Candy lifted her hips up and leaned against him. He felt hands move up his thighs to his belt.

‘Take them off!’ Sammy said. ‘Give him his treat!’

Matt squirmed in the chair but the ropes were too tight; besides, Candy was pinning him down.

‘Stop!’ he said. ‘I don’t want to do this!’

He felt the waistband of his jeans loosen, and then they were being pulled down. He felt a hand on the outside of his boxer shorts, rubbing his penis.

‘Jesus,’ he said. ‘Please. Leave me alone!’

He looked up at Sammy, about to tell him one more time to put a stop to this, and froze.

Sammy had a video camera in his hand.

He was recording this? Was he insane? The last thing you did was document something like this. If Annabelle ever saw it – and Matt would spend his marriage terrified that she would, somehow – she’d have nothing to do with him. He didn’t want this in the first place, and now it was going to be on video.

‘Sammy!’ he said. ‘What are you doing?’

He looked at Guy, who was watching, arms folded, his face expressionless. Next to him Jason was frowning.

‘Guy!’ Matt said. He shook his head. ‘No!’

Guy shook his head. He stepped forward, and put his hand on Lexi’s shoulder.

‘OK,’ he said. ‘That’ll do.’

She stood up. ‘I thought he wanted the full works?’

‘No. That’s enough.’

The guests laughed; some booed good-naturedly.

Candy shrugged. ‘No refunds.’

‘That’s fine,’ Guy said. ‘Thanks for coming.’

Tony and Scott untied the ropes and Matt stood up. He turned to Sammy. He was staring at them, the video camera by his side.

‘What’s the problem?’ he said.

‘What’s the problem?’ Matt said. ‘What the fuck were you thinking? I mean, strippers, maybe. But getting them to do whatever you had planned – and what was that, by the way? Were they going to give me a blowjob? Or fuck me? With you filming it? Are you totally crazy?’

Sammy snorted. ‘I thought it’d be funny. And you’d like a memento.’

‘Well, it wasn’t. And I don’t.’ He held his hand out. ‘Give me the camera. I want to delete that.’

‘Scared the wife will see it?’ Sammy said. ‘Whatever you want, mate. Seems marriage does change a man, after all.’

‘Yeah,’ Matt said. ‘Seems it does.’

Late Summer 2012: Wedding Day

Annabelle entered the church, her left arm in the crook of her dad’s elbow, her right in her brother’s. When she had first told them she and Matt were getting married, she had suggested that both of them walk her down the aisle. Her brother had coughed and looked a little nervous.

It’s normally the father who gives the bride away, he said.