Chapter 27
Chapter twenty-seven
Grady
Saturday evening comes too soon and with it, nerves I can’t quite shake.
It doesn’t help that Lake is currently in the bedroom getting ready to go out with his friends and brother for his buck’s night.
Even after almost a week of him being home, I still feel strange being apart from him outside of work hours.
During work hours can be a little iffy too.
How long does it take for us to re-settle?
I don’t know that number. Hopefully soon.
I opted out of doing my own buck’s night, simply because I don’t understand them.
While Lake’s buck’s night is really just an excuse for him to hang out with his friends and socialise, most of them are an excuse to drink and do things that make me question the couple’s decision to get married in the first place.
If a man is so miserable with his spousal choice that he needs “one last night of freedom,” which often involves stripping—and in some cases, cheating—then maybe he needs to rethink his life and set his fiancé free.
I’m not interested in getting blind drunk the night before one of the biggest days of my life or in seeing a man get naked who isn’t my fiancé, or taking drugs, or whatever the fuck else they do. I’d rather stay home.
Riley and I have a night of movies and ice cream planned. Well, I do. He can do whatever he wants. He’s probably still sorting through the mountains of shit that Lake went overboard buying him today.
“How do I look?” Lake bounces into the room and twirls. He looks the same as he always does, in jeans and a SpongeBob T-shirt. There’s something comforting about it. Familiar.
“Great.” I’ll never think otherwise, no matter what he’s wearing.
He jumps on me, settling in my lap. “Yeah? Would you put me on top of a Christmas tree?”
“A sturdy one.” It’s hard enough getting a regular star on the flimsy top, whether it’s fake or real. A flawed design.
He smiles wide and cradles my face, stroking my beard lightly. “I’ll be home by curfew. Will you wait up for me, naked?”
My cock twitches at just the thought of greeting him that way when he gets home, and just what we’ll get up to afterward. “And what’s curfew?”
He kisses me, lips lingering. “Hmm, midnight?”
“Eleven.” I lift my chin, chasing him as he teases me.
“Eleven fifteen.” This time the kiss is firmer, tongue flicking my bottom lip.
“Eleven seventeen,” I negotiate, not paying much attention to the words at this point. Only where he keeps moving his mouth.
Lake glides a hand over my head, lips hovering. “Eleven sixteen.”
“Alright,” I murmur. “Eleven sixteen.”
He slants his mouth, tongue darting into mine, and the conversation disappears.
Just as my dick is getting too hard to ignore—and I’m ready to drag Lake into our bedroom—the doorbell rings. Two seconds later, a key turns in the door, and it opens, warning signal given.
Lake groans in disappointment and scrambles off me. “That’ll be the guys.” He smooths his T-shirt down and then winks at me. “Eleven sixteen, on the dot.”
Zach and Felix enter the room, shoulders brushing. It’s easy to see the way they gravitate towards each other. Lake and I do the same thing.
“Ready to go?” Zach asks. “Everyone’s waiting in the van.”
That’s extremely suspicious. Why are there so many that they need a van? “Who’s going exactly?” For that matter— “Where are you going?” Should have asked that before.
Lake shrugs. “No idea,” he says, unconcerned.
“Shit,” Zach says, slapping his thigh. “We didn’t do a head count.” He looks forlornly at Felix. “Should we do one before we go?”
“Safety first,” Felix half sings.
Easy to see how they’ve been friends with Lake for so long as well.
I pinch the bridge of my nose. This is on me. I should have expected all of this. “Just try not to kill my groom.” The wedding would be a little lopsided with only one of us, and I’m no necromancer.
“Oh, you misunderstand,” Felix says, with a borderline terrifying pleasantry. Lake is filled with sunshine and throws it around like a cat on catnip, but Felix wields his like a weapon. The smile he currently has only ratchets up my anxiety. “You’re coming with us.”
“What? No.” That’s not in my plans for the night.
“Really?” Lake’s face lights up, and he does a little excited shuffle, wiggling his arms. A full-body happy dance. He deflates just as quickly. “But I thought both parties weren’t allowed to have one together?”
“We’re not really big on rules,” Zach says flippantly. There’s no lie in that statement. “Don’t you want to party with the person you’re choosing to spend the rest of your life with? This is a celebration.”
“Yes!” Lake’s beaming smile is back. A genuine one, not whatever the fuck Felix’s is. I already knew he was the one to watch for.
“I’m not going.” It’s not about partying or celebrating. That’s what the wedding itself is for. I just want a quiet night. “I specifically told Quinn that I didn’t want a buck’s night.”
“We know,” Zach says. “And we vetoed that.”
“You can’t just—”
“Do you want to go in what you’re wearing, or do you want to change?” Felix asks, like he’s asking if I want fries with that. “I suggest jeans and a T-shirt with a jacket. It’s a bit cold out there.”
Fucking Christ. “Fine,” I grit out. “Give me fifteen to shower and get dressed.”
They’re all at the door waiting by the time I come back, my hope that they would be gone floating away on the wind. Of course, now they have patience.
“Have fun!” Riley says with a little wave of his fingers. Brat.
There aren’t as many people as I thought there would be, thank fuck. Just Avery and… Quinn and Sebastian. They’re sitting on two of the three back seats. I fucking knew Quinn had agreed to me not having a buck’s night too easily. What a fucking traitor.
“Why are you everywhere now?” I grumble at Sebastian, settling myself next to Quinn and forcing them both to move over a little. This “van” was not made for guys my size.
“What do you mean?” Sebastian asks innocently. “We’re friends.”
Lake sits in the chair in front of me and then gets up on his knees backwards, draping his arms over the back of the seat. “Hi.”
I’m sure my grin is as goofy as it feels. “Hi.”
I'm expecting them to take us to some gaudy pub, or a strip club, or a tattoo parlour, or something stupid. Instead, we’re at… Hyde Park?
“What are we doing here?” The first stretch after getting out of the cramped van feels fantastic, all my muscles crying out in joy.
“If Felix is in charge, we’re probably going for a run,” Avery says glumly.
Felix chuckles and kisses his forehead as he moves past him. “We’re going this way. Hope you brought your walking shoes.”
Not ominous at all.
Lake slips his hand into mine and nudges me. Zach and Avery carry an Esky together as we head further into the park. There aren’t as many people this time of the evening, with the sun disappearing beyond the horizon. Mostly keen joggers who like to torture themselves with cardio.
Avery better not be right. I draw the line at going for a run as a form of entertainment, especially for a buck’s night.
The giant human-sized chess board also isn’t on my bingo card for the night. If I had a bingo card. The chess pieces that reach my knees—the pawns—and higher are lined up neatly beside the board.
I know the board exists. I’ve even arrested someone not far from here. But not once have I ever had the desire to use the damn thing.
“I thought they put those away at night?” Sebastian muses. He scratches his ear, knocking his glasses askew.
It’s nice to know that Lake and I aren’t the only ones in the dark here. And that the other person is Sebastian. Satisfying.
“I called in a favour,” Felix says.
That doesn’t surprise me at all. I doubt there’s anything he can’t do in this city. Probably even the entirety of Australia.
Felix sits on the bench beside the board, spreads his legs, and rests his elbows on his knees. “Welcome to Lake and Grady’s joint bachelor party. As you can see, we’re in public, so we can’t have any alcohol…” He trails off and then grins from the side of his mouth. “For now.”
I should have stayed home.
“Before we begin, we need to go over some ground rules.” Felix rubs his hands together in a kind of psychotic glee that doesn’t worry me at all.
“Why do we need ground rules for a game of chess?” The size of the pieces doesn’t matter; we all know how to play chess.
Felix holds up a finger, ignoring my question. “One: no biting.” Two fingers. “Two: no kicking. And three: no punching.”
Lake snickers.
Are we back in kindergarten suddenly, where we haven’t yet learned how to keep our hands to ourselves? Am I going to have to arrest someone on my night off? It’d be a fun way to end the night.
“Why do we need these kinds of rules?” Quinn asks curiously.
“Not for you.” Zach points. “For him.”
Avery scowls and crosses his arms over his chest. “I don’t need rules,” he growls. “I know how to play chess, and I don’t bite people.” He hesitates. “When I play chess.”
It’s disturbing that he had to put a qualifier on that.
“You don’t play chess,” Lake says, tilting his head. “So doesn’t that mean you do bite?”
“If we were playing regular chess, I could almost trust you without needing rules,” Felix says, standing. “But we’re playing human chess.”
We’re what?
“Each of us is going to replace a piece on the board. Lake and Grady are team captains, which means they get final say on where pieces move during the game.” Avery opens his mouth, and Felix interrupts. “Yes, Avery, you’re now a piece, and you have to listen to your brother if you’re on his team.”
“A sexy piece,” Zach adds.
Lake sticks his fingers in his ears. “La la la la la, I can't hear you.”
“Teams are Grady, Sebastian, and Zach. Lake gets me, Avery, and Quinn,” Felix says, staying on task.
“Wait, why do we get more people?” Lake asks.