Joey heaved a heavy sigh and rubbed his eyes. It wasn’t easy being the little brother in the Little household at the best of times. He’d had to put up with numerous ribbings over the years because of his surname, sometimes from his mates, sometimes from people he would never consider friends.
But that was nothing, nothing compared to the ribbings he’d suffered since his brother had started to ‘almost’ marry people... See, the bigger problem was this; Joey’s brother had become a serial wedding fleer.
It all started when he came back from uni and met back up with an old-flame. The preparations for the wedding were wonderful. The stag night had been awesome – well of course it was, since Joey had arranged the whole thing and everyone was delighted that Lucas and Kate were going from childhood sweethearts to man and wife...
But alas, the marriage wasn’t to be. Lucas actually ran out of his first wedding... This was repeated almost exactly a year later when he backed out of his second wedding at the eleventh hour and now he was getting cold feet over the third – to Declan. Probably the best of the three... Probably the best guy Joey had ever met and the person he was most looking forward to welcoming into the Little family...
The worst thing about the thing was that Declan was such a great guy. He was everything Joey never knew he needed in his life but he did need him in his life. He was such a sweet and loving guy and he adored his brother.
Well, Joey assumed he did, anyway. To be fair, he spent most of the time watching him and his brother laugh and chat and treat each other like bros. You’d never guess that they were supposed to be getting married next year...
If Joey were in Lucas’ shoes, he’d be showing Declan in every way possible how much he loved him, which made him wonder if this was yet another whim of Lucas’.
If Joey’s boyfriend had asked him to be his husband – he was certain that he’d have been showering him in affection every conceivable way possible to show him how much he loved and adored him. Lucas’ way of dealing with things was always to throw money at it – but that wasn’t love. It didn’t even begin to scratch the surface... Joey felt that his brother was floundering and decided to wade in and find out what was going on...
He had a horrible feeling that his brother was settling for less with Declan – but he knew that epic love existed – and that it shone as a beacon of hope for all hapless lovers who haven’t yet found it. Dylan and Nathan, Lucas’ wedding planner and his partner had shown them that. And that was what made Joey convinced that Lucas wasn’t Declan’s soulmate. It only dawned on him once their wedding fell through, instigated by Declan this time, rather than Lucas – that maybe Declan could be his soulmate, instead...
The most shocking thing of all for Joey was this. He’d always been entirely convinced – until he fell in love with his brothers’ fiancé – that he was as straight as an arrow...
