My throat tightens at his words.
“I …” He clears his throat. “I didn’t realize until this morning that I was your biggest problem …”
I pull away quickly, frowning. “No.”
“I let you go too far.”
I sigh. “You couldn’t have stopped me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” he argues. “I realize I failed you in the worst way a brother could fail. But I promise you, Kyle. I will not fail you again. Do you understand me?”
I nod once, my throat tightening, unable to form a word.
“I love you,” he says.
I can’t even remember the last time my brother said those words to me. After Mom passed, the words just weren’t spoken in our house. I didn’t realize how much I missed them.
“I love you, Kyle. And that woman out there.” He pauses and my chest tightens. Here it comes. The blow that’s gonna bring me to my knees. “That woman carrying your child loves you too. And it took her to make me see that together, we can overcome anything.”
I let out a shaky breath. “I was afraid you were going to tell me her boyfriend was here, and you were going to kill him for me.”
He pulls away laughing. “She’s not going anywhere. For some reason she wants to stick around. Could be because you knocked her up.”
My mouth falls open. “Did Dillan Reed, a.k.a. Bones, just make a joke?”
He shrugs. “You’re not the only Reed who can make people laugh.”
“There are hundreds of people who will disagree with you.”
And just like that, I feel a weight lifted off my shoulders. A cloud that no longer hovers over me. I feel twenty pounds lighter. Forgiveness and love are more powerful than any drug you can take.
I’ve always had a death wish, but for once I have something to live for.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
APRIL
“WE’RE READY.” THE wedding coordinator that Emilee hired calls out, entering the bridal room.
Emilee spins around, smoothing her hands down her Marie-Chantal Miller wedding dress. She looks like royalty in the white lace material. It’s an off-the-shoulder, backless dress with a royal train. It was made for a queen. “How do I look?” she asks nervously.
“Gorgeous,” Jasmine tells her before taking a sip of her champagne.
“Absolutely stunning,” I say with a smile.
“Thank you.” She walks up to me and takes my hands in hers. “I couldn’t have done this without you.”
My cheeks heat up as I look around the room full of women that quickly became my best friends. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Yes, you did.” She let’s go of my hands and pulls me in for a hug. “You took my dream and turned it into reality.”
I pull away and try to fight back the tears that want to fall. “I couldn’t have done it on my own.” She makes it sound like I planned this entire thing from the ground up. All I did was make flower arrangements. I didn’t even do it on my own. Me, Haven, Jasmine, and Emilee worked day and night on these. Even Alexa helped me when she had free time.
“Come on, ladies. It’s time to go.” They start to usher us out of the room. I hear my cell ringing in my purse and I quickly grab it and walk out with the girls.
I press ignore but it instantly starts to ring again and this time I press answer. “I can’t talk …”
“April, I’ve been trying to reach you.” I hear a familiar voice on the other end.
“Now is not a good time,” I whisper, coming to a stop with the girls in front of the closed double doors.
“I’ll make it quick.”
“I …”
“They took your offer,” she interrupts me.
My mouth drops open at her announcement. “What?” I ask, making sure I heard her.
“They accepted your offer, April,” she repeats excitedly.
“That’s … amazing.” I breathe.
“It is. I know you’re busy; I just wanted to tell you the good news.” She hangs up before I can even respond.
I pull the phone away from my ear and then Sarah, the wedding coordinator, snatches it out of my hands, pocketing it.
“You okay?” Jasmine asks me, her green eyes full of concern.
I nod. “Yeah, I am.”
GRAVE
I sit at the long bridal party table at the head of the ballroom. I watch Titan dance with his wife on the black dance floor in front of two hundred and twenty people. I look over their faces, recognizing most of them. Some I couldn’t even guess who the fuck they are.
Titan has always been a showoff. And that’s exactly what he’s doing with the reporters and guests here. He’s showing the world that he is one of the luckiest Kings on earth, marrying Emilee. Because they’re not here for Emilee. She couldn’t care less.
My brother sits next to me. A glass of bourbon in his hand. He speaks to a guy by the name of Avery and his brother Tristan. The Decker brothers are friends of his.
Being sober shows you how alone you truly are. I never got close to anyone. They’d see who I really was.
I take a sip of my water as a woman I know well walks up to our table. Marsha Wells. A reporter who slept her way to the top in Vegas. She’s always the first to break a juicy story. Her pussy has gotten her all the best connections.
“Bones?” Her eyes stare at him hungrily. I’m pretty sure he’s fucked her before. But I could be wrong.
“Marsha.” He nods to her, throwing back his drink.
The Kings have always been in the media spotlight. Our fathers started Kingdom—The Three Wisemen weren’t any better than we are. I can’t even count the stories that have been written about us. Some true. Some not. I ignore them. They don’t mean anything to me.
“I was wondering if you had anything to share with me?” she asks him.
He tilts his head to the side and looks her up and down. His eyes starting at her pink heels and running up her cream-colored dress before meeting hers. “I might have something.”
She smiles and he gets to his feet, buttons his suit jacket, and walks around the table. “Excuse me, gentlemen,” he tells the Decker brothers. Taking her hand, he leads her to the dance floor.
I take another sip of my water as my eyes catch the most beautiful woman here. April stands across the ballroom. Her dark purple hair styled in an updo. Pieces falling down and framing her face. She wears a strapless, black silk dress.
I swallow nervously and stand, wanting to talk to her. I make my way around the dance floor and over to her. She has her back to me, talking to Jasmine.
Jasmine looks up and spots me coming. She brings the glass of champagne to her lips and tilts it back, winking at me. “I have to go,” she tells April the moment I get close.
“What? Where do you have to go all of a sudden?” she calls out to Jasmine’s back.
“She’s my wingman,” I tell her. Jasmine has always had my back. She understands that we’re not all the same. That some of us feel too much while others don’t feel at all.
April spins around and looks up at me. I reach my right hand out. “Dance with me?” I hold my breath. Still unsure how she feels about me. The horrible situation I’ve put us in. Sitting alone in a room with nothing but your thoughts for weeks on end hasn’t been good for me.