Sequins and Shots - Book Three of the Café Latte Trilogy

Part One: Chapter 1

My gosh, can you believe we've made it? ELEVEN YEARS after I started Playing With Fire, now named Fire and Freedom, I finally get around to writing the sodding end to this trilogy. I apologise profusely for the wait.

In the last decade I've attempted this book TWICE. First with 'Clinical', a then and now look at Harper's life when he was 16 and when he was 28. Secondly with 'Dancing with Sapphire', in which I wrote about Edward's life post-Harper's death. Neither worked. I liked the concepts but every time I tried to write them, it just didn't feel right.

Cut to two years ago, when I made the decision to un-kill Harper. Suddenly, one of my best boys was alive and thriving, and he and Ed were very much back on the table. Finally, the words came, and I realised why I'd struggled so much with it; Harper was not supposed to be dead.

This is my love letter to my boys. In this book, you'll see Ross and Jasper's wedding, Tom and Angelo's growing relationship, Raven finding her feet, Cyri and Rory living their best life, Jenny and Lucie in their beautiful marriage, and of course, Ed and Harper, figuring out their shit.

I hope you love it as much as I do.

Love, Cam.

♡

Part One

Chapter One

Edward

The first time I fell in love with Harper Reynolds, I was eighteen.

"Fuck, shit, balls, and cock."

I looked up from where I was sat to see what fabulous brain had conjured up that combination of words. I was in a small café in the centre of Brighton. I hadn't been here long, about two weeks, but it already felt more like home than my home had done.

The person that had spat the delightful phrase was a tall, lean guy with a loose t-shirt and tight jeans. He was looking at his phone, pissy as all hell, and as he looked up, I caught his gaze.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, realising he had an audience. "Phone died."

I grinned. "Need a charger?"

Relief came onto his face with a smile, and his eyes lit up at the offer. He had beautiful eyes, a deep brown, almost as dark as his pupils. They were wide and expressive, and his right eye had a few more lines around it, because the right side of his mouth drew up higher when smiling. I could see that he smiled a lot.

Looking back, that was really the moment I should have known that I was categorically fucked.

He sat down opposite me, taking the charger I offered him from my bag, and said, "Thanks, man, you're a lifesaver."

"No worries," I replied, sipping my coffee. "I'm Edward."

"Harper," he replied, plugging in his phone and smiling in relief as the charging sign lit up. He looked back up at me and examined my face. "I haven't seen you around before-"

Before he could finish his sentence, a woman appeared as if from nowhere and smiled widely at him. She was dishevelled and flustered, a light pink on her cheeks, and a smattering of flour on her forehead and hair, but she looked happy. "Harper!"

The guy quickly got up to give her a tight hug, and she patted him on the back in a motherly fashion. My heart ached a bit at the sight. I wondered if it was his mother; she looked too young to have a fully grown son, but maybe she was an aunt or sister, or just a motherly figure.