AllFreeNovel
Share Us
At that, Abel patted his chest pocket. “I have a backup speech about how you spent years being my personal fidget spinner.”
Gray laughed softly. “Impressive.”
“That’s my middle name.” Abel checked the time again. “Okay, you have time to pee, get the bloodshot outta your eyes, and—dude! Where’s your engagement ring?”
Huh? Gray lifted a brow and briefly glanced at his hand. “Didn’t I tell you about the medallions?”
Considering Abel looked like a question mark, the answer was clearly no.
So Gray explained on his way down a narrow little hall toward the bathroom. “Dare and I were talking one day, and we said it would look weird with two rings. I know a lot of people do that, but—” He shrugged and ducked into the stall. The most luxurious little bathroom you could find. Rock stars and their spending habits, man. “Anyway. We had dinner with his folks the week after, and Darius shared a story of how he and his siblings all received a St. Christopher’s medallion when they were baptized or confirmed, one or the other. The saint to protect you on your journey or something. So I was like, what if we melt down our engagement rings and turn them into St. Christopher medallions for Jayden, Justin, and Cass? And then he fucked me so hard in James’s garage that I could barely walk after.”
Abel laughed and aww’d at the same time, and he leaned against the doorframe. “That’s cute. Mad and I just added a second engraving to our engagement rings.”
Gray nodded and bent over to wash his face. “We discussed that too.”
That would have to do. Gray removed the cap of the bottle of mouthwash Abel had brought and inspected his reflection in the mirror. His eyes looked a little red but not overly so. His face wasn’t puffy, at least. After rinsing his mouth, he spat out the mouthwash and felt tons better.
His nerves had settled a lot.
“What time is it?” He tilted his face and brushed a finger over a scar on the side of his chin.
When one looked close enough, Gray’s body was a battlefield that nature was slowly reclaiming.
He’d healed enough to know that he would walk off this boat and he’d get to spend the rest of his life with the one man who knew where each scar had come from.
Abel exhaled and smiled nervously. “It’s time to go, is what time it is. Wedding starts in ten.”
Deep breaths.
Gray smiled and gave his reflection another glance. Hair looked good, no blotchiness, his face was dry, and his three-piece suit looked as if it’d been made for his body. Maybe because it’d been freaking tailored, which had cost a mint. But he only planned to get married once.
Before they left, Abel helped him put on cuff links as well as tuck a dark green silk handkerchief into his chest pocket.
Gray and Darius would match well with their identical suits, so gray they were almost black, but a few details set them apart. Darius’s cuff links had once belonged to his big brother, Jake. His tie was black, whereas Gray’s matched the handkerchief. Darius’s shoes were a little bit less shiny too.
Abel smiled to himself as he adjusted Gray’s tie. “I know I make a flawless Monroe—and you’ll make a perfect Quinn. But between you and me, we’ll always be a little Novak-Hayes and Nolan.”
Gray couldn’t have said it better himself.
“You’re the best best man I could ask for—you know that, right? Everything you, Ryan, and Avery have done for us this week… I don’t know how to thank you properly, but we’re working on it.”
“I felt the same way about everything you did when Mad and I got married. It’s what we do, babe.” In true buddy fashion from their hockey days, Abel slapped Gray on the ass and nodded toward the exit. “Let’s get you married.”
Good plan.
They took the steps up onto the deck of the yacht and jumped over to the dock.
The afternoon sun was still warm as it dipped lower and lower, and it painted the sky in shades of deep blue and orange.
Just as they set foot on the boardwalk, Gray glanced over toward Darius’s restaurant and saw him coming out with Ryan and Avery. And Gray’s heart gave an extra solid thud at the sight. In a Saturday crowd of Camassia residents meeting up for drinks or watching their kids run around to chase sea gulls and eat ice cream, three men in suits stood out.
Ryan, Avery, and Abel wore similar clothes to Gray and Darius, only in lighter shades. Charcoal and moss green.
Darius was nervous.
Gray smiled and stuck his hands down into his pockets.
I’m here, baby.
He watched Darius pat his pockets, undoubtedly for his emergency smokes. Then he shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, and right then and there, he saw Gray too.
