Marrying Madison hadbeen a spur of the moment idea. It had been something I had suggested because I was furious with Jillian for not talking to me, for showing up at Patrick’s party with fucking Knox, and I wanted to prove once and for all that I was over her. I knew it was a lie. Fuck, the entire town of Ocean View knew it was a lie. I felt like the world’s biggest asshole. Jillian finally told me the truth, spilled her guts out, told me she loved me, and then Madison had come crashing through everything to ruin any chance at a future we might have together.
“You in here?” Patrick’s voice carried through my open screen door. “I can see you, so don’t try and pretend you’re not.” The sound of the door slapping shut behind him had me sitting up. I had managed to shower, put on clean jeans and a shirt, but that was about it before I dropped onto my bed. “Jesus, you look like shit,” he commented.
I flipped him the bird. “If you’re here to give me hell, I don’t want to hear it.” I swung my legs over the side of my bed.
“For?” Pat tilted his head.
Did he not know? “Why are you here?” I tried to change the subject, but I could already tell by the look in my brother’s eyes he wasn’t having it.
“What’s your deal?” He glanced around my small apartment. “You don’t even live here anymore—You fucked her!” Pat exclaimed before he slapped me on the back.
I grunted, “Don’t talk about Jillian like that. Remember what happened the last time, Pat? She’s your soon to be your sister-in-law,” I reminded him.
He chuckled. “You’re not denying it.” Pat dropped onto my couch making himself comfortable. “Hey, I got a blowjob from one of the strippers last night.” He puffed out his chest as if it was something to be proud of. “Which you would have known if you hadn’t left my bachelor party early.”
“I got your text.”
“Bet your night was better.”
“Not talking about my sex life with you.” Christ, that was more than I wanted to share with him.
“Ha! So you did sleep with Jillian?” Pat grinned. “Are you two back together? You can ditch Mads now?” He lifted his right leg to rest his foot on his knee. “Because honestly, she’s a drag, dude. Jo hates her, and I’m not really fond of her myself. She was always hanging off me when we hung out even though she knew I was with Jo. Pretty sure she slept with Knox while he was still dating Jillian and that’s why they broke up.” He stopped to stare at me.
I ran my hand through my hair yanking on the ends. “Thirsty? I have water,” I mumbled, making my way to the kitchen to pull out two cold bottles from the fridge. I handed Pat one as I sat down next to him.
Pat narrowed his eyes at me. “I thought you would be doing cartwheels or something. You’ve been pretty hung up about Jillian for years. You love her, right?” When I nodded, he opened his bottle to take a swig. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“I fucked up,” I answered.
“How bad?”
I let out a loud sigh. “Really fucking bad.” I dropped my eyes down to the floor. “I married Madison yesterday,” I confessed.
Patrick shot up so fast I expected him to trip over the coffee table. “Wait, you did what?” he exclaimed. “You just told me you loved Jillian, bro, how can you go and marry that sea creature?” His eyes were wide when I looked back up.
“She’s not that bad.” She was pretty, but not nearly as beautiful as Jillian.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“You can leave if you’re going to act like an asshole.” I pointed toward the door and for a second, I thought Pat was going to do just that, but instead, he sat back down. “What?” I asked as my brother stared at me.
Pat shook his head. “I don’t know what to say.”
I snorted. “That makes two of us.” I leaned back against the couch. “I love Jillian. With all my heart and soul. She is it for me, man, but—”
“She left,” Pat finished my sentence. “I know. I saw what happened when Jill was in your life. You became my brother again. The Hutch you were before...then when she left?” He shrugged as he took another swig of his water. “You lost your ever-loving mind on us.” Pat glanced up at the ceiling. “You have to get rid of the trash.”
“Watch it. Mads is the mother of my daughter,” I growled.
“Jo slapped her this morning.”
Water nearly sprang from my nostrils and it took a good sixty seconds to gather myself together. “That must have been something to see.” I chuckled. “How exactly did that go down?” I asked.
“I missed it, but from what Jo told me, Madison went over to gloat about marrying you.” Pat paused. “You’re bringing her as your plus one tonight to rehearsal and to the wedding, right? I don’t want her to start any drama, bro, I’m serious. This is my damn wedding day, and Jo doesn’t deserve that. I want her to have the best day ever. I will personally remove Madison myself if she starts anything.”
I felt my stomach clench. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid,” I promised.
***
