“Go,” Tyler said, giving Adam a nudge that had him reluctantly giving up his dreams of marrying Sloane and had him heading to the oven.
“This is Tristan. He’s Sloane’s brother,” Chase said before going around the room, introducing the guys. “This is Tyler, Ben, Adam, Matt, and the big guy devouring the sandwich is Scott.”
“And I think Thomas is coming,” Adam said, shrugging it off as everything in Chase went still.
There was a heavy pause and then…
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Tyler asked, sending Adam a pointed look.
Frowning, Tristan asked, “Who’s Thomas?”
“The asshole who stole my fiancée when I was in a coma,” Chase drawled as he grabbed a deck of cards off the table.
“Oh, that’s fucked up,” Tristan said, dropping down on the chair next to him.
“He always comes to poker night. Besides, I thought Chase should see the bullet he dodged,” Adam said, turning the timer off as the rest of the guys winced.
“I hate to say this,” Ben said as he dropped down on the chair on the other side of him with a plate overflowing with food, “but he has a point.”
“What are you talking about?” Chase asked, ripping open a pack of cards.
The guys shared a look before Tyler said, “Amy’s a fucking nightmare.”
“She’s making his life a living hell,” Matt added.
“He can’t do anything without her permission. She texts him all day and if he doesn’t respond back immediately, she’s calling him. It’s gotten to the point that he has to shut his phone off before his shift. She won’t let him have poker night at the house, which works out well for us because we like it here better,” Scott said with a satisfied sigh as he sat down with his food and dug in.
“I thought she was bad when you were dating,” Adam said, sighing as he joined them.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Chase asked as he shuffled the cards, which earned matching blank stares from the guys.
“Are you serious?” Matt asked, chuckling.
“Clearly, you hit your head in that fall because the girl was a nightmare. She called all the time, texted non-fucking-stop, got upset if you didn’t fall all over yourself to make her happy,” Tyler said, shooting him a sympathetic wince.
“That girl is high maintenance,” Adam said, joining them with a plate of barbeque wings that the guys immediately helped themselves to.
“She never would have done something like this for us,” Scott said, groaning in pleasure as he bit into his pulled pork sandwich while Chase watched Sloane walk out onto the patio, wearing a black bikini and headed for one of the lounge chairs.
No, she wouldn’t have, Chase thought as he sat back in his wheelchair and watched Sloane. Amy hated poker night and had been trying to make him promise that he’d give it up after they were married and the sad part was, he probably would have done it, too. He’d spoiled her, but it had never been enough for her.
At the time, he’d told himself that it was his job to take care of her, but now…
He realized just how one-sided their relationship had been. Whenever he did anything special for Sloane, she would smile hugely, kiss him, and tell him how wonderful he was and Sloane…god, she fucking spoiled him. It wasn’t just the big things that she did for him like surprising him with poker night, but all the little things that she did for him that made him feel like a fucking king.
“She looks thirsty. I should bring her something to drink,” Adam mumbled absently as they watched Sloane get comfortable on the chair with a book in her lap.
“Get your own girl,” Chase said, chuckling as he rolled back and grabbed a Coke.
“You know that she’s only with you because I’m playing hard to get, right?” Adam said as Chase rolled out onto the patio and headed toward the beautiful woman that was going to destroy him when this was over.
“Hey,” Sloane said with a warm smile when she saw him.
“I thought you could use a Coke,” Chase said as he placed the soda on the small table next to her.
“Thank you,” she said, smiling as he leaned over and kissed her.
“Are you sure that you don’t want to join us?” he asked, reaching up to run his fingertips along her jaw.
“I’m sure. Go have fun with the guys,” Sloane said, brushing her lips against his one last time as she gave him a playful push back.