Then he puts his sister in a headlock. She stands there patiently until he’s done giving her a noogie.
“You know I’m not ten, right?” she says before she elbows him in the ribs and smooths down her hair.
“You’ll always be my baby sister, turdlette.”
“You’re barely a year older, Hershey squirt.”
I chuckle at their nicknames for each other.
He shrugs. “If I don’t look out for you, who will? Speaking of which, you look tired. What’s going on?”
Now that he mentions it, I can see it too.
She glances at me and then her eyes dart away. “The people next door kept me up all night.”
“Ah. A hotel bang. Got it.”
Who had the room on the other side of Maggie? After moving rooms twice and hauling suitcases for several members of the bridal party last night, I’m not sure who’s in what suite anymore.
Mrs. Morales gasps. “Mijo, we don’t discuss those kinds of things en la casa de Dios.”
After we chat with Bash and Mrs. Morales for a while, my sister herds us together for photos. I’m about to ask Maggie if she’d like a ride to the reception, but Greg beats me to it.
I watch him help her into his car. Sebastian walks up on me silently like a fucking ninja and slaps me on the back. “She’s all grown up now. Guess we can’t worry about her forever. But if he hurts her, I’ll beat his ass.”
The whole drive to the hotel, I’m thinking about what Bash said. Is that true? Is he over freaking out about guys making a move on his sister? He was a little psycho about it when we were in high school, but it had to do with how his dad asked him to watch out for Maggie while on his deathbed. I couldn’t disrespect that.
When we line up to have the bridal party introduced, I grit my teeth when I find Maggie still talking to Greg. He’s all up in her space, and she’s letting him.
It’s a pleasure to break that up.
“Sorry, guys, but my sister wants us paired with our bridesmaid. Otherwise, the DJ won’t have the correct names for the intros.”
Greg gives me a look like he thinks I’m full of shit, and I smirk because I’m the lucky asshole who gets to dance with Maggie in a few minutes. Maybe I can figure out what’s going on with her.
“Catch up with you again later?” he asks Maggie, who nods.
She and I stand next to each other. Silent and stiff. Awkward as always.
I fucking hate it.
We watch Kayla and Joe twirl around the dance floor. My sister’s smiling and staring up at Joe like he’s the center of the universe.
I clear my throat. “So you like Greg?”
“What’s it to you?” The chill in Maggie’s voice makes Siberia sound tropical.
“Just making idle chitchat.”
“No need. You can go back to ignoring me.”
I face her. “When have I ever, in the history of you and me, ever ignored you?”
She rolls her eyes. “Perhaps ‘ignore’ isn’t the right word. Maybe I should say you avoid me.”
“I don’t avoid you.”
“Sure. Let’s go with that.”
