And Fallon liked when things were routine, which meant he wanted to be in bed by nine, even if they didn’t have to wrangle a toddler through bath time and seventeen stories before she dropped off.
It helped that Gage didn’t do a big proposal thing. Fallon had been the one to bring up marriage, and Gage told him he wanted nothing more. So they bought each other rings and planned it all together, and pretty soon, they would be declared husbands.
“I think,” Gage started, but Lucas’s phone began to ring, and he answered it before the screen could speak out whoever was calling.
“Yeah. Uh-huh.” Lucas cleared his throat, and his tone went a little dark. “Yeah, meet me in the lobby.” He hung up.
“Uh, bro?”
“I have to take care of a quick thing. Go meet Fallon downstairs, and I’ll be right in.”
Gage didn’t ask. He didn’t have the mental capacity to take on one more crisis, so he snagged Lucas’s cane from the wall and pressed it into his friend’s hand. “Don’t be fucking late to my wedding ceremony.”
“I will do as the lord intends,” Lucas said solemnly.
“You’re a jackass.”
“Good thing you love jackasses,” Lucas replied, then hugged Gage before heading out in front of him, making his way down the hall.
Gage took a few more seconds to himself, but Lucas was right. This didn’t feel heavy. There was no weight to the marriage. It was as light as a piece of paper because Fallon had been his the moment Gage set eyes on him in the hallway right before knocking Charlie on his ass.
This was just a formality.
He adjusted his collar, then headed down the hall, taking the steps two at a time to reach the ground floor, where Fallon was waiting. He was by himself, stimming close to his body, when he saw Gage and immediately stopped.
His eyes widened and his chin wobbled, and when he swallowed heavily, Gage heard it click in his throat. “You, uh…you look…”
Gage didn’t make him suffer trying to find the words. Instead, he walked over and yanked him close, kissing him slow and deep, and full of purpose. “You lookamazing,” he murmured when he pulled away.
Fallon grinned. “You do too,” he whispered, then went silent and cocked his head to the side. “ I think we should go in.”
Gage realized the music was already playing. He peered into the room and saw that Zoa was in Adele’s arms, her flower petals thrown on the pathway, but Lucas and Fenton were nowhere to be found.
Gage wasn’t going to make the love of his life wait any longer to be his husband though. “Let’s go.”
Fallon didn’t seem to notice who was missing. He threaded his arm through Gage’s, and the music picked up, and then they started to walk.
The ceremony was short and sweet. No long vows, no frills, no fuss. Just a quiet, simple speech and a promise to love each other for eternity. It was just before the I Dos that Fenton and Lucas appeared, sneaking into the back and creeping up toward the front since they were going to be witnesses.
Frankie looked pissed, but there was something in his expression that told Gage a near disaster had been averted, so he considered it a win. The kiss was right after that, so Gage forgot all about them until they were in the reception hall and he noticed that Lucas’s knuckles were red.
“I’m going to ask you this very nicely, and I want the truth,” Gage said, and the small group of chatting people went quiet. “What happened before the ceremony?”
Lucas let out a sigh as Fenton squeezed his arm in support. “There was an incident in the parking lot.”
Frankie’s eyes narrowed, and that was when Gage realized he’d known what was going on too. It seemed he and Fallon were the only ones left out.
“Someone better give me details,” Gage warned.
Lucas groaned. “Fine. But just so you know, it’s handled.” He waited a beat, then said, “Charlie showed up.”
Fallon went stiff. “What?”
“We had security on alert. Fen and I met him in the parking lot and made sure he won’t come back.”
Frankie groaned. “What exactly did you do?”
“I grabbed him by the balls,” Lucas said. “Fen helped me make sure I didn’t miss. I gave them a nice warning squeeze and told him he wouldn’t get the chance to evenattemptanother procreation if we ever caught him lurking around here again.”
