Third Chances (Men Of Manhattan #2) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,35

thought he had taken us to an underground strip club or something. But I didn't get to calm Penny down. And I didn't get to tell her goodnight. And yeah, I miss her. I'm used to telling her goodnight every night. I want to do that. That's why I'm marrying her. I don't want a day to go by where we don't talk. I don't like this feeling." He ran his hand across his chest. "So if that makes me cute, fine. I'm fucking adorable."

Mason laughed. "I really did have to calm Bee down. And it didn't help that she accidentally told Penny that I used to be a horrible person."

"What?" James sat up straight.

"She let some information about my old side business slip out. But it's fine, she calmed Penny down."

"No wonder Penny called me a million times last night. I need to talk to her. I need to tell her I'm just sitting around a pool being adorable and talking about how much I miss her." He reached for his phone but I quickly slipped it back into my pocket.

"Totally whipped. You do not need to tell her that. Don't you wear the pants in the relationship?"

"Penny and I pride ourselves in barely wearing any clothes when we're together." He folded his arms across his chest.

"Here's to that," Mason said and picked his magazine back up. "But really, don't worry, man. I'll talk to Penny tonight and make sure everything's okay. How about you just try to relax for a few minutes?"

"Seriously," I said. "There's a group of hot girls over there that would love to hang out with us for the rest of the weekend."

"I don't want to hang out with some girls that used to be in my class. That one girl basically stalked me."

"Which one?"

"The one with brunette hair. Kristen Dwyer."

"So what? It's your bachelor party. Make her dreams come too. She's hot."

"I feel like I need to say this one more time, to nail it into your head," James said. "I will never, ever cheat on Penny. Ever."

"Fine. I totally get it. If she was my girl I wouldn't cheat on her either. She is so fucking sexy. And I promise, if you ever die in some terrible, fiery accident, I will totally make sure she stays sexually satisfied for you. Best man code."

"I'm going to kill you in your sleep tonight." James picked up his book again. "And then I'm going to make Mason my best man."

Mason laughed. "You should have just made me your best man to begin with. I never say anything inappropriate about Penny."

"Ever since you started dating Bee. But before that, you had your fair share of comments too."

"All I ever said is that I could hook her up with a great job and an amazing salary. No benefits, but still."

"You wanted her to be a hooker."

"Oh, shit," I said. "Mason, did I ever tell you that when I first met Penny, I thought she was a prostitute that James had hired for me?"

Mason laughed. "Tell me that isn't true?"

"No, seriously. It was hilarious."

"I'm going to go get a drink," James said. He tossed his book on his chair and walked away from us.

"He's going to the front desk to call Penny, right?" I asked

"I'll give him one minute and then I'll run after him." Mason turned to me. "Lighten up on him a bit, though, will you? You know how he gets."

"You mean you think he is addicted to her?" I had been through a lot with James. I had sat with him during withdrawal. I knew him better than anyone else did. Well, maybe not Penny. She had me beat.

"I don't know." Mason dropped his magazine and stood up. "I just meant that he's in love and he misses her." He stared after James. "He seems different, you know? With her."

"You mean he's fun again?"

"And not obliterated, yes."

"You always were the one that was a bad influence on him," I said.

"Me? I'm pretty sure that was you."

I laughed. "Maybe he was the one that was a bad influence on us." I watched James as he walked around the pool. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't seen him like this before. That wasn't seriously the problem, was it? Withdrawal? He had been clean for years. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach as the realization slowly dawned on me. I wasn't sure why I had never realized it before. He had been clean since he