Page 105 of Power Play

I remember bits and pieces.

Loud music and flashing lights.

Leather seats inside a limo.

There was laughing and dancing… I think?

After that, everything is blurry. Disjointed flashes of memories I can’t put together.

“Heavily inebriated, apparently.” I scratch my jaw and pause when something cool rubs against my cheek. I pull my palm away and stare at my left hand. There’s a silver band around my ring finger, and my blood turns to ice. “What thefuckis on my hand?”

“Your fingers, probably.”

“What’s on my fucking finger?”

“I don’t know. Skin? A nail? Do you really need an anatomy lesson when it feels like I’m dying?”

She sits up, and that’s when I see it.

A silver ring onherfinger, and I almost stop breathing.

“Piper,” I say slowly. “You told me Maverick and Emmy got married.”

“Wejustwent through the pictures, Liam. Grant sang an Adele song. Ethan bought us all hot dogs. It was beautiful, honestly. Well, as beautiful as a Vegas wedding can be.”

“Then why the hell do you have a ring onyourfinger? And why the hell do I have one onmine?”

She lifts her hand and stares at the piece of jewelry with wrinkled eyebrows and a half-open mouth. Understanding dawns, and she gasps.

“Did we—there’s no way I—you don’t—” Piper shakes her head. “Oh, no. No, no, no, no,no. We didn’t—how did we—I can’t—what thefuck? I’m not supposed to be married again. That means I’ll be divorced again, and…shit. I’m Ross fucking Geller.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. I need water. Ten Aspirin and to sleep for days. There’s no way this is happening. “What’s the last thing you remember about last night?”

“The hot dogs Ethan handed out when we got out of the chapel with Maverick and Emmy. He mentioned something about a Dave? After that, I can’t tell you a thing. What thehell? I can’t believe they let drunk people get married. It’s unethical. Illegal, probably, and I’m going to sue theshitout of them.”

“It’s their entire fucking business model. Who was the most sober last night? Definitely wasn’t me.”

“Um. I’m not sure. Lexi disappeared at some point. God, I hope she’s not murdered in a ditch somewhere.” Piper takes asecond to think. “Okay. Wait.Wait. We all tried to do a human pyramid, but none of us could balance because we were too intoxicated.”

“How the hell does that help us figure out who was sober?”

“It tells you who wasn’t sober.”

I curse under my breath and grab my phone, hoping something sparks my recollection of last night. I find my lock screen has been changed, the team photo from the start of the season replaced with a picture of Piper squatting in the middle of a sidewalk, her arms looped around my calves as she tries to lift me up.

My arms are out at my side. My hair is a mess. The top two buttons on my shirt are unfastened. My shoelaces are untied, and that’s when I see it: the grin on my face.

I almost don’t recognize myself.

Fuck.

I look like a happy idiot, and I don’t know the last time I smiled that big.

“Are you okay?” Piper asks, and I blink up at her.

“Huh?”

“You look like you saw a ghost.”

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