Fast Lane - Kristen Ashley Page 0,92
half a decade. If you’re good. If you’re healthy. I mean, I’m sure I don’t have to remind you what all was going down, or about to go down when I last spoke to you.”
And that’s when he says, “No, you do not.”
So, Tim’s the one who sorts it all seein’ as he has a kid he wants to show off, not to mention a new fiancée.
Big thing at his pad in Malibu.
Roadmasters reunion.
The private one.
Shawn shows with his wife Vanessa, who’s about to pop with their first child, so I don’t know how she talked a doctor, and DuShawn, into letting her get on a plane, except she’s Vanessa and she’s never met Preacher, but she’s heard a lot about him and she isn’t about to miss this.
And Vanessa is the kind of woman, she wants something to happen, she makes it happen.
Tommy shows up with fifteen of the biggest, thickest steaks I’ve ever seen in my life, even though Tim’s now a fuckin’ vegetarian.
Tom’s got his wife Simone with him, which is good, because she’s French and she’s gorgeous and she’s chic and she classes up every joint, even Tim’s surfer-dude beach hut that has four thousand square feet, direct beach access and a ten-million-dollar view.
Dave shows by himself and he brings a case of Dom and a dime bag of weed, times about fifty.
[Grins]
The pills are gone, sister, the blow, and we all learned to curb our appetites.
But Dave is never gonna stop bein’ Dave, thank God.
Tim’s girl is named Marty and we’re all pretty certain she peeled herself off an advertisement for surfing at Zuma beach, made herself three dimensional and then ran into Tim.
Wearing a bikini.
She also looks at Timmy and Brody like they both can make sun shine outta their asses.
I leave my woman home because I’m sensing it’s not gonna work out and I don’t want some woman I’m about to break up with to blow the memory of this occasion for me.
And the way she reacts to me leaving her behind solidifies my desire to end things with her.
We’re all there when Preacher turns up and…
[Pauses]
Give me a minute.
Of course.
[Lengthier pause, clears throat]
He looks good.
Shortish hair, few threads of silver in it, big, full beard, no silver in that.
He’s leaner than I remember which means he seems taller.
And he just looks…
[Let’s out a deep breath]
Good.
We all, of course, immediately give him shit for the silver in his hair, until Simone gets fed up with it and offers to pluck [affects bad French accent], “All tree of deez I see, beebee.”
And then I wait until she’s not around to bust Tommy’s chops about the fact I’d come just listening to his wife talk.
Though I don’t know why I bother since, first, she’s in his bed, and second, he’s manning the grill while Tim moans about having steak juice all over his veggie grate and there’s no place Tommy’s happier than standing at a grill, except, presumably, when he’s in bed with Simone.
[Grins]
Brody hits hero worship approximately point-oh-five seconds after he lays eyes on Preacher.
Vanessa manages to keep her water from breaking.
Everyone dances around the fact that Preacher is there and we’re all rapping, we’re all reminiscing, we’re talkin’ about the gig Shawn’s putting together and catching up, and Preacher is not saying shit about what he’s been up to the last six years.
And no one mentions Lyla.
Simone, God bless her, uses Brody goin’ to bed as an excuse to corral Marty and Vanessa in the kitchen to drink champagne or whatever elegant French chicks do in a kitchen, though I know it ain’t the dishes, and Vanessa didn’t drink any champagne.
And the guys all wander down to the beach where we collectively decide when we’re done wandering and we all sit on our asses under the moonlight in the sand.
That’s when he does it.
Fuckin’ hell.
[Wipes eyes]
That’s when Preach says, waves lapping the shore, and he’s talkin’ real quiet.
“How is she?”
Now, Lyla has had an eventful six years.
Love the guy, and still, when I see him, which lucky for us both is not often, I gotta fight the urge to punch Cat Trelane in the face ’cause he sniffed around her after she and Preacher split and she never shared. No clue how far that went.
I only know they’re still good friends to this day.
Or as far as her man will let her be good friends with a dude she may, or may not, have had sex with, but one thing is for certain,