Love's Suicide (Love's Suicide #1)(21)

While he spoke and everyone listened, I caught him catching my gaze every once in a while, and each time I got butterflies.

I hated myself for it, because I knew it was wrong and I couldn’t stop it.

To make myself feel better, I held Branch’s leg under the table, reminding him and myself that we were the couple everyone was there for.

After dinner, we met the pastor to go over the ceremony. We hadn’t planned anything special, but were expecting one hundred people and wanted the wedding to be pretty as well as quick, so we could get to the celebration afterwards.

Melissa was going to sing a song, and Danica was going to read a verse from Corinthians. Aside from that, we were going with traditional vows, because Branch insisted on it.

During the practice run, the pastor was going over where the guys would be standing. Accidentally, he grabbed Brooks and stood him with me. Branch hurried and corrected him, but my heart had already felt that pull again, seeing him standing there for that second and looking into my eyes, like he belonged there instead of his brother.

The worst part about it was I felt it too.

I went through the motions of the rehearsal, but after that happened, I was at a loss for words. While everyone in attendance was laughing, I was crying inside and had to avoid looking at either of the guys, in fear of them seeing right through me.

I couldn’t ruin things.

I was so close to having my forever with Branch.

What was happening to me? Why couldn’t I compose myself?

As the questions rolled through my mind, I felt the anxiety becoming heightened again.

Thankfully, the rehearsal was over and everyone retreated back to the bar.

Once we were all standing around having drinks, I settled down and started enjoying myself again. Melissa continued to hit on Brooks, but I was determined to let it go, because it wasn’t my business.

Branch seemed thrilled that Melissa was digging her paws into his brother. He’d even made lewd comments implying that he had a nice room upstairs. When he told her Brooks’ room number, I was shocked. I laughed with everyone else, but I caught his eyes looking at me again.

My smile disappeared and I knew that this was exactly what Branch had been worried about.

The time apart hadn’t made things go away between me and Brooks. For me, they were stronger and the more I tried to fight them and look forward to my wedding, the more drawn I was to figuring out why I couldn’t let Brooks go.

It was going to be a long night, and all I could hope for was that I drank myself out of all my irrational thoughts and woke up tomorrow prepared to spend the rest of my life with Branch.





Chapter 9


We’d been drinking steadily for nearly two hours, and it was getting close to midnight. Branch was getting belligerent, joking and making fun of strangers that were around us.

His parents had called it a night hours ago, probably guessing that us all hanging out was going to end in catastrophe. I think Brooks and I both knew that pretty soon he’d start running his mouth about us and we couldn’t let that happen.

I followed Melissa into the ladies room to tell her that our night was going to end abruptly.

She wasn’t upset. “I asked Brooks if he wanted company.” She leaned over and re-applied her lip-gloss. “He told me we could hang out later.”

I’d never wanted to punch my friend, but for some reason, it’s all I could think about doing. I didn’t want her hands touching on Brooks. I knew he wasn’t a saint and he’d probably been with plenty of women by now, but it still didn’t make me feel better with it being one of my friends.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” I said while trying to keep my emotions under control.

I hated myself for feeling the way I was. The only person I was hurting was myself. He needed to be with Melissa, so that I could have closure. It would be the best for everyone involved. She was a nice girl, and with her strawberry blonde hair and pretty blue eyes, she was always getting compliments. I knew he had to find her attractive.

She turned to face me. “How do I look?”

“Hot,” I finally said while smiling. It wasn’t a lie. She looked stunning.

She adjusted her cleavage and took another look in the mirror. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

I held the door open for her, thinking of how to respond. It didn’t matter anyway, because Branch was up in the face of another bar patron. Brooks had jumped up and pushed him away from the guy with ease, but he was still going off at the mouth, yelling profanities across the bar.

“Alright, bro. It’s time for you to call it a night, man.”

I walked up to him and grabbed his hand. He was so drunk that he fell on top of me. His weight was too much, and luckily Brooks grabbed the other side of him. I turned to Melissa. “I’ll see you back at the room?”

She smiled and pointed to Brooks’ back. “Yeah, I’ll see you later.”

I cringed when I turned around, but only focused on getting Branch to the elevator. When we got inside, he started singing at the top of his lungs. “Going to the chapel and I’m gonna get married.”

I couldn’t look at Brooks as we basically dragged his brother to his room. After reaching inside of his back pocket, I found his room key and opened the door. Brooks carried him in and tossed him on the bed. “Don’t leave me baby. Give me some love before you go.”