Today he was shooting another straight wedding, with a very particular bride who had somehow bagged a gorgeous guy, despite what a bitch she was. It was essential for Felix to make her look beautiful, but he was no magician. That had been Laura’s line, not his. Felix thought every bride looked beautiful on their wedding day. Laura was more direct.
“Fuck, she’s rough looking, isn’t she? She must be able to suck dick like a hoover or something to get a guy who looks like that.”
Felix loved Laura, but she had no filter. He would just rock up, smile, take all the pictures she wanted, and then spend hours with his editing software, wishing he was a magician. He stumbled into the shower of their shared bathroom. They lived in Brooklyn, well Brooklyn-adjacent, but it meant they could at least afford to have a bedroom each, even though it took Laura an hour to get into the city for her job at the newspaper. The rest of their apartment was open plan, and the bathroom was pokey, but it had been their home for three years now and it worked for them. Felix worked for himself, which made paying his rent each month unreliable, but there were always peak periods—like now, with the holidays coming up—so he tried to use that time to squirrel money away for the leaner months. It was difficult. New Yorkwas one of the most expensive cities in the world, but he couldn’t see himself living anywhere else.
His social media account had been slowly growing over the last three years. He’d just hit ten thousand followers, so he had options for monetization, which could be another revenue stream. Felix had some holiday portraits he was going to post in a Twelve Days of Christmas campaign, and he was hoping after the holidays he’d have boosted his following further, so he had some buffer when exploring the new opportunity.
Once he was showered and dressed, he grabbed a Pop-Tart for breakfast before picking up his kit and heading out to catch the subway to the Upper East Side. He was wearing a suit, because he had to look the part, and although he liked to wear his hair messy, he had slicked it with a side parting for the gig. The bride was a nightmare and had even asked for him to send pictures of what he would wear to the wedding so she could approve it. Felix had done a wedding for one of the bride’s friends, and she had been lovely. How the two of them were friends was a mystery.
The wedding itself had gone without a hitch, and the bride had been beaming throughout the ceremony, which helped with the pictures. Felix would need to do less editing later. There’d still need to be some airbrushing on her shiny forehead, but that was easy enough. He was taking a quick break now, given he’d done all the post-ceremony shots, and she’d wanted a lot. Even with a smile, she was still demanding.
“There you are,” shouted the bride. “I want to have some more photos taken with my bridesmaids.”
“Just coming.” He’d been gone for two minutes.
“I want to make sure they don’t overshadow me, so can you blur their features in the edit or something? Especially Harriet.”
Felix couldn’t help snorting with laughter, but she was smiling as well. She walked like she was on a mission, holding her dress up, so it wouldn’t run along the ground.
“I could give her devil horns?”
“Ooh, could you do that?” she said, stopping.
“Er . . . ?”
“Maybe just for me, so don’t send it to Brian as well. Harriet’s his best friend, and they used to date when they were in college.”
“Oh. Wow. That’s very... understanding of you to have her as a bridesmaid.”
“Well, it’s good to rub it in her face about what she lost. Can’t stand the bitch.”
Felix chuckled. Perhaps she wasn’t so bad after all. She stopped in front of a fountain that was in the grounds of the venue.
“Harriet, Harriet... You be next to me for this one.”
Felix pretended to be interested in his camera, whilst stifling a laugh. Perhaps the rest of the wedding wouldn’t be so bad.
He’d jinxed it! Bridezilla was a nightmare and had wanted everything captured on camera, so Felix had been run ragged. He’d been supposed to take off after they’d cut the cake and had their first dance, but she’d insisted he stay for another two hours so he could get pictures of all their evening guests.
Felix was snapping pictures of people enjoying themselves on the dance floor when it felt like a tank had collided with him.
“Oh, sorry. Didn’t see you there.”
Felix turned around to scowl at whichever oaf had run into him when his jaw dropped. First, he was face to face with a broad muscular chest. Even in a suit, you could see the muscles. He looked up at a perfectly trimmed beard, and thenat that gorgeous face. He was looking at Ryder Quinn. A god of a man. Felix had happily jerked off over him far too many times, just imagining what he could do with the alleged python he had between his legs. Ryder’s workouts, which always involved him wearing tight shorts, told Felix everything he wanted to know. That gorgeous dark skin, full lips, and brown eyes... This was his fantasy man standing right in front of him, and he couldn’t speak.
“Are you okay?” asked Ryder, with a concerned look on his face.
“Yes . . . Yes . . . I mean . . . yes, I’m fine.”
Ryder chuckled. “Well, don’t let me stop you from doing your work, cutie.”
He winked, squeezed Felix’s shoulder, and walked off. Felix was sure he looked like a fish gasping for water. How had that just happened? He’d met Ryder Quinn, and not only that, but he’d called Felix “cutie.” Perhaps he called everyone that. No, he would not think like that. He was having this moment. Ryder Quinn thought he was cute.
“Felix. I need some shots of my college friends with the candy cart.”
That snapped him out of his daze. He smiled at Bridezilla and followed her to deal with whatever crap she’d dreamed up now.
“You met Ryder Quinn?” squealed Laura.
