My Predator Cousin Made Out With Every Boyfriend at Family Weddings.

I replied: “We’ll see.”

I could hear the smile in her voice: “I’m glad you’re not letting what happened with David stop you from putting yourself out there.”

I felt a pang of guilt, but then I thought about Amber and the guilt faded. I didn’t tell anyone else in the family—not my dad, not my sister Emma, not even Kayla.

I was afraid if I said it out loud, I’d chicken out. The coffee meeting with Marcus was less awkward than I expected.

He showed up in jeans and a button-down shirt, looking less intimidating than he had in the county building. We talked about normal things.

I told him about my job as a graphic designer. He told me about becoming a probation officer after his brother got arrested as a teenager.

Marcus said, stirring sugar into his coffee: “Changed his life. The officer who supervised his probation actually cared about him, helped him get into a trade school. My brother’s a welder now, doing really well. That’s why I do this job.”

I felt another pang of guilt. Here was this genuinely good person, and I was using him for revenge against my cousin.

Marcus observed: “You’re having second thoughts.”

I asked: “How can you tell?”

He replied: “You’ve been staring at your coffee for three minutes without drinking it.”

I looked up at him: “Is what I’m doing terrible?”

He considered this: “Do you want my honest answer? Yes. I think your cousin probably deserves to feel uncomfortable at this wedding, but I also think you need to be prepared for this not to go the way you’re imagining. Revenge rarely feels as good as we think it will.”

I said: “You sound like my therapist.”

He smiled slightly: “I spend a lot of time around therapists. But I already agreed to go with you, so we might as well see it through. Just promise me one thing.”

I asked: “What?”

He said: “If things get out of hand, we leave. I’m not interested in being part of a huge family drama.”

I agreed: “Deal.”

We shook hands; his grip was firm and warm. The week before the wedding, I went dress shopping with my sister, Emma.

She’s three years younger than me, still in college, and completely oblivious to the whole Amber situation because she’d been studying abroad when most of it happened. She asked as I tried on a deep blue dress: “So who’s this Marcus guy?”

I replied: “Just someone I’ve been seeing.”

She noted: “Mom says—”

I cut in: “He’s a friend. We’re figuring it out.”

Emma grinned: “Is he hot?”

I thought about Marcus’s serious eyes and the way he’d smiled over coffee: “He’s interesting.”

Emma said: “That’s not an answer.”

I said: “Fine, yes, he’s attractive.”

Emma added: “And Amber’s going to be at this wedding.”

I went still: “So?”

Emma’s voice went quiet: “I might not have been around for the David thing or the Chris thing, but I was around when Tyler happened. I remember how Amber looked at you afterward, like she’d won something. I’ve always thought she did it on purpose, you know. I just could never prove it.”

I turned to look at my sister: “You believe me?”

She replied: “Of course I believe you. Amber’s always been weird about you. Competitive in this gross way, like she needs to prove she’s better than you at everything, including stealing your boyfriends.”

I felt tears prick my eyes: “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

She explained: “Because I was 17 and nobody listens to 17-year-olds. And by the time I could have said something, you’d stopped bringing guys around.”

Emma squeezed my shoulder: “But if this Marcus guy is important to you, maybe you should warn him about Amber.”

I said, which wasn’t technically a lie: “I already did.”

I bought the blue dress. It was more expensive than I could afford, but I wanted to look good. I wanted Amber to see me walk in with someone and feel something—jealous, maybe, or worried.

The night before the wedding, I couldn’t sleep. I kept imagining different scenarios: Amber pulling Marcus aside and asking what he was doing there, Amber trying to kiss him and Marcus revealing who he was in front of everyone, my whole family finding out what I’d done.

At 2:00 in the morning, I almost texted Marcus to call the whole thing off, but I didn’t. The wedding was at a hotel in the city, one of those fancy places with crystal chandeliers and marble floors.

I met Marcus in the lobby. He was wearing a charcoal gray suit that fit him perfectly, and when he saw me in my blue dress, something shifted in his expression.

He said: “You look nice.”

I replied: “You too.”

We stood there awkwardly for a moment. He asked: “Ready?”

I said: “No, but let’s do it anyway.”

The ceremony was in a ballroom on the second floor. We walked in together, and I immediately felt eyes on us.

My mother spotted me first, her face lighting up when she saw I had someone with me. She waved.

Then I saw Amber. She was sitting three rows ahead with her current boyfriend, some guy I’d never met.

She was wearing a pink dress that probably cost more than my rent, her blonde hair perfectly curled. She turned when she heard the murmur of people noticing us, and her eyes landed on Marcus.

For just a second, her perfect composure cracked. Her eyes went wide, and her mouth opened slightly.

Then she recovered, smiled brightly, and turned back to face the front. My heart was racing.

Marcus leaned down and whispered: “She saw me. I noticed.”

We took our seats near the back. The ceremony started. Rachel looked beautiful in her wedding dress, crying as she read her vows.