Lost in Time (Forever and Always #20) (12 page)

She answered on the fourth ring. “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Cortland.”

“Oh hi,” she said in surprise. “What’s going
on?”

“Um…I’m getting married this weekend.”

“You are?” she asked in surprise. “To
who?”

My sister moved to Oregon after college so
she wasn’t around much. She hadn’t even met Monnique. “This girl
I’ve been dating for awhile.”

“Why the sudden announcement? Is she
pregnant?”
I rolled my eyes. I wish people would stop asking me that. “No. I’m
just excited to start my life with her.”

“Oh. This weekend?”

“In New York.”

“Oh.” Silence ensued. “That’s just really
short notice.”

“I understand if you can’t come.” Even though
it made me sad, I understood if she couldn’t make it.

“I’ll talk to Jeremy and see if we can work
something out.”

“Thanks. I’d like it if you were there.”

“Yeah…you’re my brother.” She said it like
that was supposed to mean something. She’d always had an attitude
with me, and there were times when I didn’t like her at all, but
she was still my sister. She and I would never have the
relationship Ryan and Scarlet had, but I would like something more
than what she was giving me.

“Well, I’ll let you go.”

“Okay. Bye.”

“Bye.” I hung up then returned my phone to my
pocket.

Monnique studied my face. “Everything went
well?”

I nodded. “My mom is very excited.”

“Good.” She smiled. “I knew she would be.
What about your sister?”

I shrugged. “She probably won’t come.”

“I’m sorry,” she said immediately.

I didn’t want to drag down the moment. “Is
your brother coming?”

“Of course. He wouldn’t miss it for
anything.”

That didn’t surprise me.

She was squirming in her seat in
excitement.

“What?” I asked.

“The realtor called…”

We put a few bids on houses in Connecticut.
We couldn’t afford anything too extravagant, but there were a few
we’d fallen in love with. One was just a few miles from Sean and
Mike. Our heart was set on it. “Yeah?”

She clapped her hands. “We got it!”

“What?” I had to admit I was surprised.

“Yep,” she shrieked. She moved into my lap
then hugged me tightly. “We got it.”

“That’s great.” I held her close to me,
feeling her slight form in my arms.

“We can get the keys in a few days.”

“Wow…we got lucky.”

“Well…I did something a little unethical.”
She lowered her gaze in shame.

“What?” I asked.

“I may have told her we had a bun in the
oven…”

I smirked. “Well, you got to do what you got
to do.”

“I’m glad you don’t find my lack of ethics as
unattractive.”

“Just because it isn’t true now doesn’t mean
it won’t be.” I rubbed my nose against hers.

A grin spread on her face. “Someone is
jumping the gun.”

“Isn’t that what honeymoons are for? To get
your wife pregnant?”

“No,” she said with a laugh. “It’s to
consummate a marriage.”

“Whatever. We can do both.”

She shook her head. “Your mind is always in
the gutter.”

“With you it is.”

As the days came closer, I was a little
nervous. I wasn’t sure why. I guess everything was changing so
quickly. But I knew it’s what I wanted. It felt right. When I was
at work, I kept thinking about the approaching weekend. We were
tying the knot at city hall. It wasn’t extremely romantic, but I
didn’t care. I just wanted her to be my wife.

Sean came into my office, his hands in his
pockets. “How’s it going?”

“Good,” I said. “The software is going well
so far.”

He nodded. “I assumed as much.”

“Did that slut back off?”

He smirked. “Yes, she did. But I think that’s
because my wife is in my office all the time.”

I laughed. “Looks like she’s jealous after
all.”

“Just a tad.” He was practically giddy.

“So, I was going to submit this in writing,
but I was hoping I could have two weeks off for my
honeymoon...”

He rolled his eyes. “Because we’re friends
you think you can just do whatever you want?”

I shrugged. “Pretty much.”

He laughed. “Yeah, of course. Take as long as
you want.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “You’re only going to do this
once.”

“Thanks, man.”

“Yeah. So…your bachelor party. We’re running
out of time.”

I hadn’t even thought of that. “I don’t want
to have one.”

“You don’t?” He cocked an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I have too much stuff to do. And
honestly, I haven’t been a bachelor in a while. I think a party is
a little out of place.”

“Are you sure? You only get to do it
once.”
“I’m positive,” I said firmly.

“Okay. Do you need help with anything?”

“Nah. Just make sure you’re there on
Saturday.”

“Okay. Scarlet is planning a lunch at the
house after the wedding, just so you know. It’ll be a small
reception.”

“She didn’t need to do that,” I said
immediately.

He shrugged. “You know my wife…she does what
she wants.”

“I do know,” I said with a smile.

“Alright. Let me know if there’s anything I
can do for you.”

“Will do.”

A few days later, the house was officially
ours. With the help of professional movers, we moved everything
inside and unpacked. Everyone came over and helped, with the
exception of Scarlet and Cassandra. They weren’t allowed to lift
anything—not even their purses.

The house was on a block with a few others,
but the neighborhood was spaced out. If our kids wanted to ride
their bikes or play football in the street, there would be plenty
of room. And there wasn’t much traffic so we didn’t need to be too
frightened of a horrible accident.

Monnique loved the house. It had four
bedrooms and two living rooms. Hard wood floors lined the house,
and mahogany furniture accentuated the white walls of the house. It
was only a few years old so we didn’t need to restore anything. And
even if we did, I could tell Monnique wouldn’t change a thing. She
loved the house more than the first one we had.

After I thanked everyone for helping, she and
I were finally alone in the house.

“You like it?” I asked.

She was putting dishes and pots in the
kitchen, arranging everything. “I love it.”

“Good.” I leaned against the counter and
watched her. “So…are you staying somewhere tomorrow night? Or did
you want me to go somewhere?”

“Well, all my stuff is here…”

I smiled. “I’ll stay with Sean and Scarlet
then.”

“Thank you.” She gave me a beautiful grin
before she returned to her work. “Are we going anywhere for a
honeymoon?”

“You think I’d marry you at city hall and not
have something else planned?”

“No…” Her cheeks reddened.

“How does Greece sound?”

She dropped the silverware on the floor, in
shock.

That’s the reaction I was hoping for.

“Greece!” She covered her face in
surprise.

“Yep.” I loved her reaction. “We’ll be
staying in Athens and Croatia.”

She jumped into my arms. “This is
unbelievable.”

“I’m glad you’re excited.”

“You’re going to get so much sex out of
me.”

I laughed. “That’s what I was hoping.”

She hooked her arms around my neck and
pressed her face close to mine. “I love you so much.”

“Because I take you on expensive trips?”

She laughed. “No. But it does help.”

“I’m just glad I can make you happy.”

“You make me more than happy.”

After an emotional goodbye to Monnique, I
drove to Sean’s house then walked to the door. I couldn’t believe I
was getting married the next day. She wouldn’t just be my
girlfriend that I lived with. She would officially be mine. She’d
have my last name. We would be together—forever.

I knocked on the door and waited for a
response.

The door finally opened and Sean gave me a
wicked grin. “Hey, man.”

“Hey.”

He opened the door wider. “Last night as a
bachelor, huh?”

“It appears so.”

Sean grabbed my bag then placed it at the
foot of the stairs. “And what should we do on your last night?”

I shrugged. “I was just going to get to
bed.”

“Think again.” Ryan clapped me on the
shoulder. “Friends never let friends skip their bachelor
party.”

I smirked when I realized everyone else was
there. Flynn and Mike patted me on the shoulder, giving me knowing
smiles. “Oh no. I smell trouble.”

“Lots of trouble,” Ryan said.

“Well, it can’t be too crazy,” I said as I
looked at my watch. “Because I’m getting married in a little over
twelve hours.”

Flynn rubbed his palms together greedily. “We
have a good plan.”

Should I be worried?
“What about the
girls? You’re just going to leave them?”

“They’re together,” Sean said. “They are
upstairs, getting ready for bed.”

“And there’s a fancy alarm system in place,”
Mike said with dark eyes.

Sean checked the time. “We need to leave to
get to the helicopter on time.”

Helicopter? “What?”

“When you party with the Prestons, you party
right,” Mike said with a wink.

I had a feeling this was going to be a crazy
night.

We reached the top of the building then piled
inside. I wasn’t afraid to fly in commercial airplanes, but a tiny
helicopter was different. I buckled my safety belt and checked it
twice before I finally sat still.

Mike handed me his flask. “Take a drink.
It’ll get the edge off.”

I did as he asked then cringed at the burn of
the liquid.

When everyone was buckled inside, we were
ready for take off.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” I
blurted.

“Can we leave the door open?” Flynn asked.
“Wouldn’t that be cool to hang out of it?”

“I’m going to piss over the side, giving all
the streetwalkers a treat,” Flynn said.

“Let’s just leave the door closed,” I said
immediately. I turned to Sean. “Does Monnique know about this?”

“Nope.” Sean gave me a wide smile. “And she
isn’t going to know. This is our guy secret.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

The pilot took off from the landing then rose
into the air. All of Manhattan could be seen from the windows. It
was cool, but shit, it was fucking scary.

Mike turned in his seat and looked at the
pilot. “Can you do flips and shit?”

“Don’t give him any ideas,” I said
immediately.

“Oh,” Flynn said. “Can you do a steep nose
dive then pull back up?”

“Shut up,” I hissed.

Flynn laughed hysterically. “The bachelor is
a fucking pussy.”

“I just prefer to die as a married man.”

“Calm down,” Mike said. “We’ll be fine.” He
drank out of his flask again.

The fear was still in my body. I snatched the
flask and downed the entire thing.

“We’re going to party so hard tonight!” Mike
said as he watched me.

“No strippers,” I said immediately.

Sean shrugged. “We’ll see.”

When we arrived, we landed on top of one of
the hotels.

“I’ll be here at six,” the pilot explained.
“Don’t be late.”

“We won’t,” Sean said.

“How much did that cost?” I asked.

“A few pennies,” Mike said with a shrug. “At
least for the Prestons.”

They’d already done so much for me. I didn’t
want them to spend too much.

“Let’s head to the hotel,” Flynn said. “It’s
about to start.”

“What?” I asked.

“You’ll see,” Mike said.

“You guys keeps saying that,” I snapped. “See
what?”

“We’re about to find out,” Ryan said.

We headed to the lobby then saw a large line
for one of the conference rooms.

“Where are we going?” I asked. “A show?”

“Kinda,” Ryan said.

Seriously, what’s with all the secrecy?

We reached the beginning of the line, where
the security officer gave Sean an intimidating look. “The line is
in the back.”

Sean pulled out tickets from his pocket then
handed them over. “We’re in the VIP section.”

The security guard checked them. “You’re
good.” He opened the door and let us walk in.

The suspense was killing me.

We walked into an arena that surrounded a
boxing ring. People were in the crowd, drinking beer and holding up
signs. After looking at the banners and t-shirts people wore, I
realized we were at a UFC fight. “How the hell did you get tickets
to this?”

Sean shrugged. “I’m a Preston. I get what I
want when I want it.”

Mike fist bumped him. “Ditto.”

We moved to our seats in the front row. I
still couldn’t believe this was happening.

A waitress came to us, busty and pretty, and
took our drink orders. I assumed Sean arranged for her to wait on
us all night.

“Dude, I can’t believe this is happening,” I
said to Ryan.

Ryan nodded. “Fucking awesome, huh?”

Now I knew I didn’t need to worry about
strippers and girls. It was definitely going to be a guy’s
night.

The waitress returned with our drinks and I
downed mine quickly. “Any bets?”

“A hundred on Renner,” Ryan said.

“I’ll take that bet,” Flynn said.

“Me too,” I added.

We threw our money down and waited for the
show to begin. Once the fighters arrived to the ring and the crowd
cheered, the fight began. I noticed Wayne Gretzky on the sidelines.
He wore a sweater and sunglasses to hide his face, but I still
recognized him. This night just got even better.

We cheered while the two fighters went for
each other. I spilled beer on my shirt a few times because I jumped
up so unexpectedly. More laughs and cheers happened, and as the
game went on, we shared high-fives as our chosen players got the
upper hand. I’d never been to a live match before, and it was an
awesome experience.