and the springs ripped my jeans more often than I could afford to replace them. But the engine was sparkling, so it won me a brand-new car. I gave the other guy my Camaro, since I had no use for it and no way to get it home if I took the Mustang.” He flashes a fun smile. “And I was for sure taking his Mustang. First time I ever rode in a brand-new car. Possibly the last time, since we have better things to spend our money on now. There was no way I was passing it up.”
“You came to school with that Mustang.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You were sixteen when you started at our school.”
He nods. “Uh-huh.”
“You took a man’s brand-new car when you were sixteen? Jesus, Bryan! I swear, if Bobby’s even half as naughty as you, I’m gonna flip my shit.”
He winks and lifts my hand, but before the cup makes it to my lips, his eyes flip to Geo. “No alcohol?”
“Just soda, Bry. I knew you’d share with her.”
The pettiest, cattiest little throat clearing has us looking up at the girl in Reilly’s lap, and it takes the clueless fool entirely too long to catch on. “Oh! Shit. Ann-Marie. Bryan Kincaid. His wife, Chantelle, like you just heard. Maybe don’t hug her, he has rules.” Bryan smiles. I smile. Geo and his date smile. The final woman… does not. “Guys, this is Ann-Marie Page.”
Geo’s obviously already met her, so he simply goes back to biting his date’s clothed nipples. Bryan peeks around me and nods in the way guys do.
Leaning half off Bry, his hands are the only thing stopping me from toppling to the floor as I reach out to shake her hand. “Nice to meet you, Ann-Marie.”
She looks me up and down with a perfectly styled brow, but at least she takes my hand. “Hi, Chantelle.”
Leaning back into Bry, I pull my legs up and work to pull my dress down modestly, but still curl in the way Bobby does to me. “You guys been dating long?”
She nods.
He nods. “About eight months, I think.”
“Eight months?” My smile grows. “Wow. That’s not eight hours. You guys are serious, huh?”
She nods.
He shrugs. “We’re having fun. She’s normally a lot chattier than this,” he pulls her in close, “but she’s not feeling so great this week.”
I’m a horrible person, because instead of equating her sour mood to not feeling well, my mind instantly jumps to Bobby and how mad I’ll be if she gets him sick.
I never used to be a germaphobe until I had a kid.
You spend one single night with a blocked-up baby who already doesn’t sleep, and you learn fast; colds are the devil.
“I feel fine,” she throws out casually. “Just have nothing to say.”
My brows pull in tight.
Reilly’s eyes crackle with something akin to anger, but when she climbs out of his lap and excuses herself to the bathroom, he smiles when she turns back to watch.
As soon as she’s out of sight, Bryan speaks up.
Of course he does.
“What the fuck, Reilly. What’s her problem?”
He sighs and flops back into his chair. Lifting a bottle to his lips, he stares at the roof. “She was fun. She was cool. But…” He leans forward and peeks down the hall. “I want out, man. I need a safe house or something.” He laughs. “I didn’t invite her here. She pitched a fucking fit when I said I was going out without her.”
Mimicking him, I look down the hall, but she’s not coming back yet. “Do you live together?”
He scoffs. “Fuck no. She just came over. Told me what we were doing tonight. I told her I had plans. She told me we have plans.”
I laugh and relax back into Bry’s lap. “That’ll teach you for hooking a crazy. And I was so excited, too. Bryan’s other friends,” I clear my throat and have Geo biting back a grin, “don’t seem to bring the forever girls home. You said eight months. I was ready to start making dinner party plans with her.”
“Oh, she’s forever, alright.” Bry laughs. “She’s a fuckin’ crazy. She’s yours forever, or she’ll break your ankles and murder you in your sleep.”
Barking out a laugh, Reilly flicks his bottle cap toward us. “Shut up, asshole. You ditch town without a peep, come back with a wife, a family, and you start bitching about my girl. Get the fuck outta here.”
“You just said you were done, anyway. What do you care?”
He shrugs and sips his beer. “Dunno.