Page 90 of King of Envy

“What a trip.” Jordan stretched his legs. “I can’t believe that was more than twelve years ago. Time really does fly.” He glanced at me again. “Why’d you bring it up?”

When we left the wedding, you told me you’d never marry.Granted, he’d been drunk off his ass, but he’d said it with such conviction that I’d believed him.

“I was young and stupid,” he said now. “I didn’t mean it.”

I narrowed my eyes, trying to gauge whether he was lying.

Jordan had dated occasionally over the years, but before Ayana, none of his relationships lasted more than a few weeks. He’d also never expressed a desire for marriage and kids.

However, that was all circumstantial.

“What about you?” he asked in an obvious bid to change topics. “Will the great Vuk Markovic ever tie the knot?”

My face shuttered.

That depended on what happened in two weeks. If Ayana and Jordan got married, then that was it. If they didn’t…

We’ll see.

The wedding plans were going full speed ahead. There was nothing to suggest the ceremony wouldn’t happen—unless I stopped it.

I tipped my head back and downed the entire bottle in one long gulp. It did nothing for me.

Fuck, I needed something stronger than beer.

“I envy you,” Jordan said quietly. “You can do whatever you want, and you give no shits what other people think. That kind of freedom must be…intoxicating.”

I almost laughed out loud at the irony. Do whatever I wanted? He had no idea. He envied me my “freedom” when I would trade it all foroneperson in his life.

Freedom is relative. We all have our burdens.I kept it at that.

“Maybe.” Jordan rubbed a hand over his mouth. Neither of us paid any attention to the movie at all. “Do you know why I asked you to be my best man?”

I’m the only groomsman with more than half a brain cell.

His prep school friends were the two-legged equivalent of brainless slime mold. Rub two together and you wouldn’t even get a spark of intelligence.

“No, and be nice,” he admonished, but amusement glinted in his eyes. “You and I have been friends a long time, but I’ve known some of the other groomsmen longer than you. And God knows you’re not a party planner in any sense of the word.”

My eyebrows rose. That was an interesting explanation for a best man, but what did I know? I’d never been married.

“But,” Jordan said. “Out of all my friends, I trust you the most. You’ve always been loyal, and you’ve always been honest, even when I don’t want you to be.” He laughed. “No one else had the guts to tell me that fall marketing plan I put together a few years ago was trash.”

That’s because they all have less than one brain cell,I deadpanned.

Jordan snorted. “No, seriously. I mean it. I know this whole best man thing is out of your comfort zone, so I appreciate you taking it seriously. I don’t want to get all sentimental and shit because you’d hate that, but I’m almost glad thatthinghappened in college. If it hadn’t, we might not be friends. Is that fucked up to say?”

The knots in my gut tightened.No.I understand what you mean.

“Good.” He cleared his throat, the tips of his ears turning pink. “Now that we got the maudlin stuff out of the way, let’s watch the damn movie. I want to know how they’re going to break into that vault.”

We lapsed into silence again.

I faced forward, but my brain was spinning.

It didn’t escape my notice that Jordan never answered my question about whether he loved Ayana. My gut told me he didn’t, but for whatever reason—either pressure from his family or the optics of canceling a high-profile wedding this close to the date—he was adamant about marrying her.

That didn’t explain why Ayana had said yes to his proposal, but this wasn’t the time to press him. Jordan made it clear he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Pushing him would only make him dig his heels in more.

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