“Hey, sweetie.” Mom rubbed my back. “Something wrong?”
I peered up at my mother and smiled. “Nothing.” I noticed that she had her purse and her shoes in her hands. “Are you leaving?”
She nodded. “Yeah. V is going to walk me up to my room. I’m tired. I promised Julia I’d FaceTime her before bed.” She brushed a hair from my face. “You look beautiful tonight. I want you to have so much fun.”
I stood and hugged my mom. “I love you.”
“I love you more.” She smoothed her hand over my head. “Call me in the morning?”
“Yes. I’ll come up and see you. Maybe we can have breakfast?”
“That would be nice. My flight doesn’t leave until early afternoon.”
She squeezed my hand again before she walked away. Near the door, I spotted my father talking to…Kelvin?
When his gaze met mine across the room, I turned away.What the hell is he doing here?
Justus approached me. “What the hell is he doing here?”
To keep my brother calm, I shrugged and pretended to be unaffected. “Who cares? He’s not with me. That’s all that matters.”
Frowning, he grumbled, “He’s not welcome here.” He started toward Dad and Kelvin. I followed him pleading with Justus to let it go. Only, I wasn’t as successful as I’d hoped because he didn’t break his stride—until Dex appeared out of nowhere and stood in front of him.
“Isis needs you, bruh,” Dex said.
Justus stopped in his tracks and glanced back at his bride. He eyed Dex skeptically. “Does she?”
Dex nodded. “Of course, she does. She married you. She also needs you not to get into a damn fight in the middle of the wedding reception.”
My brother responded to his best friend’s calm demeanor. His shoulders sagged. “Fine. But I want his ass out of here.”
“Done,” Dex agreed. “Go dance with your wife.”
Justus kissed my temple and headed back to Isis. I sighed. “Thank you. I’ll go tell him to leave.”
No.” He blocked me when I tried to walk around him. “Let him come to you. He will. Then, you’ll tell him it’s over.”
“I don’t want to have that conversation here.”
“No conversation. Just two words.”
“I can’t break up with him here,” I argued. “I need to cuss his ass out.”
“Do you trust me?”
“Of course, I do.”
“Okay then. He’ll come to you.”
Sure enough, moments later Kelvin came to me. “Charlye?” He approached us tentatively, looking at Dex the entire time. “Dexter.”
Dex didn’t answer his one-word greeting. He simply folded his arms over his massive chest.
Kelvin looked at me. “I’ve been calling you.”
I wanted to rail at him. I wanted to shout to the world that he was full of shit, that he didn’t know how to make toast, that he loved to wear tighty whities, that he screamed like a little bitch when he was excited, that he had more pubic hair than dick. But I refrained. And I knew Dex said only two words, but I couldn’t limit it to just two. “I know. I didn’t answer on purpose.”
“Why?”
