“I didn’t know until you announced your engagement, and by then it felt kind of late. I don’t have feelings for Trevor. I never did. So there was no point in telling you.”
“The point was to tell the truth. What else have you been keeping from me? Next you’re going to tell me that Perry really is a porn star.”
“Guilty as charged,” I said with more confidence than I felt.
“Jesus Christ. You’re actually dating a porn star?”
Rex opened his mouth, and I slipped my arm around his waist. It might not have been true before, but it was true now. To me at least.
“Actually, yes. He is.” I looked up at Rex. “We’re together and I’ve never been happier.” I silently pleaded with him to understand that this wasn’t me just jumping in to try and defuseshit with him and his brother. That I genuinely meant I wanted to be with him.
“But you were with Trevor.” Nigel looked at Rex like he’d been betrayed. “Why did you keep it from me?”
“Because you seemed happy. And when Trevor pretended to not know me, I just panicked and went with it. It wasn’t like I was harboring secret feelings for him. We had a short, short time together, and I didn’t want that to get in the way of your happiness.”
Nigel exhaled so hard, it took some of his spine with it and he slumped where he stood. Like he was suddenly losing bone and the strength to stand up. Maybe even the will to live.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Nigel asked Trevor. “I can see why Rex wouldn’t tell me, but why would you keep it a secret if you weren’t carrying a torch for Rex?”
Trevor folded his arms over his chest. “Puh-lease, give me a break. It’s not a big deal. I didn’t know Rex long enough to carry a torch for him, unlike you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nigel’s voice rose in volume and pitch.
“It means that you’re still stupidly in love with that shitty best friend of yours who doesn’t want to see you happy. Proof is how he treated me when he was around.”
“How he treated you? Howhetreatedyou?” Nigel’s voice climbed higher, catching the attention of the officiant and a few of the guests who were milling around the space, or awkwardly shifting in their chairs.
“Nigel, you’re causing a scene,” Trevor whispered. He moved like he was going to reach for Nigel but thought better of it.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you’d already been with Rex? Why did you pretend not to know him? Did you think it would have mattered to me that much?”
Trevor rolled his eyes. Rex tried to steer us away, but Nigel looked at him, steely-eyed. “Stay.”
“Clearly it mattered because you can’t even look at me,” Trevor sniveled.
I’d just met him and I already didn’t like him, but I did feel kind of bad for him.
“Because you lied to me.” Nigel took a deep breath then let it out, and it seemed like all the fight drained out of him at once. “It’s not supposed to be like this,” Nigel said. He went deathly quiet for a second, like the stillness after a storm. “Everything about this is wrong. I can’t do it. I can’t marry you.”
Trevor opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. Then it was like his whole expression morphed from sadness and worry to anger.
“Fine. Fine.” Trevor pulled the ring off his finger and threw it at Nigel. It bounced off his chest and hit the grass between his feet.
Trevor stormed away in a flurry of indignant rage.
“Do you want to go after him?” Rex asked Nigel, who just shook his head. He didn’t look all that upset to me. In my professional opinion, Nigel looked a little relieved.
We all stood there, trying to process the events of the last few minutes. Rex turned to Nigel like he wanted to say something when suddenly a commotion got our attention.
“Wait!” someone shouted. “Wait, Nigel. Don’t. Stop. You can’t marry him!”
Rex, Nigel, and I all turned around to see a man racing toward us. His face was flushed from exertion, his clothes were disheveled, and he looked like hell, to be quite honest. Unshaven and clearly sleep-deprived, but Nigel’s face lit up when he saw him.
“Simon?” Nigel said as the man screeched to a stop within arm’s reach of him. “What are you doing here?”
“Stopping you from making the biggest mistake of your life,” Simon said, then he practically launched himself at Nigel and yanked him into a kiss.
TWENTY-SEVEN
