the moment.
“We’re looking damn good,” he pronounced after turning from the mirror.
The other men, including Gabriel Bishop, agreed with loud “Hell, yeahs.”
The ex-professional rugby player and current hard-nosed CEO had fit seamlessly into their group in the time he and Charlotte had been in the city. Abe liked the other man a heck of a lot, even after Gabriel taught them how to play rugby and showed that, retired from the sports field or not, he could still kick their asses.
Gabe hadn’t expected to be a groomsman, but with Molly’s bridal party including four women, it would’ve left one woman without an escort had Fox only had his bandmates as groomsmen. However, what had started out as an offer made and accepted because of Molly and Charlotte’s lifelong friendship had grown into a real friendship between all five of them.
This afternoon, they were all at David and Thea’s home. Fox had been banished from his place the previous night, Molly adamant he not see her before she walked down the aisle toward him. So, of course the five of them had to party—but they’d done it here rather than going out to a club or bar. Abe knew it was partly because of him; his friends didn’t want to put him in a situation that might push him off the wagon and back into the hellhole of drugs and alcohol.
The fact that Fox was effectively skipping his bachelor party because of Abe would’ve made Abe feel like shit if his friend hadn’t made it a point to talk to him beforehand.
“We’ve all partied before,” the lead singer had said. “And we’ll all party again, but I don’t want to do some public deal the night before my wedding. I want to hang with my friends, play a little music, and stay close to Molly in case she forgets about her ‘no seeing me before the wedding’ rule and calls to arrange a hookup.”
Abe chuckled at the memory as he snapped a photo using his phone. Fox was doing up the final button on his suit jacket while David had just flipped up his shirt collar to slide on his tie—he and Gabriel were the only ones who could knot the things flawlessly, so they’d been press-ganged into helping everyone else.
Noah stood not far from David. He was looking into a mirror while combing his hair, his scowl a thundercloud. “Now you know how much I love you, man,” the guitarist muttered to Fox. “I only ever put on a suit and use a comb when it’s a big premier or gala deal for Kit.”
“I hear the suit works well for you,” Gabriel said from where he was perched on the edge of a table, long legs lazily stretched out and crossed at the ankles.
Noah gave the other man the finger. It made Gabriel’s shoulders shake. Yeah, the other man had fit right in, even to the point of ragging Noah about how designers had begged him—were still begging him—to do campaigns after he wore a tux to a black-tie charity gala he’d attended with Kit.
Bumping fists with Gabriel, Abe said, “What do you think the women got up to last night?” He couldn’t stop thinking about the fact he’d be seeing Sarah again, and soon. Fuck, he couldn’t wait. He’d missed her.
No more lies of omission, remember, Abe?
His jaw tightened. Because the truth was that he’d missed Sarah since the day she walked out. However, that dull ache had become a raw need after the hours he’d spent with her three weeks earlier, the Band-Aid firmly ripped off the wound he’d told himself was healed over, forever scarred.
“You think they got a stripper?”
Gabriel’s growl of a question had them all freezing before Fox grinned and shook his head. “Nah. Molly wanted to do a girly thing. No men invited.”
Five pairs of lungs expanded.
Then David chuckled. “We are so nuts for our women,” he said, clearly at peace with his adoration of Thea.
And why not? Thea adored him right back, as Molly did Fox, Charlotte did Gabriel, and Kit did Noah. The latter two were still figuring out some stuff, but one thing was certain: they were a unit. #NoKat was not only a full-blown media phenomenon that showed no signs of fading, it was very real.
In this room, only Abe didn’t have any claim on or right to the woman he’d be escorting at the wedding. His stomach clenched, but he refused to believe he’d lost her forever. As long