Their friend Knight, the huge guy who ate pretty much everything us girls put in front of him whenever we all got together, shrugged. He pulled his girlfriend Greer over. “What?”
The other guys, Jax and LJ looked just as guilty, sipping on their beers and Royal, with them and their girlfriends, laughed. Royal lifted his beer. “You surprised, Em?”
“I guess not,” December said, but did smile. She instructed us to go mingle, and I scanned the crowd, spotting Evelyn. This was a guys and girls shower, and she’d come with James.
Getting their attention, I lifted my hand to wave at them both.
December noticed.
Well, what she really noticed was the band I’d completely forgot to take off in the car.
Fuck.
“Oh my freaking God. What?!” She grabbed my hand, shooting a look at Ramses. “Arizona, did you guys get married?”
Did I mention the wedding had been an elopement? Completely off the cuff. Completely crazy just like my relationship with her best friend. We’d decided to do some traveling after the graduation party.
We’d hit up Vegas.
The plan had been to spill the beans after we got back, but I’d been supposed to leave my band in the car since today was about the baby shower.
I guess I got distracted.
I blamed Ramses, nudging him. He had taken off his ring, but I must not have noticed.
Scratching his neck, Ramses dropped an arm around my shoulders. “Eh, uh. We were going to tell you today.”
“Really? When?” She tapped her foot, looking completely cute with her flushed cheeks and tiny belly. At this point, we’d gathered a crowd, her husband coming over and their friends.
Ramses chewed the inside of his cheek. “Was going to pull you aside. I swear, and before you ask, it was completely on a whim. We planned to throw a reception for everyone.”
This didn’t seem to make her feel any better. She groaned. “Does your mom even know?”
“Mom was there, so yes, she knew.” Evelyn joined us with James, winking. Did I mention she came to Vegas with us, too? A family trip.
Ramses bent his long frame, kissing her cheek, before she hooked James’s arm. Something told me they would have gotten married, too, had they been as crazy as us. She grinned at December. “And we took plenty of pictures for you, honey. For everyone.”
Yeah, definitely didn’t make her feel any better. At her side, Royal hugged her waist, then proceeded in reminding her that they kept the news of their baby under wraps for a little while. This did make her feel a little better and I found the two so sweet. They reminded me kind of Ramses and myself. He always kept me from the ledge. Talked me down. He’d been doing this from day one.
I looped arms around his waist, and he squeezed me. My husband. And no, I still couldn’t believe that. We were two completely different people now. I was a different person.
And thank God for that.
December made us show her every picture we had between Evelyn’s phone and mine. The small wedding in a chapel with tiny flowers and lovely garlands. I’d worn a white pantsuit I’d picked up at a local shop and Ramses had worn a suit he’d packed for our nicer dinners. It hadn’t been the ridiculous side show that was my first wedding. Hell, People Magazine had even come out for that.
It’d been small. It’d been intimate. But most importantly, it’d been Ramses and me.
December and the other women in their friend circle squealed with glee and delight at every photo, but I had to say, none of their boyfriends shared their enthusiasm. I mean, this didn’t surprise me. They were guys, but even Royal seemed to take a little interest in the captured moments. The other guys were downing their booze, looking borderline annoyed, before the really big one, Knight, put a hand in the circle.
And then, the craziest thing happened.
He got down on one knee, right there in front of everyone. The young man pulled a ring out of his jacket and popped it open in front of his tiny, blond girlfriend. They really were the cutest thing, completely mismatched, but then again, they weren’t. Like all these guys, they just seemed to really go well with their other halves. Completely opposite like Ramses and me.
But then again, completely the same.
Greer stepped back upon being presented to, completely in awe at the man on his knees before her. She even had tears in her eyes as she pressed her small fist to her mouth, and I wondered if that was how I’d looked merely a few weeks ago, when my life had changed, and I’d gotten engaged.
That felt so far away now.
Ramses hugged me close. Like he knew my thoughts, he dropped a kiss down on the top of my head, and I squeezed his waist, watching what was clearly another proposal happening in front of us.
Knight almost looked shy in front of his girlfriend. His cheeks were flushed and everything. He frowned a little. “Believe it or not, I was going to ask you before all this. Tonight and a dinner… It was going to be awesome.”
Everyone around laughed, but then gasped when another ring was pulled out.
LJ this time, the guy with the long blond hair Ramses was going into business with. Ramses had told me all about that and how excited he was for it.
Currently, his new business partner was on his knee too, taking his own ring out and popping the box open in front of his girlfriend. I’d only met his Billie a couple of times. She still had been trying to work out bringing everything over from their life in Indiana. Every time, I had seen her, she’d been a gem, though. A true darling with fiery red hair primed and placed, her smile gorgeous.
Her eyes shimmered in front of LJ. “What are you doing?”
LJ shrugged. “Well, Knight went rogue, so…”
“Yeah, he did.”
Another ring and I couldn’t make this up. Their friend Jaxen got on his knee as well. His girlfriend Cleo was super cute, super tall, and probably the nicest person I’d ever met. Honestly, within moments of meeting her, she was asking me about a charity event she was planning to put on for local animal shelters. Already wanting to get involved in town.
“Jax…” She squeaked, on her heels, and Jax took her hand.
He frowned. “It was supposed to be a combined proposal tonight,” he gritted, shooting Knight a look. But then, he snarled at Ramses. “Leave it to Mallick to show us up.”
Ramses laughed, folding his hand on my hip. He set his chin on top of my head. “Don’t let me cramp your style, boys.”
Knight growled, but then faced Greer. “What do you say, dove? Marry me?”
LJ and Jax’s proposals followed, and I could safely say, I hadn’t seen anything like it. These guys hilariously trying to one up each other, yes, but all the love around. I barely knew these people. Really, I didn’t know them well.
But as I watched all their guys put rings on their girls’ fingers, December and Royal and Evie and James hugging close beside us, a feeling surfaced that hadn’t been there even moments before arrival. Like these people were really about to mean something in my life. Like I had a place with them.
Like they were family.
I didn’t know if that’d be true, but as I gripped Ramses’s waist, his hold tight around me, I thought it.
Ramses kissed my temple, staying there. “I love you so much.”
Smiling, I directed my brow to his lips, hugging him close and telling him the same. This man had somehow become my everything in so little time. He’d become mine as well as this little community. Old Brielle would have been scared by that, but new Brielle took chances. She had dreams. She loved and she lived, and she did so with her person, no fear.