Crash Ride (21 page)

“Beer?” Jase handed me
a longneck while I milled around in Dan’s living room. I was edgy as fuck. “Just a pointer, you checking the time every five minutes is probably not the best way to play it cool.” He took a swallow of the beer in his hand.

“It’s seven thirty, she was supposed to be here half an hour ago. Where the fuck is she?” My mind got caught up on possibilities I didn’t like as I took a swig from the bottle. I was already over this bullshit game and the night hadn’t even started.

“Maybe she got held up with her
boyfriend
.” Jase grinned and took another swallow.

“Very funny, asshole. Do you know how much this bullshit is pissing me off?” Jase was one of the few people I could talk to about Megs. At least while I was pacing like a caged dog he could help run interference.

“What’s pissing you off?” Dan joined us, leaving his wife-to-be to fuss in the kitchen. “What are you two ladies gossiping about?”

“Oh nothing important.” I wondered how much he’d heard. “Just that I’m going to have to get into a monkey suit for your big day. It’s like wearing a straight jacket.” The excuse of the suit gave me a save. Not like I could tell him the fucking truth.

“Damn right you are suiting up. You aren’t going to bitch about it either.” His eyeballing told me he meant business. Not that there was any doubt. “Wonder where Megs is? You wanna give the loser a hard time?”

“Probably not one of your better ideas. Maybe give the girl a break, huh?” Jase thankfully took the reins on that one; saving me from telling Dan I’d punch him in the sack if he made her cry. Yep. It was going to be a long ass night.

“Fine.” Dan pouted, pissed his source of entertainment had been taken for the night.

I pulled my phone out from my pocket. No texts, no missed calls and thirty-three minutes later than when Megs said she was going to be here. Another minute and I’d be getting TJ on the horn— someone had some explaining to do.

Since finding out I was going to be a dad, it was insane how fucking protective and territorial I’d become. It was straight up caveman shit, I didn’t understand it but I knew well enough to know there was no fighting it either. And no shit, if I could wrap Megs in cotton wool for the next eight months, I’d do it.

The door buzzer sounded and it looked like I was finally going to be put out of my misery. Thank fucking Christ.

The relief, however, was short lived ’cause when the door swung open it wasn’t Megs. The two chicks whose names I didn’t quite remember were busy squealing over Ash’s newly acquired engagement ring in the entranceway with no sign of my girl.

I’d waited long enough. “Need to make a call, guys. Give me a sec.” Neither Dan nor Jase asked questions as I turned my back and put some distance between us so I could get busy giving JT the where-the-fuck-are-you.

“Oh, hi Troy.” One of the pair, who’d just walked in, popped up in front of me—her smile was more than just a little friendly. My phone that had barely made it out of my pocket was still in my hand as she gave me a wave to go with the smile. I hadn’t even had a chance to dial.

“Hey…” I search my mind for her name. It had to be in there somewhere; both Ashlyn and Megs had introduced us a couple of times. I’d never been interested enough to take notice.

“Brianne.” She let me off the hook, adding another little smile at the end. Well at least I hadn’t pissed her off, not that she was high on my list of priorities but being out and out rude to a friend of Ash and Megs wouldn’t win me any favors either.

“Right. Brianne. How are you doing?” My phone got shoved back into my pocket as I mentally calculated how long I would have to talk to her. One minute? Five? Surely Megs would show in that time. If she didn’t— polite or not— I’d be giving Brianne a friendly shove and making that call.

“I’m good. Really good.” More smiles and I had to wonder if the girl hadn’t taken some happy pills before she’d shown up.

Ash flicked her eyes over to us and gave me a nod. Not sure if she was glad ’cause I wasn’t being an asshole to her friend or Brianne talking to me meant one less chick pawing at the rock on her hand. So guess I was stuck a little while longer. Jase and Dan were no help either; the two of them not even giving us a second look as they stood where I’d left them deep in conversation.

“Great.” I forced my mouth into a smile. Great? Not even close.

Brianne continued to talk, but a bunch of words was all I heard. My limit for waiting had just been reached when another loud buzz came from the door. And if that door opened and Megs wasn’t behind it, there would be some serious hell to pay.

“Hey, everyone. Sorry I’m late.” Megs burst through the doorway, her face more pale than when I’d left. My need to be polite put on a back burner as I moved closer to where the action was.

“So where is he?” Ashlyn asked, her head poking out the doorway looking to see if someone else was with her. Not fucking likely.

“Ash, I’m sorry. It was late notice and he had to work.” Well what do you know, she sounded genuinely sincere, she must’ve been working on the act in the car ride over. Maybe that’s why she’d been late.

Megs shot me a look but didn’t hold it for long, instead giving Ash her attention as the questioning continued.

“It’s Sunday, what does he do?” Ash wasn’t letting it go that easy, not that I’d expected anything less.

“He’s a fireman.” Megs smiled like she’d just been given a puppy. I wasn’t sure if I should be proud she was really trying to pull it off or pissed that she was pretending she was with someone else.

“He let you slide down his pole?” The expected Dan response didn’t take too long to show up. I had tried to warn her about pole jokes— she hadn’t listened.

“Dan, really.” Ash planted her hands on her hips and gave her head a shake but no one seemed surprised. Megs relaxed a little seeing the heat was off her, at least short term.

“Sorry babe, it kind of needed to be said.” Dan shrugged, the shit-eating grin showing how
not
sorry he was.

“So, your fireman.” Ash turned back to Megs, the twenty questions far from done. “Does he have a name?”

The more I watched, the more juiced up I was getting. Fuck it. She was clearly not herself, I could tell just by looking at her, and I wasn’t sure if it was the fucking stress of sprouting bullshit or if she was genuinely not well.

“So Troy, are you done with the new album? You will be touring soon I’m assuming?” Brianne shoved herself in front of me again, stopping me from hearing Megs’s answer.

“Huh?” The words she had said not fully registering in my head because I’d been worried about my girl.

“Touring? The band will be going on the road, right?” she repeated, her body so close to me I had to take a step back.

“Rory’s so busy and sort of shy. Maybe some other time….” Bits of Megs’s conversation floated over to me as Brianne waited for a response. Hinting that her interest in the Megs show was done and dusted.

“Yeah, next year sometime,” I answered, not bothering to look at her, my eyes focused on Megs who was looking paler by the second.

“Would love to see a show. You guys are fantastic live,” Brianne continued. Stepping in front of me when I tried to get closer to where Megs was standing. This dance was getting old.

“I’m sure we can manage to float you some tickets. No big deal.” I threw it out there hoping that the promise of free tickets would get her off my ass. I had been done with this conversation five minutes ago.

“Rory sounds like a douche if you ask me. What kind of guy can’t get his shit together for his girl.” Dan weighed in, adding to my already short fuse.

“Really? You would give me tickets?” Brianne smiled and side stepped in front of me again.

“Yeah, like I said, it’s no big deal.” I moved again finally getting past her.

“Oh, thank you, Troy, you’re the best.” She threw her arms around me stopping me from moving forward, her hands getting familiar with my chest.

“Heyyyyyyy. Wow. Easy there.” I got to work quickly trying to peel her arms off my body, but she was persistent, tightening her grip as I tried to move her fingers.

My eyes shot to Megs, who because of my edging to get closer, now had a front row seat to Brianne’s little show. The seething eyes and the tight mouth enough of a hint she wasn’t happy.

“You smell nice, is that some special cologne you’re wearing?” She moved her head closer, sniffing my neck as I tried to maneuver out.

“Brianne, hey.” I was done being nice. “How about you let go. I don’t want to hurt you.” I was completely ready to rip her hands off me if she didn’t fucking remove them herself.

“I like it, you smell manly.” She completely ignored me, like I hadn’t just asked her to get her fucking mitts off me.

“Get your hands off him!” Megs seethed as she stormed over to us, yanking on Brianne’s arm.

“Megs? Oh hey, sweetie, I was just chatting to Troy.” She patted my chest like I was her fucking pet as I freed myself from her.

“Yeah, I saw how you were chatting to him. Any closer and you would be giving him a lap dance.” She planted her hands on her hips, her voice full of venom.

“Ah-ha. I fucking knew it!” Kyla pointed at us both, her eyes and grin just as big as each other. “I knew it. I told you we would smoke them out. ”

Kyla and Brianne high fived each other and the pieces came together. The whole fucking thing had been a set up and we’d both been played.

“Knew what? What?” Dan looked around, confused not knowing what the hell was going on.

“Oh lord, here we go.” Jase laughed, knowing the shit storm had just been unleashed.

“Megs and Troy are together.” Brianne smiled, proud her little performance had outed us. If I hadn’t been so distracted with concern with Megs, I would have seen this shit a mile away.

“Megs and Troy are together? Does the fireman know?” Dan looked between Megs and me, trying to play catch up.

“There’s no fireman, you moron. Try and keep up.” Jase smacked him on the shoulder.

“Fuck it.” I did what I should have done from the start. I grabbed Megs’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Yes, we’re together. We were trying to keep it on the DL and not make a big deal about it but now it’s out there, we’re seeing each other. We’re a couple. Whatever you wanna call it, I’m done with this hiding shit.”

“Waaiiiiiitttt a minute.” Dan held up his hands, giving me the eyeball. “What about all those broads you’ve been screwing?”

“There weren’t any other broads. It was just Megs.” I slung my arm around her and tucked her in close. It’s what I had wanted to do from the minute she’d walked in. It felt good and I made a fucking promise that from now on, I wouldn’t be holding back.

“Fuck, it’s like Lexi and Alex all over again. Seriously, I’m fucking offended. Why the hell wasn’t I in on this memo?” He threw up his hands in disgust.

“Dan, not now,” I warned.

“People are fucking, left, right and center and I’m none the wiser.” He continued to run his mouth at the risk of a beat down from me. His attention turned to Ash who didn’t look all that surprised. “Did you know?”

“Not until Kyla came to me with her theory. Although I’m really not surprised.” She tucked her arms around Dan and gave us a smile.

“So you played us? You weren’t really flirting with Troy?” Megs looked at her friends, apparently needing confirmation on what I already knew.

“Come on, Megs, girl code. I would never go after a guy you’ve been lusting over for years. But Kyla and I decided that you would probably need the incentive to come clean.” Brianne gave her a smile, her delight fucking obvious.

“I hate you both.”

“No you don’t. Look how awesome it is. All in the open.” Kayla smirked, giving Brianne a hug. The pair of them, pleased.

“Whatever.” Megs waved them off and turned her attention back to me.

“Well now everyone knows about us, can you give me a minute so I can kiss my girl?” Not that I needed the permission, my mouth on Megs was happening and the fact I’d waited this long was a fucking miracle.

“Oh, so sweet.” Brianne clapped her hands together, giving us her endorsement.

“I mean, literally everyone is fucking and not telling me.” Dan was still stuck on the same old tune.