Vanessa had no choice but to go along unless she wanted to cause a scene. After depositing her next to Lucie, Robért went off in search of his next mission. Letting out a discreet sigh of frustration, Lucie faced Jackson and feigned a happy interest. The idiot winked at her and turned to face the group.
“On behalf of Reid and Lucie, I’d like to thank you all for being here to help make their day special as they begin their new life together. As a fighter, I know that you can only do so much planning and prep for your opponents. You can study their moves, their strategies, learn how to defend and counter. But the truth of the matter is, when you step inside that cage, you never know what that guy is going to throw at you. You have to accept, adjust, and execute.
“Love is no different,” Jackson said, the sound of his deep voice washing over her on the salty breeze. “Growing up, we imagine the type of person we’ll someday fall in love with, and over time, we try our best to execute our plans to find—or for us commit-aphobes, avoid”—polite, muted laughter met his last comment—“that person.
“But just as a fighter can’t predict what an opponent will do as he works to execute his plan, we can’t predict what love will throw our way as we search for that perfect person.” Eyes alight with the setting sun met hers, melting her resolve from the inside out. “And more often than not, who we think we need isn’t at all who we really need.”
Jackson turned his head to address the couple. “Case in point, our very own Reid and Lucie. If they hadn’t accepted what love was throwing their way and adjusted their points of view, Reid would still be a miserable bachelor denying his passion for art, and Lucie would be married to a narcissistic surgeon who wouldn’t know true beauty if it bit him on the ass.”
Laughs and murmurs of agreement rose from the guests. Lucie’s cheeks were moist from tears, but the smile she’d worn all day was still in place and the only way Reid could get any closer to her was if he pulled her onto his lap.
Clapping a hand on his best friend’s shoulder, Jackson continued. “I’m incredibly thankful that my best friend and my sister were smart enough to adjust and accept their love for each other.” His hand dropped and his eyes found Vanessa’s again. “But what about the future? Relationships have ups and downs just like everything else. One minute you’re winning and on top of the world…”
Jackson swallowed hard, pausing like he’d forgotten what came next. Or like it’s too hard to say. A tightness spread through her chest just as he came back to himself, but the last part of his sentence only made the pressure worse. “…and the next minute you’re knocked out, fighting against the darkness and wondering where the hell things went wrong.”
Just when Vanessa thought she couldn’t take any more—that she needed to stop him or she’d crumple where she stood from her bleeding heart—his speech took a left turn.
“So I wanted to give them some advice that might help them in the future, and I came up with a list of seven things. I guess you could call them rules…”
“Oh no.” Vanessa clapped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late. She’d blurted it out and now everyone was staring at her as ice shot through her veins. He was going to mock her. Right here, right now, in front of all her friends. Seeing as she’d already made a fool of herself, she skirted around the happy couple to Jackson’s side.
She tried not to notice the guests whispering guesses as to what was going on. The best man’s hijacking the fucking wedding, that’s what’s going on. Damn him, this wedding wasn’t about them or what they did or didn’t want…
God, you are such a hypocrite, Nessie.
She’d been doing exactly that all damn day, trying to leave because she felt uncomfortable around Jackson. How fricking selfish could she be? Lucie should have told Vanessa to take a flying leap off a tall cliff hours ago, hell, yesterday even, but her friend was too kind for that.
So, yes, she felt slightly schmucky about all that, but at least Vanessa only intended on excusing herself from the party. She never would’ve dreamed to make the wedding a public forum for her relationship problems like an episode of The Jerry Springer Show. The whole thing was so ludicrous, she didn’t have the words.
Oh, who was she kidding? Yes, she did.
Stepping in close to keep her voice low, she angled her body away from the crowd and said, “Jackson, this is so completely and utterly unacceptable to do this to Lucie and—”
“It’s okay, Nessie.” Vanessa looked down at Lucie’s hand covering hers, then sought the hurt that would surely show in her friend’s eyes but found none. “Reid and I gave him the idea.”
“You what?” she whispered.
“Bitch me out later, Ness. Right now you need to listen to my brother.”