Chapter 1-2
474 Words
4 1/2 Years Earlier
Parker checked his watch impatiently. “Dude. Colton Kincaid’s going to ride at eight. If we don’t leave soon, we’re going to miss him. The Strip’s already at a standstill.
“Just a few more minutes,” Gunnar growled. “Something must have happened.”
Parker smirked, arching a brow. “I think your balls have been busted.”
“f**k you,” he snapped. “Suzannah’s not that type of woman.”
The look on Parker’s face said otherwise. “I think you left your thinking brain back in Prairie. C’mon. Who falls in love and gets married this fast?” Parker opened his hands. “Sure, we’ve all been in instalove at one point or another, but even I know you don’t know this chick well enough to marry her.”
“She’s not a chick,” Gunnar bit out, looking to his brother for help. Axel just shrugged, giving him a look that said “Sorry, dude.” f**k him. f**k them. They didn’t understand. How could he even begin to explain what the last three days had been like? He could barely articulate it himself, but he knew. He knew with the deepest part of himself that Suzannah Marie Harper was the woman he was destined to spend his life with. Fate had brought them together. He was certain of it. And while it might seem irrational to onlookers, heck – his parents would s**t their pants when he returned home to Prairie and announced he’d gotten married in Vegas – this was the sanest decision he’d ever made.
An hour and three drive-through weddings later, still no Suzannah. Parker shook his head grimly. “I’m outta here. Wait if you want, but I’m not gonna miss Colton’s big ride. Not with the championship on the line.” Parker tilted his chin. “Axe, what are you doing?”
Gunnar’s stomach dropped to his boot heels.
Axel shot him a guilty look. “I’m sorry, man.”
Pain knifed through Gunnar. His chest burned and he scrubbed a hand across his jaw, letting out a ragged breath. “Go.” He waved his brother off. “I’m gonna wait a bit longer.”
The look in Axel’s eyes shot straight through him. He was a f*****g i***t. He’d been played. And Axel was too nice to point it out. She couldn’t have played him. This felt all wrong. “You sure?” Axel asked. “If you want me to stay…” his voice trailed off.
He shook his head once, stomach hollow. He’d face his humiliation alone. “I’ll be all right.” Somehow.
“Do we need to set a rendezvous point?”
Gunnar barked out a laugh. “If she shows, the first place we’ll go is the phone store so I can text your sorry disbelieving a*s a photo.”
“And if she doesn’t?”
The words gored him like a raging rodeo bull. “Then you can find me in the hotel bar.”
Axel gave him a crooked smile and grabbed his shoulder. “I’ll look for the text.”
He wouldn’t. Axel knew what he wasn’t ready to admit yet. She wasn’t coming.
- Writer
