Face-Off at the Altar Read online

  Avery shrugged. “Can I touch it if I’m underage?”

  She laughed. “If Benji the alcoholic can touch it, you can. Go on.”

  Avery giggled as she kissed Jace before walking with Benji toward the bar. Markus wasn’t sure what Lucy was up to until she turned to him, her eyes laser focused. “So, give me the details.”

  “Details?” he asked, confused, and when he looked to his so-called brothers, they all but took a step back.

  “About you and Mekena. I saw the way everyone froze up when I asked if y’all knew each other, and I didn’t miss the way she ran out of here once the subject was changed.”

  “Help?” he asked Jace, and he just laughed.

  “No way, you’re on your own.”

  He looked to Baylor, but even she shook her head. “No way, she’s been very nice to me. Plus, I already covered for you!”

  When he turned back to Lucy, she gave him a knowing look as he cleared his throat. “I really don’t want to talk about this.”

  “I don’t care,” she said simply. “She’s my photographer, and you’re one of my brothers, so if it’s bad bad, then I need to kick one of you out.”

  He scoffed. “You aren’t kicking her out. She has every right to hate me.”

  “Well, I can’t kick you out!” she complained, her eyes filling with worry. “What in the world happened?”

  Shaking his head, he let out a long breath as he looked up. “We were dating for a couple months, and then I found myself in bed with her sister.”

  Lucy’s eyes widened as her mouth dropped open. Around him, everyone looked embarrassed for him, something he wasn’t proud of, while Claire’s expression matched Lucy’s. “Markus!”

  He nodded. “I know. I’m a fucking douche.”

  “I don’t believe that for a second,” Claire said then. “You’re so sweet. You get around, but you wouldn’t hurt someone like that.”

  “Exactly, this can’t be true. You would never,” Lucy agreed.

  “I know. I don’t know what happened,” he said, leaning his elbows onto the table as everyone shifted around uncomfortably. “One minute, Skylar’s trying to get some and I’m denying her. And then the next, I wake up, she’s naked in my bed, and I have a condom on.”

  “Ew,” Lucy exclaimed, looking away.

  “But the truth is, Skylar has been whoring around for a while. I think she did it on purpose,” Jace said, coming to his defense.

  “I mean, I slept with her,” Jude said, and Jayden raised his hand.

  “I did too.”

  “I didn’t, but that’s because she went through you two,” Jace said, looking to Markus. “She was out for trouble that night, and I truly believe Markus really liked Mekena. He was drunk.”

  “That’s not an excuse, though,” he said as he looked down at the table. When he was drunk, he always knew what was going on. But that night, he didn’t remember anything. He’d blacked out. “I wish I could go back and change it. Stay away from Skylar.”

  “Do you think it was staged? Like she did it to make you think you did?” Claire asked.

  “I thought that too,” Baylor joined in, but Markus shook his head.

  “I don’t know. I mean, I hadn’t come in the condom—sorry, ladies—but it sure looked like I slept with Skylar, and Mekena saw us.”

  Everyone looked away, all of them hurting for him, he could see that, but he didn’t deserve it.

  “Lord, I don’t know what happened to that girl. Skylar used to be decent, but now I can’t even stand her. She’s just wild now. That’s so sad for you and for Mekena. No one deserves that,” Claire said softly, her eyes wide. “I hate that for y’all.”

  “Yeah, it sucks,” Markus agreed, but no one would ever really know the full extent of how he felt, except Jace. Markus was hurting, bad, and there seemed to be no end to his pain.

  6. Free therapy, up to three times a week. (Mental health is important!)

  Running his hand over his mouth, he shrugged his shoulders. “It’s in the past. What can I do?”

  “Apologize?” Baylor suggested. “Numerous times—because that girl is hurting.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I agree, but then maybe you do that after my wedding ’cause I need her to focus on my pictures ’cause I’m a selfish brat, and I am sorry for that,” Lucy said with a wink, and Markus laughed.

  “We all know this,” he teased back.

  Leaning across the table, she took his hand in hers. “I don’t know what happened, but I know you didn’t do that intentionally. And I think the sooner you tell her that, the sooner you both can start healing.”

  “Yeah, I hear you,” he answered back, squeezing her hand.

  “But wait till after my wedding,” she said with a grin, and he nodded.

  “Can do.”

  While he made it sound like it would be easy-peasy for him, it felt like it would be the hardest thing he had ever done in his life. Because no matter how much he apologized, he knew he had lost her.

  And there was no coming back from that.

  “He is so gorgeous! Ugh! Why is he so damn gorgeous? Why can’t he look like a goblin or something? Why do I freakin’ care? It isn’t fair. He cheated on me. Yes, we weren’t official, and yes, I may never have put out, but I wasn’t ready. I wanted to know we loved each other, I wanted to know he loved me. But no, he goes and fucks my sister, that fucking whore Skylar. It isn’t fair! Why do I still care?”

  Kicking the floor, Mekena let out a long breath and then looked back at Mr. Right, who was perched on the end of the bed, his expression bored.

  Like always.

  “Explain it to me. How and why do I care? He didn’t care about me when he put his penis in my sister! Why didn’t he want to put his penis in me? What’s wrong with me?”

  Looking for any kind of support from Mr. Right, she got none as he slowly yawned, blinking a few times. That only made her madder.

  Snorting in frustration, she yelled, “I don’t even get it. He never even apologized, which, really, why would it matter? I don’t want his apology—wait, yes, I do. No! I don’t want anything from him. He’s a big ol’ buttface miscreant! I hate him!”

  When Mr. Right meowed in disbelief, she yelled her irritation. “Okay, maybe I don’t hate him, but I sure hate that I still love him because that is idiotic. He cheated, Mister. Cheated. On me. With my sister! That’s unforgivable, that’s ridiculous! He chose her over me! I mean, why wasn’t I enough?”

  “Meow.”

  “Exactly!”

  Falling back on the bed, she covered her face with her hands as she sucked in a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh. “It just isn’t fair, Mister,” she said, her voice breaking as the tears started to well up in her eyes. “I love him, still, and I knew that the moment he looked into my eyes. I thought I was over him, I thought I had let him go, but I think all I did was try to hide him from my life. I didn’t do anything to get over him. There was no closure.”

  But did she really want closure?

  She wasn’t sure, and she sure as hell couldn’t let that be known. Squeezing her eyes shut tighter, she swallowed hard just as Mr. Right crawled his big butt onto her chest, his head nuzzling into her hands. Melting a bit, she hugged him to her chest as she cried into his soft fur. It only lasted a second before he dug his nails into her chest, and she let him go with a cry of pain. “You have a split personality, Mister! One minute you love me, the next you want to hurt me.”

  He only whipped his tail at her, which made her glare. “You’re a Markus Reeves. That’s your new name. Meanie!”

  He hissed at that, and for some odd reason, that made her feel a little better. Closing her eyes, she shook her head. How in the ever-loving God was she supposed to work at this wedding and ignore Markus? Not feel even an inkling of emotion for him, and not want to ask him why he did what he did. She remembered like it was yesterday when he said he was sorry, but his apology was for the fact that she caught him. Not for