She Hid My Heels Under Her Clothes

On the day of the wedding, my best friend, Elena Hartman, can't bear to part with me, so she threads my wedding shoes with a string and ties them snugly around her slim waist. The groomsmen turn the whole place upside down, and we end up late for the ceremony.

She eventually cracks up and tugs at her billowy bridesmaid dress, revealing the outline of the shoes at her waist.

"I dare you to come take them. As long as I'm here, she's not getting married!"

My fiancé, Miles Lawson, shakes his head and chuckles. "You just love tormenting us, don't you?"

Miles exchanges a look with the groomsmen, and they charge at her at the same time. She squeals as she falls back onto the bed, squirming under her layers of tulle. "Don't be so rough! I'm ticklish…"

The groomsmen flush bright red.

Miles' ears turn scarlet as he feels around her waist.

She giggles even louder.

"How are you going to undo it through all these layers? Use your head!" Then, she gasped. "That tickles!"

Her theatrics make my temper flare.

I spring to my feet, lift her skirt, and rip the wedding shoes right off her. "If you're that ticklish, smack yourself with a slipper. Drop the act, or I'll yank out the nerves that make you ticklish!"

Elena let out a sharp scream and dove under the blanket before bursting into tears.

Everyone around us froze, stunned by what I had just done.

"Are you out of your mind, Jasmine?" Miles snapped out of his shock and snatched the cameraman's camera with a hardened expression. "We're in public, and someone's filming here. How could you lift a young woman's skirt? You're unbelievable!"

I shook the wedding shoe in my hand. "She tied the shoe to her waist and asked you guys to grab it. Wasn't she asking for someone to reach under? You couldn't do it, so I helped you. What's wrong with that?"

His brows knitted together. "She was just messing around. Did you really have to go that far?"

The groomsmen chimed in one after another.

"We're guys, and even we know how humiliating that was. You've really crossed a line, Jasmine."

"Ellie loves to joke around. You're her best friend. How can you be this petty?"

Elena's sobs only grew louder when they took her side.

Miles shoved me toward the edge of the bed and ordered, "Apologize to Elena or there won't be a wedding."

For a split second, I wondered if I had misheard him.

We had been together for five years, and this was the wedding I had dreamed of for so long. Yet, he was using it as leverage to force me to apologize to Elena.

He didn't even stop to think before playing along with a joke that had no sense of boundaries whatsoever. He was like a dog who would follow anyone home the moment they waved half a bone at him.

He did not have the