CnC 5 One Hex of a Wedding Read Online Free Page A

the embrace. “Anything for my big sister’s wedding. I think this one will last,” she added. “I like Joe a lot better than I did Roy. Grandma M.’s having a hissy fit over his age, but she told me—in secret, so don’t you say anything—that she likes him. She thinks he’s a ‘properly mannered young man’ and that maybe he can ‘tame Emerald into behaving like a proper lady.’ ”
    I sputtered for a moment, then burst out laughing. Rose joined me and for the first time in years, we giggled over a secret. Might we actually be able to develop a friendship after all of these years? We’d never had any official falling out, just one hell of a fight when we were young that put an end to our developing bond. After that we were polite, we sent cards and called once in a while, but Rose and I had nothing as strong as my connection with Murray.
    I was about to tell her how glad I was that she’d come when a loud shout from the other end of the room caught my attention. I broke a path through the dancers and stepped into an opening near the buffet. Roy, beer in hand, stood nose-to-chin with Joe. By the look of the scattered bottles on the table, I figured Roy had made up for lost time. He was easily three sheets to the wind. The man never could hold his liquor, a problem that had become a serious issue as our marriage had disintegrated.
    “Let me tell you a little about her,” Roy was saying. “She got fat on me … she let her—her—herself go and she got fat on me.”
    “And let me tell you once again to shut your mouth or get out.” Joe hadn’t seen me yet. A good four inches taller than Roy, he was glaring down at him, the look in his eyes the closest I’d ever seen to violence.
    “What the hell is going on?” I said. “Roy, you dolt! Do you have to cause trouble every time you’re around?”
    “Where are the kids?” he asked, looking around wildly. “I wanna tell them good night.”
    Shoving my way between the two men, I jabbed Roy in the chest with my finger. “I sent them home. It’s time for you to leave, too. Call them when you’re sober.” I had no intention of setting him off, but then again, that’s how it had always been—never knowing when he was going to blow his stack. Life with Roy had been a series of days spent walking on eggshells. Unfortunately, this turned out to be one of those times.
    “Tell me to leave, will you? You’re still the same bitch you were when I dumped you years ago! I should have taken the kids, you slut—” And just like that, in front of everyone, Roy took a swing at me. His open hand grazed my cheek before I realized what was happening.
    Barely aware of the blow that set my ears ringing, I lost it. “You fucking bastard, you honestly think you can still get away with that? You’ve got a big lesson to learn, Roy, and one of these days, you’re going to learn it the hard way.”
    Years of repressed anger fueling me, I lunged, shoving him hard. He landed on the main buffet table, right in the center of the two-tier cake shaped like a giant teapot. Before I could do or say another thing, Joe and Jimbo were bearing down on Roy, and they looked ready to kill.

Two
     
     
     
    I KNOW THAT a lot of women might find the scenario romantic … their fiancé battling their ex-husband to defend their honor, but I was totally mortified. It didn’t help that I blamed myself. I’d played right into Roy’s machinations by allowing him into the party in the first place.
    “I’ll teach you to hit my fiancée. Or any woman for that matter!” Joe made a grab for Roy, but stumbled back as Jimbo intervened, hauling Roy off the floor as he lifted him by the collar. Roy’s feet dangled a good half-foot from the floor. The look on Jimbo’s face was so chiseled it could have cut diamonds.
    “We’re both gonna teach you a lesson,” Jimbo said, his voice gruff. His eyes sparkled, and I had the feeling he was enjoying this.
    Joe shook his head. “He’s mine,