Page 150 of The Wright Man

He clenched his fists at his sides like he was physically stopping himself from pulling me back.

And he looked good. Too good. Tall and broad in his dress blues—at my request, because I wanted one picture of us like this. My best friend, the marine. The man who knew me like breathing. I hadn't expected him to look like a king. Hadn't expected the weight behind his eyes. The heartbreak simmering beneath all that discipline.

I tried to lighten it.

"Bucky Badteeth don't clean up half bad, huh?"

It barely landed. The smile he gave me was strained, like it hurt. "Not bad at all."

The air between us shifted. The silence turned heavy. Sacred. Like a funeral instead of a wedding. I didn't want to think about why. Didn't want to name what I was feeling. He looked like he couldn't hold it in any longer.

And maybe I was lying. Maybe I wanted him to say it. Maybe a part of me needed him to say it. Because the second my mask slipped, even just a little, he saw it. Like he always did. And that was when I saw it in him too.

The tears. The trembling lip. The fight he was losing.

"Don't do it."

His voice was barely a whisper. But it split something in me anyway.

I backed up like I'd been slapped. "Don't."

"Angelica, please—"

"Maleek, don't do this." My voice cracked, not because I didn't want to hear him, but because I did. Too much.

"I can tell you don't want this—"

"No, Maleek." I cut him off, firm, sharp, trembling. "You don't get to do this. Not on my wedding day. You do not get to do this."

He didn't flinch. Just breathed. Steadied himself. Like he expected it.

"You don't have to marry him—"

"I want to marry him."

"Then why do you look like you're about to bolt right now?"

The first crack. The first brick in my wall fell.

I forced a smile. Forced my voice to sound normal. "Wedding day jitters are a thing, Maleek."

"Bullshit." Quiet. Firm. No heat. Just truth.

"And why is that, Leek?" I snapped. "Why do you get to come in here after four fucking years,"—I held up four fingers—"and tell me what I want? What I need?"

"Because I know you better than you know your goddamn self!" he thundered, chest rising with the force of it.

The second brick fell.

"Especially now," he added, softer, broken.

I swallowed hard. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"You used to be the loudest voice in the room. The brightest face in the crowd. Sunshine as a person." He looked me over like he was grieving. "Now you sound like you're apologizing for existing."

I flinched.

Third brick.