Raoul stood on my other side, watching what was happening closely. When I heard him take in a sharp breath, I looked over and frowned when I saw how focused he really was on the women walking down the aisle. The thought that he was looking at my woman that way had me gritting my teeth until I realized he was watching behind her. Leaning to the side so that I could see past a stand of flowers and his big head, I saw Rose walking in the same style of dress as Jose, but in a deep pink color instead. Had she pissed him off again this morning? That was the only reason I could think for him to be watching her like that.
Moving back into place, I watched Jose take her position opposite me, and then Rose joined her, looking anywhere but at the man beside me. Just then, a deep voice started singing out of nowhere, and I burst out laughing. Jarrod had declined every invite and bribe he’d been offered to sing for this part of the wedding, and Tabby had been very inventive with her bribes. Finally, she’d dared him to do it, and had come up with a forfeit that would have been painful for the man – Scrotox. It had actually been Hurst’s idea, one that he’d yelled when Tabby had paused after saying, “If you don’t do it, the forfeit will be something you’ll never forget, something you’ll have nightmares about. You’ll always look at yourself in the mirror and wonder about what if you’d just said yes.” There had been a long pause while she tried to think up what that would be, and Hurst had yelled Scrotox, and here we were now.
Speaking of, just then, Tabby started walking down the aisle toward us, being guided toward her new life by Hurst. “Jesus Christ,” DB croaked, making me jump. I’d been so caught up in Jose that I’d forgotten about the groom who was standing beside me. “She looks beautiful,” he added, lifting a hand to tug on the collar of his shirt. Tabby had gone easy on us, allowing all of us to forego a tie, and just wear a gray suit and white shirt for the ceremony. The pastor had raised his brows when we’d all walked in with the top buttons of our shirts undone and no ties in sight, but it’s what she wanted, so she got it with no arguments from any of us. Looking back over at Jose, I went to give her a big smile, but stopped when I saw the glare she was throwing at me. What the hell had I done?
Frowning, I mouthed ‘what’ at her, not expecting the glare to get even more heated. I think she mouthed ‘you know’ back at me, but it could have been ‘you’re slow’, so that didn’t answer the question. Hoping my sister could answer it, I glanced over at her just as she raised her bouquet, and with the same hand scratched her eyebrow with her middle finger aimed straight at Raoul who growled.
What the shit had I missed? We were gathered here today for the holy matrimony of the pink haired chick and the douche who kept arresting her. Why was Jose glaring at me? I never questioned what Raoul had done wrong because those two just butted heads the whole time, but Jose had been more than satisfied when I’d let her out of bed this morning to get ready with her sister.
A sharp elbow to the ribs by DB got my head back in the game, and my focus back on the changing of the name… That last bit had sounded way cooler when I’d thought about adding it to my best man’s speech after this, but repeating it now proved it wasn’t. I kept glancing at Jose throughout the ceremony, wondering if maybe she’d had something in her eye? Then it hit me – of course. She was emotional because her sister was getting married. I was such a dick for not realizing thinking that might be an issue for her. Shooting her a wink and a grin to let her know I got it, I focused back on the proceedings – stepping forward when they wanted the rings, waving at Liv when she called my name, doing a double take when I saw Rose mouth ‘you’re dead’ at Raoul, and clapping when the pastor pronounced them man and wife. That’s when I passed DB his handcuffs – as requested – and burst out laughing when he slapped them on her and threw Tabby over his shoulder. Unfortunately, I was wrong – it wasn’t something in her eye or her sister’s wedding. I had, in fact, fucked up big time. See, I hadn’t once thought about the photograph I’d submitted of the two of us to the ink magazine’s competition. So, as DB strode away with his bride yelling at him over his shoulder, and Jarrod singing Crazy by Aerosmith – a change of song to the one that Tabby had requested, Estranged by Guns n’ Roses because it was DB’s song for his mom – I relaxed and enjoyed the crazy that belonged to someone else for once. My life was normal, it was running smoothly, it was fucking outstanding.