Page 9

Chapter 8

Keelan

“ S top it, Iz. You look great.”

My sister continues to tuck and untuck a single strand of hair as she looks in the mirror.

“Seriously," I chuckle. "Stop." I grab her hand and take it in mine, making her turn to me.

“I’m so nervous, Kee. What if this is a mistake?… What if it’s too fast?” She gasps, bringing a hand to her mouth. "Oh, my god. Do you think we're moving too fast?"

This, coming from the girl whose best friend dated, married, and is now divorcing a man over the span of a few months.

She really thinks one year is too fast?

I take her face and make her look at me. “Isabella Angelica Landry—"

"That's not my middle name," she points out with a chuckle.

"Whatever," I continue. "Ryker loves you. You have a child together. The most beautiful creature, might I add. He’s not going anywhere. And the timing is just right, okay?”

She takes in a deep breath and swallows. “Okay,” she finally breathes.

“Not to mention, he probably knows your middle name. So he's a better man than I could ever be.”

"He does," she confirms with a laugh. "And he is. It’s so weird to me that you don't."

"Well, enlighten me."

“It's Angelique,” Rina’s voice says from behind me.

She slowly closes the door and I watch as she sashays over to us. Her movements are smooth and feline. Nobody should be able to walk that gracefully in heels. And the dress— my God —that fucking dress.

I almost forgot that we left each other on not-the-greatest terms last night and make the biggest effort not to grab my knuckles and bite them. Of all the colors Izzy could've chosen as her wedding accent color, she just had to choose red .

"Ri! Omg, that dress looks stunning on you!" Izzy gushes at her maid of honor.

Rina shakes her head. "Are you kidding me? Look at you! You're doing it. You're getting married!"

She brushes past me and straight to my sister to gawk.

“How’s the flower girl?” Izzy asks, taking Rina's hands in her own.

“Your Aunt Ginny’s got her,” Rina assures her. She gives my sister a reassuring pat on the hand before letting go and grabbing the veil from the seat next to the fireplace.

She secures it over Izzy’s head and fans it out over her shoulders.

We exchange glances in the mirror. But it’s so fast, I might’ve just imagined it.

Rina takes a step back and smiles at her friend. “You look…”

“Breathtaking,” we both say, eyes meeting again in the mirror.

Izzy turns to us with tears in her eyes.

“Oh no, no, don’t do that,” Rina insists. “You’ll ruin your perfect makeup, honey.”

The tears keep coming. “I’m sorry,” Izzy says, grabbing a tissue I offer her. “I promise these are tears of joy. Life is just so different from where I was not that long ago. I can’t believe this is real. This is my life.”

She’s right. Over a year ago, she was alone in California. Heartbroken. Lost. And in that time she’s been able to make a home here in Texas. Ryker, Stella, the Heatwave. This is Izzy’s home.

“It is, babe. And you deserve every good thing in your life,” Rina says. “Now, please, stop crying. The photos are going to be terrible and you'll never let me live it down that I let you go out looking like that.”

Izzy laughs through her sobs. “You’re so ridiculous.”

“Trust me, of the three of us here–I can guarantee there’s someone way more ridiculous.” She shoots a look over at me.

“Moi?” I ask, with a hand on my chest. “Nah.”

“Do you know that in college, he forced me to fight Ryker in a sumo suit?”

Izzy laughs some more between sniffles. “What?”

“Oh yeah,” Rina says, taking a tissue and cleaning up the makeup streaks on her face. “In the middle of a Texas Spring break. So naturally, it was over a hundred degrees out.”

“And you actually did it?” Izzy asks.

“She won,” I say proudly.

“Of course she did,” Izzy sniffles with a smile.

“And forced is a bit much," I retort. "I strongly encouraged her."

“Just like I strongly encourage you to reconsider anything you plan on doing today that isn’t on the itinerary,” Rina says.

“Oh god." Izzy's shoulders drop. "What’s he planning on doing?” Izzy turns to me. “What are you up to, Kee?”

I glare at Rina before looking at my baby sister. “Do you trust me?”

“About as far as I can shoot a puck,” Izzy admits.

She has trouble hitting pucks, so that’s not far.

“Well, I strongly encourage you to sit back, enjoy your big day, and let the master of fun do his thing, okay?”

“Whatever it is… just save it for the reception. Please,” Izzy says.

The reception would be less than ideal. But it isn’t my wedding. Her brown eyes plead with me, and I give in.

“Okay, okay. We’ll save it for the reception.”

Izzy is my one and only sister. And apart from our Aunt Ginny, the only family we each have. The last thing I want to do is piss her off. I theatrically pull out my phone and shoot a text off to the rest of the groomsmen.

“Thank you,” Izzy says with a breath of gratitude.

She swishes over to the drink table and grabs a glass of water.

“Narc,” I say under my breath to her friend.

“Man-child,” she shoots back.

There’s a knock on the door, and the wedding coordinator steps in. “Are we ready?” he asks. “The best man is needed for the procession.”

Izzy looks back at me, as if asking for my blessing.

What would mom and dad think seeing their daughter right now? Grown. Happy. They’d be proud of her. Dad would be pretending like he wasn’t crying. Mom would be all over her like Rina is. Fixing her train—perfecting her look.

In a weird way, what was taken from us was given back in the form of new relationships—a weird little family of sorts.

I give her a single nod, and she smiles, turning to her coordinator. “Yes.”

The coordinator says something into his earpiece and motions for me to follow him out. Rina passes her the bouquet and I give Izzy a kiss on the forehead. “I’ll see you at the altar, Iz. And just remember, if you even think about running away…”

She looks at me confused, but waiting.

"The keys to the Bronco are on the left back tire. Don't think. Just run. I'll catch up to you later." I wink.

Izzy's face breaks into a radiant smile, and when I turn to follow the coordinator, she reaches for my hand. “Kee, wait.”

We all look at her. Did she suddenly get cold feet? I was totally kidding.

“Yeah?” I say.

“I change my mind."

Oh shit. I didn't think she'd actually take me up on the offer. Ryker's going to kill me.

"I don’t want to walk down the aisle alone… will you walk me?”

I couldn’t hold back the tear in my eye if my life depended on it.

“Are you crying?” Rina asks, looking at me, almost disappointed.

“Yes, Rina. Sorry that I have a heart.”

She opens her mouth to say something but shuts it immediately.

“Okay, so a little change of plans. No big deal. What the bride wants, the bride gets,” the coordinator says with a smile. He then turns abruptly, whispering more codes into his earpiece.

If I didn't know any better, it sounds like the same kind of codes that are called out in panic when somebody goes into cardiac arrest in a hospital.

“You sure about this?” I ask my sister.

She nods. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

I do a little happy dance.

Izzy laughs. Rina shakes her head. But I notice the tiny grin playing on the corner of her lips.

Don’t think I didn’t see that, Rina Lopez.

I’m at the table reserved for the team. Rina is sitting across from me, discussing something with Kesley, Zane’s wife.

My eyes keep drifting over to them as they whisper amongst themselves. I’m sure it has nothing to do with me. And everything to do with her current predicament…. well… predicament s . Either the one where she now finds herself in a weird situation with her soon-to-be ex-husband or the one where she finds herself sharing an office with her ex-best friend.

But honestly, it’s hard to keep my eyes off of her in that dress. And my thoughts drift to her naked last night.

Fuck me.

I hear the murmuring of voices around me. But it’s the pulse in Rina’s neck as she speaks that my focus is on. The way her tongue swipes slowly over her lips to moisten them. The soft, gentle pull as she takes her drink.

Then suddenly, her eyes meet mine and I panic.

I push my chair out, grabbing my water and rising as I take a giant gulp, slamming the now empty glass down onto the table.

“It’s time,” I say to my teammates.

They exchange looks amongst themselves.

“But we haven’t even had a chance to–”

“Eat after,” I say, already moving toward the DJ. I need a distraction. Stat. The sound of chairs scraping behind me tells me they’re ready to join me.

I give the DJ a whistle, and he looks over at me. A grin slowly spreads across his face.

Me and DJ Nova go back. And he knows when I give him that whistle, things are going to get good.

“At this time, I’d like to invite the bride and groom to the dance floor for a little somethin’ somethin’ from the best man.”

I look over and see Ryker drop his head back, annoyed. Izzy bounces baby Stella on her hip and hands her over to our Aunt Ginny. She’s trying to convince Ryker. I can already tell.

The boys have obediently prepared the seats for them in the middle of the dance floor. I raise my hand, and the entire reception hall blacks out.

Yeah, I may have worked with the lighting guys to pull this off too.

The sound of Heat Waves by Glass Animals comes on through the speakers. And when the lights come on, I’m already stripping out of my suit top.