Page 30 of F*ckin' With Me
“If anyone here knows any reason why these two should not be wed in holy matrimony, speak now, or forever hold your peace.” The pastor’s eyes scanned the audience. I wasn’t worried that anyone would say anyth?—
Justin’s head dropped before he mumbled, “I can’t do this. I just can’t.”
Lightning could have struck me at that moment. That would have been more expected than Justin stopping his own wedding. My hand covered my heart while everyone else gasped. My mother jumped up from her seat. “Justin, what the hell!”
Lanette must have been too stunned to say anything or move. The air stood still. Rashad’s rude ass tried to hold in his low laughter beside me. Daylen sat there with a face of indifference. He was probably the calmest one.
“Justin, what do you mean, you can’t do this? Wha-what are you even talking about?” The first tear fell from her eye.
When Justin’s parents stood with a foreboding expression, I knew they either knew this would happen, supported hisdecision, or both. He gazed back at his parents. I didn’t miss his father’s head nod.
Justin’s chest puffed out before he dropped her hands. “Lanette, the only reason I accepted your marriage proposal was because you told me you were pregnant. I never wanted to marry you. Your mother told me that if I didn’t, our child would be a bastard. Not even three months later, you claim you lost the baby.”
Everything I thought I knew about Justin and my sister’s relationship was the perception of what my sister wanted everyone to see. Who would have guessed that Lanette had proposed to Justin. Never in a million years would I have thought she would propose to a man.
Our mother stepped forward. “Don’t you dare insinuate that my daughter lied about her pregnancy, Justin. That is what I will not allow you to do.”
Mrs. Everland stepped forward. “Simone, stop with the nonsense. We know she was never pregnant. You know the cell phone that she uses that’s in Justin’s name? Yes, we pulled her text message conversations. Per her confession in the girl’s group chat, she was never pregnant.”
The low whispers became loud conversations. The wedding was very small because a lot of the guests invited did not want to pay the expense of a destination wedding. My eyes traveled back to where Rissa sat on Justin’s side with her new friend. When we locked eyes, hers widened.
“Justin, baby, please don’t do this,” my sister said lowly to him. “I love you. I just wanted to be with you.”
His face twisted into a grimace that was not becoming of his attractive features. “So you loved me, so you lied about a pregnancy, and with the assistance of your mother, you tried to trap me in a marriage? Yeah, that screams love.”
When she moved forward to hug him, he pushed her back. My father stepped forward, and I stood. Yes, Lanette was a bitch, but she was still my sister. I spoke before my father could. “Hey, don’t put your hands on her.”
The entire thing was a mess. Justin looked at me, then rolled his eyes. “Shut the fuck up, Simo—”Thud!
My eyes popped out of their sockets when Daylen punched Justin in the middle of his face. Justin hit the ground hard. His father rushed forward but was stopped by a fist to his face as well. “Oh my God!”
“I’ve told y’all to stop playing with my fuckin’ woman.” Daylen stood there like a bodyguard who was paid top dollar to protect me. The tightness of his features told me he had some crazy in him.
“Baby, baby! Get up! You have to get up!” The room stood still!
Tears fell down her face as she patted Justin’s face to wake him from his knockout slumber. It would’ve been a sweet sentiment, but it was from the wrong person. Jessica was the requester, not Lanette. The attention in the room was momentarily pulled to Rashad, who boisterously laughed. “This shit is wild. Not your bridesmaid sleeping with the groom.”
“Jessica, what the fuck are you doing?” My sister’s honey complexion took on an undertone. My mother pulled her into her arms.
My father stood there with a stone face. When Mr. Everland stepped up, so did my father. A part of me felt like my father had an inkling about some of it. From day one, he never supported Justin and Lanette’s engagement. On multiple occasions, he told my sister that Justin didn’t want to marry her. My mother and Lanette told him to mind his business, so he did.This seems to be the outcome of not letting someone knowledgeable mind your business.
Jessica turned around from where she kneeled over Justin, who was slowly waking up. “Lanette, I love him. I’ve always loved him, and you knew that. I told you that I planned to tell him I had a crush on him, but you slept with him before I could. That’s what you do. You find things that people love and want to take for yourself.”
Some of the guests had already left the epic failure of a wedding. Jessica’s attitude suddenly made sense. She was sleeping with Justin. Lanette tried to jump on her, but my father jumped into action to pull her back. “Let me go! I’m going to kill this bitch!”
Justin’s mother ran to block Jessica. “You better not touch her. Unlike you, she’s really pregnant.”
Rissa’sdamnechoed in the almost empty venue. Jessica was helped from the floor by Mrs. Everland. Then they both helped Justin up. Lanette’s tears flowed freely down her face.
With his hand on his head, Justin glared at Lanette. “Look, I love Jessica and will be with her and my baby. I’m sure there is another man out there that you can attempt to trap, so you’ll be fine.” He turned to the remaining guests. “I apologize about all of this. I should have never gotten on that plane to participate in this bullshit. I’m not sure what will happen for the rest of the evening, but my family is leaving.”
“I hope you have funds to pay for your flights. All your flights will be canceled,” my father informed them. “Yes, I knew something was up, and you didn’t really love my daughter, but I never imagined it was this bullshit. Get the fuck on.”
Justin grabbed Jessica’s hand, and they walked out like they were the newly married couple. The groomsmen and the groom’s side of the wedding left. Justin didn’t look back.
My feet carried me to my sister’s side. “Lanette, are you alright? I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
“Sure, you fucking are.” She turned to me with hate painted on her face. “You probably were the main bitch that wanted something like this to happen. You’ve always been jealous of me, so this is right up your fucking alley. Hell, you probably knew.”
