Page 16 of Harrison's Wedding

“Solids. Interesting,” she says as she stands up and looks at the table.

“Who do you think will win?” Gabriel asks me with a grin on his face.

Hayden is well known to be the worst pool player in our group. He loves the game, but he’s pretty terrible at it. He’s a good sport about losing almost every game he plays, though.

“Is that a serious question?” I laugh as Heather drops the yellow number-one ball into the middle pocket, then call out, “Way to go, Heather!”

She grins over at me, and I feel a rush of love for my angel as she responds, “Thanks, honey.”

“I think Heather’s probably got this one for sure. Unless Hayden’s improved his pool game since I last saw him,” Ariana chuckles.

Heather misses sinking a ball, and Hayden knocks the orange thirteen into one of the pockets.

“He really hasn’t,” I tell her with a grin on my face. “So, how has work been lately?”

“Yeah, it’s good. It’s been a bit weird since everyone found out about Gabriel and me, but my friend Charlotte’s been really supportive.” She looks up at Gabriel, and he smiles down at her before dropping his head and kissing her quickly.

“I don’t know if you know this, Harrison, but we’re rock stars, and apparently that’s weird for some people.” He grins at me.

“You don’t say? Being a rock star is strange? It feels totally normal to me.” I shrug my shoulders and laugh.

“It’s not weird at all that more than one person in my office has my boyfriend as their desktop wallpaper.” Ariana laughs as well and continues, “Seriously. I had a total ‘what the fuck’ moment when I was walking to the bathroom the other day and someone was away from their desk, so their computer was locked. I caught sight of their screen, and I’m just like, ‘Oh, hi, Gabe!’”

We all laugh, and I keep an eye on the pool game Heather is playing while we talk. Hayden still has one ball on the table, but she’s down to the eight ball.

“Excuse me for a second,” I say to Gabriel and Ariana as I stand from the sofa.

I walk over to stand behind her as she takes her turn and sinks the ball. She stands up from taking her shot and backs into me. I wrap my arm around her waist and kiss her neck softly.

“Well done, angel,” I tell her.

“Thanks.” She smiles up at me, then turns to the room to ask, “Who’s next?”

“I’ll play you,” Gabriel responds from where he’s still sitting on the sofa.

He and Ariana stand up and walk over to where we’ve all congregated around Sebastian’s pool table. It’s one of his prized possessions. It’s a custom-made slate-bed pool table made of heavy white marble, with a black felt top that has the Cruise Control symbol in the middle of it. It stands near floor-to-ceiling windows that currently display the lights of Chicago, glittering against the black night sky, and it’s definitely a feature piece in his apartment.

Heather starts racking up the balls as Gabriel takes the cue off Hayden and tells her, “You can break if you’d like.”

“Sure,” she agrees.

She takes her turn and sends the balls scattering around the table. The red eleven ball falls into one pocket while the matching red three ball falls into another.

“Stripes or solids?” Gabriel asks.

Heather assesses the state of the balls. “Stripes, I guess.”

She misses getting the orange number-thirteen ball into the middle pocket, and Gabriel takes his shot, successfully sinking the brown number-seven ball.

“Way to go, Gabe!” Ariana says cheerfully.

He smiles back at her before taking his next turn. He sinks the blue number-two ball before missing the purple number four.

“Your turn,” Gabriel says to Heather.

He steps away from the table, puts his arms around Ariana, and lowers his head to kiss her. I smile at the two of them, glad to see them so at peace. It reminds me of the way they were on theCards Have Been Dealttour, except without all the drama of Ariana being terrified of anyone finding out they’re dating.

Heather aims for the orange thirteen ball again but misses it, instead hitting Gabriel’s green number-six ball and sending it into one of the corner pockets.

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