Page 4 of Mine to Promise

“Immediately no! There is no way you are doing that. I am drawing the line.” I look at Casey. “And you don’t even know how to hold a gun,” I hiss at Matthew, who just rolls his eyes.

“Yes, I do. Look,” he says, running over to the far end of the field.

“Oh my God, is he actually going to shoot a gun?” I ask Casey, looking around to see if there is anyone I can reason with.

“Don’t worry, I gave him a gun that fires blanks,” Casey reassures me, laughing, but all the laughing stops when we hear the shot being fired. “Dumbass,” Casey says, shaking his head.

Matthew runs back to us. “You see, it’s fine.”

“I see nothing of the sort!” I shout at him. “You.” I point at Casey. “No guns. You.” I point at Matthew. “No nothing. I want you to go help set up the ceremony space.” I point to the side where the rest of the guys are working. “If I even see a gun, I’m telling Billy and Cooper.” I mention their dads to them.

“Buzzkill,” Matthew grumbles, handing the gun back to Casey as he storms away, with Casey following him.

I close my eyes and look up at the sky. “This better be perfect.”

stefano

“You have reached your destination.” The woman’s voice fills the car. “Your destination is on the right.” I look out of the window at the huge house on the side. Cars line the whole street in both directions. People look like they are running around in a panic. I spot my cousins and I can’t help the smile that fills my face. It’s been way too long since I’ve seen them last.

“Finally,” Jenna huffs from beside me, “I feel like we’ve been in this car for five days.”

I look over at her. “It’s been two hours.” I shake my head.

“Two hours since we got into this car, you are forgetting driving nine hours before this.” She opens the car door and steps out, stretching as she looks around.

“I wasn’t going to miss this wedding.” I open my own car door and step out, the humidity hitting me right away. “They grounded all planes in San Francisco because of the fog, what did you think was going to happen?”

“I didn’t expect you to say, let’s drive to Vegas and take a plane from there,” she huffs again, and I close my eyes, wondering if bringing her was a mistake. We’ve only been dating for over a month.

“You could have stayed back.” I open the trunk, grabbing my luggage. “I told you I was only going to be here for three days.”

“How would that look to your family if your girlfriend decided to skip the wedding?” She pushes her blond hair behind her ear before folding her arms over her chest. “It would look like I don’t want to see them.”

“I don’t think my family would give it that much thought, they have other things to worry about besides why you wouldn’t have been here,” I tell her as I hear the sound of gunshots.

Jenna jumps up and then ducks down. “What the fuck was that?”

“Sounds like gunshots,” I say, trying to hide my laugh. “Do you want me to grab your bag or are you okay?”

“A gentleman never asks.” She glares at me.

I chuckle at her. “If I would grab one of my sisters’ or my cousins’ bags, they would kick me in the balls and then wait for me to bend over and then kick me straight in the ass,” I inform her. “I’ve seen it happen to many others.”

“Well, I’m not your sister or your cousin, I’m your girlfriend,” she declares, opening the back door of the car, “and I’m okay with you carrying my bag.”

I walk over to the back of the car, grabbing her bag before I see a golf cart zoom across the grass going toward the barn with a pink tractor in front of it. The woman’s long blond hair flies in the wind.

“Look who the cat dragged in.” I turn my head toward the voice of my cousin Stone. I dump my bag and Jenna’s bag on the ground, going over to him and hugging him. “Dad said you might not make it.”

“I would have called in every single favor I have to get here,” I tell him when we let each other go, my hand slapping his shoulder and I squeeze. “You look skinny.”

“Fuck you,” he retorts. “You look like you’ve been skipping the gym.” He taps me on the stomach but there is nothing there but muscle.

“Think again.” I give him the chin up. “Stone, this is Jenna,” I introduce her to Stone. “Jenna, this is one of my many cousins, Stone.”

“He forgot best cousin,” Stone says, going over to her and kissing her cheek. “Nice to meet you.”

“Do you know where we have to go?” I ask him, looking around and spotting my uncles Matthew and Max trying to talk to another guy. I stare a little more and see that they are holding shotguns, and I’m about to ask questions when Stone starts talking.