Breathless Awakening (The Breathless Series) by K Aybara

at the time about him having to escort Luke’s dad to his car. Breck was an old soul. With time frozen in this memory, I could see so much more than I thought I had noticed in the heat of the moment. He stood there in a manner that made him look regal, but not enough to show Luke up. He was the strong devoted protector of their group. They each had a role. Breck’s eyes hid a chasm of pain as he caught a glimpse of me in the corner of his eye. He never did make contact with me during the ceremony, and come to think of it, he did a good job of avoiding me at the reception as well.
    Ryan was fidgeting as he stood there, but it probably didn’t help that Tucker was nudging him to look across the way. As I looked over at my bridesmaids, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed how beautiful they all looked. Celeste had been giving Ryan an evil “be good or else” look from across the way. That would be something she would do. If anyone was going to ruin this day for one of her best friends, they were going to have to face her wrath. There almost seemed to be a hint of amusement in that look though, as if she wanted him to misbehave.
    The plane shook harder as we hit a stronger pocket of turbulence. I snapped out of my memory and looked up at Luke. His hand wrapped around my shoulders, pulling me over to him, and he patted my head while whispering that it would be okay. I started to calm down until I looked up and could see through the crack in the seats that he was copying the mother in front of us. I looked up at him and rolled my eyes. “So now I’m just a little baby?”
    His face apologized for him as he gave me a pathetic look of sorrow as he shrugged his shoulders. I gave him a smile and put my head back down on his shoulder. “Luke, did you notice that Breck was avoiding me yesterday? Did I do something to upset him?”
    “It wasn’t you, Cailyn, trust me. At first I thought it was me, but Zane finally told me that Breck proposed a couple weeks ago to Rachel and she told him no. She was moving out this weekend while he was gone. I can only imagine how rough it was for him to be at our wedding and thinking about all of that.”
    “Ouch! I guess that explains why he was drinking so much. I was worried that we were going to have to try and carry him out of there as much as he was consuming.”
    “Yeah, I was a bit worried about him too, but it seemed he was holding his own pretty well. I’m hoping that it was just because of the wedding and that he doesn’t drink like that all the time. He does a good job most of the time staying in control, but when he loses his temper after a few drinks, it is not a good thing to be anywhere near him.”
    “Then it was probably a good thing he didn’t see Ryan and Tucker up there standing behind him. They couldn’t stand still at all.”
    “Tell me about it. I heard them back there whispering. I tried to get Tucker to leave Ryan alone, but he just kept teasing him about Celeste. Ryan seems to have fallen pretty hard and quick for her though.”
    “What? I don’t remember anything between the two of them? Geez. That would explain why Celeste had that hunger in her eyes, but I just found out that her and Amber were a thing yesterday morning.”
    Luke smiled at the mental image that I could see him processing. I smacked his leg lightly to snap him out of it. “Huh, sorry. Yea, I think there is enough of Ryan to go around. He is the kind of guy that will do anything to please his woman. So if Celeste wants to share him, he will do it. He isn’t going to ask any questions. If she wants it, she’ll get it.”
    I couldn’t help but laugh at that, and I was amazed at how good it felt to laugh. I realized how much that was taking my mind off the rough flight, and it didn’t even bother me when we hit a few bumps along the way. “That’s going to be a dangerous combination. She is going to take him for everything he will give. Once she finds that out, he will stop at nothing