Declan tilts his head back and laughs.
“Oh shit.” Wyatt chuckles, shaking his head at Boston. “Thatwas a mistake.”
“A ring bearer!” Declan cackles, smacking his hand on his thigh. “Holding a little pillow and everything?”
“Put him with Ellie,” Wyatt adds, hiding his mischievous smirk behind his beer.
That sends Declan into hysterics. I don’t know who the fuck Ellie is, but I can tell it would be a shot to my ego to walk down the aisle with her. Based on the connection, I’ll take a random stab at it and guess that she’s a kid. It’ll be me and some little toddler in a poofy white gown, throwing petals on the ground and not keeping a respectable pace in the slightest. I’ll have to keep up with her as she sprints down the aisle, or go as slow as she decides to, because she’s shy. She’ll ruin my whole walk.
That sounds like a nightmare.
Ring bearer doesn’t sound hot at all. I’m supposed to be thehotgroomsman.
“Come on!” I plead.
“I like you a lot less when you resort to begging,” Saltzy mutters from beside Caulfield. His eyes are shadowed beneath the rim of his cap, his hood pulled over them both. His face is as expressionless as it always is. “You sound like a damn dog.”
Boss chortles at that, digging into the charcuterie board that Penny prepared for us before she left for girls’ night, which Arden is at too, by the way. Felt a bit like a real relationship having her drop me off here, giving her a little smile as I headed for the balcony while she waited at the door for Sweets.
We’re not back to the usual. Close, though. There’s just this lingering distance that I can’t decipher. It feels like hesitancy. On her end more than mine, but I’m just waiting for her to close it again. To trust me, in some warped way. I can sense there is something more going on, and I’m not entirely sure if it’s connected to the wine-curse night or if it’s something else. Either way, she has to come back to me, not the other way around.
“I’ll literally get on all fours right now and bark if I’m allowed back in the wedding party.”
“Woah, woah!” Boston says, holding up his pepperette. He points it at me. “Being allowed backinsinuates that you were asked in the first place.”
“He would have had to show up to be asked,” Lowesy reminds the room.
I bury my face in my hands and muffle my scream. I know this is all a joke to them, that they’re torturing me for my mistake, but mygod,if he doesn’t tell me I’m a groomsman soon, I’m going to go insane. He’s my best friend. Everyone here, minus Saltzy, has been asked to be in the wedding party.
Except me.
Oh god, am I the equivalent of Callum Saltzman to Declan now? The guy he tolerates, but would rather die than have to hang out with him alone?
“I’ll ask Penny about the ring bearer position,” Dec continues, knocking his knee against mine. “I don’t know if the spot has been filled, but I’m sure we can move things around.”
“I’m pretty sure she said Ellie and the girls will be the flower girls and your boy is going to be the ring bearer,” Wyatt says, that crooked smile growing.
“The girls and the boys?” I bark, glancing between the two of them. “As inthe dogs?”
“Yep,” Wyatt says, popping the ‘p’ at the end of the word.
Boston is howling now. Full-on belly laughing in that deep, hearty way that he does. “You’re screwed.”
“He’s right,” Dec says with a sad, disappointed shake of the head. “There’s no way she subs the kids out for you. I’m sure she’ll let you walk them down, though. She might not even make you wear a matching collar if you ask nicely.”
I stare at him, my expression bored.
“You know, I’m hanging on by a thread right now,” I tell him, which makes his smile widen. “I can only take so much.”
“We’ll see how you do at the engagement party, buddy,” Dec says, smacking my leg with a firm pat. “Maybe, if you prepare the world’s greatest speech, I’ll ask you.”
I stare at him and manage to force a tight smile just as his slowly fades.
“You don’t remember the date, do you?”
“You never told me the date!” I defend myself.
“Pathetic,” Wyatt hisses with a shake of his head.
