Chapter Four

~ Patrick ~

I swallowed tightly as I slid the ring onto Zaq's finger. I was so anxious that something might happen to end this fantasy that I could barely breathe. Zaq was everything my teenage heart had dreamed of and now was my chance to grab that dream and make it come true.

I defied anyone to make me give up this chance.

I shot a quick glance toward where my parents were sitting. I expected the tears on my mother's face and the glower on my father's. Neither of them had been happy to learn I would be marrying Zaq instead of Peter.

My mother was convinced Peter had simply gotten cold feet and he would be back, that he and Zaq were in love and once my brother came back, everyone would be happy.

Her rose colored glasses were steamed over.

My father, on the other hand, was pissed, both at me and my brother. Peter, because he had taken off without saying anything, causing the family to face embarrassment.

I think he was mad at me because I stepped in, but I couldn't be sure. I'd taken him aside after speaking to both of them and showed him the pictures Peter's mistress had sent to Zaq. I wanted him to fully understand that this whole mess could and should be laid at my brother's feet.

Not sure he believed me.

I glanced at Zaq's parents who were sitting across the aisle from mine. They didn't look anymore pleased than my parents did. Mrs. Dinh wouldn't even look at us. She just kept dabbing at her eyes with her handkerchief. Mr. Dinh looked almost constipated.

We were getting a few weird looks from the guests, but not as many as I had thought there would be. Maybe I was right in guessing all of Peter's friends had decided not to attend the wedding.

When the officiate said we could kiss, I froze for just a moment. It wasn't really appropriate to kiss him like I wanted to, not even under these circumstances, but we had to put on a show for the guests.

I swept Zaq into my arms and then angled my head so the audience wouldn't see me place a chaste kiss on the corner of his mouth. I heard a lot of clapping so I guess it worked.

I grabbed Zaq's hand and turned with him to face the guests. I knew the reception was scheduled next, but I needed a few minutes alone with Zaq. We needed to discuss a few things like how we met and why we got married.

We needed a cover story.

When we left the dais and walked down the aisle, instead of stopping to accept the well wishes of everyone, I led Zaq past the double doors and then upstairs to one of the ready rooms.

As soon as I shut the door, I leaned back against it and closed my eyes, breathing in slowly and then blowing it out through my nose. As much as I wanted this, it was nerve-wracking.

"You okay?"

I smiled as I opened my eyes. "I'm okay."

Zaq looked skeptical. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. "We need a cover story."

Zaq's eyebrows lifted. "A cover story?"

"People are going to ask how we met and how we ended up getting married. We need to have a story we can tell everyone that they will believe."

"You're just thinking about this now?"

Zaq sounded so outraged, I couldn't help but laugh. "I just thought of it."

The eye roll was cute.

"We met in high school so high school sweethearts wouldn't be too out of place," Zaq stated as he started to pace. "We could tell everyone we were out of touch for several years, which is true, and that Peter brought us back together, which is also true."

That might work.

"It would also explain why you and Peter have been hanging around each other so much," I said. This was a stretch, but I was going with it. "Peter, as my older brother, was trying to get the two of us together."

Zaq had a grin on his face when he turned to look at me. "So, you're saying we owe our everlasting love story to that bonehead?"

I shrugged. "It could work."

"I like it," Zaq replied.

"Maybe Peter saw it as his way of asking for forgiveness for all the rotten things he's done to me over the years."

Zaq snorted. "Doubtful."

Yeah, I kind of doubted it too, but it made a good story line. My parents might even buy it.

"It would also explain why Peter's name is on the invitations and not mine," I said. "There was obviously a mix-up at the printers. Did Peter place the order?"

Zaq shook his head. "No, the wedding planner did."

"Did she discuss it with him at any time?"

"Are you kidding? After the proposal, Peter refused to have anything to do with planning the wedding. It was me and the wedding planner that did it all."

My brow flickered with interest. "You planned this wedding?"

"Most of it," Zaq replied. "I don't think I would have gone this ostentatious if I'd had my way, but Peter wanted flashy so I gave him flashy."

"Are you happy with the results?" If not, I'd give him another wedding, maybe on our first anniversary.

"I'm certainly happy that the groom got changed."

Me, too. I would forever be grateful my brother was an idiot and gave me this golden opportunity.

"And the rest of it?" I asked.

"For the most part I liked the wedding, but like I said, I wouldn't have chosen something quite so flashy or so big. I would have preferred something a little more intimate with just a few friends and family. I don't know half the people out there."

That was one up on me. I knew like two people, my mother and my father. Well, Zaq's parents, but I didn't think they counted as we had just met. There were a couple of relatives on the guest list, but I wasn't close to any of them.

"So, high school sweethearts that haven't seen each other in years brought together by my brother." I raised an eyebrow. "Have I got that right?"

Zaq's face lit up when he laughed, stealing my breath away. "It'll be a great story to tell our kids one day."

That stopped me cold.

"You want kids?"

I hated when the light faded from Zaq's face.

"I do," he admitted. "Is that going to be a problem? If so, tell me now and we can call this whole thing off."

"No, no," I said quickly. "I'd always planned to have kids one day. I'm in full support of the idea. Do you prefer to us a surrogate or go the adoption route?"

I was fine with either.

Zaq frowned. "I don't think I have a preference. I would like a girl and boy, so maybe adoption is the best choice. It's more predictable than using a surrogate."

"Not necessarily," I replied. "Medical advances have come pretty far in IFV treatment. You can now use Preimplantation Genetic Testing to choose the sex of a baby before you mix it in a martini glass."

"Oh, right. I'd forgotten about that." Zaq let out a small chuckle. "Guess it's pretty handy to have a doctor in the family."

"Pretty handy having a nurse in the family, too." I sent Zaq a small wink. "I don't have to explain what that is."

Having someone in the same career field and being able to talk to them about it without having to explain every little thing was kind of a dream come true.

"So, I guess we have to go back in there, huh?" Zaq had a frown on his face as if that was the last thing he wanted to do.

"We could always make a run for it," I suggested. "Tell everyone we ran off to our honeymoon."

Zaq's eyebrow cocked. "Honeymoon?"

"Well, it's more packing you up so we can head to New York City."

"I'm already packed," Zaq replied. "Except for a few items, everything is already in boxes. I was supposed to be moving in with Peter after we got back from our honeymoon."

Zaq's eyes suddenly narrowed. He pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket and scrolled through his messages. "That son of a bitch!"

"What?"

"He took that two-bit floozy on our honeymoon In Hawaii."

"Really?"

If that was true, it was in very bad taste.

"This is the honeymoon I booked for us." Zaq jabbed his finger at the picture on the screen. "This is even the deluxe room with a view I saw online and booked for us."

I couldn't tell if Zaq was heartbroken or angry.

"I paid for the whole damn honeymoon with my own money."

"Oh, really?" I started to smile. "Since you're not going, don't you think you should cancel it and get your money back? There might be a small cancellation fee, but..."

Zaq stilled for a moment. I worried that I might have pushed him too far until he looked up at me with a grin on his face. "I should probably report my credit card as stolen, too, since Peter has it."

I snickered just imagining how pissed Peter was going to be when he had to pay for everything out of his own pocket. "I say go for it. Cancel the honeymoon and report your credit card stolen. Let Peter deal with it."

It would serve him right to get the bill.

While Zaq started calling to cancel the honeymoon and report his credit card as stolen, I grabbed what little of his was in the room and put it into his overnight bag.

If Peter was already in Hawaii with his mistress then we had a limited amount of time to get to New York City before he came back. I'd rather Zaq not have to deal with my brother if we could help it.

"Did you pay for the airline tickets?"

Zaq's eyes rolled and he started making another phone call, which told me he had. I wasn't sure he'd get any refund on those, especially since the flight to Hawaii had already been used, but he might be able to cancel the flight back. That would delay Peter's return just a little longer.

I should have been shocked that Peter had the gall to use the honeymoon Zaq had paid for to take his mistress on vacation, but I wasn't. This was just the sort of self serving shit my brother liked to pull.

One of the main reasons I couldn't stand the guy.

"So, here's how I see things right now," I said once Zaq hung up and put his cell phone away. "We can stick around here and visit with all these people we don't know or we can tell everyone we're leaving for our honeymoon, go back to your place to grab your stuff, and get out of here."

Zaq winced. "I have a lot of stuff."

"How much stuff?" I asked. "Would it fit into the back of a moving van?"

"Yeah, probably."

"Not a problem then. I still have to pick up my stuff in Texas so we could just rent a moving van, pack your stuff in it, drive to my place to get my stuff, and then head to New York."

"Honeymoon road trip?"

I snickered. "Yeah, I guess so, but only for now. I'll take you on a real honeymoon once we get settled."

"I don't need it. I'd be perfectly happy staying at home and just spending time together. We have a lot of years to make up for and a lot of life experience to talk about. Spending time together is more important than going someplace fancy."

"Why not do both then?" I asked. "We'll use this road trip to get to know each other and then once we get settled, we can go on a honeymoon someplace fancy."

"Not too fancy," Zaq countered. "I'm actually a pretty low-key kind of guy. My idea of a good time is curling in front of an open fire with a glass of wine and the latest medical journal."

I grabbed Zaq and crushed him against my chest. "Now, I know you're perfect."

"Not too nerdy?"

"I'm a nerd, so no."

Zaq rested his head against my shoulder for a moment before pushing away. "I say we make a run for it. I don't even want to tell our parents we're leaving. We'll have one of the waiters do it after we're gone."

I was in full support of this idea.

I grabbed Zaq's overnight bag with one hand and his arm with the other. "Let's go."

We couldn't get out of there fast enough for my liking.