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Jealously curls its twisted way around my insides, and no matter how many times I tell myself he isn’t mine to get jealous over, it still smarts.
“The most beautiful girl I have ever seen,” Taylor says, appreciation laced through the words. “And her best friend.”
He places a quick kiss on my cheeks, taking her arm from mine as I step back.
“Yo, boys, you can flirt later,” he calls.
“Nick? You chose Nick as your second witness?” I ask, incredulous despite him standing right there.
Nick’s sharp gaze finds me instantly, the dimmed light only intensifying the ego on display. If he thinks he can claim me as his with this little bracelet and then stand there flirting with someone else at my best friend’s ceremony, he’s got another thing coming.
“I’ve got to show my boy how it’s done now, haven’t I?” Taylor laughs, aware of nothing but the woman under his arm, my simmering irritation not even on his radar.
Nick, Jasper, and Penelope come over, the distance not nearly far enough as Jasper comes to my side, Nick opposite with Taylor and Tamsin between us. Penelope leans closer to Nick again, whispering something in his ear, even as his gaze stays fixed on mine. Whatever she said must be amusing as the corner of his mouth lifts in the barest of smiles.
She stands too close to him, not like Jasper and I, and as Taylor asks his roommate for the band, all attention is finally on the two people between us, the two we’re supposed to be here for. Jasper slides it from his pocket, along with some kind of metal clipper thing, wrapping the black leather around her wrist before pausing.
“Last chance to back out, baby,” he offers, looking Tamsin in the eye.
She’s been silent this whole time, another tell for the nerves that I know she’s feeling right now, but her voice is as steady and confident as the hand she holds out when she looks Taylor dead in the eyes and says, “I’m yours.”
His grin is resplendent as he takes the clipper from Jasper, binding the leather together, the silver stripe glinting in the lights.It won’t be the only thing shining shortly.
The leather is soft in my hands, cream and delicate. Beautiful. Tamsin offers him the same out before wrapping it around Taylor's wrist and letting Jasper clip it together.
“Cool, well I guess that’s it,” Jasper declares, pocketing the tool.
“That’s it?” Penelope says, accusation dripping from the words. “I expected more.”
She picks her skirt up, turns on her heel and stalks off into the darkness of the woods without another word.
“Pen, baby. You’ll get lost,” Jasper calls as we all watch her disappear through the trees.
“It’s Penelope,” she calls back.
“Wait up, baby cakes,” he says, taking a step her way before pausing and turning to Taylor, something serious settling on his usually carefree face. “You got our girl?”
“I’ve got her,” Taylor replies with a nod before Jasper runs off in search of Penelope—she’s probably pissed off and half lost on her way back to the house.
Their light-hearted moment disappears in an instant, and Taylor asks if we’d give them five minutes and meet them by the pool for their grand entrance. Of course the two of us agree with a smile and a nod, and as his hand slides through her perfectly prepared curls, a sexual tension sizzles in the air.
Nick and I take a step out of the circle of light, the darkness wrapping around us like a blanket as I switch on the torch, the air between us charged.
“So, do you wish you’d done it differently?” I ask as we walk side by side, Nick holding a branch out of the way for me to pass.
“Not really,” he replies calmly, a waft of Penelope’s perfume hitting my nostrils and turning my nose up.
Irritation mingles with the jealousy swarming in my stomach.
Red nails on a white shirt. Her lips too close to his ear. She could have reached up and kissed him, and he might have gone for it. I’ve no hold over him, no claim. So, why wouldn’t he?
“That was cute,” he continues, clearly oblivious to the feelings that tumble around me.
I just need to get back to the house. Get a drink. Get some space. Then I’ll be fine. Totally fine.
I’m watching the floor, attempting to ignore his proximity and the heat that keeps brushing up against my arm when something suddenly wraps itself around my face and I scream, the sound ripping from me unexpectedly as I claw at whatever the hell it is.
“Help,” I yell. “Get it off!”
