Best Man Read Online Free

choked and coughed, and my eyes stung as Travis whaled on my back. Maddie smiled like she had the devil himself as her backbone. I wanted to find that guy and rip off his extremities. All of them.
    “Why do you have to embarrass yourself like that? What the hell where you thinking?” Travis snapped. Now, I wanted to rip off all of Travis’.
    “Travis, that’s enough,” Casey murmured, grabbing his hands. “Leave her alone.”
    “It’s okay, Casey, I’ve heard it before.” She stood up, dug into her pockets, pulled out a crumpled twenty, and threw it down on the table. “I was thinking I wanted to get laid. That’s all, Trav. Just like any of you or your friends would .”
    Shit. That was definitely aimed toward me. I had to make this right. I screwed up five years ago; I was a stupid kid running away from a shitty life, but she thought I ran away from her. Hurting her was never my intention. I never thought it was anything more to her than just that one night. Yeah, I knew she had a huge crush on me, but I wasn’t thinking about anything but how badly I wanted to get under her red sundress and get out of small town hell.
    “Come on, Chloe,” she called to the little girl who froze as soon as she heard her name.
    “We going?” Chloe yelled over the music.
    “Yes, sweets. Let’s get outta here and go swing on some swings.”
    “The park!” the kid screeched, most likely making everyone in the shop’s eardrums rupture.
    Casey stood up and tried to stop them. “Maddie, no. Please, you don’t have to go. Ignore your brother. He’s just worried about you.”
    “There is nothing to worry about.” She smiled and shifted her head to look at Travis. “You do you, and I’ll do me.” Then she swayed that amazing ass out the door, holding hands with that kid who was still screaming loudly as they made their way down the block. We could still hear her at the corner, followed by a low roll of thunder.
    “Are kids supposed to be that loud?” I asked, still watching her ass as she walked away.
    Travis sighed. “That kid only comes in one volume...high.” He dropped the spoon into the ice cream dish and shoved it away from him. “I don’t know what to do about her.”
    Casey shook her head and licked some ice cream off her spoon. The girl was pretty, but the whole spoon-licking thing didn’t affect me as much as when Maddie did it. Maybe I needed to go after her. But right now, the thought that someone had her up against the wall had me sweating and angry. It’s been too long, and she said to stay away. I just hope I can. Never had much will power around her. “Trav, you can’t do anything about her. She’s a grown woman. Leave her be. She’ll find someone someday and settle down.”
    “Nobody would ever put up with her bullshit.” He wiped his hands on a napkin and threw it down, “I’ve tried to set her up with nice guys her age, but she runs through them like they’re made of fire.”
    “Dude, stop setting her up with guys!” I said, maybe a little too angrily.
    They both flinched back and stared at me with curious expressions. “Don’t,” Travis said, pointing his finger in my direction. “Don’t you even dare go near my little sister—”
    “—What? Why would you even say that to me?” I asked.
    “I see that look in your eyes. She’s off limits to you. You’re going right back to the city and forgetting about her pretty little face.”
    “I would never intentionally hurt her…”
    “Dude, it’s not her I’m worried about getting hurt.”

CHAPTER 8
    MADELINE
    W e were at the park for twenty minutes when the rain started and Chloe and I pulled our thin sweaters up over our heads to try to stay dry. It was no use though; after a few minutes, we were soaked to the bone.
    I’d heard about a storm coming before I left the house this morning, but I thought it was supposed to be rolling in late at night. I checked my phone; it was only two in the afternoon. How was I getting this