Page 36 of The Wedding Engagement

Arran shook his head, still laughing as the band did a sound check. “I can’t believe we didn’t notice that we didn’t know their name.”

“I know,” Liv said, moving round the table to shout into his ear as the music started. “But I suppose it’s easily done, like how no one noticed they didn’t know Edward Norton’s character’s name inFight Club, or Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s name inFleabag.”

He nodded, jutting out his lower lip in an “it figures” kind of expression. His lip looked soft and bitable and Liv had to drag her eyes off it. “Anyhow,” he said. “It isn’t necessarily a measure of their music—”

“Fuck you and your stupid fucking crock, if you don’t like it, you can suck my cock!” the front man half sang, half shouted down the mic to a tumultuous response from the die-hard fans in the mini mosh pit at the front.

Liv arched her eyebrow, giving Arran a sardonic look. His face was frozen, the last syllable of his cutoff sentence still on his lips. He met her gaze, closed his mouth, and swallowed. “Perhaps this isn’t their wedding repertoire?”

She let out a laugh that was close to a snort and Arran joined in, the two of them dissolving in laughter until they both had to pretty much hold each other up.

Liv wiped her eyes with one hand as she gripped Arran’s biceps with the other. “Can you imagine this playing in the function suite at Glenavie Castle?”

He gave her waist a squeeze as he grinned. “Yes. I think I’d fucking love it.”

She shook her head, imagining the scene as people dressed in their wedding attire moshed their heads off, wedding hats andfascinators sent flying through the crowd. “As much as I love that scene, I think this is a nonstarter.”

Arran nodded. “I think you’re right.” He took out his phone as the band started their second verse, this time imaginatively rhyming the wordsfuckandInnsbruck. “I’m defo texting Shuggie about this, though, before we leave.”

“I mean,” Liv said, checking out the manner in which the front man commanded the stage and the heavy yet surprisingly catchy melody, “they are talented. Just perhaps not what we’re looking for on this particular occasion.”

“Right?” he replied, looking at his phone screen. He glanced up, a glint in his eyes. “We’ll keep them in mind, though, like if we’re planning a children’s birthday party or something.”

Liv chuckled.

He glanced back at his phone screen. “Shuggie says their wedding repertoire is classic wedding songs. But with a metal twist.”

She raised her eyebrows as he brought his gaze up to hers. “Metal twist, you say? Sounds like the perfect romantic ambience.”

His smile grew wider, making his eyes shine. “We’ll say no to this option this time but keep it in mind for the next one of us to get hitched.”

“Excellent plan, Mr. Adebayo.” She clinked her pint glass with his and they drained their drinks.

They reached under the table to grab their jackets and made their way toward the door, but then Arran grabbed her hand. As she turned back to look at him, he had a mischievous look on his face. “Fancy a go in the mosh pit before we leave?”

A smile spread over her face, as if his cheeky expression was contagious. “Let’s do it.”

They bunged their coats in a corner and Arran kept hold of her hand as they pressed through the crowd to the front, moving withthe rest of the crowd to the music. The heavy bassline throbbed in Liv’s chest, making her head nod on reflex.

Right at the front the crowd were pressed in tight, and Arran hauled her around in front of him to protect her from the throng. She realized that a person as tiny as herself could well get trampled, so having a tall bloke as her marker was fortuitous. And the fact that he was hot didn’t hurt either.

They surged forward and back again, not in control of their movements but carried with the throng and simultaneously held up by it. They were shoved left, then right, then Liv found herself and Arran being dragged in different directions. But before she could reconcile herself to the fact that she was going to lose him and just have to deal with it, she felt the strength of his arm around her waist, hauling her to him and against his chest. She was facing the stage with her back pressed into his front, both of his arms wrapped tightly around her middle.

A tsunami of sensation enveloped her. The heat of his body against hers and the strength of his arms around her. The touch of his lips on her ear as he pressed in to shout, “Okay?” Every bit of her body that was in contact with him (which was a lot) was tingling and fizzing with excitement.

She managed a nod, her heart accelerating to near passing-out proportions.

Someone in front climbed up to the stage and then fell onto the crowd to surf the room. Liv turned her head and went onto her tiptoes to press her mouth to his ear. “I always wanted to try that but was scared ’cause I’m so little.”

He smiled down at her. “Do it. I’ll catch you.”

Excitement pulsed through her. “Should I?”

His smile widened. “Trust me.”

That was enough for Liv. She (somewhat reluctantly) extricated herself from his grasp, stepped forward through the front line ofthe crowd to the stage, and climbed up. The front man clocked her and gave her a wink as he sang/shouted into the mic.

The crowd was an undulating sea of faces in front of her, and it was kind of mesmerizing. As if enveloped in a cloud of unreality, she turned and fell back onto the crowd, hands underneath her holding her up as the ceiling moved overhead. She sensed she was moving away from where Arran had been standing. But just as she resolved that once back on her feet, she’d need to head back into the crowd to try to find him, a pair of hands grasped her around the waist, lifting her down. She knew it was him. It was funny how she’d already learned the feel of his touch.

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