The place really was packed. At the entrance, a dozen ushers were escorting people to seats, and people milled about as they waited for their chance. I recognized about ten people in the span of a minute and slowly angled my body so as not to have to engage with anyone.
Eventually, it was our turn, and Heidi and I wrangled one usher for the both of us.
“Bride or groom?” the boy asked. He had ice-blue eyes and a real Southern drawl. He was probably in a fraternity at Tech and had gotten coaxed into this with the promise of free booze.
“Bride,” Heidi said. “We’re friends of the bride.”
“Cool. How do you know Sutton?” he asked as he walked us, arm in arm, down the aisle.
“We grew up together,” Heidi said.
When I raised my eyebrows, she shrugged.
“Family friend. Got it.”
Then, he walked us right up to the third row. I felt myself panicking. Why were we so close? Couldn’t he have given us different seats? I did not want to be this near the Wright siblings. I was here for the booze and had been promised a good time.
“Family friends up front,” he said with a smile, gesturing for us to take our seats.
Heidi smiled brightly at him and then took the second seat inside.
“You’re leaving me on the end?” I hissed at her.
“Yeah. Sit your ass down.”
“This was not part of the deal, Martin,” I spat at her as I sat down.
“Ohhh, using my last name. I’m real scared.”
“You owe me big for this.”
“Just enjoy it, Em. It’ll be over in, like, fifteen minutes, and then we can drink for free all night.”
“Right. Priorities,” I muttered as the doors finally closed behind us.
As the remaining guests took their seats, my eyes traveled the room. It was elaborately decorated with flowers attached to every chair and shimmery curtains draped across the entire front of the room. White lights that twinkled down on the attendees were strung on the second-floor balcony.
Softly, a string quartet began playing classical music, and the lights dimmed. I looked back to the front as the pastor stepped out from a back room with the groom and a long line of groomsmen following in his wake.
My eyes scanned the length of the line. Nine. He had nine groomsmen. Holy fuck!
There were so many of them that they had to stand in two lines.
And the last three men in the line were very distinct and downright gorgeous.
The Wright brothers—Jensen, Austin, and finally, Landon.
The party had arrived.
Chapter 4
Emery
I purposely turned my attention away from the brothers before me. I really didn’t want to look at any of them anyway. Luckily for me, the bridesmaids started walking down the aisle. Then, the traditional “Canon in D” began, we all stood, and Sutton walked down the aisle. I was pretty sure, the last time I’d seen Sutton in person, she was only about twelve years old. But it was shocking to me, now that she was all grown up, how much she looked like Landon.
All of them looked the same—dark hair, pouty lips, athletic figure. Though they had their differences, too. Just not enough noticeable differences. Anyone could see they were related.
Heidi leaned over to me to whisper into my ear, “Ten bucks, she’s a crier.”
“She’s pregnant. She’s definitely a crier,” I muttered back.
I tried to hold my laughter in as Sutton finally reached the front of the room and immediately burst into tears. Her groom took her hands in his and grinned down at her.
The pastor raised his hands. “You may all be seated,” he said.
I dropped into my seat and waited for this whole thing to be over.
“We are gathered here today to join Sutton Marie Wright to Maverick Wayne Johnson in holy matrimony.”
My eyes rounded, and I glanced at Heidi. We had an entire conversation without saying a word.
Maverick Wayne.
Maverick?
That’s his name?
Holy fuck.
Yeah.
Yeah.
She must be here for his Johnson.
I cracked up and had to cover it with a cough when a few people turned to glare at me. Heidi tried to hide her own laughter by reaching for her purse and digging around for her phone.
The rest of the ceremony progressed like any other I’d ever been to. If you’d been to one wedding, you’d been to them all.
Yada, yada, yada.
“I do.”
Yada, yada, yada.
“Till death do us part.”
Yada, yada, yada.
“You may kiss the bride.”
I applauded methodically with the rest of the crowd and silently prayed for some really good champagne to make up for this. Champagne cured everything.
The music started up again. The end of their fifteen minutes was up. On to bigger and better things. Like an open bar and a dessert table.
Maverick took Sutton’s hand in his, and they strode down the aisle, beaming like streetlamps. Each bridesmaid walked forward in her long, silky red dress, latched on to the arm of one of the groomsmen. With nine people on each side of the bridal party, it was taking forever. One after the other after the other.