Page 43 of I Do, or Dye Trying
“What can I say?” Silver replied, shrugging. “Some of us are just blessed.”
“Or cursed,” John mumbled, then tilted his head toward Adrian as if he might not be so fortunate.
“Hey,” Adrian said. “I’m blessed just fine and how the hell would you know anyway?”
“Wives talk.” John laughed and walked away with an irritated Adrian right on his heels.
“No damn way my wife is talking to your wife about my small dick,” Adrian said loud enough for everyone waiting their turn at the fifteenth hole to hear.
“Aha, so you admit it,” John said then burst into laughter when Adrian realized what he’d said.
“You tricked me into saying it, asshole,” Adrian said but struggled to keep the heat in his voice. He looked over at me and Silver laughing our asses off by that point. “Suit up, Silver, you’re going in.”
“I’ve heard that plenty of times too,” Silver fired back. “I’m the man for the job.”
It went downhill from there, and everything became a dick or stamina joke to the point that our last three holes of golf were so pitiful that I came back from last place to win. Of course, Adrian thought it was all a conspiracy on my part and ribbed me off and on during the baseball game.
The other group had an early dinner at a fancy restaurant before going to the theater, but we ate greasy, tasty ballpark food instead. Josh and I agreed to focus on our group of friends rather than texting one another, which was harder to do than I thought. I found myself wondering how he liked his massage, then I got more than a little possessive when I thought about another man’s hands on Josh’s body. I was ready to growl like a beast when my mind went there, though I knew damn well he’d never allow someone to touch him as intimately as the massages we gave each other.
“What’s the name of that massage parlor again?” Adrian asked.
“Happy Endings,” John said because he never missed a beat.
“You do realize that your wife went there too, right?” Kyle asked John.
“And the rest of our significant others,” Harley mumbled, not at all happy with the way the conversation was heading.
“Yeah, but that’s why John’s wife was the first one through the door. She’s not used to a happy ending,” Adrian informed us.
Their banter entertained our group and everyone around us for the entire nine innings. I was more than eager to get ahold of my guy by the time the game was over. Silver let us in through the private entrance in the back of the club. The place was alive with thumping music and thrashing bodies, but our table was easy to find beneath the big banner that read: CONGRATULATIONS, GABE AND JOSH!!!!
I had an amazing day with my friends, but nothing came close to making me as happy as when I saw Josh smiling and laughing at the table. He was wearing a sparkly crown on his head, and a sash across his chest with the word GROOM printed on it. Meredith and Chaz had similar sashes, but theirs said BEST WOMAN and BEST MAN on them. Josh was so beautiful that I stopped in my tracks and just stared at him. I wasn’t the only one enthralled by the happiness at our table because the other men stopped and smiled at their significant others—or their heart’s desire in the case of Kyle and Silver.
I turned to Kyle and said, “Don’t blow your chance at real happiness. Shake off that reserve, take a chance, and grab life by the balls.” Of course, I had to practically shout it over the music for him to hear me, which meant the other guys heard it also,
“Or him by the balls,” they all chimed in encouragingly.
“Yeah, okay,” Kyle said, his face red with embarrassment. “Maybe I should start with a drink first.”
Josh looked over then and saw us all standing there. The smile that spread across his face was enough to obliterate the fear that clawed at my gut for the time being. He waved, and all eyes turned to us. The couples exchanged hugs and kisses and the four people who hadn’t made that leap yet shared what I called longing glances.
“Don’t worry, Adrian and John,” Chaz said once the little reunions were over, “we got you sashes also.”
John and Adrian began arguing over which one of them was going to wear the BEST WOMAN sash. I knew their ribbing was going to go on for a while, so I led Josh away from the crowd and onto the dance floor. I didn’t need alcohol to loosen up that night because I had one mission on my mind: keep Josh smiling. We danced for so long that I lost track of where everyone was or what they were doing because my whole world was in my arms, grinding his pert little ass against my dick. There were a few slow dances peppered between the hard-thumping club music, and I loved the opportunity to slow things down and kiss Josh like it could be the last time.
“This time next week I’m going to be your husband,” he said after a long, sexy kiss.
“I can’t wait,” I told him honestly.
“I can’t either, but tonight I’m going to take you back to the hotel room and fuck you like a stranger.” Josh nibbled on his bottom lip as if he was hesitant about my reaction.
“It’s time to say goodnight to our friends, Sunshine.”
It turned out they were nowhere in sight and our waiter told us they’d paid the tab and left some time ago. I didn’t feel bad because we’d spent the better part of the day apart and the night was supposed to be about celebrating our upcoming nuptials. What better way was there than dancing with my guy for hours before we went back to our room, where Josh pounded me hard enough to wake the rest of the hotel.
IHOPED, PLEADED, ANDprayed for an easy, chaos-free week leading up to Gabe’s reunion with his birth mom, meeting his sisters for the first time, and a not-so-small event in our lives called a wedding. Our parents were scheduled to arrive on the Thursday before the wedding and stay with us in our new home since we had enough guest bedrooms to accommodate them. Bonita and her family were arriving in Cincinnati on Thursday also, but we weren’t meeting them until Friday morning for brunch at their hotel. We would have our wedding rehearsal Friday evening followed by a catered dinner for our wedding party and parents. I wasn’t sure if Gabe was going to invite Bonita, Miguel, and the girls but I made sure there was enough food for them should he extend an invitation. I figured he was waiting to see how things went Friday morning first. If it went well, I suspected he’d want them to feel included and I was positive that Al and Martina wouldn’t mind if he did.
As exciting as all of that was, it took a lot of work and preparation to make it happen. Oddly enough, I wasn’t even worried about the wedding part. The caterer had everything under control, Gabe hadn’t changed his mind about marrying me, and Judge McDonnell was ready to officiate the event. We only needed one person to show up to make it official, and I was fine with that. It was everything else that had me tied in knots. I had to make sure there were plenty of towels and food on hand for our parents’ stay and set aside time to spend with them, which meant I needed to rearrange my work schedule that week.