I bring my beer to my lips, unable to hold back my smile. These two.
He offers her his hand, and they seamlessly slide into a simple, smooth first dance. He loves her. Recklessly. I respect anyone willing to love each other as loudly as these two do. I’ll never understand it, but I can appreciate it. It takes balls and a hell of a lot of vulnerability.
Forker leans back in his seat, the most adoring smile on his face. If there’s one guy who loves love, it’s The Beast.
Penny peers up at Declan with a soft smile. Declan gathers her close, singing her the words with each step, navigating her around the dancefloor with a gentle ease.
My eyes flicker to table number five, closest to the bar, where Lemmy, Ari, and Saltzy are seated. Only one of them is looking at me instead of the dance floor. I bet you can guess which one.
Ari angles her head and lifts her martini.
Ensuring her brother doesn’t clock it, I tip the neck of my beer toward her, returning the greeting. I’m not going to lie, seeing her and Reno all buddy-buddy pissed me off. Imagine my irritation when I discovered that Reno isalsoseated at her table with Cole and Oz.
The chorus of the song hits, and Declan tilts his head back, belting it at the top of his lungs. My attention gets ripped back to the dance floor. Penny’s smile is blinding, and within a second she joins him, both of them screaming it word for word.
I grin as the boys join in, waving their arms in the air like they’re at a concert and they’ve got the best seats in the house. The wedding party, one by one, starts to serenade the bride and groom. Say what you want about these idiots, but they’re some of the best people I’ve ever met.
As the chorus trails off into another verse, Penny pulls herself closer to her husband. Declan’s face softens, his hand trailing up and down her back.
“The way that woman looks at him will never cease to amaze me,” Forker says, eyes glued to the bride and groom. “Like there was never another choice but him.”
I take a sip of my beer. “Maybe there wasn’t.”
I feel his eyes burning into my face. “Tell me you don’t want that one day, Boss.”
I shake my head stiffly. “I don’t.”
“Come on.”
“I don’t,” I say again, glancing sideways at him. “Not my thing, Fork. Never has been.”
“I get worried about you,” he tells me, and I wait for a smile, but it doesn’t come. He just scans my face. “That you’re lonely. You’re one of the best guys I know. You don’t need to have a wedding and a bunch of kids, but don’t you wantsomeoneto share your life with?”
I stare straight ahead as Penny gazes up at her husband, stars in her eyes and her heart in his hands. Forker might notice how she looks at Lowesy, but I can’t stop watching the way he looks at her. Like he stops breathing every time he looks into her eyes. Like he can’t fucking believe she ever agreed to marry him. Like his happiness is entirely dependent on her.
That’s a lot of power to let another person have over you.
“Doesn’t interest me.”
Forker doesn’t say anything else, probably because he can sense the shift in my mood.
I clear my throat, glancing down the head table. Avery is fully sobbing into her napkin. Seth is beside her, arm around her shoulders, watching his two best friends dance their way toward their happy ending.
Arden reaches over, winding her hands around Forker’s bicep. He drops his drink to the table, glancing down at her, and he presses a kiss to her head.
I’m positive their time is just around the corner. Fork may not realize this, but he looks at Arden the way that Penny looks at Lowesy. There’s nobody but her.
My gaze flickers back to table five.
Lemmy and Ari are talking with their heads low, Ari’s mouth is moving one hundred miles a minute, like usual. My stomach twists. I hope I haven’t come up in conversation between them. Lemmy has discretion. She’d never air our shit out, but I don’t trust that Ari isn’t telling her all the ways she loves to rile me up. Ari wouldn’t know discretion if it slapped her in the face. Lemmy wouldn’t care, but she might offer more information than usual to protect Forker’s little sister.
I swallow, tearing my eyes away, and turn my head to find a pair of simmering brown eyes watching meverycarefully from the cushion of her boyfriend’s arm.
I pause, meeting Arden’s stare. She doesn’t look away.
There’s a warning there.
A clear, distinct warning.
