by Eden O'Neill
Correcting that, I headed in while the rest of the world passed well wishes after their town car. I figured they’d both probably need a way to get their gifts home, and since I was the man of honor, why not.
My steps guided me past ice sculptures and twinkling lights, the entire house decked out tonight for the festivities. At one point, the place actually snowed inside.
I shit you not.
It’d been fake snow, but snow nonetheless and an added touch to Prinze and the extra limb he’d gone out on to make this day the true essence of winter. His bride was named December, so he brought her that, December, and it hadn’t mattered they’d gotten married after the first of the year. Prinze had pulled out all the stops, totally him.
Laughing a little at it, I eventually found myself back in the ballroom depleted of guests. With most folks outside, nothing but the house band and a few other chatting wedding guests resided inside. As I had a date with the gift table, I ventured there but found a small congregation had already gathered by the time I’d gotten there.
Knight Reed, one of Royal’s best men, handed gifts off to another one of Royal’s guys, LJ. They had a cart between them, the thing already stacked with large packages wrapped in colorful foils and decorative paper. At the helm of the cart (and waiting rather impatiently I might add) stood Jaxen Ambrose, Prinze’s third and final member of his guys-in-waiting. The dude had a joint behind his ear and his girlfriend, Cleo, under his arm, most assuredly the reason for his lack of patience.
I hadn’t seen him or the other guys most of the night, but that’d only been half my fault. Windsor House had a lot of nooks and crannies to get lost in, a lot of bedrooms, and odds were, these guys were doing their girls as much as the Cha-Cha Slide tonight. Knight and LJ had girlfriends too, both of which I’d seen outside waving Royal and December off. The guys had probably escaped to handle the gifts, and since Jax basically only left his girlfriend to pee today, he’d most likely dragged her inside with him. I’d heard he actually donated a kidney to her…
Right?
I’d seen some interesting things in my life, but miracles? Well, I could honestly say I’d witnessed four. The first had been Royal Prinze actually deciding to marry someone who wasn’t himself, and the second, third, and fourth consisted of these three dudes settling down with something besides their right hands. Don’t get me wrong. I’d held my fair share of women over the years, but these guys? These guys had ventured into nothing but fuckboy territory and definitely hadn’t looked anywhere close to settling down.
They weren’t that now, and Jaxen barely allowed an inch between him and his girl. He lifted a hand when he saw me, relaxed, and when the others jutted their chins in a similar easy-going fashion, I realized how much really had changed. These dudes had hated my ass in school, super loyal to Prinze, and though we’d squashed most of our shit back then, they’d never been really excited to pass me their hand. I’d noticed the change first with Prinze after he and December got serious. Back then, the others had followed his example, but I think only mostly due to loyalty. We hadn’t been each other’s biggest fans, a history there, but with the wedding excitement around us and their girls at their sides, it’d been like I was dealing with different men. They were different. They’d changed.
Jax and I snapped after our handshake, and fuck me, if Knight friggin’ Reed didn’t bring me into a hug after ours. He’d had his pal Heineken in his hand, so I had a feeling it had something to do with that, but when LJ did the same after our hands met, I just laughed and accepted it. These guys really had transformed, wild.
“Bro. We fucking rocked this shit tonight.” LJ bumped my fist, then settled back. “I swear, I saw Royal fucking cry.”
“Oh, he totally cried,” I said, chuckling and again, wild. I shook my head. “Never thought I’d see the day.”
“Right?” Jax hit my chest. “I thought I was going to have to hand him my pocket square.”
“Shit, I did hand him mine.” Knight threw his head back in laughter. “It was right after their first look photos. Dude was a fucking mess.”
“Don’t act like that won’t be both you fuckers.” LJ crossed a patent leather shoe over the other, smirking. “Especially you, kidney boy. I saw you making goo-goo eyes over at your girl the whole ceremony.”
He jerked his chin in the direction of Cleo, the girl instantly flushing to her ears. Out of all the girls, she seemed like the shiest. Apparently unashamed by the comment, Jax knotted his arms around her trim waist.
“Fuck yeah, I’m going to fucking cry.” He rested a chin on Cleo’s shoulder, staking his claim further when he tugged her into him. He grinned. “Real men aren’t afraid to shed tears for their girls. I think my moms will be surprised if I don’t cry.”
He had been raised by women, his mom and her partner, and he was right. There was nothing wrong with crying. I, too, had been basically raised and supported by a woman, my dad fucking useless. He’d abandoned me in all ways beyond the physical and even worse when I’d gotten older.
In fact, many of these men lacked influential father figures in their lives, Prinze included, and they’d obviously done all right. They didn’t let that technicality hold them back. They grew despite that, thrived even.
Not really trying to think about that, I offered to take the wedding gifts myself. That’d been the reason I came inside and had nothing else to do. The rest of my night would consist of Netflix and my own bottle of Heineken, so it was the least I could do to transport the wedding gifts to where they needed to go.
“Oh, let us do that, bro,” came from Knight Reed, handing LJ another package. “It’s the best men’s job, anyway.”
“Yeah, we got this,” LJ said, placing a rather large gift on the cart between them. “Anyway, you should take it easy. You’ve been, like, everywhere tonight, brother. Helping and shit.”
“Yeah, he has.” Jax arranged the gift on the cart, chuckling. “Didn’t see you around tonight at all, and when I did, you looked like the maintenance crew.”
Had it been that obvious? I shrugged. “Just trying to help out.”
“Well, I think you’ve got that accomplished.” That last gift settled, Knight angled his big body back against the gift table. The guy was built like a Marine and I knew Marines. Had one or two in my family, and this guy could give any one a run for their money with his size. He was basically popping out of his gray suit. He grinned. “Like LJ said, take it easy. We’ll make sure these get to Royal and December’s place. Go have fun. Cash in one of those many digits I’m sure you got tonight.”
A jostle from more than one of them tonight for that and the bouquet toss fiasco. I lifted my eyes to the heavens. “Eh, don’t know about that. I was just going to head home. Relax.”
Jax’s jaw basically hit the floor, like I had the audacity at all to suggest such a thing for myself, and I suppose I wasn’t surprised. Odds were, these boys were headed to the club after all this tonight for an after-party and most certainly would get far more action than me since they had girlfriends. Seemingly appalled, Jax tucked his hands under his pits. “Fuck, bro. You serious? All that damn pussy just tossed to the ether? What the fuck?”
No sooner had he said the words, than his girlfriend Cleo looked like she had somewhere way better to be, shoving him with a “Jaxen” before he snagged her arm and inched her back to him.
“I meant for him, babe. For him,” he emphasized. Clearly, this girl was the only one in his eyes. Cupping her ass cheeks, he hitched her against him. “You know I ain’t about that life anymore. I gave you my damn kidney.”
He sure had, again fucking crazy.
And where this girl a second ago looked ready to run for the hills, now seemed hard-pressed to be anywhere but beneath him. He enveloped her in a sea of hands and well-timed kisses, making her giggle, and the rest of us roll our eyes, hard. Jaxen Ambrose roped like the rest of these boys.
And so, miracles really did happen.
He got a jostle or f
our from his friends, but not before I got another push to do something else with my time besides Netflix tonight. They even invited me to the after-party they planned to hit (I’d guessed right, a club), but I turned it down. Today had been a lot. Hell, the last few months had. I’d been December’s right-hand guy and that was on top of my own personal shit. I was ready for a cold one and a good night’s sleep.
“Fine, brother. Lame ass,” Jax goaded, but chuckled when he shook my hand. Our rings clinked, as did mine with Knight’s and LJ’s when we shook. We were all a part of the prestigious though equally infamous Court, brothers, though in the past we hadn’t acted like it. Tonight was clearly different, those days of the past gone, and it only helped we shared a common understanding. Our best friends got married today.
I suppose that made us linked for life.
I thought I’d get away with the last of their handling and I had for the most part, but not before Jax could slip the joint he had behind his left ear to my pocket.
“You need this more than me,” he said, obviously referencing my night of impending solitude. He patted my pocket. “Don’t get too wild tonight.”
This received barks of laughter from both Knight and LJ, but a head shake and a pair of flushed cheeks from his girlfriend. I suppose I wasn’t the only one who didn’t smoke weed. I guess I had in the past, but not since high school.
I flicked it in a wave after them before thinking better of that and pocketing it. Not that kids even a decade younger than me didn’t smoke these things in these very halls. Hell, I’d been one of them.
And yes, at fucking twelve.
I used to get up to all kinds of shit, but that was the past for the most part. Even still, I decided to take a walk down memory lane through the halls of Windsor House before heading home for the night. I had properties both here in Maywood Heights and on my new campus, Pembroke University. I thought that’d be best considering my plans to delve more into my father’s businesses here in town while at the same time going to school. Having two homes gave me convenience and ample choice about where to stay if I was tired or just didn’t feel like trekking the almost two hours to and fro.
The decision to tackle my father’s businesses now that I’d arrived back in Maywood Heights seemed like a necessary evil since I didn’t have the excuse of states between myself and my family’s legacy. Currently, most of my father’s businesses had board members running things, but it’d always been the plan for me to take over. After all, he couldn’t live forever.
Though, he’d been arrogant enough to play God in the past.
The disdain I had for my currently incarcerated father reached historical levels and wasn’t something I planned to touch with a ten-foot pole at all, here in Maywood Heights or not. His legacy didn’t have to be mine, his sins his own, and as far as I was concerned, I operated through life with a mother—only. One who actually gave a shit about me more than himself. She always had and did try to protect me from him. She’d been hard-pressed. My father had always been a powerful man, something I knew too well. Even from an early age.
That joint sounding real good about now, I got it out as I strode through the brick halls of Windsor House, the thing against my lips before I realized I didn’t have a light. I actually had to double back and bum a Zippo off someone from the band, and by then, I got a text from, of all people, December.
December: Hey, goober. You didn’t get out of talking to me tonight. This is on when I get back. *wink emoji*
I shook my head.
Me: Aren’t you supposed to be, I don’t know, doing your husband right about now?
Honestly, the actual thought made me want to barf a lung. Prinze fucking anyone. Let alone my best friend.
And the girl who could have been yours.
The joint twisted in my fingers, basically mangled by the time I got to Windsor House’s aquatic area. Back in the day, my friends and I used to get high as hell under the bleachers by the pool, the ambiance a bit different now. Thick with heat, the room painted timid waves from the shallow and deep ends. The lights were off, but the area was bright from the pool’s underwater lighting.
My leather shoes squeaked to a stop as December’s text message bubble popped up.
December: I’ll let you get away with that one because I love you.
I wished she didn’t keep saying that, that she loved me, and though I loved her too, I never said it to her. I was scared of what it meant whenever I even had the thought to say it. That it would come out meaning something else and I’d look like an asshole.
At the end of the day, December and I had a history, a long one. And though it hadn’t all been bad, it was filled with more pain and suffering than anyone in their goddamn lifetime should have had to endure.
And that’d been before she chose someone else over me.
She was my friend, yes. I loved her, yes, but we weren’t together. We weren’t a thing and…
December: I just wanted to let you know you weren’t off the hook for our talk. I still want to know what’s wrong with you. Why you came back? I’m not stupid.
I knew she wasn’t, didn’t think she was. But like I’d already told her, tonight and her wedding hadn’t been the time. In any case, I was a big boy. Could deal with my own shit.
I wet my lips.
Me: Noted. Will talk in the future. Promise.
Anything to get her to move on.
December: Okay, and I also wanted to thank you. You know, for tonight? You’re always there for me.
My hand wavered, and I eyed my phone before taking off my suit jacket. The humidity in the room didn’t help, the air heavy and suffocating.
Me: It’s no problem. You know that.
I’d do anything for her, still would. Hell, if she got to the airport and said, “Hey, Arizona, I changed my mind. I don’t want to leave. I…”
And that out of everything was what scared me the most. That somewhere deep inside I wouldn’t know what to do. If she came back, said things that I wouldn’t know what to do with it all, if I’d make the right choice.
I didn’t know if I’d do the right thing.
The possibility of that sobered the hell out of me, that I could in some deep dark place be just as fucked up as my father. That I could create just as much chaos in someone’s life that he had and not just to mine. My father, Ibrahim Mallick, left so many casualties in his wake.
December herself included.
This was my reality, my pain as much as my passion. I would take over my father’s businesses, but I’d do it in an honest way. I’d run business in this town as a good man, not one who took advantage of others and lead only by his own selfish gain.
December: You’re good people. Rare.
She said this like she knew my thoughts, my body hitching a seat against the pool’s handrails. I’d hung my jacket there and leaned against it.
Me: I’ll always be there for you. Always.
Famous last words, words that killed me, but I wouldn’t let them. I stayed strong. Even when she texted me goodbye. Even when I said goodbye back and knew she was on that next leg of her journey. She was heading into the night of her fairy tale, found her literal prince, and I was in the other kingdom, a place where she hadn’t chosen to stay for her reign. That castle would remain dark, dormant.
Angling my phone in my pocket, I flicked the Zippo at the joint in my mouth, attempting to light it.
But then a plop.
That shit came out of nowhere, above.
Plop.
Another, the pool expanding in ripples. Peering in, something dark landed in the shallow end, about a foot or so away from something also dark.
What the fuck?
I arched my neck in the direction of the ceiling, finding the high dive. Imagine my surprise to find a woman up there, seated and dangling her legs over the side. She kicked out bare legs from beneath a black dress, a flourish of chiffon and never-ending tulle. I’d seen enough of it inside bridal shops.
&n
bsp; Her fingers on the sides, she craned a look over the edge.
My heart rattled.
The woman was easily more than one story up, sitting on the edge of a high dive like she wouldn’t mind falling off. Hell, she would fall off.
Tossing the joint at the bleachers, I advanced toward the high dive, scaling the steps in quick time. Even with as much cardio as I did (I ran five miles a day), it still took me a moment to get up there, and I was out of breath by the time I did. I think mostly from adrenaline. The woman sat at the edge, her back to me, but shit really hit the fan at what I saw sitting beside her. A bottle of wine.
And the empty glass beside it.
Chapter Three
Ramses
I obviously approached this situation with caution, not knowing what else to fucking do. A woman was up here with a bottle of wine, an empty glass, and fully dressed like she wanted to take that evening gown out for a swim. I didn’t know if she wanted to just be alone or what, but this felt like a really weird situation.
“Everything okay up here?” I asked, completely bothered when she didn’t even move.
Not an inch.
Not a flick of the shoulders, a flinch of the fingers. I made myself known, and she still sat there.
I swallowed. “Miss?”
Say something, goddammit.
I approached her slow, casual with a lifted hand. I didn’t know what she’d do honestly, why she was up here. If she wanted to jump, she definitely could. I looked around. “Probably shouldn’t be…”
Eyes, dark eyes like onyx glass in an ebony sea. They pinned me in place, a fan of her hair gracing her shoulder. A tumble of dark waves cascaded down the bare flesh of her back, the woman honeyed like pure caramel and just a shade or two lighter than me. She either held a glorious tan or some kind of distinct ethnicity, my guess Latina. Though I wasn’t sure. People often guessed wrong when it came to me, half Syrian on my dad’s side. It gave me thick curls and hair only slightly lighter than this woman’s. Though just barely.