Page 75 of Fire & Ice

A third party, who—arguably—knows Leander better than most other people on the planet. Who has no reason to lie, much as it may pain Tripp to admit that (and he never will out loud).

Still conflicted, Tripp gets to his feet and starts wobbling across the room towards the dance floor. On his way, he passes the dessert table and does a double-take because the spread is a wet-friggin’-dream. Bri and Beau cut the cake a bit ago, so there are copious slices of richly-frosted marble pastry laid out, but there are also pie squares, a chocolate fountain, and candy in bowls with big metal scoops. Tripp’s liquored-up brain suddenly can’t decide what he wants more, Lee or sugar.

Sugar with Lee,his brain decides helpfully, and Tripp pivots back in his original direction, vowing to grab his friend and drag him back to plunder the table.

As he approaches the dance floor, the current upbeat song ends and a slow one begins. The crowd circling Leander looks visibly bummed, most of them dispersing, breaking off to head back to their tables for well-deserved drinks and a rest. By the time Tripp reaches his friends’ sides, Marley and Lee are slow dancing like two Catholic school kids at a middle school social. Rocking awkwardly at least two feet apart, afraid the sistersare going to smack them with rulers while insisting they “leave room for the Holy Spirit!”

When Marley catches Tripp’s eye, she grins and drops her hands from where they’re resting high on Leander’s shoulders. “Don’t mind me,” she squeaks, stepping away and melting into the crowd before Tripp can so much as get a word in edgewise.

“Hello to you too, Marley,” he says to the empty space Marley’s vacated, and Leander chuckles, stepping into it and dragging Tripp close. Without hesitation, Lee’s hand finds its way to the small of Tripp’s back, the other confidently interlacing with one of his. Very sexy, verynotCatholic-middle-school-dance. Uncaring of who’s watching, Tripp wraps his free arm around Leander’s neck and allows their torsos to be pressed together, shoulders all the way down to their groins.

Now, Tripp’s drunk, but he’s notsodrunk that he doesn’t realize how intimate, howpublicly intimatethat move is.

And yet tonight, Tripp’s feeling brave, so he lets whatever is happening here happen, and just settles in to enjoy the ride. The song that’s playing is ultra sappy and romantic, your standard wedding fare, really, and Tripp can’t take his eyes off of Leander. They sway together, soft and slow, eyes locked and foreheads nearly touching. Lee's pupils are a little dilated, and Tripp wonders if it’s from alcohol, or something else.

“You look good tonight,” Tripp says softly, even though he’s already done so at least ten times since Leander first put on his tux back at the apartment. Even though he’s heard the sentiment a million times since, Leander’s eyes still crinkle at the corners and he smiles widely, like the fact that Tripp finds him irresistibly hot is brand new information.

As they sway, Leander’s hand releases Tripp’s to come up and cup the side of his face, so Tripp drops his newly freed oneto Lee's waist. He can’t help it, blame the alcohol or whatever else, but his eyes slip shut and he leans into Lee's touch easily, not remotely missing the way Lee's breath hitches in response.

“Tripp, I’ve been meaning to—” Leander starts, but he’s cut off by the music fading out and the DJ’s voice booming loudly overhead, announcing that it’s time for the bouquet and garter toss. All of the single women are ordered to the dance floor first, so reluctantly, Tripp forces himself to pull away from Lee and clear off towards the edge to make room.

Despite the hours of drinking, dancing, and mingling, Briana is still a vision. Standing in the middle of the floor with her bouquet in one hand and half of her dress bunched up in the other, she looks straight at Tripp and gives him a wink. That’s kind of odd, in his opinion, but then again, Bri looks drunker than he feels, so Tripp doesn’t think too much of it. He and Lee are off to one side, nowhere near the gaggle of pretty bridesmaids and guests in evening gowns, which is why Tripp couldn’t possibly have foreseen what happens next.

“Oof,”Tripp grunts, stumbling backward and ultimately plopping down on his ass as Bri's bouquet hits him squarely in the stomach.Fuck,those things are heavier than they look. Blinking and confused, Tripp holds out the bouquet for someone to take and return to the bride for a redo, but Bri is busy jumping around and cheering, and no one willtake the fucking flowersfrom his hand.

“I think you were set up again,” Leander stage-whispers conspiratorially from behind one hand while Tripp struggles to his feet. That suggestion has him glancing around wildly, taking stock of his friends and their varied reactions to this utterbullshit. Beau is over at Briana’s side now, grinning like a jackal, and when Tripp’s eyes find Ro, all she does is shrug and raise her eyebrows innocently. Even Reina has her face buriedin Mickey’s bicep, her shoulders shaking with laughter, and Mickey looks like the cat who caught the mouse. He’s red-faced and straining, trying and failing to hold his amusement in.

Fuck all of them,Tripp silently fumes, but he’s a gentleman, so he raises the bouquet a bit sheepishly and waves it in the air to a chorus of cheering approval from the rest of the crowd.

“Hmm,” is all Leander says, stroking his chin. “Let’s test this theory.”

“No, Lee, don’t—”

That’s all Tripp manages before the ‘single men’ are heralded onto the dance floor by order of the DJ, although most of them look a lot less excited than they might’ve been a few minutes prior. Tripp can’t blame them, though he secretly kind of does, because who the hellwouldn’twant a piece of this fine ass?!

It’s all irrelevant anyway, because despite the fact that Leander standsfaron the outskirts of the crowd, Bri's garter gets shot directly his way and he catches it easily, Beau barely even pretending to act surprised when he does. True to form, Leander just stands there awkwardly, looking down at the frilly, satiny thing in surprise, like he doesn’t quite understand.

“Ha, ha,” Tripp says loudly, mockingly, waving the bouquet around and rolling his eyes. “Oooh, you really got us now. Guess we have to get married. Tou-fuckin’-ché, assholes.”

“You don’t have to marry him,” Marley interjects, popping up behind Tripp from out of nowhere, only to escort him forward onto the dance floor, where a chair has materialized. She plucks the garter from Leander’s hand as they pass and presses it into Tripp’s palm. “You just have to let him take thisoff of you. With his teeth,” she adds pointedly, this time to Leander.

“Do it, do it, do it!” Bri cheers excitedly, jumping up and down while holding onto Beau's hand, which, because of his height, yanks him haphazardly all kinds of around. Like the dutiful new husband he is, Beau doesn’t complain at all, just raises his eyebrows at Tripp and gestures to his bride like,better do what she says, it’s her day.

With a long-suffering sigh, Tripp looks down at the garter and then up at Lee, who’s still just standing there, wide-eyed and nervous. It would appear that he’s only now realizing what he’s gotten himself into by “testing his theory.”Dumbass.

Still, what the bride wants, the bride gets. Who is Tripp to deny his new sister-in-law her entertainment?Time to put on a show.With new resolve (and without looking at Lee), Tripp steps up on the chair and waves his arms, hyping the already-rowdy crowd to near-feral levels. He jumps down, stumbling and nearly falling over while tugging on the garter, all the way up to mid-thigh.

The room goes wild.

When Tripp sits, the guests only grow more enthusiastic as Lee follows him down, getting on his knees and shuffling his way forward like that’s athingLeander’s ever done before in his life.If they only knew.When he’sjustbetween Tripp’s knees, Lee very pointedly and dramatically spreads both of his arms, wrapping them behind his back with one hand grasping the opposite wrist to hold them there.

Whatever the crowd sees, whatever they’re screaming, Tripp barely notices, hardly cares, because his entire world has ground to a halt. Allhecan see is the way Lee's eyes lock onto his, all he canfeelis the hot puff of air from Lee's mouth on hisinner thigh, even through the fabric of his dress pants. Lee's teeth barely graze him as they catch the garter, but Leander never looks away, not for one second.

By the time the garter is slipping down over his shoe, Tripp is gravely worried about his ability to stand up without humiliating himself, and wondering where that whiskey dick that he usually resents so much is hiding.

Thankfully, as soon as the garter is free and Lee is standing up, twirling the thing around on his finger in smug success, the DJ switches gears and throws some dance music on. As everyone crowds their way out onto the dance floor, Tripp grabs his chair and lets Leander escort him off of the makeshift stage, holding it strategically in front of his crotch while willing his dick to deflate.

“I believe our friends are trying to send us a message,” Leander murmurs into Tripp’s ear, as he’s dropping the chair at the first table they come upon. Wayward cock sufficiently settled, Tripp allows Leander to slip an arm around his waist, reciprocating in kind as they wander away from the mob scene that’s now dancing wildly to “Jump!”

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