“I’m replacing it. That’s all yours. Keep it with you in Chicago.”
“I appreciate that, Wild.” I clear my throat.
As we’re laughing, a woman wearing a wedding dress gets out of a taxi. She steps onto the sidewalk right next to us before she looks up at the courthouse across the street and halts.
“Bride to be?” Colton says as he follows my gaze.
I barely hear him.
Like she can feel my gaze on her, she turns in my direction. Her expression is flat without a hint of a smile.
Yet, I can’t take my eyes off of her.
This woman’s clearly taken, and she’s not my usual type of blonde and thin.
Her eyes are ice-blue, and outside of her blood-red lipstick, her makeup is surprisingly light considering she’s so dressed up. Her hair, though—it’s spectacular.
Jet black and piled on top of her head in an intricate knot-thingy, it highlights her pale skin.
I have the urge to ask her if she’s okay, which makes no fucking sense considering today’s clearly her wedding day. She shoots me a second glance, and then…no doubt about this…
She checks me out.
Her eyes travel the length of my body and back up to my face. When she catches my gaze and realizes I know exactly what she just did, her cheeks turn the most gorgeous shade of deep red. Her eyes get even icier blue, and she spins on her heel and takes off. She disappears around the corner, and I exhale in disappointment.
An ache starts in my chest…and I don’t even understand where that feeling just came from. I’ve only ever allowed myself to feel the loss of someone once before, and that was years ago.
“What the hell was that?” Colton demands.
I nearly forgot he and Dylan were next to me.
I turn toward them and try to throw on an indifferent expression. “No clue. She was checking me out, though.”
“No shit.” Dylan chuckles. “Man, you loved every second of it, too. Youdoknow what a wedding dress means, right? Unless you’re the guy she’s walking down the aisle toward, it’s hands-off.”
“I got it,” I snap.
“Mav, I think you just fell for a woman on her wedding day.” Colton smirks.
“Fuck off, Colt.”
I glance toward the courthouse. The woman is long gone.
Wanting to change the subject, I look into the back of the truck under the pretense of making sure I have everything. “Let me finish up here, and then we’ll go grab coffees on the corner.”
Chapter Four
Hannah
After I walk through the revolving doors of the courthouse, I pass through the metal detector and then search the ground floor for Craig.
He’s nowhere to be found. A flash of annoyance hits me. I’m on time, but he’s late. No surprise there. Craig has been late for anything and everything to do with our wedding.
I try his cell, but it goes straight to voicemail. I leave him a message that I’m heading to the restroom and slip my phone back into my purse.
The only person who’s been able to get him to do anything wedding-related is my maid of honor. Craig and Mindy were friends first, and if I needed to make sure he would be somewhere, I asked her. She’s MIA also, though, which is weird because she promised she’d get here ahead of time and make sure everything was ready for us. I try calling her, but she doesn’t pick up.
The restrooms are at the end of a long hallway, and the security guard tells me I can use the private family restroom so I don’t have to get in and out of a stall in my dress. When I find the one he mentioned, the door is closed. I put my hand on the knob.
