Need Us (6 page)

I’m not paying attention, so when Court appears over me I almost screech but I keep it in. “After the wedding is over, you and I are going to talk. We have some things to discuss and a lot of things to apologize for. Then you’re going to move your shit back to the house and you’re going to sleep in our bed tonight, with me.” Then he leans down and kisses my lips. I’m quite shocked by the whole thing so my mouth is open and that means his tongue comes right into my mouth. And like most times I’m kissing this man, my hand reaches up to shift through his long hair.

He kisses me for what seems like forever. I’m getting kind of hot and bothered, but that’s his point. Court makes it a point to make me hot and bothered every time he kisses me. Even when we’re fighting he makes the point, like now.

When he’s done rocking my world, he lifts his head and looks down at Asher. “Little man you better get up. Mimi is downstairs with Grammy. I bet they made pancakes.”

Asher, having the stomach the size of Texas, gets up from the bed so fast I have to catch him before he face plants the ground. “Careful there. We don’t need a trip to the ER today.”

He looks wide-eyed at me and shakes his head. “Yeah, I don’t want to catch that Ebola guy. He sounds scary.”

I almost laugh but I keep it in. When he leaves the room I look at Court. He’s bending over to pick his shirt off the floor. “Yell at Channing, not me. I never said anything about Ebola to the kid.” Then he himself leaves the room.

After I get ready in the bathroom and walk downstairs, I find most of the people who mean the world to me sitting around. Channing, Royal, Mom and Dad, Lily plus Court and Asher. I sit down at the dining room table next to Royal and across from my husband.

“I can’t believe you’re getting married today. Royal Sanders the biggest player at Meadows. And you’re marrying the most prude-like girl you could find.” I bite my lip to hold back a chuckle when Royal glares at me. “There’s nothing wrong with that. I love Wesley. She’s my sister from another mother.”

“My Duchess is not a prude. If you only knew the things she does to me in our bedroom.” Mom, Dad and me all make sneered faces at him, almost in sync.

“Royal Duke Sanders, do not ever let me hear you say anything like that in front of me again. I do realize you’re grown and getting married, but there are things a mother just doesn’t need to hear.” Then she throws her napkin at him. Got to love my mother.

Then Dad had to go and ruin the joyful feelings around the table. “Lily, is Donovan going to be joining us this morning?”

You can feel the coldness and tension enter the room. The elephant is named Donovan and he’s the size of the house, so he’s crushing us because there’s no room for him in here.

Lily looks around at the four of us. Channing stares at his plate, Royal clenches his fists on the table and starts tapping his foot, Court glares daggers at my father like it’s his fault Donovan entered the room in spirit, then there’s me, who’s sitting here on the verge of tears. Though my Dad and Mom look slightly pissed off themselves.

Then Lily squints her eyes at me. I look away and start cutting up Asher’s pancakes. I have to or he’ll get syrup everywhere and I’d never get it out of his pants.

“Someone better explain to me what the fuck just happened.” Then she stands up and walks over to Court. She grabs him on the back of the neck until he stands up. They walk into the living room and it’s my turn to glare at my father.

“Thanks Dad. Way to ruin the mood,” I mutter, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Nonsense. Someone needed to tell her or that little prick will show up at the wedding and I’ll be shoving my foot up his ass,” my dad states like he’s talking about the weather.

“Dad, your grandson is sitting at the table,” I say, my eyes wide. Why are they all acting so weird? I’m the one who needs to be punished, not Donovan. Well maybe he does, but not like that. We were drunk; we didn’t know what we were doing. “My entire family has been taken over by pod people.”

“Nonsense. You’re ours, honey. We protect what is ours. And that little fucking prick is going to get what’s coming to him.” This comes from my mother and I have to slap a hand over my face just to make sure I’m awake. I’ve never really heard my mom curse, let alone use words like prick.

“Besides Rach, Asher has heard worse come out of your mouth.” Royal winks at me and chuckles after I smack him on the back of the head.

“It’s true Momma. You say bad words all the time. I just pretend to not hear them, because Daddy said he’d spank my butt if I said them.” Then he goes back to eating his pancakes.

“Y’all need to leave Donovan alone. This is my mistake, not his.” And you can feel the temperature drop after those words leave my mouth.

I don’t think anyone is going to say anything else until Lily starts yelling in the living room. “Someone should go calm her down, she’s going to scare Asher,” I whisper. Everyone is still looking at me like I grew a new head and I don’t know why. “Why is everyone pissed off I said that? It’s the truth.”

“One of these days I’m going to knock some sense into you. When you wake up from this bizarre place you are in your head, you’ll be super pissed off you said that in the first place.” Royal then stands up and walks into the living room.

My entire family has lost their minds.

Three

Royal

“Are you nervous?” Channing asks me while I stare out the window. My head is far away from my wedding. It might sound horrible but marrying Wesley is going to be a breeze. In my head, I always knew we were going to be together forever. This piece of paper is for the legal shit. Besides, the wedding is for Wesley, not for me. All I have to do is show up at the end of the aisle, repeat some words and kiss her. There’s no need for me to be nervous.

“Nope,” I say, my mind on Donovan Pierce. Pierce told his mother what happened and I thought she was going to go right then and kill her middle child. I’ve never seen that woman so mad.

Channing paces behind me but I ignore him. He’s got to see Paisley today. At least he got a preview of it yesterday when she showed up at the house to pick up BeeBee. She even made an appearance at my parent’s house. She earned some brownie points trying to convince Rachel that she was assaulted, not drunk. I guess we can blame our father for that. He’s stubborn himself and that’s where she gets it. “Will you sit down? She’s not going to go out of her way to ruin today.”

“I know. It’s just been a year since this shit happened to me. It brings back a lot of bad memories.” He looks over at me about the time I turn around to watch him. “She’s all I think about anyway. Then she’s standing in front of me and trying to spurt some bullshit at me about how it’ll always be her and me. How can she even think that?”

“Because she loves you, no matter what she did. You didn’t even read that letter. You burned it, therefore you didn’t get to read it.. You won’t talk to her about it either, so I don’t know what you want me to say.” And I don’t. Yeah I’m seriously pissed off at Paisley but in light of recent situations, Channing and Paisley seem trivial. So she left him at the altar. Yeah she should have told him in person she couldn’t marry him, not written him a letter. But is it unforgivable? No it’s not. They can move past it and I honestly think they’ve both hurt enough for a lifetime. We all know they are meant to be together.

What happened to my sister makes me realize what a person can forgive and what he can’t. She didn’t deserve that and, in all honesty, Pierce didn’t deserve it either. He made amends to his brother. He got hurt in all that shit himself. Pierce loved Annabella. It wasn’t easy for him to forget it. Then it all came out, what was going on in Annabella’s head. She wasn’t good for either of them and Donovan should have been thanking Pierce for showing him the light, instead he decides to bring my sister into it.

This is where it gets iffy to me. Why did Donovan pick Rachel? Did she do something to him that we are unaware of? It doesn’t make sense why he would hurt her like that unless he had some aggression towards her himself. I just can’t think of anything. They don’t really spend much time together. I know they talked before it happened, but Rachel said she didn’t lead him on and she thought it was friendly, not a tryst.

I guess I could sit here all day and wonder. I could think up every reason in the book but I wouldn’t ever figure it out. We’ll just have to confront him sooner or later. But not today, not on Wesley’s day.

“You zoned out real good there buddy.” I blink my eyes and Pierce comes into focus. “You ready to get out there and do this? Or do you want to daydream some more?” I give him a fuck off look and head towards the mirror. I straighten my tie and brush some lint off my suit jacket.

Bentley crashes into the room, a huge-ass hickey on his neck. I grab his face and turn it towards me and look at the offending thing. “Jesus Ben, did you have a good time last night?”

He blushes which I find hilarious. I remember when he came out. We were all a little shocked but not by much. He’d never brought girls around before and he was secretive about his relationships. Wesley finally had to sit him down. She told him none of us care if he’s gay and that we’d love him no matter what he preferred in the bedroom. Now he’s got this hotshot lawyer guy he’s involved with.

“Sinclair and I got drunk. Things happen, you know.” He blushes again and laughs with the rest of us.

“Your sister probably won’t find it funny.” I look at Channing who appears calm and collected but I know underneath that fake exterior he’s flipping the fuck out. “Channing can you find Rachel or something. We need to get Ben some concealer.”

Channing nods and leaves the room. “Does Sinclair have one of these? We’ll need to cover him up too. No need to get Jenny upset.”

Pierce and I laugh when Bentley looks like he’s about to gag. “She asked me the other day if I’m the man or the woman. I thought I might have to run from the room screaming.”

Pierce curls up his lip. “That’s not a thing you ask a man. Aunt Jenny is a lawyer though. She likes to pick apart the things that make people do things.”

“I know. Then she got mad because I told her it wasn’t her business. I’ll never hear the end of it.”

Rachel and Channing enter the room then, Rachel holding a little tan stick. “You should be glad I brought the good stuff. Your mom would shit a brick if she saw you right now.”

“Just get it covered. We have to walk out in like two minutes,” Pierce states, looking at his watch.

“I’ll do it but I’ll take my time. If I don’t then you’ll be able to see it and there will be even more people upset. Chill your balls.”

Pierce walks up behind Rachel and bumps his hips into hers. “You like talking back don’t you? Sassy little shit.” Then he kisses her neck like he always does.

“Okay I’m done.” She ignores Pierce, which he finds funny and she runs towards me. I’m caught off guard as she launches herself at me. “I love you so much and I’m so proud of you right now. You go and make her the happiest woman in the world.” Then she kisses my cheek. She stops at Pierce on her way out. “You know I like to talk back. I always have to have the last say. It’s what makes me the way I am.” Then she kisses him lightly on the lips.

Instantly I perk up even more. Even with all the drama and bullshit, Rachel and Pierce can find a way to be normal and stay together. Everything is right in the world.

The four of us head out into the main part of the church and line up in order by the altar: Me, Channing, Pierce and then Bentley.

“Unconditionally” by Katy Perry starts playing over the speakers and Paisley walks into the room. Her dress is red with a white slash belt thing around her waist. Her dress touches the ground as she walks. You’d think the red would clash with her hair but it doesn’t. Her hair is down and framing her face while her eyes never leave Channing. I feel him shift around next to me and I instantly smile.

Ashley walks out next, her black hair pushed back out of her face and flowing down her back. Her dress is almost identical to Paisley’s except hers stops at her knees. She winks at her husband who’s sitting about the middle of the room.

Rachel comes out next in the same dress except hers has a tail, not too long but it’s there. The dress also raises in the front to about her knees. Her brown hair is pulled up but she has a few curls falling down around her face.

She winks at me when she gets to us and I help her up the stairs. I kiss her hand before I let her go and I see tears come to her eyes. It’s all I can do not to become a pussy and start crying myself.

When my Duchess walks out I stop breathing. She didn’t tame all that wild curly hair like I thought she would. It’s down by her face and she beams at me from the end of the aisle. It takes everything inside of me to stop from running down the aisle to meet her halfway. I can’t believe this beautiful goddess is going to actually marry me. I don’t know what I did to earn this or what I could ever do to deserve her, but I’m so fucking happy that she is mine.

Her dress is off white and falls to the floor. The skirt is puffy while the bodice fits tightly. I hope she can breathe in that thing. The skirt is also covered in red hearts that match the bridesmaid dresses and the headband in her hair.

When she sees Trey’s picture, the one I had made, sitting off to the side she instantly bursts into tears. She picks up her dress, much to Grayson’s surprise, and starts running towards me. I step down the stairs to catch her while she flings herself at me. “Shh, Duchess. Everyone’s going to think we’ve lost our minds,” I whisper in her ear.

“Did you bring him here?” When I nod she cries a little harder. “He would have loved this. Thank you so much.”

“I’d do anything for you, Wesley. Anything at all.” Without Trey this girl would never be as wonderful as she is. He is as much a part of her as I am. “Now, let’s get married before these people start to riot.”

I smile at Grayson when I hand Wesley back to him. The priest has a bright smile on his face when Wesley and I both turn to him. “We are gathered here today to bring Royal Duke Sanders and Wesley Ann Bridges together in holy matrimony…”

I hear what’s going on and I say what I’m supposed to when I’m supposed to. When he says I can kiss my bride, I do. With tongue and all. We don’t stop until Channing whispers in my ear how we are making everyone uncomfortable.

When I pull away all I can do is look into her eyes. “Hello, Mr. Wesley Ann Bridges,” she says, making everyone around us laugh.

“Hello, Mrs. Royal Duke Sanders,” I reply, nuzzling my nose against hers. “I love you so fucking much. I’m so happy we did this.”

She lightly pecks my lips and backs away a step. I don’t let her get far. “Me too. Now let’s go get some cake.” Then she drops my hand and races out of the church.

I happen to catch Pierce’s eye and he shakes his head. He walks over to Rachel and offers his arm. She looks unsure but I think I hear him growl at her and she quickly accepts. Channing walks up to me and throws his arm around my shoulders. “I remember when you used to have a different girl in your bed every week. Now you’ll have to get by with just one.”

I huff. “I’ll pretend you didn’t say any of that because I know you’re just being a little bitch.” Then I punch him in the stomach. Not hard, it’s more like a love tap.

He drops his arm with a laugh and we head to leave out of the church and walk over to the reception area. “I’m surprised you didn’t write Wesley a song to sing today.” He sticks his hands in his pockets, giving him a relaxed look but I know he’s anything but relaxed. Not with Paisley here.

I shake my head. “I’ve written her enough songs to fill up two CDs. It’s no longer new and original. Hell, I’m not even going to sing today. It’s my wedding, I get to relax. No standing up in front of a hundred people and performing.” After Juilliard the performing has lost its spark. I just don’t enjoy it anymore. That’s why I’m glad I never listened to my mom about becoming the next Justin Beiber. I’d rather spend my time with kids, teaching them about the instruments that I love. Music is everywhere and in everything we do. That’s why I took the Meadows teaching position. Now I get to teach little kids about music whenever I want. It doesn’t hurt that my new wife is also teaching History at the same place. Well, she’s at the high school and I’m in elementary but it’s in the same general area.

“I guess that’s a good thing. I don’t think any of us could handle another song about how much you love Wes. It’s starting to make you look like a girl.” Channing smirks at me and shrugs his shoulders. The prick.

I smack him on the shoulder but I don’t say anything. A year ago we would mess around and say insulting things about the way we loved our women. I can’t do that to him anymore. He doesn’t deserve to be reminded of a time when Paisley made him happy. Everyone says you should cherish the times you spent with the person you loved when they are no longer around. That’s true if they passed away. Paisley walked out of Channing’s life with only a letter. She didn’t even explain to him why she did what she did. I read the letter, shortly after Lily had to knock his ass out with a drug cocktail. Paisley told him she loved him but she couldn’t go through with it. She went on to say it was her and not him, that it could never be him. He was perfect and she was the one with issues. I don’t think the girl stopped to think for one second what she was doing. But that’s Paisley for you. When it came to Channing, she didn’t think about things, she just charged head on.

In the end, she hurt him more than he could ever hurt her. I didn’t understand the problem to begin with. Considering he thought rainbows shot out of her ass. Once upon a time I thought she was hot and I wanted to do her but that was for one second and before I saw how Channing looked at her.

The thing I love the most about Channing is the way he lets people in. He lets them in slowly, takes his time getting a feel for them. That’s what he did with Paisley and that’s what he did with me. We might have been five but even at five Channing was more mature than anyone at that age should be. He had to be though, what with the mother he had. That woman scared the shit out of me up until the day she died. I don’t like to speak ill of the dead but that woman is rotting in hell for the shit she did to Channing. And sometimes I wish I’ll be going to hell so I can spit on her, since I never got to do it while she was alive.

“Since the groom has just graced us with his presence, please come join your bride on the dance floor. I don’t have all day, sir!” Chutney shouts, her voice vibrating the speaker next to my ear. I wince and laugh.

I grab Channing’s shoulder and make him look me in the eye. “Stay away from Paisley. You don’t need that shit. I know how hard it is for you, even after a year. Getting up to your old tricks with her is going to set you back. And I don’t think I can relive what you went through.”