Two Best Men, Only One Bed! - Romeo Alexander

Blake

Frowning heavily at the phone in his hand, Blake waved it around the car desperately. All he needed was to get enough of a signal for the email to go through, and he would be golden. Problem was, he didn’t think the mountainous region had a decent signal anywhere.

“I don’t think pine trees are good for cellphones,” Blake muttered.

From the driver’s seat, his brother snorted. “I think that’s why some people like living out here.”

“And we call those people crazy, Blaine,” Blake said, still holding the phone out at odd angles.

Well, maybe they weren’t completely crazy. The landscape was beautiful, in a way Blake could only call National Geographic. Where there weren’t mountains, there were huge rolling hills. Both were covered in lush trees, and he noted that it wasn’t just pine trees, there were plenty of leaves as well. Every once in a while, the trees would separate, and Blake spotted the twinkling presence of a small body of water.

And not the faintest hint of a signal to be found.

“You’re supposed to have this week off,” Blaine told him.

Blake wrinkled his nose. “No, I have the weekend off.”

“You told me the week.”

“I...well, I’m definitely off for the weekend. But I said I could do some stuff during the week.”

“You’re a terrible best man.”

Blake huffed, giving up on sending the email. “I’ll have you know, I’m a wonderful best man and a fantastic brother, thank you very much.”

“Then leave your phone alone and tell me if we’re close or not,” Blaine said, the corner of his mouth quirking.

Blake waved his phone near the other man’s head. “And how am I supposed to do that when I can’t even get enough signal to send a simple email?”

Blaine didn’t even blink. “I imagine by having looked ahead when you did have a signal and getting a good idea of landmarks to warn us.”

“Look, just because you went through fancy Marine training doesn’t mean the rest of us learned how to track with two twigs and a couple of squirrel pellets,” Blake shot back.

Blaine huffed out a laugh. “Fancy and Marine are two words that don’t belong in the same sentence. Lucky for you, I did look ahead and know we’re almost there.”

“I still don’t see why we had to be the ones to come out here first,” Blake said, watching the horizon.

“You know why.”

Blake snorted, nodding his head. Yeah, he knew alright. Blaine was achieving two of his greatest ambitions. Getting married to someone he loved, and more specifically, getting married to his first and only love.

Not that it had been quite as simple as that. The two of them had dated once before, and due to a lot of what Blake considered unnecessary drama, had broken up. When they had been accidentally reunited, put together as partners at one of the police precincts back in Port Dale, sparks had flown all over again. Blake didn’t know the whole story, but he knew enough to know the sparks were both good and bad.

Blake had caught their reigniting relationship right at the beginning but had been unable to stick around for long. Yet when he’d moved to Port Dale himself a year later, the two were living in domestic bliss, or as much bliss as Eric could manage before he’d start scowling. And a year after that, they were engaged, and despite being anxious, they’d waited another year to plan the wedding.

Which is exactly how Blake ended up in the middle of nowhere without a phone signal.

“Because your blushing bride can’t be taken out in public?” Blake asked with a quirk of his brow.

Blaine sighed. “Because my husband to be is currently stressed, and it’s best he deals with going over the last minute plans rather than drive out here first and secure the site of both our marriage and reception.”

Blake grinned at his brother. “Right, that’s what I said. Eric can’t be taken out in public because he’s all stressed about you two tying the knot.”

Blaine rolled his eyes, which was how Blake knew that his brother wasn’t the least bit annoyed with him. It was also one of the few gestures the two of them pulled off that looked identical on their faces. Well, it helped that they were technically identical twins. The only real physical difference between them was that Blaine’s time in the Marines had added about fifty pounds of muscle and far more scars than Blake ever wanted to think about.

But they were both just over six feet tall,