New Forever Read online

  I grind my teeth together as I wait for Max to answer. I’ll castrate both of them and hang their balls from a tree.

  “Anti-anxiety pills can work as muscle relaxers,” he says slowly, as if I were stupid, and I clench my hands into fists, wanting to punch him in the face.

  “I’ll check, but I have to finish Dee’s hair first.”

  “Fine,” he huffs, “but hurry.”

  Hurry, my fucking ass. He shouldn’t have done something stupid last night that could get him hurt.

  Nonetheless, I hurry back into the bathroom and continue fixing Dee’s hair while she looks back at me with curious eyes. She knows something’s up, but I’ll be damned if I’m the one to tell her.

  ***

  “What the hell did you go to a skate park for last night?” I chastise both men, and both have the good sense to squirm uncomfortably under my intense stare.

  I shove a glass of water toward Adam and stalk the room while he grunts in pain. I take the glass back when he finishes drinking from it. Adam lies back on the couch and tries to get comfortable and I almost feel bad for him. Almost.

  “I just wanted to go somewhere that meant something. Josh and I used to go there all the time.” He shrugs and looks back at me sheepishly.

  Leave it to Adam to make something like going to a skate park leave me feeling sentimental. I mean, it’s a skate park, a place for teenagers to do ridiculous things that can cause bodily damage, but he turned it into something special. Damn him and his tender heart.

  “Fine, whatever,” I say, but, feeling sympathetic, I sit down beside him and pat his shoulder. “Take the other one before the wedding if you need it.”

  “Other one?” His eyes triple in size and I let out a loud moan. This isn’t happening. This simply is not happening.

  “Please, for the love of God, tell me you didn’t take both.” We stare at each other, all three of us already knowing the answer. “Sonofa- Adam! Both of them?” He’s gonna need a wheelchair to get down the aisle now. And I’ll flee the country. Mexico, maybe? I mean, chulupas are good and I love rice.

  “You gave them both to me. I didn’t know.” A stupid grin spreads across his face and I look back at Max for an explanation.

  “He’s had a few beers, too,” Max tells me without making eye contact.

  “Define a few.” I grind my teeth together and wait for his answer.

  “Four? Maybe five?”

  “Maybe five beers and two strong anxiety pills that’ll knock him on his ass without alcohol. Are you shitting me?”

  “Baby, it’s okay.” Max puts his arms around me and tries to reassure me with a tender kiss, but I push him back and stare at Adam who is quickly drifting to sleep.

  “We need to make him vomit,” I decide and laugh at the absurdity that has so quickly unfolded before me.

  “He just needs sleep. You and I need something else.”

  I inch away from him, needing to get back to Dee to work on her make up, but he takes hold of my waist and presses his lips against mine. I refuse to open my mouth to him, so he angles his face differently and licks my lips slightly, just a small touch that makes me moan in both satisfaction and frustration.

  With his hands still on my waist, he gently guides me backward until we are in Dee and Adam’s guest bedroom. My heart flutters in my chest when the back of my legs touches the side of the mattress. He lifts me from the floor and gently puts me onto the bed where he pushes me back. I arch my back as he leans toward me and pushes his weight on me. The flutter in my heart grows until my whole body is throbbing and pulsing along with it.

  He deepens his kiss as his hands explore my body, and my body warms with each touch. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull his trailing mouth toward me, making him growl in response. When our lips join again, his mouth slams against mine, as we try to remove each other’s clothes in frenzied movements.

  Once inside of me, curses explode from his lips as he thrusts viciously on top of me. I hold onto his shoulders, keeping the crazed tempo along with him. I shout his name as my nails dig into his skin when I find my release, but continue to hold onto him as his body grows tense. I relish in his tight muscles and run my fingers over them, as he tenses over me a final time before his body collapses on mine.

  A small sigh escapes my lips as my body continues to glide at the memory of what we just shared. I run my hands through his hair and on his back, not quite ready to leave his side and partake in my wedding duties.

  Maybe we should consider drugging Dee and Adam more often, because that was pretty damn exciting.

  Only Max and I know the real reason behind Adam’s ridiculous smile has more to do with intoxication than the woman walking toward him, but it’s still sweet. Adam takes Dee’s hand when she reaches him and whispers something in her ear that has her looking back at me with worried eyes so I wink back at her, hoping he doesn’t screw this up.

  Max was able to get him off the couch so that I could dress him. It was an experience I won’t soon forget either. I never would have guessed that Adam doesn’t own any underwear. And even in his drunken stupor, I could tell Dee was one lucky lady. Not that I looked that long or hard. I mean, it was pretty hard to really examine him with Max just a room away.

  But, yeah, the facts speak for themselves, Dee is one lucky lady. Even though she’s marrying someone who won’t recall any of the events that took place on one of the most important days of his life.

  “Does he need to go to the hospital?” Dee asks me when she hands me her bouquet.

  I look back at my friend and try not to laugh when Max catches Adam before he stumbles on top of Dee when he tries to take hold of her hand.

  “He’s just love sick,” I explain and she narrows her eyes at me. “He’s fine, Dee,” I promise and hold back a giggle when he mumbles something incoherent at us.

  The pastor clears his throat, getting our attention, and I shove Dee toward her groom while she glares back at me. As the pastor speaks, Adam seems to gain his posture and stability and even manages to steal a few kisses from Dee, which delights everyone in attendance. Dee eventually relents to his sudden random behavior and giggles when he twirls her in the air after their first kiss as husband and wife. I applaud them when they make their way back down the aisle, with Dee nestled in Adam’s arms like one would cradle a baby, while Max stays close behind them to catch Dee if needed. I take Josie’s hand in mine as we follow her parents who stop every few steps to exchange long, intimate kisses in front of everyone.

  We stay outside the church for close to an hour, taking pictures with the bride and groom, and I make sure to give Adam plenty of water so he stays hydrated. Although to be honest, I’m not sure if he needs hydration as much as he needs a dark room. With Dee. Alone.

  Horny newlyweds. At least his poses and her response to his ludicrous behavior will make for good pictures, I chuckle to myself.

  “Mommy look pretty,” Josie tells me and I nod back at her as I buckle her into the backseat of Max’s car. “An’ Daddy look happy.” I laugh at her evaluation but I have to agree. Daddy does indeed look pretty happy.

  “They have a lot to be happy about.”

  “One day I’m gonna mawwy a hansome pwince like Unca Max.” I look back at her in surprise while Max smiles proudly from the driver’s seat. He’s practically preening from her compliment, I notice and shake my head.

  “You already got me, Princess,” he tells her and I smack his shoulder.

  Like hell anyone but me has him.

  “You can do better than your old Uncle Max.”

  “Old?” Max asks, pinching the side of my stomach and making me squirm.

  “Hansome,” Josie corrects me.

  I wiggle my finger at her in warning but she just laughs me off.

  “I guess I can share him,” I suggest, but Josie shakes her head.

  “You have baby and give me my pwince.”

  Her demand leaves me coughing into my hands while Max laughs. Give her a p
rince? Have a baby? What the hell are Dee and Adam teaching this child? I feel my eyes open wide in response while Max continues to drive nonchalantly.

  “One day,” Max promises her and my eyes glisten with tears as my chest warms at his words.

  One day? One day we’ll have our own little prince with Max’s handsome face and my erratic personality. I can see him clearly, but until now never realized I wanted him. If Janus is any indication, Max will be an amazing Dad, full of patience, fun and enough anxiety to make him careful.

  I reach over and take Max’s hand in mine and bring it to my lips for a kiss.

  “One day,” I promise back to him and his smile widens until it takes over his entire face.

  Dee’s wedding coordinator greets us at the front entrance of the banquet hall they rented for the evening and ushers us into the bride and groom’s private room where we find Adam groping Dee on a black velvet ottoman.

  “What the hell is going on?” Dee asks when she sees me and she slaps his attempts at touching her breasts in front of their daughter.

  “It’s a long story,” I admit and put Josie on Adam’s lap to get his attention off Dee’s lady parts.

  “Spill.”

  I sigh, but knowing she wants answers I sit down on a chair opposite of her and begin to rehash a quick version of the story. “Adam and Max went to a skate park last night. Adam hurt his back so Max asked me to give him my anxiety medication to serve as a muscle relaxer. Only, Adam had already drunk four beers and accidentally followed it with two pills.” I leave out the whole sex thing in her spare bedroom and bite my bottom lip as I wait for her to yell or throw something.

  I should have known better than for Dee to react like a normal bride on her wedding day. Rather than getting angry, she throws her head back in a roar of laughter and scoots closer to her husband.

  “You’re an idiot,” she tells him and pecks him on the lips, but Adam deepens the kiss, making Josie leap off her dad’s lap with a look of both awe and disgust.

  “Can’t be that dumb if I managed to get the girl.” He caresses her neckline and just as he starts fumbling with her dress, I pick Josie up and pull Max out of the room.

  “I thought you gave him something to relax him, not something that’d give him a twenty-four hour boner,” Max whispers in my ear and I shrug.

  “He’s having the strangest reaction to it that I’ve ever seen,” I laugh out loud as we pass Dee and Adam’s family and friends, who have no idea how quickly the marriage they just witnessed is being consummated.

  Feeling as if there is enough intoxication in the building, I bypass the tequila fountain and stick to drinking water once we are seated at our table. Josie jumps happily on my lap while she and Max use an app on his phone to draw pictures.

  We all cheer when the bride and groom are announced, but I look Dee over thoroughly to see just how satisfied her hour in their private room actually was. If her rosy cheeks and the smile plastered on her face are any hints, I’d say she was satisfied repeatedly. I refrain from giving Adam’s a thumbs up and simply watch them as they begin their first dance as husband and wife. They seem to float on the dance floor in complete harmony with one another. The bottom of Dee’s dress glides over the floor, but it’s almost as if they really are floating. I hear people gasp at the beauty of my two friends, but I know none of us exist to them. It’s just the two of them in here right now.

  Unable to sit still for long, Josie squirms out of my arms and runs toward her parents. Adam picks her up and finishes the song with both his girls in his arms. The way it should be.

  After they complete their dance, Max stands up and walks to Adam and Dee. With a champagne glass in his hand, he begins to speak.

  “Love is a journey not many of us are brave enough to travel. It has the potential to break us, so we fight our instincts and our feelings, not believing it can or will fill us. But once love puts her fingers around your heart, it breathes a newness inside of us, leaving the lonely part of who we once were so scarred and forgotten you no longer recognize him.” Max looks back at me with a ferocity in his eyes I’ve never seen before, and I feel my body warm under his gaze. He winks back at me and I don’t bother hiding my smile. “To Adam and Dee,” he says, lifting his glass as his eyes turn back to them. “May you two be blessed with a lifetime of love.”

  We all lift our glasses and toast the bride and groom although I know the truth. Max was speaking to me and about us. I wrap my arms around his neck when he comes back to our table and kiss him loudly on the lips.

  “I love you,” I tell him, not caring the others at our table are watching us.

  “I love you too, Hay.”

  Josie spends most of the night dancing with either her parents or Max and me while Adam spends the entire night trying to get Dee out of the banquet hall and to their hotel room. But tonight is Dee’s night and she wants to celebrate with hours of dancing, singing, and laughter. Just after midnight, Adam approaches the live band and takes the center stage where he sings “Love, Always” while staring at Dee with eyes that scream of adoration. After he finishes, he jumps off the stage and is met by Dee who willingly goes into his arm and finally leaves the banquet hall.

  My feet sore from dancing in heels two nights in a row scream at me, but I follow Max to our car and silently watch him buckle a sleeping Josie into her carseat. We’re gonna have one of those one day, I think in wonder. Max and I are going to have our own happily ever after, complete with a couple babies and a dog.

  I take Max’s hand when he slips into the driver’s seat and melt against my own chair when he kisses the knuckles of my hand. It amazes me how Max can make an ordinary moment feel magical. How he can bring me to my knees with a single look or whisper.

  It took us both a long time to accept and trust in love. It was a long journey, but one I’d brave over and over again if it led me back to Max.

  Needing to prolong the inevitable, I check my email for the sixth time that day and am sorely disappointed when nothing new pops up. Not even an email from Adam or Dee with pictures from their month long honeymoon with Josie. I could use a picture of Josie smiling back at me right about now. But, nope, not even my closest friends can come through for me when I need them.

  Have I mentioned how much I resemble a whiny little bitch in a training bra?

  “Max,” Hayley grabs my attention with the warning in her voice.

  Right, time to meet the parents.

  “Janus-“

  “Is fine,” she finishes for me.

  Not exactly what I was going to say. He kind of looks like he has to pee, but I don’t mention it since I’ve already taken him for three walks. I walk over to him, silently apologizing to him and his bladder, while I pet his head and gather my courage.

  This isn’t a big deal. I haven’t seen my parents in five years and I’ll be showing up on their doorstep with Hayley by my side—you know, the girl that looks exactly like her twin sister, who they had an instrumental part in her death. Not a big deal at all.

  Hayley takes my hand with a small chuckle and guides me out of our apartment and to my car. Unwilling to give her the keys, I drive us to my parents’ house with a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel. When they eventually start to hurt, I take turns flexing the muscles in my hands and Hayley takes the opportunity to grab my unoccupied hand and hold it on her lap. I go to move my hand out of her lap, not wanting the sweat that’s built up to bother her, but she squeezes it in reassurance.

  “I read the email from you parents,” Hayley blurts out unexpectedly and I look back at her in confusion. “When we were in Nassau. Josie had just fallen asleep and your laptop dinged so I went to turn the volume off so it wouldn’t wake Josie up if you got more emails.” She licks her lips and I smile back at her grimly, realizing she’s just as nervous as I am. “I saw it was an email from your dad so I opened it and read it. I’m sorry, Max. I shouldn’t have invaded your privacy like that. “

  “I don’t care about tha
t, Hay.” I move my hands to her face while I keep my eyes on the road as I drive and stroke her cheek with the back of my hand. “I care about us, about us getting through this.”

  “We will,” she promises with tears swimming in her eyes.

  “I care about you. You know everything about me. I have nothing to hide from you. Look at my emails, go through my phone. It doesn’t matter. Just please don’t hold who my parents are against me. I can’t control that part of my life.”

  “I don’t.” Hayley takes my hand in hers again and places the palm of my hand on her cheek. “I love you, Max. Nothing that happens today is going to change that.”

  I know she wants me to look at her, a small glance to let her know I believe her, and I want to. I want to believe, so I take a deep breath and take another leap that leaves me completely vulnerable in her arms.

  “Okay,” I tell her. “Okay.”

  As we get closer, we make plans to go to Orlando to visit the theme parks and decide to stay in one of the resorts since neither of us have stayed in anything but the regular hotels. We lightly argue over which characters we want to dine with, but she eventually admits that having breakfast with superheroes would be the most fun. Our idle chit chat stops when I round the corner just before my parents’ house and I grip Hayley’s hand hard.

  “You ready?” I ask and she nods. “You don’t have to do this, Hay. We can drive past their house. You don’t have to see them.”

  She shakes her head confidently at me and I look back at her with sudden awe. All this time, I’ve only thought about how hard this was on me, but rarely considered how Hayley felt. She is about to meet my parents and the entire time she’s been putting me at ease rather than me trying to put her at ease. My heart skips at the wonder that is this woman and I silently promise her a forever in which I remember to always put her feelings before my own.

  After I put my car in park in their driveway, I cup Hayley’s face in my hands and kiss her softly on her lips.

  “You’re an amazing woman, Hayley. You’re brave and kind and, damn it, I’m proud of you.”