REX
Simon kissedNigel like he wanted to climb inside of him, and Nigel clung to his best friend with both hands. When they started getting a little heated, I decided that the wedding guests still in attendance had gotten enough of a show and I coughed. Then I coughed again, but Nigel and Simon just kept kissing.
“Hey,” Perry said. “Lovebirds. You might want to cool the PDA unless you want to catch charges for public indecency.”
That did it.
Simon reluctantly pulled away, and Nigel stared at him, his expression one of awe and disbelief.
“What are you doing here?” Nigel repeated.
“I think we established that I’m here to stop your wedding.”
“There is no wedding. I—he left. I told him to go.” This seemed to remind Nigel that he had a bone to pick with his brother because he turned his attention to me. Anger flashed in his eyes. Anger and hurt. “Tell me more about you and Trevor. How did it even happen?”
“First of all, I’m sorry I didn’t say anything. You just looked so happy, or at least you looked what I thought was happy. I didn’t want to be the one to blow things up, and it wasn’t like I loved him. Hell, I barely even like him. It was a nothing, rebound fling. We went out a couple times and then I told him that I wasn’t feeling it, and we went our separate ways. There wasn’t even any drama. If he’d have stalked me or harassed me, I wouldn’t have stayed quiet about it, but there was no reason to tell you.”
Nigel looked at Simon. “Can I have a couple minutes with my brother, and then we’ll get out of here.”
“You can have anything you want.” Simon oozed affection whenever he looked at Nigel, and I wondered how Nigel didn’t know until now that Simon was hopelessly in love with him.
“Simon? I’m Perry, uh… we could probably tell the guests that there’s no wedding. If they haven’t guessed already.”
Simon grinned at Perry. “I know who you are,” he said. “I think most people have got the idea, but let’s get everyone to leave.”
When Simon and Perry strolled off together, Perry seemingly unfazed that Simon knew who he was, Nigel took a deep breath and let out a sigh.
“I wish you would have told me.”
“If I’d have told you, you probably would have ended things between the two of you and I didn’t want that to be my fault.”
Nigel exhaled and seemed to deflate. His shoulders dropped and his arms hung limp at his sides. “You’d have saved me months of agony, Rex. For fuck’s sake.”
“What do you mean?”
“I—it’s going to sound stupid, and it makes me feel stupid, but I wanted to marry Trevor for all the wrong reasons. I think you were right. I wanted to marry him because I wanted to be married. I—you’re so successful and you and Bryson got soclose to tying the knot, and it sort of fucked with me a bit. To always be so behind you. And it got me thinking that I wanted to get married. I convinced myself that Trevor was the one. Only, Simon hated him. Like really hated him. Way more than he hated my other boyfriends.”
“I think I know why.” I shot Nigel a warm smile. “Simon’s a good guy.”
“I didn’t know,” Nigel whispered. “I didn’t know how I felt until I got engaged and things between us fractured. And by then it was too late. I was in too deep. I didn’t know what to do, and I wasn’t sure if Simon was in love with me or if he just hated Trevor. I’m such an idiot.”
I reached for Nigel and pulled him into a hug. “You’re not an idiot.”
“I was getting married to someone to, like, one-up my brother. To beat you in some sort of one-sided sibling rivalry.”
“Well…” I paused, trying to decide if I was really going to come clean. “I told two lies that day at the diner.”
He pulled back and looked at me, his brow furrowed.
“When I said I had a boyfriend. I was so, so, so very single. I hadn’t been on a single date since I stopped seeing Trevor, and I didn’t want him to think I was missing him or something. So I lied. I made up a boyfriend.”
“So Perry isn’t…”
“Oh no, we’re definitely together now. It’s new, but it’s real. It’s the most real thing I’ve ever had with someone. But I wanted to tell you because I didn’t want you to feel like you’re the only one in the family who does things based on what the other one might think.”
Nigel laughed and shook his head. “We’re a couple of idiots who clearly need to spend more time together. Maybe then we wouldn’t get ourselves into messes like this.”
I turned to see Simon and Perry laughing and talking as they handled the lingering wedding guests.
