Page 11 of Bad Wolf

“Is he in there?” Casey sounds from the doorway. If I thought Troy was being loud, Casey is a hundred decibels higher as he comes over to my bed.

“Knox, how you doing, man? I have something to tell you. Something important. You gonna turn over so you can look at me?”

I slowly shake my head “no”.

“Okay, well can you get up? I need your help big time. Me and Pix, we’re gonna get married. Tonight. And I kinda need my little brother coherent and present. I also need you to charm your ass off, because we just convinced a couture bridal store manager to come in on her day off to fit out this entire wedding party in like, eight hours.”

Fully awake as those words bounce around my head in high definition, I jolt upwards spinning to face him while fighting the roll of nausea.

Case is getting married? They’re not even engaged!

The bed tips as he sits down, “We have ten hours, Ace.” Casey squeezes my shoulder and determination swirls in his clear, focused eyes.

“Married…Ten hours?” I blink.

“Jesus, Troy, get him with it, please? I—”

His phone bleats and he stands abruptly. His retreating footsteps are heavy and purposeful, muted by the plush carpet as he heads back out into the communal area of our suite.

Troy tries again. “So, as I said, drink up.”

“Please just tell me what’s going on, and then I’ll tellyouabout the most fucked up nightmare I just had,” I groan, sitting up and propping myself against the headboard.

“It wasn’t a dream, Knox. She was at that club.”

The sorrowful tone in his voice clues me into the fact that I definitely didn’t drunk-dream seeing Wren, and I fight to keep my fists unclenched.

“It wasn’t?” I was hoping I’d been so tanked that I’d imagined the whole thing.

He shakes his head. “No, bro, it fucking wasn’t. She’s here.”

I snatch the bottle of water from him and down the ice-cool drink in one gulp, the relief immediate.

I cannot even begin to fathom her being here and seeing her after all this time. Why is she in Miami? Why is she dancing? And why the fuck do I give a shit?

“Let it go, man. No good will come from you going down this hole. She’s not our concern anymore. Remember? That’s what you told me to say. I said we should go find her and you said—”

“No need to remind me, Troy.” I grit my teeth. “My stance on the matter hasn’t changed.”

He puffs out his cheeks and shakes his head, jostling my shoulder, “Come on, man, we have a wedding to help organize, and it needs to go off without a hitch.”

He says hitch with a southern inflection.

I scrub my hands over my face, trying to clear my head in an attempt to understand what’s going on.

“’Kay, walk me through this again.”

“Everyone is here, Lex’s parents, our parents. You’re not needed for the All-Star drills until Saturday. Anna doesn’t want a big white wedding for obvious reasons…”

I nod. Anna lost her entire family in a horrific car accident two years ago, so it’s no wonder she doesn’t want a wedding in the most traditional sense.

Troy continues, “So… SURPRISE!” He gives me little jazz hands, “They’ve decided to just get hitched here. Filed for the license on the sly. She wants the cliché elopement, so Case is all in. He’s like this mix of Captain America and groomzilla since they announced it to the parentals a while ago. It’s actually pretty scary.”

I laugh but it dies quickly, the pull of wanting to know what’s going on with Wren too hard to shake. The vision of her up there on the stage, of how beautiful she was close up, and that niggle of doubt I felt when I looked into her hazel eyes and all I saw was suffering.

“Shit. Even though I just said don’t, do you need me to help you find her?”

My gaze flies to his. His eyes search mine trying to gauge what I’m really thinking because he knows me so well.

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