nyle had written just for her. It was called “The Day” and it was broken down into three parts: The day they met, the day he realized he was in love with her, and the day he proposed. There hadn’t been a dry eye in the house while the song played, including his and Serenity’s.
Afterwards, they had made their rounds, thanking friends and family for their attendance and never-ending love and support and they’d received heartfelt well-wishes in return. The gift table was stacked beyond capacity and there were even more outside in the limo that was waiting to take them to the private jet that would whisk them away to their honeymoon destination.
Nyle glanced over at Serenity and his breath hitched in his throat. Long as he lived, he would never get used to her breath-taking beauty. She was honestly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and he didn’t feel that way just because he loved her, and she was his wife. It was her spirit. It was the way she loved him. The way she took care of him. The way she made him feel. He had given her the wedding of her dreams and she had deserved every penny that was spent. She seemed happy. He hoped she was happy. He knew she was still conflicted about things. Like Tristan’s family for one. Nyle noted Tristan’s mother Katherine had abruptly gotten up and briefly left the church not long after the pastor had sealed their matrimony. He guessed watching the woman her son loved marrying someone else was hard on her.
When he and Tristan were growing up, Katherine had been like a second mother to Nyle but things understandably became somewhat strained and tense when he started dating Serenity. She was distantly polite but still reserved. He appreciated her coming to the wedding and he hoped they could rebuild their relationship in the near future. He knew Serenity was still close to her and he wanted to share that bond with her. He knew it would take some time, but he was still hopeful.
Nyle felt his heart skip several beats when Serenity looked over at him and smiled. She briefly held eye contact with him then turned her attention back to the person she was standing alongside. She was engrossed in a deep conversation with her best friend Kara, their heads close together; their eyes bright with laughter, their hands cupped around their mouths as if they were sharing some dirty joke. Knowing Kara and her filthy mouth, they probably were.
Nyle swallowed hard as her beauty continued to consume his vision. She was finally his. Mrs. Nyle Wentworth. Tonight, when he finally made love to her for the first time, she would be his in ever since of the word. He couldn’t wait to bury himself deep inside of her. He had been waiting for that moment for so long. It was long overdue.
Nyle stroked his beard and mustache with his finger, something he subconsciously did when he was lost in thought. He felt almost ashamed at the thoughts that were going through his head as he hungrily roamed his wife’s shapely form from top to bottom in her too sexy for church wedding dress. He was going to peel it off her, inch by delicious inch. His shaft twitched as he thought about what kind of underwear, she might be wearing beneath it and if she was wearing any at all. Serenity liked to be “free” sometimes. Fuck. If she wasn’t wearing panties, he doubted they’d make it to the marriage bed for their first dalliance.
Just then, Serenity looked up at him again, her eyes lingering on his as she watched him watching her. A teasing smile played against the corner of her lips. She no doubt knew what he was thinking about and she playfully got off on it. He was trying so hard not to eye-fuck her right there in the church, but she was making it so fuckin’ hard. Looking at him sweetly with those light-brown mesmerizing eyes. His shaft strained the length of his zipper and he almost moaned out loud. Fuck. How much longer until they could leave? He wanted her so badly right now. So bad he could almost taste it.
He wondered if anyone could tell they were practically fucking each-other right there in the reception hall. Kara was completely oblivious, still running off at the mouth about whatever she and Serenity had been talking about.
Nyle deeply inhaled and exhaled, willing his excited body to calm down. He was almost biting his finger now. The love he saw in her eyes made him feel like he could fly to heaven without wings. There was so much there. Intensity. Desire. Mad heat. Love. He hoped and prayed he wasn’t imaging it. They had been together two years and had just vowed to love one another until death but he still felt like it was all a dream sometimes.
She had been so in love and devoted to Tristan he couldn’t imagine her loving anyone else, especially him. Sometimes the insecure part of him believed she was with him just to spite Tristan, to replace him, or worse, because Nyle was the closest thing to him. Looking at her now and seeing the overwhelming tender emotion she had in her eyes, he knew it was real and it was all for him. Seeing it and reveling in it, he couldn’t hold back or help himself.
He walked ove
r to her and placed his hand to her slender neck, stroking her delicate honey-colored skin. Several strands of her hair had come loose and were hanging down her back and he gently tugged them, leaning his mouth to hers, Kara and whomever else was watching be damned. He gently moved his eager lips over her soft ones; then greedily slipped his tongue inside. Serenity arched her mouth to him and wantonly kissed him back, lifting her hand to stroke him tenderly on his face, slowly running her fingers through his beard.
Their guests began hooting and hollering, hitting their champagne glasses with silverware. Over in the corner, Nyle’s mother and stepfather beamed proudly with tears in their eyes as they watched the passionate couple. They had been there with them throughout their entire journey and couldn’t be happier or prouder of how far they’d come.
Mine All Mine : Book One Page 4