Everybody's After Love Read Online Free

really good head on her shoulders. She’s working to get her EdD so she can get on full-time at the local university.”
    I can feel his pride in her from across the table. I might not have solely raised Bri like J.P. did his sister, but many a night it was just Bri and I taking care of ourselves while our parents worked late.
    “A wild one?” I ask, curiosity getting the best of me. It’s been a long time since I’ve dated and I wonder what wild means these days.
    The pride gone and now replaced with concern, he shakes his head. “She’s twenty-four. I would love for her to settle down, find a man who can take care of her, but she only dates losers who she keeps around for just a few months. The current one is a tatted model who thinks he’s going to make it big here in St. Louis,” he explains with a chuckle. “He even took her to get her first tattoo,” he adds with utter disgust.
    J.P. has spoken like a true big brother, although I can see where Jules is just having fun. However, if it was Bri, I would feel the same way J.P. does. So far, I haven’t seen any tattoos on him, or Bri, so that’s a good sign.
    J.P. takes a long pull from his beer and sets it down. “Look, I know we don’t know each other very well, but Bri would really like for you to be in the wedding. She asked Jules to be her maid-of-honor so it only seems fitting for you to be my best man.”
    I finish off my beer before I answer. “That works. I know you’re an old brother too and I can see how protective you are of your little sis. It’s no different with Bri and me. If you ever hurt her or break her heart, you’ll have to answer to me. Understand?”
    “You have my promise, Bentley. I love Bri and will do everything in my power to protect her and make her happy,” J.P. states sincerely.
    I’m really not a violent man at all and I can tell J.P. isn’t either, but it’s a brother’s job to threaten the man who's about to take over your role as protector of your baby sister. J.P. extends his hand. We exchange firm, strong handshakes, our eyes locked letting each other know our commitment to our words.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 4

     
    “Isn’t it beautiful?” The most annoying voice in the world asks.
    “My neck hurts,” I respond. All three of us tilt our heads upright, out of the position we’d been in admiring the artwork on the ceiling.
    My brother’s fiancée is like a mini-Barbie. Granted, she’s only five feet tall, but she’s got the perfect blonde ponytail, high cheekbones, big, pouty lips, and a nose that is perfectly round. Honestly, she’s a bit out of my brother’s league if you ask me and completely opposite of every girl he’s ever dated, which is a giant red flag to me.
    Bri grabs my hand and I’m almost blinded by the two-carat princess cut ring on her finger. Kevin stands in the middle of the aisle laughing at her enthusiasm as I roll my eyes in her direction. She drags me to the front of the church as she points out the stained glass windows, the high archways, and the handpainted scene that we were staring at which depicts Jesus and his disciplines at the last supper. It really is gorgeous, but I won’t admit that to her.
    “It only seats two hundred people, but I can work with that number. I was thinking maybe we’d only invite J.P.’s co-workers to the reception. The ceremony will start at two because we have to be out before mass—”
    “Mass? Since when is my brother Catholic?” I’m sure my eyes are about to bug out of my head when she mentions this. Granted, neither of us have been to church since before our parents’ accident, but it had never been to a Catholic mass.
    “Well, he’s still taking classes, but he’ll be done with them before the wedding,” Bri says showing off a bit of Catholic pride, like she gets extra credit for converting him.
    As I’m about to protest and say something completely inappropriate for church, Kevin’s arm plunks down over my