Page 738 of End Game

Not because I wanted to punish them, and not because I expected them to come. I just wasn't willing to spend the weeks before my wedding wondering whether an invitation would become another opportunity for them to reject me.

Hannah and Abigail weren't invited either.

I didn't know they would want to be.

Apparently, Abigail still following me online was enough.

Hannah smiles again.

I realize I'm smiling back.

Then movement behind them catches my attention.

Dex appears at the end of the aisle between his parents.

Everything else drops out of focus.

I knew about the white suit. I stood beside him when he chose it.

Seeing it now is different.

The whole thing is white, sharp and clean against his tattoos, with black details and black boots keeping it from ever looking too polished. He even bleached the color out of his hair for today, leaving it almost entirely pale blond and styled back enough that I can see the earrings Cami helped him choose.

Without the bright color in his hair, there is somehow more of him to look at.

His face.

The lines of ink climbing above his collar.

The silver at his ears when he turns his head.

The black engagement ring on his hand where it's looped through his mother's arm.

I feel my heartbeat in my throat.

Dex looks down the aisle.

His eyes find me.

I give him the smallest nod I can manage.

His face softens.

Then his parents start walking him toward me.

His mother is openly crying, and his father is smiling in a way I've never seen before. Dex keeps looking at me as they come closer, and by the time he reaches the front, I'm aware of my heartbeat everywhere—against my throat, under my ribs, even in my hands.

His mom kisses his cheek before letting him go, then turns and hugs me.

“Take care of each other,” she says against my shoulder.

“We will.”

His dad hugs me next.

“You're already family,” he says quietly as he pulls back. “This just makes the paperwork catch up.”

That gets dangerously close to breaking whatever control I have left.