your orders.”
Kit smiled. “Thanks.”
The hand on my back pressed forward and I let him show me over to our table.
“Chaos!” Rollie cried as we got closer.
But my eyes had fallen on Patrick who was looking me over with his mouth agape. “Bert!” he breathed. “You look… Wow. You look really wow,” he said as he helped me into a chair.
Tank – also known as Gavin Hamilton – was just as big as I’d imagined. He had dark hair and light brown eyes that sparkled with humour. I could imagine he’d be a scary guy when he wanted but, between helping me pack up my stuff the day before and now, I hadn’t seen any of that.
Rollie – who had been christened Ryder Andrews – was the smallest of the bunch and he looked as much the mischief maker as I’d been led to believe, and he’d more than lived up to his reputation since I’d met him. His auburn hair was longer than most, but shorter than Nico’s, and he had green eyes that did more than hint at the trouble his smirk suggested.
Nico had lost some of his charm in his three-piece suit, but it also added a whole new level of hot to him. Unlike the others, he looked the most uncomfortable, but he smiled when I looked at him and gave a little wave.
Rollie grinned as he poured me a glass. “So, we made sure there was plenty of champagne in advance–”
“We can’t call it champagne unless it’s from Champagne,” Tank interrupted, his glass looking comically small in his big hand.
Patrick picked up the bottle Rollie wasn’t dishing out and looked at the label. “Champagne. France. So there.”
I huffed a laugh but was unfortunately taking a sip at the time and splashed my glasses. As I took them off to clean them, the boys kept talking around me.
“Remind me,” Rollie said, passing Kit a glass. “Champagne had that gorgeous little blonde?”
Nico looked thoroughly unimpressed as he crossed his arms. “I think you’ll have to be more specific about the particular blonde.”
“That can wait,” Tank said, leaning in and holding up his glass. “First, we need to make a toast to Amber.”
“Yes!” Rollie grinned, holding up his glass as well, and the rest followed suit.
Patrick cleared his throat as though he was about to make some terribly important speech. “To kickarse first draft chapters.”
“To letting your geek flag fly,” Nico added sombrely, although there was a touch of a smile in his eyes.
“To being with loved ones,” Tank said.
“To beating the shit out of people who hurt you,” was Rollie’s contribution, which was met with a combination of humour and reprimand.
“To finally adding Amber to the family,” Kit finished up, more sincerity in his tone and his eyes than I deserved.
I looked around at them all, feeling one of those warm happy bubbles grow in my chest. It was hard to believe that Patrick and Kit and their friends had put everything aside to take me out to dinner. And by the looks on all their faces, they weren’t even regretting it.
“Thanks for having me,” I answered.
“Well, now you and Chaos don’t hate each other, it was about time,” Patrick said with a warm smile.
I didn’t feel the need to correct him, knowing I’d probably just end up mumbling and blushing like an idiot. So, I just let them toast me.
We all raised our glasses for a moment, then drank.
The boys were all big and boisterous in their own ways and I sat and watched their interactions avidly the way I hadn’t been able to do much the day before. Kit and Nico were by far the quietest of them. Nico let very little out but a small smile or snort of laughter now and then, and Kit even less. With both of them, you could see the humour behind their eyes, but it was like they couldn’t let themselves completely relax even among their closest friends.
“All right. So, I want gossip,” Rollie announced, leaning for the champagne bottle again and staring right at me.
“Gossip?” I clarified.
He nodded and pointed at Patrick and Kit with the bottle before pouring more drinks for that side of the table. “Gossip. These two as gangly teens. Awkward haircuts. Girls who turned them down. I want gossip.”
I looked between Patrick and Kit, trying to fight a smile. “Gossip?”
“Amber…” Kit said, a teasing warning in his voice.
“Nah. We’re right, mate,” Patrick said, all bluster. “We didn’t do gangly or awkward.”
Kit nodded and I