10. Josh

Awedding day is something I never thought I would have. Once my dad’s affair came out, I always swore I would never get married, and since then I have kept that promise to myself. I have never led girls on, never had a girlfriend, and never let myself get into anything more serious than a few strung together one night stands. After growing up under the guise of my mother and father’s bullshit marriage, it’s not something I ever coveted for myself, yet here I am, standing before an aisle waiting for my bride to appear.

Planning a small wedding in an even smaller amount of time actually turned out to be easier than I thought, especially with all of the privileges that come with my last name. I blocked the wedding planner”s number and spoke to a minister from out of town, paying him extra to keep quiet and get our license sorted in time for today. This meant that the only thing I needed to focus on was getting my mother and father out of their estate, which I enlisted my grandmother”s help for. After some gentle name and event dropping, she has taken them out of town to a fundraiser, giving me the whole place to myself.

Knowing Hallie as well as I do, I know she is like me in many ways. She doesn’t like a lot of people, or being around huge crowds, and truly despises all of the attention being on her, so I knew a small wedding was the only way to go. With that in mind, and over a decade of friendship behind us, there was only one place I could think of that would be perfect to do this. Now as I stand under the two oak trees that used to form the goal on my makeshift ice rink at my parents’ house, I know I chose perfectly.

Long gone are the stones that used to make up our playing area, and in their place is a long black runner lined with white roses, a few petals leading towards me, and large black and white candles in glass cases on either side. Classy, elegant, and beautiful, just like the girl who is about to become my wife. The minister is to my right and a photographer to my left. I mean, what”s the point of a fake wedding if there is no one here to document it? So all that’s left to do now is wait for her to show up. I sent Daemon with a car to pick her up a while ago with the instruction to get her here for six, just in time for the sun to set, which should be any minute now.

I’m also expecting Maddie, who is clearly running late, but when I hear footsteps on the other side of the outbuilding I know she must be here. So imagine my surprise when instead of my sister, I lock eyes with her boyfriend and the captain of my hockey team.

Nova fucking Darkmore.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I snap before I can help myself, because there is no love lost between either of us, no matter what his relationship to my sister is, but of course all the prick does is smile as he strides towards me in a suit.

“Maddie invited me, I’m her plus one,” he shrugs casually, looking smarter than I have ever seen him, just as more footsteps sound out, only for Archer Gray and Alexander Reign to appear in his shadow, also in suits.

What the fuck?

“I didn’t give Maddie a plus one,” I grit, watching as my goalie and left wing walk down the aisle behind him. “And what the fuck are they doing here?”

Nova flicks his stare over his shoulder, smiling at his two best friends, before turning back to me. “They asked me what I was all dressed up for and then got sad because they wanted to come. What was I supposed to do, tell them no?” he asks, as he comes to a stop beside me.

“I don’t give a fuck what you tell them, but you three pricks are not invited to my goddamn wedding, go home,” I demand, as Gray and Reign fall in line beside Nova like some sort of fucked up groomsman party.

“Nova gives Maddie a plus one all the time,” Archer gleams with a wink. “It’s about time she returned the favor.”

“Careful now,” Nova warns, at the same time I seethe, “Gray, I swear to fucking god.” But of course all the bastard does is laugh.

“Come on, Peters, we can be witnesses for your little shotgun wedding,” Reign drawls, exuding the kind of energy only someone with his nepo net worth could. “So how far along is your wife to be anyway?”

I blink back at his casual accusation. “Hallie is not pregnant,” I respond with as much finality as I can muster, desperate for this conversation to be over and for them to fuck off.

Alexander wrinkles his nose in disgust. “If you didn’t knock her up, what the fuck are you marrying her for?” he asks, completely perplexed.

“Yeah, dude, do you have any idea how much pussy you are going to miss out on now?” Archer chimes in. “I mean, just last night I had this girl”s lips wrapped round my cock, her mouth like a damn vacuum, and that was without my wingman here.” He nudges Nova with his elbow as he talks animatedly about his sexcapades.

“I am not your wingman,” Nova replies, picking something off the sleeve of his suit, before he sighs, “And leave Peters alone, he and Hallie have been secretly in love for years, it’s about time they made it official.”

My eyes collide with his and I see the truth in them, the truth I know Maddie will have told him, which means right now he just had my back over his friends, and I can’t even thank him.

Archer makes a fake gagging sound that brings both our stares back to him. “Fuck, dude, ever since you have been getting regular pussy you have become so fucking whipped.”

Nova and I both open our mouths to offer up another warning to him, but before either of us can say anything, my sister finally joins the fray.

“Sorry I’m late,” she gasps, trotting round the corner and down the aisle, making all of our heads turn towards her. “I had to make a pit stop on the way,” she explains, holding up the one thing I asked her to bring. “I even managed to get a blue one,” she laughs, passing it to me just in time for Nova to sweep her into his arms.

“You look absolutely stunning as always, Princess,” he drawls, stealing her response with a kiss that has me rolling my eyes as I turn away from them.

“You scrub up quite nicely yourself, Charmer,” Maddie gasps when she finally pulls free.

“I can’t wait to rip this—” Nova starts, far too loudly for my liking, and I cut him off.

“Nova, I swear to god, if you finish that sentence I am going to kill you and then myself,” I promise, as Maddie mutters a quiet apology, and Gray and Reign crack up in a fit of giggles. “If you’re all staying then pull it together, Daemon and Hallie will be here any second.”

My statement does the trick in shutting up Archer almost instantly. “Daemon is coming?” he asks, and I nod.

“You invited Daemon Forbes but not us?” Alexander cuts in with a pout that I am almost certain he must have practiced in the mirror.

“Yes, because unlike you assholes, Daemon is more than just my teammate, he’s my friend.” I crack my neck in exasperation at having to deal with them.

“The dude is weird,” Reign grunts, and before I can curse him out, Archer beats me to it.

“Don’t be a dick, Reign,” he warns, and I see both Alexander and Nova’s eyes flare in surprise as they look at their friend.

“Yeah, don’t be a dick, Reign,” a cold dark voice cuts in, and we all turn to find Daemon standing at the end of the aisle with his arm linked with Hallie’s, his stare cunning and cold, and locked completely on our goalie.

The tension in the air is thick, but any other words that are spoken are completely lost on me, because once my eyes collide with Hallie’s, everyone else just falls away, and the only thing I can focus on is her. She looks perfect, even better than I could have ever imagined, and despite the nerves I can see in her eyes, she still offers me that sunshine smile of hers. Her arm is linked around Daemon’s and I can see her fingers digging into his bicep, not that he seems to mind, and when I flick my stare to his in wonder, as he walks her down the aisle towards me, all he does is shrug his free shoulder slightly.

Seems I have a best friend turned best man.

By the time they reach me, the boys are flanked on one side of me, with Maddie moving to the other while still leaving space for Hallie, and when she shares a look with her best friend, I see tears shining in my sister”s eyes.

“Joshua,” Hallie smiles, by way of greeting. “You don’t look completely horrible today,” she muses, her eyes dropping down the full length of my body as she slowly takes in my tux-clad form. She has seen me dressed like this at least a hundred times, but from the look in her eyes it’s as if it’s the first time.

As I return the favor I find myself a little speechless. The dress I picked is perfect, just like I knew it would be, but I guess I never truly imagined what she would look like in it. A traditional white wedding dress wasn’t made for the likes of her, no, she deserves something better, something more fitting of her, and when I take her in, I know I made the right choice.

The green bodice fits tightly around her chest, showing a perfect amount of cleavage to still leave something to the imagination, and with it dusted in sparkling jewels, flowers, and butterflies, it looks like something straight out of a fairytale. Two thick straps sit snugly on her shoulders, with the rest of the green tulle and silk fabric fluttering out from her waist all the way down to the floor. She looks like a princess, one far too beautiful for the likes of me, and something like regret pulses deep within my gut as Daemon hands her off to me with a nod.

“Thank you, Daemon,” Hallie whispers quietly to my friend, and I swear I see him smile at her, as he moves to take up a spot beside my sister. I make a mental note to ask her later how she roped him into walking her down the aisle, but as she looks up at me, every thought in my mind evaporates.

“You look perfect, Tink,” I blurt without thinking, and then curse myself as her eyes widen and a blush stains her cheeks.

“Now now, save the sweet talking for our wedding night,” she jokes in response, and I hear the guys cracking up beside me, but right now, in this moment I wish she wasn’t joking.

Wait what?

What the fuck is wrong me with?

She’s my best friend.

She’s doing me a favor.

I can’t look at her like that, no matter how perfect she looks right now, and thankfully the minister clears his throat to get started, and I push away the inappropriate thoughts about the girl who is about to become my wife.

My wife.

“Welcome loved ones,” the minister starts, looking between the five people standing on either side of Hallie and me as if he were expecting more, and I can’t help but smirk because he’s lucky he’s got this many. “We are gathered here today to join Joshua and Hallie in holy matrimony.”

Hallie smiles as she mouths the word “Joshua” to me with a wink, and I can’t help but smile back as I shake my head at her.

“Joshua and Hallie, the two of you are the embodiment of young love,” the minister continues. “You found friendship and unity in your years of getting to know one another, and now, those gathered here today get to bear witness to what that relationship has become.”

His words ring truer than I expect given this whole thing isn’t real. We do have friendship and unity, and over a decade of getting to know one another, so even though this is fake, it still very much factors into the reason we are standing here right now.

Hallie is now silent beside me, and I can’t help but panic that maybe this whole thing is too much and she is going to change her mind. So I can’t stop myself from slipping my hand into hers and squeezing it three times just like when we were kids. Are you okay?

Her eyes flick to mine, a look I can’t decipher lingering there as she smiles softly and squeezes back three times. Yes, I’m okay.

“I understand the two of you have prepared your own vows,” the minister interrupts our thoughts, and I see Hallie’s eyes widen. “If you could turn to one another and join hands,” he instructs, and we join our other hands with one another, which means I feel when Hallie’s start shaking in mine.

Before the minister can instruct any further, or push one of us to go first, the words are already falling from my mouth. “Hallie, you’re my best friend,” I start, surprised by how fast that revelation falls from my lips. I mean, it’s true of course, but I’m not sure if she even knows that anymore. “I know I haven’t always made that clear between us, but you are, and you have been since the first time I laid eyes on you on this very spot.”

I still remember that day like it was yesterday. I was sick of listening to yet another of my parents” fights, and was still too young to know what they were about, I just wanted out of the house. So I headed down here to work out my frustrations with my stick and puck, playing under clouds of gray. I honestly didn’t know what to think when the girl with the sunshine smile walked into the middle of my game without saying a word, and for some reason she looked as lost as I felt. Yet from that day forward, she was like a beacon of light I clung onto.

“You didn’t care that you were ruining my hockey game, and have pretty much been a pain in my ass ever since, but you’re still my best friend in the whole world,” I tell her truthfully, because outside of my sister, she is the one other person I truly care about and the only person I could picture myself doing this with. “You’ve been by my side for ten years, and I can’t think of another person I would want to take this journey with.” I ensure to choose my words carefully given the extra guests in attendance, but I hope she knows how much I mean them.

“Joshua,” she all but whispers, her knuckles white as they fist around mine, but I squeeze them right back, letting her know that no matter what, I will always be there to hold her hand.

“I mean it, Hals, I’ll always be your best friend. No matter what.”

I hear a sniffle from behind her, and my gaze flicks to my sister who has tears streaming down her face, and I watch as Daemon silently hands her a tissue. Yet when I hear another sniffle, I look behind me to find Nova handing Reign a tissue too, while Archer grins like an idiot.

When I turn back to Hallie she is watching them with a smile, but when her eyes flick back to mine, I find them glossy with unshed tears of her own. Then she exhales a slow breath as her thumb works back and forth over the top of my hand.

“Josh, you’re my best friend too, and it feels special to admit that to you when we are standing somewhere I consider to be our spot,” she admits softly, before turning to my sister and adding, “Sorry, Mads, you know I still love you.” Everyone laughs and when she turns back to me, her eyes are shining bright. “I still don’t know what I was looking for the day I met you. I think I was just anxious about moving to a new town, and wanting somewhere quiet to clear my head. I guess I know you well enough now to realize you were doing the same.” Her smile is sad now, as she no doubt thinks of the parents I grew up with and the reason we are truly here. “You’ve always been a lost boy to me, the Peter to my Tinkerbell, and well, I guess I just want you to know that from the moment I found you I knew that you were special, that you would be important to me, I just never imagined how much, and I’m glad we get to take this journey together too.”

A choked sob leaves Reign now, which has Archer cackling even more, much to the minister”s dismay, as he huffs at them both before focusing back on us. Yet my eyes remain on Hallie’s, on the way she is looking at me, and not just looking, but seeing me, all of me. The good, the bad, the awful, and yet still, deep down I can tell she meant every word she just said, and it should make me feel good inside. I should be thankful to have someone like her beside me, but all it does is remind me of what a dick I’ve been to her for the last few years.

The Peter to my Tinkerbell.

Stupid, childish nicknames that I used to detest, yet now they remind me that no matter how bad my father and mother might be, I still have a sister who loves me, and a friend–and almost wife–who would do anything for me.

“Now for the exchanging of rings,” the minister declares, interrupting my thoughts, and I turn to Daemon who is already holding the ring I got for Hallie between his fingers for me.

I take it from him and focus my attention back on my bride. We let the minster speak and repeat the words after him, me going first and slipping the matching band I got with her engagement ring onto Hallie’s finger. Then she goes next, surprising me with a ring of my own which is a simple platinum band with a small emerald strip down the center. It matches hers perfectly, and as rings go, it’s one I won’t mind wearing everyday. The feel of it is a welcome weight as we hold each other”s hands and wait for this whole thing to become official.

“By the power vested in me by the state of New York, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”