M I L L Y S • P O V

Ingrid and I sat in the golf club common room. It was just the two of us because Flynn and Abby had gone to have family photos done with the bride and her parents.

The wedding hadn't begun but it wouldn't be long so Ingrid and I figured we'd hang around and down a drink or two before we found a seat.

The common room was charming. Blue drapes, tall ceilings, double glazed windows which offered a view of the rolling grass planes of the golf club.

There was a kitchen nook and a couple of sofas in front of a small flat screen. It was all quite simple but sweet. Abby said the actual wedding was elegant and gorgeous.

Ingrid sat beside me and messed around with her tits, adjusting and jiggling them in her skin tight black dress. I checked my phone. There was a message from Abby.

Lucas just got here. He's on his way over to you. Told him he was being a little pussy and he needed to talk to you. You should have seen his face when I told him I know what happened. I thought he was going to shit himself. HAHAH. Dick.

I hadn't even finished reading it when there was a soft tap on the open door and there he was, hand in his tuxedo pocket, a gorgeous grin on his lips.

"Hello you little slut," Ingrid stood up and marched straight over to Lucas, landing a solid slap across his cheek. "That's for hurting my new favourite person."

Lucas rubbed his jaw and sighed. "Someone had to do it," he wiggled his jaw. "Solid hand. Damn Ingrid. What are you doing here?"

"Abby invited me," Ingrid said. "And besides, me and the bride are tight. She's a pal."

"What's the bride's name?" Lucas questioned with boredom.

"Fine, I'm here for the open bar and perhaps a groomsman. We'll see where the night takes me."

"The groomsmen are in their mid twenties, Ingrid," Lucas said.

She fluffed her blonde hair and checked her gloss in the wall mirror beside the door. "I'm eighteen. Mills is eighteen. You're eighteen. Are we done stating ages? What's your point?"

"Never mind," he said.

"I will never date a man under twenty again. I'll see you both out there."

She spun on her heel and left the room. Leaving Lucas and I alone.

He looked so fit in his tailored tuxedo. It accentuated his broad shoulders and biceps. His light brown hair was a tousled mess.

Smug little bastard didn't have to be so damn handsome in everything he wore.

He'd disappeared to New York just under two weeks ago. The football team wasn't scheduled for another game until next week so he'd done some soul searching in the big Apple.

It wouldn't have surprised me if he'd been getting his count up while he was out of town where no one would find out.

But Abby convinced me he was serious about focusing on bettering himself. She said that hurting Amalia had been a huge wake up call.

He hated himself for doing that to her. It made him feel disgusting and he never wanted to do it again. But he knew it was going to take a bit of effort and conscious decision making.

Lucas had been a lone soldier for a long time. He was used to sex and nothing more. He gave it a shot, but failed. With the help of me of course.

I still felt awful for going against girl code. Amalia hadn't even shouted at me. She hadn't slapped me or given me a go. We weren't and never would be best friends. But we were on good terms.

She left for Philadelphia next week though. Something that had been quite a shock. She seemed excited about a fresh start.

She said that she was going to embrace it and not concern herself with men. If love found her, then great. If not, she had herself, her sister and her father and that was good enough.

I stood up and smoothed down my deep red dress. It was a sheath dress with a cinched waist, coming to the knee.

Abby invited Ingrid and I to her cousin's wedding. Flynn was her plus one and after Lucas told her he wasn't bringing a date, she stole his plus one and dragged me along.

Ingrid was here because she heard we were all going to a wedding and wanted in.

"Phew," Lucas whistled and let his gaze move over me, travelling from head to toe as he sucked in his bottom lip. "You look like a whole damn meal."

"You must be dessert then."

"I was always a fan of having dessert before dinner."

He might've been working on bettering himself but he was still Lucas and he was still full of crude jokes and a disregard for social cues.

I wouldn't want him any other way.

"So how have you been?" He leaned against the door frame.

"Wonderful. You? Get all of the soul searching in you needed to?"

He tilted his head from side to side. "It was more to do with the fact that I needed time to think far from the reason I was so messed up in the first place."

"Me?" I asked.

His gaze, soft but intense, watched me. It made my heart pick up speed but I wouldn't let on that he was making my knees weak.

I'd never let on before and I wasn't about to start now. Couldn't he have remained a heartless bastard who stuck his snake in half the population.

It made it so much easier to ignore all of the desire I felt for him.

"Plus it was good seeing Max again. And Kyla," he added.

"How is she?"

"Not good. She took a real bad turn super fast. She's in hospital at the moment. Max is fucked up. He didn't want to miss the wedding. But he couldn't leave her."

My stomach turned. Neither of them deserved to be going through this sort of heart ache.

After a moment, Lucas straightened up and sauntered towards me. He smelled so good. The bastard. His signature scent went straight through me. I stared up at him with a bit of sarcasm and some curiosity.

"I like you," he said. "I always have and it wasn't just about sex. I care about you. You're like, my favourite girl. I want to listen to you talk and have sex with you."

"You are such a douche bag."

"That was a super douche thing to say, I'm sorry," he palmed his jaw. "But I do care about you. More than just sticking my Big Ben into your Buckingham Palace."

As much as I didn't want to, I laughed.

"But it's not fair to attempt a relationship or whatever when I'm so . . . confused. And right now, I don't know if I trust myself? If that makes sense. There's still a real chance I could mess up and I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to be selfish again. So I need to get right, alone."

I cherished them because that was the most selfless thing he could do and it made my stomach go bonkers.

"We're still mates though, right?" I asked. "We've got the rest of school left together, Luc. And I'm not going to spend it avoiding you. Plus I need someone around while Abby lives in Flynn's pocket. Someone who gets me."

He pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. "I'd be offended if you did avoid me."

"Good. So we're friends then."

He nodded and bit down on his lip as his gaze travelled my face. "We are. Just— just as soon as I get this out of the way."

He tipped my chin up, pulled me in at the waist and kissed me, hard.

It was better than the first time. It wasn't sloppy or tainted with alcohol. It was fierce and breathtaking. The sort of kiss that no one would want to give up after just one taste.

My hands came into his hair and he pulled me tighter against himself. His tongue slid along my bottom lip before he sucked it in between his teeth.

Not suggesting we close the door and get the hell out of our clothes was almost impossible. He sent me into overdrive. His touch, his fingers gripping and squeezing. His sharp jaw beneath my hands.

Keeping our hands to ourselves for as long as it took him to sort himself out was going to be torture.

But knowing that he did it for the sake of not hurting me was what made it worth while.

He cupped my face and peppered soft gentle kisses against my lips as we parted. Between each one he leaned back and met my eyes.

"I'm going to need a minute before I go out and sit with my family," he said as he reluctantly let me go and stepped back.

"Yeah there's no hiding that monster," I laughed, looking at his crotch. "You want a hand with that?"

He tipped his head back and groaned. "Don't tempt me. I'm behaving. If we start, I won't want to stop and it's apparent that I do most of my thinking with my dick right now."

"Right," I said, proud of him. "No shagging until you've relocated your brain back into your head then."

"Oh it's in a head right now," he said. "Just not the one it should be in."

"Oh I don't know," I said. "The fact I can practically see your dick throbbing and you just turned me down, I would say you're doing better than you realise."

He laughed and began to back out of the room. "This is so hard. You have no idea. But I care too much, Mills. I never want to be that person again."

"You have my total support babe. I'll see you out there?"

He winked. "See you out there."

L U C A S • P O V

"Congratulations," I told Lydia who shimmied towards me in her mermaid shaped dress.

I didn't know what that meant but I'd heard it from the females more than once this afternoon.

It was tight from the top until her thighs where it flowed out and swished around her feet. It looked sort of hard to walk in but she was managing.

The reception was outdoors on a concrete tiled courtyard.

It was at the edge of a mountain side and I was standing beside the intricate railing that wrapped right around the space and stopped people from toppling over the edge.

Below there was nothing but the top of bright green trees for miles with the occasional peep at the stretching road.

Tables and chairs were spread out. People sat and ate or danced to the live band. The weather was warm but there were white clouds keeping the heat from being too harsh.

Flower arrangements were hanging from posts, there was a water fountain in the corner and lanterns were strung above us, stretching from one end of the courtyard to the next. They looked like they were floating due to the transparent wire.

Lydia came and stood beside me, peering over the railing.

"That gives me the sweats," she said and turned her back to the view. "How's school going?"

"Schools school. Liam seems to be enjoying it though," I said, recalling the conversation with my younger cousin.

"He's a little nerd," Lydia pushed her long light brown hair behind her shoulder. "So, Mom and Nathan told me about a girl you've been seeing. The Spanish one. Is she here?"

"Oh na," I leaned my back on the railing as well. "That didn't work out."

"Oh. What happened?"

"I fucked it up," I admitted and watched Ingrid walk past on the arm of a groomsman. "I realised I kind of need to be alone for a bit I guess. Figure some shit out. I'm a bit of an asshole."

"Oh, Lucas, that's so good to hear. I totally encourage self discovery in high school," she said. "I mean it's the best time to grow as a person and learn about yourself. Honestly, if Carter and I had tried to make a relationship work in high school, I don't think we'd be married now."

"Really?"

"Absolutely. I mean, I loved him. But I wasn't ready. I needed to figure out who I was and what I wanted out of life before I could think about relationships. It's the best time to be alone and Carter and I wouldn't have lasted if I we hadn't taken the time to grow as people. Both of us needed that. Ya know? I mean, a lot of relationships don't last once high school is over because you change so much as you age. Your parents being the exception."

We both glanced over to where Mom and Dad were embraced on the dance floor, watching each other with goo goo eyes.

"But you can't base your relationship aspirations on your parents example. My Dad cheated on my Mom but that never stopped me from wanting to fall in love. You need to make your own decisions on what you want out of life. And being young and single is literally the best time to figure out who you are without trying to figure out who you are as a partner. You come first. Ya know?" She took a deep breath and smiled. "Like how can you be the best boyfriend, if you're not the best you?"

Mechanic didn't seem like the right job occupation for my cousin. She should have been doing high school counselling. What she said made me think hard.

When I let my eyes wander over to where Mills stood beside the bar, a glass of champagne in her hand, a smile stretched across her beautiful face while she talked to dad's cousin Lucy and Aunt Cass, I thought it might be easier said than done.

She meant so fucking much to me. The thought of losing her winded me.

Carter wandered over to us then. He'd ditched his suit jacket and rolled up his shirt sleeves. He held a beer in his hand and offered it to me. But I declined.

"Good choice," he said. "Your Dad made me offer this. It felt like a bit of a test."

I looked over at Dad who was holding Mom against his chest so her back was to me. He gave me a subtle thumbs up. Such a dickhead.

Lydia laughed and positioned herself under her husband's arm. "Uncle Dray Dray hasn't changed a whole lot, has he?"

"Your Dad is awesome," Carter peered over his shoulder. "Cool dude."

"We should go and thank them both for our gift," Lydia suggested. "It was so generous."

Generous was an understatement. Mom and Dad paid for another two weeks on their honeymoon in Paris.

All of the costs were covered so they were able to explore more of France. Dad couldn't stop going on about the fact that his little niece was all grown up and getting married.

Mom and Dad had been close with her while she was growing up.

I watched them wander off hand in hand. She held on to his arm, resting her head on his bicep.

She'd had her head on straight in high school and it paid off. She'd made it. She'd married the love of her life. A doctor. A super good dude who made her happier than she'd ever been.

And she deserved that. It inspired me. Maybe one day I could make a girl that happy and confident in me too.

____

Max's part next.