Love's Suicide (Love's Suicide #1)(20)

“Well look at what the cat dragged in.” Branch came walking in with his arms full of boxes. He sat them down in a chair and walked over to greet his brother. I was actually in shock that he seemed genuinely happy to see him. They hugged, before Branch backed up and put his arm around me. “It’s real good to see you, bro.”

Brooks smiled. “Yeah, you too.”

I watched as his parents took their turns hugging and checking out that their son was really standing in front of us in one piece.

While they seemed occupied, I took it upon myself to walk away and catch a breather. I didn’t know why, but something felt wrong, as if it was rehearsed.

I grabbed the boxes and started carrying them into the banquet hall.

Once inside, I sat down on a chair and tried to calm down. For a couple moments I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath. The room was spinning all around, and I had to put my head between my knees to stop it.

I heard the door open and someone approaching me, but I didn’t look up to see who it was.

Danica sat down beside me and put her hand on my head. “Just breathe.”

“What’s happening to me? My chest feels tight and I can’t catch my breath.”

“You’re having an anxiety attack.” She pulled me into her arms and started rubbing the back of my hair. “Just take nice even breaths and focus on one thing. Block everything else out.”

I tried doing as she said, but the room was still spinning. “I think I’m going to pass out.”

“You won’t.”

After ten minutes, when I still wasn’t feeling better, she helped me up to my room and removed my shoes while I laid down on the bed. She pulled the covers over me and got me a damp towel for my head. “You’ve gotten yourself so worked up. We need to get you feeling better before dinner time.” I watched her walk over and grab something out of her purse. “Take one of these. It will help.”

I put it in my mouth and accepted the plastic cup of water to swallow it down with. “What is it?”

“Xanax. It’s for anxiety. In a couple of minutes you’ll start to feel better.”

She sat with me and held my hand until I finally started to relax. All of the sudden I felt so tired. “I can’t fall asleep. There’s too much to do.”

Danica leaned down and kissed my forehead. “You need to rest. There are plenty enough people here to take care of things while you get yourself feeling better.”

I don’t know why I said it, but the words came blubbering out. “Make sure they don’t fight with each other.”

For some reason she knew exactly who I was talking about. “Katy, I don’t think anyone could predict what those two will do. For the sake of the wedding, they’ve both agreed to behave.”

“Thank you.” I closed my eyes and let myself rest.

I woke up to someone coming into my room. Melissa left her stuff at the door and plopped down on the bed next to me. “What are you doing sleeping? We’ve got celebrating to do.”

I sat up and noticed that I’d been asleep for nearly three hours. “I had an anxiety attack. It was horrible. I felt like I was dying.”

“Girl, I used to get them. You’ve got to stay calm.”

“Danica gave me a Xanax. I fell asleep and it’s gone now.”

She reached over and hugged me. “I’m so excited for you. I already saw Branch, and I met that fine ass brother-in-law to be. You were right. They are identical, but different. Do you think he’d like to have a good time with a complete stranger for a weekend?”

I felt like my closest friend had just kicked me in the face. It shouldn’t have bothered me. I’d been living with and was marrying his brother. Brooks didn’t belong to me, not that he ever did. “You’ll have to ask him yourself.”

I walked into the bathroom to freshen up and sat down on the toilet, covering my face with my hands. I was jealous of Melissa saying Brooks was hot.

What was wrong with me?

She waited for me to come back out, and then we headed out to find the guys. I spotted Branch first, because Brooks had changed from his uniform to regular civilian clothing. He smiled when he saw me approaching, but I quickly turned my attention to Branch.

He asked Melissa what she wanted and went up to get us drinks. Brooks leaned over and asked, “Are you feeling better?”

Why hadn’t my fiancée asked me that? “Yes, thanks.”

“Nerves got the best of you, I assume.” He took a sip of his beer and stared at a game on the television, instead of looking at me.

It was probably better, since Branch was heading over with a round of drinks for all of us. “Thanks,” I said as I grabbed mine out of his hand.

“We can have one drink before we need to meet in the restaurant for dinner,” Branch explained.

We stood around mingling, and finally things started to feel alright. Aside from Melissa staring at Brooks and him actually speaking to her, I was in a good mood. Branch seemed happy to have his brother home, and it was almost like old times.

We headed to dinner and sat at a large table with his parents. Brooks told stories of being in boot camp and things him and his buddies did to make the time go by faster. He talked about his upcoming deployment and what his job would be while he was gone.

I could see that it bothered Danica, knowing he was basically being shipped into a war-zone. I knew how she felt, because I was worried about him too.