Page 4 of All In

When we meet back in the living room, Harlow is dressed in a pair of skintight jeans and a black sweater, his overnight bag slung over his shoulder as he looks at his phone.

He’s biting at his lip again, so I walk over to him and work it from between his teeth, then wipe away the small bit of blood there from how hard he was biting it.

He blinks up at me, anxiety radiating in his blue eyes. “You ready?” I ask.

His throat bobs, clicking audibly as he swallows. “I guess.”

It’s his damn wedding day. He shouldn’t look so afraid. He shouldn’t be nibbling a hole through his bottom lip from nerves. My stomach lurches. I wonder if it would ruin our friendship if I told him I didn’t want him to do this.

I shake those thoughts away. Harlow is happy. And in love. And I’m happy for him. And also in love. But that’s not his problem. That’s not his problem at all.

I gesture to the door. “Let’s go.”

Chapter 2

Harlow

Grayson isn’t driving fast enough. Josh is going to lose his shit that I’m late. I have like a million and a half texts from him. I guess that’s what I get for leaving my phone in the guest room.

Unplug and enjoy the night with Gray, self.

Don’t be distracted with your phone, self.

Ugh.

“Drive faster.”

Grayson glances at me, his dark brown eyes assessing. “I’m not gonna drive any faster. I’m already going five over. We’ll get there when we get there, and Josh—”

The unspoken Josh will get over it lingers. He doesn’t need to say the words for me to hear them. I know Gray as well as I know myself. I can finish his sentences.

He doesn’t like Josh. Josh doesn’t really like him either, but that was something I put my foot down on way early on. I’m not giving up my best friend in the entire world because some guy is jealous.

Some guy. Listen to yourself. That guy is almost your husband.

We finally pull into the venue, and I nearly jump out of the car before it even stops moving.

“Jesus, Harlow.”

I wave back at Grayson without even sparing him a glance. I feel bad, but I really can’t be any later than I already am.

Stumbling through the doors of the venue, I run directly into Josh. His hands come up to grip my biceps, and I tilt my head back to look at him. “Oh, hey, you made it.” He smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “I was starting to think you weren’t gonna come.”

For some reason that makes a nervous laugh bubble up in my chest. “I’m sorry. Gray and I watched scary movies and fell asleep on the couch. I left my phone in the room.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Together?”

“What?”

Cocking his head, his lips turn down. “You fell asleep together?”

I nod. “On the couch, yeah. Anyway,” I ramble on. “I left my phone in the room and didn’t hear my alarms. Gray woke me up and told me it was time to go.”

Josh’s green eyes dart all over my face before he finally sighs and drops my arms. “It’s okay. We have plenty of time.”

That’s what Grayson said too, and he’s not wrong. It’s not like Josh—or rather his parents—didn’t pay for everything to be handled for us. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was someone hiding out to dress me so I wouldn’t have to do it myself.

“I brought all your hair supplies. I noticed this morning you didn’t have them, so I made sure to grab them,” Josh says with an indulgent grin.