Well, except for whichever one Patrick and Lexie were staying in, which they’d disappeared to after doing the rounds of congratulations from everyone.

Feeling a bit out of place now that Patrick and Lexie had gone upstairs, Jake went to grab a beer from the bar and then looked around for someone to talk to. The biggest problem with all his friends having a significant other now was that they were all cuddled up and being extra lovey-dovey after Patrick’s proposal. Jake got it. Even he felt a little stab of envy when he saw his sister’s glowing happiness and the supreme satisfaction in his best friend’s eyes.

They had something special. And those with a special someone of their own were feeling extra romantic after witnessing Patrick and Lexie’s connection.

But Jake didn’t have that and he didn’t particularly want to feel like an interloper on his friend’s time.

Michael and Ellie were upstairs performing, and as far as Jake knew Andrew, Kate, Jessica, Justin, and Chris were all upstairs watching them. Liam and Hilary were on the dance floor, swaying to the music and completely ignoring the actual beat as they stared into each other’s eyes. In one of the booths, Leigh and Jared were curled up around each other, talking softly and also doing the staring into each other’s eyes thing. Rick and Maria had chosen another corner and were doing the same thing, except Maria had a glassy-eyed look which meant Rick was probably using some kind of remote controlled device on her. She had that look at Stronghold often enough when they were there. Adam and Angel hadn’t come out, as she hadn’t been feeling well and was heavily pregnant.

He spotted Luke and Olivia standing against the wall, and his eyes lit up, but before he could begin moving to them Olivia snaked her arm around Luke’s neck and pulled him down for a searing hot kiss. Which was fun to watch, but like hell Jake was going to interrupt that.

Sighing internally, he looked around and scowled as his eyes fell on Sharon, the only other single member in their group of friends, staring wistfully across the room at her ex-boyfriend, Brian. The guy was nice enough, but they’d been broken up for months now. He didn’t know why it irked him to think she was still hung up on the guy—he didn’t even like her (okay, part of his body liked her, but his cock was not running the show). Brian was talking to two gorgeous submissives—one had skin the shade of chocolate, her hair in two pigtails over her shoulders and the other very petite and pale as cream with very big, curly hair. They were very striking together, and Brian seemed to think so too.