Chapter 3

• He hesitates again as he thinks, and I know he wants to stop me, but also doesn’t want to upset me today.
• “Tash,” he whispers.
• “Joshua, I have been locked in a room for a really long time and I want to feel the sun and salt on my skin on my wedding day. We will only be three hours.”
• I hear him inhale deeply in frustration as he thinks for a moment. “Fine.” He sighs. “But you are taking Brock, Max and Peter.”
• I smile. That was easier than I thought it would be. “Ok.”
• “Three hours.”
• “Yes, boss.”
• “I mean it, or I’m coming to get you myself.”
• “I will meet you on the ledge at five?” I ask hopefully.
• I feel him smile again. “Try and stop me.”
• Joshua
• I hang up the phone and roll my eyes. Fucking hell. The beach! I walk over to the trees that Cameron, Brock and Max are discussing.
• “They should go from this one to this one.” Cameron points to a branch. “Not that one to this one.”
• Brock shakes his head in disgust as he stands looking up at the trees with both hands on his hips. “You are an idiot. They don’t go that way. When it’s dark, it is supposed to be all over, not in a line. It isn’t a fucking Christmas tree, you know.”
• Max rolls his eyes in frustration at Cameron who obviously has no idea what he is talking about.
• “I did this for the engagement and I nailed it. I know what I’m doing,” Cameron replies dryly.
• I smirk at the shit they are carrying on with. “So, Natasha wants to go to the beach.”
• Max’s eyes shoot up to me, and he frowns.
• I nod. “I know.”
• “Tell her we are too fucking busy to play Gidget for fucks sake!” Cameron snaps in frustration as he begins to pull the lights from the box.
• “Brock and Max can you take her?” I reply.
• Brock smiles broadly and high-fives Max. “We are so out of here.”
• “Thank God,” Max mutters.
• Cameron looks at me deadpan. “Oh, great, so I’m doing all this fucking shit on my own now?”
• “No, Murph and I are here to help.” I smirk.
• “Where is Ben?” Cameron snaps.
• “He’s going, too.”
• Brock and Max snicker under their breaths.
• “This is Bullshit. Why aren’t Abbie and Didge helping us with this crap?”
• “They are going to the beach.”
• Cameron shakes his head as he starts to re-climb the tree. “If I ever get married, Stan, you are going to pay, and I’m going to the beach while you do all this shit.”
• I smile and turn my attention to Brock. “Don’t let her out of your sight.”
• “I won’t.”
• “Not for even a second,” I warn.
• “I know, I know. Relax.”
• Brock and I have somehow turned a corner, It turns out Tash was right and perhaps we do have a lot in common after all. He was there for me in my darkest of days, even visiting me in prison. His support means a lot to Tash, therefore it means a lot to me, too. I turn my attention to Max.
• “Max?”
• His eyes meet mine. “Yes.”
• “You won’t be working tonight.”
• His face falls. “Oh,” he mutters, sounding dejected.
• “I want you at the wedding as a guest, a friend of ours.”
• He drops his head and smiles at the ground.
• “And I also want to thank you.”
• He looks up and frowns. “For what?”
• “For staying by Natasha’s side when she needed you the most.”
• He smiles a relieved smile and Ben slaps him on the back.
• “Getting pathetic now, Stanton?” Brock questions, as he raises a brow.
• I look at him straight faced “Don’t make me hurt you, Marx.”
• “As if.” He shakes his head as he and Max start to walk up the stone stairs that hug the cliff.
• “Three hours!” I call after them.
• “Yes,” They both reply in a bored voice.
• “And don’t let her out of your sight,” I repeat.
• They ignore me and keep walking.
• My attention turns to Cameron who is now up the ladder, he looks down at me and shakes his head. “There is no way in Hell they will be back in three hours.”
• I shake my head in defeat. “Tell me something I don’t already know.”
• I slowly button up my white, crisp shirt as I look in the mirror.
• Its my wedding day.
• A day I thought had been stolen forever.
• She’s back.
• I drop my head and smile.
• My girl is back, along with my appetite, my sex drive and my freedom.
• “Stop fucking smiling. You’re getting all creepy?” Cameron tuts from his place next to me as he pulls up his pants.
• I throw him a wink and smile broadly again.
• “Photo time,” Murph states as he starts to snap photos with his camera. Cameron grabs his crotch and sticks out his tongue while Ben smirks from his place at the end of the bed.
• Adrian drops the camera. “I don’t have my magnifying glass on the camera. You idiot. Put it away,” he replies dryly.
• Cameron shrugs. “Like you would need to zoom to see this lizard. It’s a beast.” He grabs his crotch again and shakes it.
• I roll my eyes as Adrian screws up his face in disgust. “God, you’re an animal. Who calls their dick a Lizard beast?”
• Cameron shrugs again. “If the shoe fits.”
• “You’re a tool,” Ben mutters under his breath, shaking his head.
• Cameron rearranges his tie in the mirror next to me while I pull up my pants.
• “You need to hurry,” Adrian snaps. He has been ready for over an hour. We are in the second house and Natasha and the girls are in the main house.
• I do up my fly and the pants fall straight down over my hips, causing Adrian’s face falls in horror. He holds his hands up in a stop sign. “Oh my fucking God! Tell me those pants fit you?”
• “Shit.” I pull them up again and they fall straight back down. I’ve lost a lot of weight.