The Boys Who Loved Me - Krista Wolf Page 0,21

a presentable mourner. Funerals were something I knew all too well. The brass fixtures, the horrible wallpaper. The cheap paper cones they used in lieu of Dixie cups at the water cooler, and all the covered boxes of tissues scattered from table to mahogany table.

A drink before leaving was probably a good idea. Two drinks, even better.

I grabbed my clutch and my room key, then made the elevator in under a minute. The car dropped, the doors opened, and I hurried through the lobby wearing shoes I knew would hurt my feet all night.

I hate these fucking things.

It was bad enough that someone had to die to get you together with your old friends. But then you all had to dress up for each other, and wear uncomfortable shoes. It wasn’t like you were dressing up for the deceased, that’s for sure.

Elizabeth would be laughing her ass off.

The thought was random, but it made me smile. Our friend was the most casual and carefree soul there was. She’d be chastising us for not showing up in jeans and a T-shirt, especially the guys who would probably wear ties. Elizabeth thought ties were ridiculous. So did I.

I crossed the lobby, over to where a pair of double doors opened into a darkened bar. There were tables in the back. A long line of leather-wrapped stools ran down one side of the bar, which was about three-quarters the way filled with people.

“Hey.”

Warren tapped me on the shoulder, then kissed me on the cheek. That part was strange. My old high school boyfriend was never someone to keep the PDA to a minimum.

“You always did clean up nice,” I smiled, looking him over in his shirt and tie.

“You look even better,” he told me.

I laughed. “It’s a funeral dress.”

“It’s a cute black dress,” he insisted. “What are you drinking?”

I ordered a beer, and he did the same. Rather than sit at the bar, Warren took my hand and led me to the back.

“We have a table?”

Instead of responding, he squeezed my hand. After a dozen or so steps he stopped and turned around.

“I want you to know something,” he said abruptly. “We had to do it this way.”

My brows crossed in confusion. “What?”

“It seems a little shitty, almost like lying. Okay, it was lying. Sort of. But we did it this way for a reason.”

His expression was unlike anything I’d seen from him. Normally Warren was confident, probably overconfident to the point of swagger. Right now he was staring back at me uncertainly, as if he were about to tell me something I really didn’t want to hear.

“You’re scaring me.”

“Yeah,” he said, forcing a smile. “Well there’s nothing to be scared of. Just sit with us and we’ll talk about it. We’ve got some time before the funeral. A couple of drinks and we’ll tell you everything.”

I dropped his hand, shifting to look past him. “We?”

Warren stepped aside. About ten steps away, sitting at a table in the back corner of the bar, Luke and Adrian were staring up at me.

HOLY—

“Like I said, we did it this way for a reason,” Warren explained. He took my hand again, which hung limply at my side.

“Come. Let’s talk.”

Seventeen

KAYLA

It felt like an episode of the Twilight Zone. The one where the main character walks around in a confused daze, while everyone around them is in on some big cosmic joke.

Hell, who was I kidding? All the episodes were like that.

“Here she is. About time.”

The others stood and greeted me with kisses on the cheek — again, really weird considering what I’d done with each of them since being back in town. They didn’t seem the least bit put off by each other, either. In fact, they were actually laughing and palling around like old friends. Which, in retrospect, I suppose they were.

“Grab a seat, beautiful.”

I sat down between Warren and Luke, thinking I’d make a good buffer between them. Something in the back of my mind told me I shouldn’t have worried.

“So… you two are okay now?” I asked, jerking a thumb between them. “You’re playing nice?”

“Playing nice,” laughed Warren. He turned to Luke. “What do you think? Are we playing nice?”

“We’d better be,” Luke said, folding his arms. “At least while I’m doing the books.”

I looked at them strangely. Waiting. Watching…

“We’re in business together,” Warren finally explained. “That garage I used to work at? Tommy’s?”

“Yeah?”

“We bought it, a few years back. Luke and I.”

My eyes went wide, like two full moons. I couldn’t believe it!

“You’re