I’m buildin’ a life with him, and I can’t figure out why my best friend won’t support me.”
Guilt seeped into every crevice. My skin heated. “You deserve better.”
“Lachlan’s amazing. You don’t know him. Besides, maybe I don’t want better. He’s perfect for me.”
I wanted to ask what made him so perfect. Was it his six feet of height? His tall, thin frame? His ego? His confidence? His money?
I pressed my lips together, not meeting Easton’s eyes. “I miss when it was you and me, you know? We’d go have beers at the brewery after work. We’d hang out on weekends, shooting the shit, or go for a ride along the trails.” I shrugged. “He’s your go-to now, not me. Hasn’t been me since the day you met him.”
Easton laughed, and I darted my gaze up, scowling.
“Careful, Knox. You sound jealous.”
“I’m not jealous, idiot.”
He hitched a brow. “Then what do you call it?”
“I call it… I don’t fucking know. He stole my best friend, and it hurts, okay? Shut up.”
Easton’s gaze softened. “He didn’t steal me. I’m still here. I’ve been wantin’ to hang out with you for a year, but you keep throwin’ up walls and pushin’ me away.”
I picked at the label on the bottle. “What did you want me to come by for?”
Easton paused long enough I looked up and met his gaze again. Wariness shone out of his eyes. He wet his lips.
I tightened my hands around the bottle, sensing something was coming that I wasn’t going to like.
“Because I have somethin’ to tell you. It’s important, and I’ve been wantin’ to tell you for a while, but it’s never a good time. I’m afraid if I don’t tell you soon, it’s gonna get out, and you’re gonna hear it somewhere else.”
The knot in my stomach pulled tighter, and I was cold all over. That anticipation I’d felt when Easton first called me tripled and locked up my lungs. My heart raced as I waited for him to go on.
“Lachlan and I are gettin’ married.”
His words knocked the wind out of me. Blood roared in my ears, washing out all other sounds. I nodded robotically because it was the right thing to do. “Oh.”
It was the nail in the coffin—the death blow I hadn’t seen coming. Or had I? This was it. I’d never have Easton all to myself ever again. It was the day we went our separate ways and never looked back. The day I’d been anticipating since we were fifteen years old. I always knew he’d leave me behind.
He kept staring like he could see inside my soul. I didn’t know what else to say, so I sat there, numb, doing all I could to not tremble or show outward signs of distress even though I was crumbling on the inside.
“I want you to be my best man, Knox. Ain’t no one else suited to that role than you.”
His best man. It was irony at its finest because if I was indeed his best man, I wouldn’t be getting stamped out by someone better. Someone handsomer and smarter and wealthier.
Best man.
“Knox?”
“When’s the wedding?” My voice croaked, and I covered it by swigging my beer.
“We were hopin’ to do it this winter. We haven’t set a date yet, but we have ideas we’re rolling around. We’re lookin’ into some things first before we announce it.”
I nodded, my jaw tight. A lump formed in my throat, and I swallowed it down before asking, “Who asked who? Did he ask you, or was it the other way?”
“He asked me.”
“When?”
A pause. I stabbed Easton with a sharp look, my growing anger no longer hidden.
“A month ago. The same day he showed me the house, and I found out I was adoptin’ Percy.”
“A month? You’ve known for a month and didn’t tell me?”
Easton scrubbed his face. “You haven’t exactly been very warm about the idea of Lach and me together. I don’t know how to talk to you ’bout him. You get all defensive. I thought we were close. I thought you’d be happy for me.”
I bit back a snarky reply and drew up a thick skin, doing all I could to hide the evidence of how shattered his words made me feel. “Happy for you. Right. Congratulations, I guess.”
He didn’t respond.
I drained my beer and shoved the bottle aside before pushing to stand.
“That’s it? You’re leavin’?”
“I got shit to do.”
“Knox.”
“What do you want me to say? I said congratulations. Good for you. You found mister perfect. Mister tall,