Page 2 of Harrison's Wedding

“Well, I hope you have a great night and that your wonderful girlfriend says ‘yes.’” He grins at me.

I pay for the ring and slip the box into my pocket. As well as worrying that Heather might not say yes, now I’m now terrified that I’ll lose the ring before I can propose. God, nobody ever tells you how stressful proposing to the love of your life is.

The thought of Heather brings a smile to my lips as I head to my Tesla Model S. The handle pops out and I slide into the front seat to drive home. Luckily, Heather is busy with her hair stylist and makeup artist today, so she wasn’t curious about where I was going when I left the apartment.

I walk into our living room to see Heather sitting in a chair while Tristan and Jessica do what they do best, make her red carpet ready. Personally, I prefer Heather with messy bed hair and no makeup, but she likes getting glammed up for events, and I like Heather being happy.

“Looking good, angel,” I laugh when I see her. “Are you ready to go, then?”

Her hair is half up in curlers, while her makeup consists of massive brown streaks of bronzer that Jessica hasn’t blended out yet.

“Very funny, Harrison Fletcher. Maybe I will leave it like this just to spite you. See how you like your joke when you have to stand next to me on the red carpet looking like a disaster.”

“No skin off my nose; I think you look as beautiful as ever.”

Jessica and Tristan both say, “Aww.”

I grin at them, then tease Heather, “But, hey, you’re the one with the fashion label. If you want Serenity attached to a look like this, that’s on you.”

“Damn. Good point. I guess I’ll just have to let these guys actually finish, then.”

“I’ll leave you to it,” I tell them and head through to our bedroom.

I have a decent amount of time before we have to leave, so I read some news articles before I take a shower. I come back into the bedroom wearing a towel, intending to get dressed, but then I see a text from Sebastian Fox on my phone. Sebastian is one of my closest friends, and the lead guitarist for our band; he’s brash, outspoken, and known to sleep with any woman who will say yes. Which is, you know, most of them.

At the moment, though, we’re in the middle of an argument about Gabriel Knight, our frontman, and his new girlfriend, Ariana Chamberlain.

He’s making a huge mistake. I know it’s your birthday, so I’ll be nice.

They were dating a couple of years ago, and when Ariana dumped him, she cut all of us off, not just Gabriel. None of us heard from her again until she turned up at our concert on the last night of our most recent tour. Now she and Gabriel are back together, and he seems happy, but Sebastian and Heather are still angry at her for the way she left.

I lie on the bed and write a response to Sebastian.

I appreciate it. All I ask is for no drama tonight.

It doesn’t take long before he replies.

Have you asked your girlfriend for that?

I grin at his text and shake my head, amused at the question.

I haven’t gotten around to it yet. Do you think I should?

She’s pissed. I mean, do you even know her?

His response makes me laugh out loud because I was expecting it to be something like that.

I like to think I do. Heather will be fine.

I wonder for a second if proposing tonight is a good idea after all. If Heather’s in a bad mood because of Ariana being there, would she say no because of that?

If you say so. I’ll never forgive Ariana. I doubt Heather will either.

I’m reading his text when Heather walks into the room, and I look up to see her. She’s wearing a robe and her long blonde hair is fixed in an elegant updo with a braided headband. Her eyeshadow is done in a dark, smoky fashion that contrasts with the bright pink lipstick she’s wearing.

“Hey there, angel,” I say, feeling a wave of arousal wash over me at the sight of her.

“Hi, honey, you haven’t started getting ready yet?”

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