Steam (Homecoming Hearts #4)(39)

“It looked like you and Gabe got along,” Trent commented.

Ashby nodded. “He seems a very nice chap. I’d be happy to spend the evening with him and the other boyfriends if you wanted to meet with your band friends.” Ashby gave him a genuine smile. “It must be so nice for you to be back together after the rough time you’ve had.”

Trent frowned slightly as they walked along the corridor to their room on the third floor. The wooden boards creaked beneath their feet. “I don’t want to abandon you,” he said.

But Ashby shook his head. “You wouldn’t be. Besides, it’s a sort of stag do thing, isn’t it? Um, bachelor party, I mean. The grooms can’t see each other the night before, so it’s the friends’ job to entertain them.”

Trent nibbled his lip as they approached their room at the end of the corridor. They must have taken the very last reservation. He was going to be spending the whole morning with Blake and the other groomsmen tomorrow. It would be good for Ashby to have already gotten to know some other people so he wouldn’t be lonely.

He smiled at Ashby and swiped the key. “Yeah, that could be fun,” he admitted. “So long as you don’t mind?”

Ashby laughed. “What’s the worst that could happen?” he asked as the door swung inwards.

They both paused.

There was only one bed.





17





Ashby





It was fine. This was fine.

At least, that was what Ashby kept telling himself.

Trent had shrugged the whole ‘only one bed’ thing off and immediately said he was fine taking the sofa. Ashby protested that this was Trent’s friends’ wedding and Ashby should be the one put out. But Trent wouldn’t hear of it. Literally. He took himself into the shower, then said he was going to go meet Joey and the others as planned.

Before he left though, he gave Ashby his phone and allowed him to copy not only Gabe’s but Levi’s and Elion’s numbers into his own phone so he could arrange where to meet. Trent was still obviously freaked out over the bed thing, but Ashby thought it was extremely kind and trusting of him to do that.

Gordon would certainly have never handed over his unlocked phone, despite the number of times he had snooped through Ashby’s without permission. Ashby was happy that although Trent didn’t want to share a bed with him, he did at least trust him with whatever personal information was on his phone. Not that Ashby snooped. He gave it back as soon as he had Gabe and the others’ numbers.

The boyfriends didn’t want to meet until another hour or so as Elion was still fretting over last minute wedding details. Gabe messaged Ashby privately and said they were crashing Elion’s room at seven o’clock regardless. At some point, Gabe argued, Elion would need to be saved from himself. Being included in these plans made Ashby feel included already despite hardly knowing these people. It gave him a warm feeling inside.

Which was lucky, because he felt slightly sick every time he thought of Trent’s face upon seeing the bed they were supposed to share. He couldn’t have made it clearer that being anywhere near Ashby in a sexual way was repulsive to him. Ashby tried not to blame him. But he couldn’t help being hurt just a little.

Trent was straight, though. Ashby had to be fair. If Ashby was more masculine, his gayness might be easier to ignore. He didn’t exactly make it easy on Trent. So he would do everything he could to make him comfortable during the wedding. Then they could go back to having separate rooms when they returned to Wyoming. He hoped they could still continue being friends, at least.

It meant Ashby had to work very hard at suppressing any excitement he’d felt at sharing a room. It was tantalizing for him to be this close to Trent. Not because he was some age-old teenage crush of Ashby’s, but because he was a real-life interest. Ashby saw Trent for who he was now, not who he was to him then. But seeing as Trent was obviously finding the situation difficult, Ashby would be a proper dickhead to take advantage of it in any way, so he went for a walk around the grounds while Trent showered and changed.

There were other people milling about the venue when he went outside, presumably also here for the wedding. Ashby didn’t recognize any of them, and they didn’t know him either, so he was left in peace to stroll across the veranda and amble down toward the recently decorated gazebo, ready for tomorrow’s ceremony.

White chairs stood on the grass in neat rows facing the gazebo’s entrance. Pink and purple flowers had been arranged in an archway at the front opening as well as on the chairs standing alongside the walkway. Petals were strewn on the steps and either side of the aisle, and white gauze curtains were pulled and tied either side of the gazebo’s archways. Green trees swayed behind the structure, creating a picturesque image.

Ashby sighed. He loved weddings. Two people, committing to love and support one another, to spend the rest of their lives together, forsaking all others. It was beautiful. He always cried, regardless of how well he knew the couple in question.

He had only been to one or two of his own friends’ weddings. Mostly he’d attended ceremonies or receptions for his parents’ acquaintances or even their own kids. This would be his first official same-sex wedding. He looked up at the gorgeous flowers curving over the top of the gazebo entrance and couldn’t help but be filled with hope. Even a decade ago, this wouldn’t have been possible for him. Not in the same way it was now. Love was love and having that now recognized by law made him swell with pride.