Page 100 of Painted Truths

Jesus, despite having come—and come fucking hard at that—less than half an hour earlier, I can feel my cock stiffening in my already restrictive pants. I'm forced to adjust myself, a move the wanker beside me doesn't miss, ripping another loud guffaw from his throat, his face telling me he knows precisely where my mind has wandered.

Layla's little sister, Sienna, who I'd been paired with earlier for the ceremony, is just finishing a song she'd written especially for the occasion. The applause of appreciation from the crowd surrounding me brings me back to the present.

Shaking his head with a shrug, he shifts his gaze from Sienna as she softly thanks the crowd, then back to me, suddenly deadly serious.

"When you’ve found your other half, you just know, right?"

At the severity of his usually unfettered features, I want to ask him what he means. But when I open my mouth to voice my thoughts, I catch sight of Peaches returning, and I'm once more floored that this woman could possibly want me. She enters the pavilion with Nate on her heels, both smiling and laughing together as though they've known each other their whole lives. It's been a long ass time since Nate's been so relaxed with anyone other than Cade or me.

I realise then that while I've been openly gawking at the hottest girl in the room, Caden has walked over to the stage and grabbed the mic.

"Okay, fuckers. Before this decadent shindig turns to rack and ruin, courtesy of my Misdirection comrades, among several other unmentionables—” His eyes swing around laughingly to find mine and Nate’s before he winks broadly. “I want to take the opportunity to thank a few people."

Cade goes on to thank everyone and their mother; no one could claim the man isn't thorough.

"And my thanks wouldn't be complete without thanking my brothers, Nate and Henry. The best fucking girlfriends anyone could ever want. Cheers dickheads."

Nate rolls his eyes, but his full black beard can't hide his smirk, identical to my own.

"Finally, I'd like to thank my wife, Layla. Where are you, babe?"

Tucked away in the far corner, almost hidden out of sight, Layla is standing beside Noah, Misdirection's manager.

Making a demure walk toward the stage, she approaches Caden, who's smiling his signature Cheshire Cat wide grin, all white teeth and tanned skin.

Dropping a kiss onto her lips, Caden settles the mic into its stand before gesturing for Layla to sit on the stool beside the one he takes and then picks up his guitar to rest it on his legs gently.

"Lay, babe. We've had our ups and downs, but we're here now. Living the dream. With a kid on the way, for Christ's sake!"

He holds up his free hand to stall the cheers his words have wrung from the crowd.

"I wanted to play a little something you and Duffy—"

"Caden North!" She slaps his arm, cutting him off sharply. "You can't keep calling the baby Duffy!"

He just grins that motherfucking shit-eating grin he can't help doing when he's in the throes of annoying someone. "But, babe, I have to. It stuck when you told me you were 'up the duff'!"

Chuckles and sniggers run through the room as his winning sarcastic sense of humour takes centre stage, even drawing a small smile from the bride with his signature outrageousness.

"So, I know this hasn't been the easiest pregnancy for you, babe, and I want you to know how grateful I am for how much you're sacrificing to bring a symbol of our love into the world." The guests' cries of adoration almost drown him out as he finishes. "So here we go."

Caden strums a soft, lilting melody, so soothing it's almost hypnotic.

"I love you, Layla."

Then his low, gritty voice begins to sing softly. The song lyrics are so familiar, but I can’t pinpoint them, despite knowing they mean something to the newlyweds, though you’d not know it to look at Layla’s furrowed brow.

My entire body is alive with pins and needles at the palpable love and devotion in his voice, and the crowd stands enraptured by the scene playing in front of us.

Liv leans up on her tiptoes. "It's so romantic. I’ve never heard this song without the bells and whistles before." Nodding, I draw her into the circle of my arms as we sway gently to the tune.

He's barely starting the second verse, when Layla cries out, her eyes wide, skin as white as snow and her brow covered in glistening drops of perspiration. She glances frantically around the watching crowd as though searching for something before her body folds in on itself. She crumbles like a house of cards from her perch on the stool as Caden drops the acoustic with a clang reverberating throughout the hushed space before he grabs her mere centimetres from the floor.

Our trio is pushing through the shocked, gasping gathering and have reached his side almost immediately as the whole room erupts into screams and hysterics.

Nate, ever the cool-headed one, is already leaping into action, sending Layla's other sister, Giana, to get the medical staff Caden had made sure were standing by, refusing to take any chances with his new wife and unborn child’s lives.

There's a buzzing in my ears as I grip Liv’s hand even tighter while we take in the devastation. Turning horror-filled eyes to mine, I’m overwhelmed with the need to pull her close, to make sure she’s okay in every way. She hides her face against the width of my chest while her body trembles, and I can’t help tightening my hold around her in response as my eyes once more stray back towards my best friend and his whole world imploding.