Page 67 of Slide

She looked stunning. Her red hair was down and she had a band of flowers around her head, a matching bunch in her hands. Her floaty white dress flowed over her curves and her cute round baby bump. But her smile said it all. Adam didn’t think he’d ever seen anyone so damn happy.

Until he turned to Hugh.

But Hugh wasn’t smiling. No, the man looked awestruck. Tears rolled down his friend’s face and the big man didn’t give two shits, too wrapped up in the woman he loved to care.

Hugh didn’t see anyone but Shay.

Adam’s gaze searched the guests gathered around watching. Struck again when his eyes landed on Lucy, fucking stunned by the beauty of her. Lucy was watching Shay make her way to Hugh, and her pale green eyes shone like emeralds. She was crying. The woman even looked beautiful with tears running down her face, lower lip quivering. The sight of her like that slammed him in the gut.

He’d always hated weddings. They made him feel uncomfortable, antsy, but right then…shit, he would have given anything to be in Hugh’s place, to be standing there watching Lucy walk toward him, smiling at him—in love with him.

He was in love with her.

With his best friends’ little sister. He had been for a long time, he realized.

Right then, her gaze slid to him, and though he should, he couldn’t make himself look away. Her lids fluttered and she bit her lower lip. That mouth. How many times had he fantasized about kissing her? Too many to count. Now he had, and he fucking hated that he couldn’t walk over to her now, pull her into his arms, and do just that.

But he couldn’t.

He forced himself to look away, back to the happy couple as they said their vows. Finally, the celebrant pronounced them man and wife and Hugh lifted his bride into his arms and kissed the hell out of her. Everyone cheered and rose to wish them well. Adam one of the first to shake Hugh’s hand and hug Shay.

With everyone occupied, he took advantage, moving back, needing a minute.

Jesus, he’d thought he’d made peace with the future he’d mapped out for himself, had accepted he’d always be on his own, but today, watching his best friend marry the woman he loved, and soon raising a family—Adam couldn’t fucking breathe. Lucy had shown up, and shaken him up. Shit, suddenly it felt like his heart was being ripped from his chest. He’d wanted that, what they had, that bond—family. And for the first time, the reality of what he was going to miss out on hit like a cinder block to the back of the head. Because now he’d allowed himself to see it, imagine it…with Lucy.

He spun away and strode to the house. A few minutes away, that’s all he needed to clear his head, catch his damn breath.

People followed him inside, to get drinks, to help serve the food, use the bathroom, so he headed upstairs. The house was Hugh’s now, but it used to be the Colton family home. Hugh had been restoring it, but stalled for a while. Now it was finished and looked fantastic. Shay’s stamp was all over the place. There was color and light and flowers. They’d made it a home together.

Something twisted and coiled inside him.

Jealousy.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

He had to stop thinking about all this shit. He’d gotten this far doing just that. He did not think about the past, or the future; he lived for the moment. Did whatever he had to do to get through each day…each night. Now his damn head was spinning, his fucking heart racing. He’d planned to sit at the top of the stairs for a little bit, but his gaze slid to the door at the end of the hall. Lucy’s old room. Before he knew what he was doing, he was walking toward it, and pushing the door open.

It had been turned into an office for Shay. She ran a graphic design business from home. The walls were blue now and there was a large desk by the window. He’d only been in there a couple of times when Lucy lived there, when the walls had been yellow and she’d had these white curtains with little yellow daisies on them. She’d had posters of boy bands stuck to the back of the door, notes and pictures with friends and family on a corkboard on the wall above the small desk Hugh had picked up. He’d found it by a dumpster, brought it home, cleaned it up, and painted it for her. Lucy had loved that crappy desk.

A bookshelf stood in the corner and he recognized it as Lucy’s, full of books, and by the looks, most of them poetry. She’d obviously left them there when she’d gone to college. He slid one out and stared blindly down at it.

The last time he’d been in this room…

Yeah, Lucy had been crying.

He’d come over for a barbecue. Their mom had been at work, so Joe had invited a few girls around. Lucy was supposed to be staying at a friend’s, but had come home unexpectedly. She’d caught him on the couch with one of them.

Lucy had only been sixteen. Sweet and young and so damn beautiful. The look on her face when she’d seen them. He’d already known then that she had a crush on him. She’d spun away and flown up the stairs. He’d followed her. The only thing on his mind had been that she was upset, she was his best friends’ little sister and he’d somehow upset her.

He’d knocked on her door.

“Go away!”

“Luce?” He pushed the door open. “You okay?”

She furiously wiped at her tears. “I’m fine.” She wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I had a fight with Alice.”

He didn’t know what to do or say. She was crying, and every time she blinked, more tears replaced the ones she wiped away. He walked over to her and dragged her off her bed, pulling her into a hug.