Page 55 of His Boys to Protect

Adam gasped. “You did! Well? How was it?”

John raised an eyebrow. “Do I need to take you home and gag you?”

“Only if you use your cock,” Adam replied.

“Christ, Adam,” John muttered as a blush took over his face.

Adam laughed. “So? Come on. Tell me it was good.”

Ward coughed and cleared his throat, then dropped his truck keys into the top drawer of his little desk in the corner. “Yeah, it was good.”

“Ha!” Adam clapped his hands. “I knew it.”

John chuckled and shook his head. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Well, you're stuck with me for life now,” Adam said, “so I guess you'll have to keep me.”

A fond look came over John's face. The man reached out and grabbed Adam's hand, the two of them gazing into one another's eyes.

Then Ward saw the rings.

“You guys got married?”

John blushed, but Adam grinned. “Yeah.”

“Wow. Congratulations.” Ward shook hands with John. “Why didn't you say anything?”

“It was kind of an impromptu thing,” Adam replied. He hopped up onto a corner of John's desk, idly swinging one leg. From what Ward had seen, the boy never really could sit still.

“We were on our way up to Idaho, talking about some preliminary wedding plans,” John said, picking up the thread of the story.

“And we decided we didn't want to wait another day, let alone several months,” Adam continued. “I mean, we'd already lost eight years together. And life is too god-damned short not to grab every second.”

John gave Adam's hand a squeeze.

“Besides,” Adam went on, “Trevor, the leader of my old band, is actually an ordained minister. You know, one of those online things you can get just for officiating weddings.”

“Since we were meeting up with the band anyway…” John trailed off and shrugged.

“It was a whirlwind, though,” Adam said with a laugh. “Holy shit. We couldn't do it in Idaho, so we had to drive over to Spokane. And then deal with all the legal mumbo-jumbo to get a license and go through the waiting period and all that. But we managed to get it done in and around the holiday and the band's performance schedule. Just us and Trevor, with the rest of the band as witnesses.”

John gave Adam another fond smile. “If you want, we can do it again here, with our friends–”

Adam firmly shook his head. “Honestly? It was perfect. I don't need the big show. And getting to spend our wedding night in the chalet where we reconnected last year? I can't imagine anything better than that.”

John grinned.

Ward fought to keep a smile on his face even as a pang of envy slammed into him. He was happy for his friends. He really was. But it still stung to look back and remember the crushing humiliation of being left standing at the altar.

All around him, his friends and acquaintances were finding their soulmates and settling down for their happily-ever-afters.

Would it ever be his turn?

He thought of Skylar and Charlie, then found himself blushing again.

“So?” Adam asked.

Ward blinked, jolted out of his thoughts. “So?”

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