Page 145 of Sebastian's Baby

LEVEL 18 – The Second Wedding

While Lita isin the shower, I collect up my suit and the things I need for the wedding, then leave the suite for Gabriel’s. I’ll shower there because it’s too raw and painful to talk to Lita right now. I just need some time and to get some space to breathe away from her.

I knock on the door, and Harrison opens it, his eyes widening when he sees me in front of him. “I was sure I was going to have to come get y—are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Can I come in?”

“Of course.” He steps aside and lets me through the door.

I dump my stuff in the living room, and Gabriel looks up from where he’s sitting on the sofa. He has wet hair and has clearly recently had a shower.

“Everything okay?” he asks with a frown on his face.

“I don’t want to talk about it. It’s your big day, and we’re going to celebrate. Can I shower here, though? My suite is…occupied, and I had to leave.”

“Yeah, of course. There’s a bathroom in the guest bedroom or you can use mine if you prefer.”

I tell him the guest bathroom is fine, and he points to a door on the other side of the room. I take my things into the room and sit on the bed for a moment, dropping my head into my hands.

“I don’t love you like that, and I don’t want to be in a relationship with you.”

Lita’s words echo in my ears, adding to the cacophony of hurtful things she’s said that play in my head on a daily basis now.

I wish I could go back to before I realized I was in love with her. Back when I was stupidly ignorant and happy, when we were fucking and there were no complications with it. Back then, I didn’t feel this terrible aching pain every time I thought about her.

I take a deep breath and sigh heavily. Today is Gabriel’s wedding day. I need to forget my shit and just focus on him and Ariana. God knows they went through enough to get here. When I see Lita at the wedding, I need to do my best to forget that I’m in love with her and just treat her like any of the rest of my friends and family.

With that resolution made, I take a shower and get my trousers on before I head out to the living room with my shirt in my hand. Hayden has arrived in my absence.

“So what’s the deal with these ‘getting ready’ photos? Should I put my shirt on?” I ask.

“They’ll just want you buttoning your cufflinks or something. We don’t need you topless in our wedding photos,” Gabriel laughs.

I grin at him. “Speak for yourself, but I’m pretty sure Ariana would say otherwise.”

“You can ask her later and take your top off during the bridal photos if she thinks it’s a good idea,” he tells me.

“No doubt I will.” I flex my muscles before I strike a pose and say, “My body improves any photoshoot.”

The guys laugh, and I slip my arms into the sleeves of my shirt. It’s only five more minutes before the photographer arrives. He has two assistants with him, and apparently, there is another photographer with Ariana and the bridesmaids. I take my wedding clothes off, and we get back into casual clothes for some ‘hanging in the suite’ photos before we all get dressed and have photos taken fixing our bow ties, our cufflinks, and putting our jackets on.

When the photos are done, the wedding planner has already arrived to tell us that it’s time to go downstairs, and Gabriel is looking green around the gills.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this nervous,” I tell him. “Well, maybe when we were first trying to get signed.”

“This is the scariest shit ever,” he says. “I can’t wait to marry Ariana, but I’m shitting bricks right now.”

Harrison laughs. “Remember what you told me at my wedding?”

Gabriel frowns as he tries to remember, then shakes his head. “Not really. What did I tell you?”

“‘It’s just a wedding. I don’t know what you’re freaking out about,’” Harrison quotes. “I just felt now was a good time to remind you of that.”

Hayden and I both laugh, and Gabriel groans, “Yeah, that’s terrible advice. Sorry.”

We walk into the ballroom where the wedding ceremony is going to be held. There are a few guests here already, and I look around to see if Lita has arrived, but she’s nowhere to be seen. I head over quickly to speak to my family. My grandparents are here with my parents, and I smile as I hug them.

“Mom, is it okay if Lita sits with you when she gets here?”

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