Free The Wedding Song by Lucy Kevin Page B

dark shirt and slacks. Whitney thought that she could see the muscles moving under his shirt as he sat down, then chided herself for noticing.
    “I came down to support Sebastian,” he said. “After all the work he’s put in over the past week, I wanted to be here.”
    “All the work…” Whitney stared at Tyce for a moment or two, drinking him in. His nearness. His clean scent. The beautiful flash of his eyes as he stared back at her. She’d asked him for time and he’d given it to her, but now she wished he hadn’t. “You’ve been helping him?”
    “Shh!” a parent behind them hissed. “The show is starting.”
    It was so hard to keep her hand on her own lap, rather than slipping it into his. Tyce helping her brother was so sweet.
    She had to forcefully remind herself that she’d only just told her parents about Kenneth. And that she hadn’t even begun to work out what she really wanted when it came to her future.
    All too aware of Tyce sitting next to her, she kept her eyes carefully glued to the stage as groups of high school students started to perform. Whitney did her best to focus on the acts that came on one after the other, but it wasn’t easy. The kids were quite talented, and she had to admit that the talent show was a lot more fun than she’d thought it might be, but when his hand brushed against hers on the arm rest, Whitney simply couldn’t concentrate on what was going on up on the stage.
    She quickly pulled her attention back to it when Sebastian walked out onto the stage with his guitar, though. No, not walked.
    Strode.
    Her brother strutted like he owned the auditorium, and when he began to play, every eye in the room was on him. He looked around the crowd as he played, seeming to connect with all of them at once. It wasn’t quite like watching Tyce perform, but it was close. Closer than Whitney would have believed it could be.
    He’d obviously put in a lot of work with her brother.
    Everyone else in the audience seemed to think Sebastian was great, too, judging by the way they applauded. She could hardly bring herself to stay in her seat for the rest of the show, she was so eager to find her brother and congratulate him.
    When the talent show ended, Tyce and Whitney both headed to the front of the stage.
    She hugged her brother. “You were wonderful.”
    Beside her, Tyce nodded. “You did great. I knew you would.”
    “After all that time on the stage at the Rose Chalet, it wasn’t so bad,” Sebastian said. “It was fun being up there with everyone looking at me. Thanks for coming.”
    “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” Whitney assured him.
    “Me either,” Tyce said, reaching out to shake Sebastian’s hand. “Listen, I thought I could take you out to celebrate. After all the hard work you’ve put in, you deserve it.”
    But Sebastian’s eyes had already wandered to his friends. “A few of the guys from my class were talking about hanging out over at Connor’s place, and I’ve kind of already said that I’ll go. Plus, Michelle from my math class is going…”
    “You don’t need to say anything else,” Tyce said with a smile that seemed to Whitney to be just a fraction too wide. It obviously had Sebastian convinced, though. “Go hang out with your friends. We’ll jam together a different time.”
    “See ya,” Sebastian said, hurrying off to join a group of kids his age.
    “You’re very sweet,” Whitney said, finally letting herself reach out to put her hand on Tyce’s arm.
    He was so warm. So real.
    And so beautiful that she didn’t know how much longer she was going to be able to stay away from him.
    Or even why she was anymore.
    “Not just for offering to take Sebastian out to celebrate, but for helping him in the first place.” She paused for a moment before adding, “If you’ve got a big celebration planned, it seems like a shame to waste it. Maybe you and I could—” The words got stuck her throat, all the things she wanted mixing with