Page 20 of Unrequited Sloth

Bobby’s handsome face came into view, his brow furrowed in concern.

“What happened?” asked Gabriel, his voice low and croaky.

“You fainted, but only for a few seconds.”

“Why did –”

Gabriel held up his hand to be sure he hadn’t imagined it, and there was the wedding ring. Bobby smiled at him and held up his own hand, with a matching ring.

“Good morning, husband,” he said with a chuckle.

“Why are you laughing?” asked Gabriel, sitting up.

“It’s funny. I found out my fiancé had cheated on me with my best friend, so I got drunk and married her brother. It’s like something out of a film.”

“Er . . .” Gabriel wasn’t sure what to say. “Do you remember anything?”

Bobby shook his head. “Not a thing, but there’s a wedding certificate on the table. Gabriel Mensah and Robert Kavanagh. Apparently we chose Mensah-Kavanagh as our surname.”

“I didn’t know your name was Robert. Ugh, forget I said that. What the fuck are we going to do?”

“Relax, Gabriel. It’s not legally binding.”

“What?”

“A friend of mine got married in Vegas, but they had to do the legal bit in the UK. We’re not really married.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Thank fuck for that.”

“You could do worse than having me as your husband, Gabriel.”

Bobby looked offended, and Gabriel couldn’t help but laugh. From complete panic to the realisation that they’d just done something silly but meaningless. Given what Bobby had been through yesterday, he was surprisingly good-humoured about the whole thing. He was right: Bobby would be a great husband for someone. A lucky woman who wouldn’t cheat on him, like his sister did.

Gabriel went to get up, and Bobby helped him stand and made sure he was steady on his feet. It was only then he saw Bobby was only wearing his boxers, which were tight and showed off a prominent bulge. He had to pretend it was an eclipse, so he didn’t look directly at it. His body was something else, though. Gabriel had only seen glimpses over the past two years, and here it was in its full-muscled glory. His sister was an idiot. Why would you pick Dillon, who looked like a rat boy, over this Greek god? Maybe Dillon had a big dick or something, but from what Gabriel had seen, Bobby had nothing to worry about.

“We didn’t do anything last night, did we?” asked Gabriel, sitting on the bed, unsure if he should have said that aloud.

Nothing felt wet or sore, which were the usual signs, but if Bobby had decided to experiment when drunk and Gabriel had no memory of it, he would feel bereft.

Bobby laughed. “I like you, Gabriel, but not that much!”

Gabriel laughed with him. It relieved some tension. Technically, Bobby was still engaged to his sister. They hadn’t spoken. Nothing had been broken off officially yet. It was still possible they could talk when they were both back in the UK and get back together.

“I’m going to order room service. I don’t want to risk seeing the others,” said Bobby.

“Do you not need to speak to anyone?”

“Not today. My head’s banging, and we have our trip to the Grand Canyon.”

“You still want to do that?”

“Of course. Let’s both leave our phones off, enjoy the day, and deal with everything tomorrow. What do you think?”

“That sounds nice. But . . . are you okay?”