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Nothing I could say to Cassie would fix the damage that was about to be done.
• • •
The next day, I sat in one of the private rooms in the church with Jack as we finished getting dressed. My Team Cassie shirt was underneath my white tux shirt, and I glanced at the mirror once more to make sure you couldn’t see the black lettering through the thin fabric. I had slipped it on while Jack wasn’t looking, not wanting to piss him off. Satisfied it didn’t show, I smiled. Wearing this without anyone else knowing was my own private rebellion.
“We could still bail,” I said to Jack as he adjusted his tie, meaning every word.
He turned to me but wouldn’t meet my eyes, and I’d never seen him look more miserable in his life. He looked like he was about to throw up.
“Jack?” I asked, trying to get him to acknowledge me. He raised an eyebrow, so I knew he was listening. “Seriously. Let’s go. You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to marry her in order to be a good dad.”
“Stop,” he said, his voice pained. “Just stop.”
“I’m just saying. You have a choice, damn it. You have options. I’m here. I support you bailing out, and I’ll drive the damn getaway car.”
He gave me a sad smile before frowning again. “We’d better go out there.”
Jack couldn’t have sounded less enthused, but I followed him anyway. Watching his slumped shoulders as he walked ahead of me, I wished that I was bold enough to throw him over my shoulder and run.
The church pews were filled with people I didn’t know and hadn’t met before. Apparently they were Jack’s new teammates, and Chrystle’s family and friends. I wanted to care—I really did—but I didn’t. I didn’t care about a single person here except for my brother and my unborn niece or nephew.
I probably needed to start factoring in that new family member as well. You couldn’t exactly hate an innocent little baby.
As I stood at the front of the church next to my brother, he tugged at his tie as if it was choking the life out of him. He shifted on his feet as the guests stared at us, stupid smiles on their stupid faces.
Thinking that reminded me of Melissa, but I put her out of my mind. I needed to focus on Jack now.
Soft music played, and Chrystle’s maid of honor walked down the aisle. We’d been introduced earlier, but I couldn’t remember her name. Again, I didn’t care.
The music changed, louder now, and the doors at the back of the church opened wide. Chrystle stood at the end of the aisle, wearing a white dress that left nothing to the imagination. Literally. I could see every curve, every muscle in her body.
I looked at Jack’s face as he watched her walk toward him. He wasn’t smiling like a groom should, and his eyes weren’t filled with love. His expression was hard and resigned, like a prisoner about to do time.
“We can still leave,” I whispered, and I swore I saw a glimmer of hope flash in his brown eyes. “Seriously, bro. We can go.”
He barely shook his head, but it was enough that I saw it.
I looked back at Chrystle just in time to see her lay a hand on her stomach with a smile focused at Jack, and I thought, This chick is good. She knew damn well Jack didn’t want this, and she knew what worked on him. Guilt. As long as she had his baby in her, she had him by the balls.
I stood by my brother’s side, prepared to do whatever he needed me to. But when the preacher read the vows and Jack repeated them, sorrow swept over me.
Weddings were supposed to be happy. Today was supposed to be filled with love, joy, and the promise of two lives becoming one. But this wedding on this day felt like a death sentence, one I desperately wanted my brother not to serve.
“Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Mr. and Mrs. Jack Carter,” the preacher announced with enthusiasm, and Jack’s face drained of color.
“You okay?” I whispered.
“I gave up being okay the day I lost Cassie,” he admitted in a low voice, and then his new bride yanked him down the aisle.
Starting a New Chapter
As I flew back to California after the wedding, I couldn’t get the fact that Cassie had flown there to see him out of my head. I still hadn’t talked to her, and I knew that Jack hadn’t told me everything about their meeting. It killed me to think that she came out to stop Jack, and he had still gone through with the wedding, despite it all. As much as it sucked for me, I could only imagine how much it had to suck for Cassie.
I wished like hell I had a time machine for us all to jump into. But I didn’t, and what was done, was done. I had to learn how to accept that. Or at least pretend to.
When I saw Cassie at school the next day, she looked defeated. I couldn’t blame her. But when she read the front of my shirt, a smile tugged at her lips and she actually laughed. Realizing that I hadn’t heard her laugh in what felt like forever, I pulled her into a hug.
“Nice shirt,” she said, still smiling.
