Seth
Today I was marryingmy best friend.
Cat was one million percent my best friend in the entire world. Once I got her back in my life, everything seemed to fall into place. It was as though the universe was screaming, ‘You finally got it right!’
I did.
I totally did.
Our life might have gone down the broken road of Hell, might have been painful at times, but in the end, the pain was what allowed us to be better together. Heartache, fear, and chance shape people and that was what those things did to me. It made it so I looked at every woman (except Cat) with precision gloves, and none of them passed the test. I also feared that I would settle. Thankfully I didn’t because when I saw Cat at Joss’s wedding, I took a chance and told her how I still felt. Now she was minutes away from becoming my wife.
“Ready?”
I looked at the door through the reflection of the mirror to see Gibbs walk into the room. “Yes, but Cat’s going to kill me. I’m hungover as fuck.”
“Drink some water and man the fuck up.”
“I don’t even know what we did last night.”
He laughed. “I think it’s better that way.”
And Cat was probably going to kill me because of that little fact. I literally couldn’t remember what we did other than drink. And drink. And drink. All the guys swore it was going to be the best night of my life. Maybe it had been. I have no idea because the last thing I remembered was taking a shot of tequila Paul had given me when we were in a limo. We had dinner at a place called Herbs and Rye, and the next stop was some place called Commonwealth. I had no idea what we did there, or what we did after. I could have bet my first born at some casino on Fremont Street for all I remembered.
A knock sounded on the door, and then Joss stuck her head in. “It’s time.”
Gibbs turned to her. “Aw, she came to escort me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Paul will kick your ass.”
“Did I hear my name?” Paul barreled in.
“How the hell are you two not hungover?” I asked, my head pounding and my stomach churning.
“Practice,” Paul answered.
“We drank the same amount?” I asked because he was one fucking ray of light this afternoon and I hated him because of it.
“Well, we were all buying you drinks, too.”
“So I had double or triple what you motherfuckers had?” They both nodded. “I hate you all.” That included Gabe, their friends Vinny, Nick, and Bradley. Apparently, my night was nothing like Gabe’s. They camped or some shit. At least he could remember. And yes, VICE detective McKenna partied with male escorts. Saddles & Racks wasn’t some pimp making his women sell themselves twenty times a day. Saddles & Racks was a company where the people paid for dates. That was all I needed to know. What happened behind closed doors wasn’t my business. I had actual criminals to worry about.
“While this was insightful, it’s time for you to make an honest woman out of my girl,” Joss said, waving for all of us to leave the room behind her.
The guys clapped me on the back and left. I took a few moments to straighten my black bow tie, down a bottle of water, and grab two aspirin from my bag.
I was ready.
Cat chosefor us to get married at the Wynn. They had a primrose garden courtyard that was available on a Wednesday, three weeks after Gabe and Autumn got married. When I told Cat I wanted to marry her right away, I wasn’t kidding. The downside, though, was that I couldn’t get off work to go on a honeymoon. I wasn’t complaining, but I did want to escape with her again. And I knew we would because I had sixty or so years to do it.
As I walked out onto the terrace, the round canopy that was covered in ivy was lit with white lights. I walked along the white rug that was laid out in the center of two aisles of cushioned wood chairs, but the décor and cake and food and whatever else went into planning a wedding weren’t what I cared about. The only thing I cared about was her.
Cat.
My Kitty Cat.
Catherine Marie Stone was about to become my wife.
I hugged my parents as I passed them, and shook Cat’s father’s hand and gave her mother a hug. Cat’s brother and his wife had flown in as well, and when my gaze cut to his, he stood.
