Page 189 of Bridesmaid for Hire
And this is why he’s my best friend.
With my tail tucked between my legs, I walk into his house, up the flight of stairs to his living room, and straight to the couch. The pregame is on. Gary walks into his kitchen and I hear him pull out two beers for us before bringing them into the living room.
He hands me one and takes a seat on the couch next to me.
“Did you hurt her?”
I take a sip of my beer, swallow, and then say, “Not on purpose.”
He moves so fast, I don’t even see it coming, but before I can stop him, his fist drives into my arm, causing me to spill my beer on my shirt as pain ricochets through my shoulder.
“Fuck,” I say as I rub the sore spot. “Can I at least explain?” I ask.
“Yes, but I told you not to hurt her, so that punch was for disobeying me.”
“Disobeying you?” I ask, shocked by the masculinity coming from my pal, ol’ Gare Bear.
“Yes. I told you not to hurt her, you disobeyed, therefore, punch to your arm. Now, the severity of that hurt will decide where I attack you next.” He points his finger at me. “But I need you to know, this hurts me just as much as it hurts you. So don’t think I get pleasure out of this.”
At least he’s honest.
“I understand.”
Gary gestures toward me. “Now, tell me how you fucked up.”
“Well, can I first say that it was never my intention to hurt her?”
“Yes, that will earn you some points.”
“Good.” I push my hand through my hair. “Well, I never wanted to hurt her. I actually was planning out all of these dates we could go on when we got back here, but something happened the night before the Hopper wedding.”
“I would ask if you cheated on her, but I know you better than that.”
“I would never,” I say.Thank fuck he knows I’d never do that.Couldnever do that.
He slowly nods. “I know. Proceed.”
“I was at the bachelor party for Jude. Turns out, Reginald’s purpose was to get me drunk and embarrass me. Long story short, he called me out for my ulterior motives for being at the wedding, made me do my proposal in front of everyone while I was drunk, and well…apparently, I told them about one of Maggie’s ideas, the pocket wedding.” I see Gary flinch. “I had no fucking clue I did it, but she found out and basically told me to get lost. Rightfully so. Now the Hoppers are moving forward with her idea, I’m fired, and can’t fucking fix it. Your sister won’t talk to me because I’m a goddamn idiot, and all I care about is preserving her idea and bringing it back to her.”
I prepare myself for the next blow, not sure where he will go with it, but I’m ready. So when he turns toward me, I brace for impact, wincing before he even cocks his arm back.
“You were drunk?”
“Only because Reginald was a jackass and forced me to drink local moonshine. Dude, I still can’t taste food very well.”
He sits forward and presses his finger to his thigh. “Are you telling me that my best friend got taken advantage of?”
Confused, I slowly say, “Yes.”
“And because you’re drunk, you go and say something stupid that not only costs you your job, but my sister, too?”
“Yes,” I say a little more confidently.
“Well, Jesus fuck.” He sets his beer on the table and reaches for me. I brace for impact but instead of being pummeled to the ground, I’m brought into Gary’s soft, plushy chest. “For God’s sake, what you’ve been through.” He soothes his hand over my back and, I don’t know, maybe I’ve lost all my faculties because I’m completely spent from the last week, but I fall into his embrace, resting my cheek on his shoulder.
“It’s been hell,” I say.
“I can’t even imagine.” He pats me a few times and then squeezes me tightly just as there is a knock at the door. When he pulls back, he says, “That’s the pizza. Why don’t you go into my room, borrow some sweatpants, and get comfortable.”
