Page 272 of Hot Mess
He knew she existed, sure. But I really hadn’t told him anything substantial about her, or let on how serious about her I was.
I kept telling myself that was because he was so far away. That if we were in the same place, I would’ve told him right away. That once we were in the same place again, I’d fill him in.
But now that he was standing right in front of me in Jesse’s games room, shooting pool, I knew that wasn’t true.
I was avoiding telling him, because telling him about Danica and how I felt about her, how serious I was about her and what we were building together, felt like the final nail in the coffin. The shutting of the door on any possibility of a deeper relationship between Dylan and me.
That was bullshit, of course.
There was never any possibility of a deeper relationship between Dylan and me.
But telling him about Danica still felt like an ending, somehow. An official ending of one dream, however far-fetched, and the official beginning of something else.
Something I wantedbad.
Which was why I had to grow a pair and tell him.
He came over to me as soon as he’d finished kicking Zane’s ass at pool. Everyone kicked Zane’s ass at pool. Zane Traynor loved pool, owned his own pool table, and still sucked at it, so at least I wasn’t the only one with a failed dream.
Zane took a water off the bar and chugged it like he’d just run a marathon. “Rematch later, Cope.” He pointed at Dylan across the room.
“Anytime,” Dylan said with a chuckle.
Jesse came over and handed Dylan a fresh beer. “Well played,” he said. “You know I live to see that man fail.”
“I do my best.”
“So,” Jesse said, “how do you think the girls are doing?”
“I think the girls are probably shoving their hard-earned dollars into some dude’s g-string right now,” I answered.
“Mmm, don’t think so,” Dylan said. “According to Amber, Jessa enforced the same no-strippers rule as Brody did.”
“Yeah. That’s just what chicks tell guys so they won’t get strippers,” I informed him. “Then they turn around and sneak out to the nearest sausage factory.”
Dylan’s mouth hung open for a beat while he considered that. “Nah. Amber couldn’t pull that off with a straight face. I’d see through it.”
“Neither could Katie,” Jesse said.
“Maybe.” They were right, probably; knew their women better than I did. But I liked making them wonder. I chuckled.
Jesse tossed me a dirty look. “Your girl, Danica. She’s there, too?”
“She wasn’t invited. The girls don’t know her yet. She’ll be meeting pretty much everyone for the first time at the wedding tomorrow.”
Dylan grinned. “Nervous?”
“Why would I be?”
“I dunno. Girl talk? Skeletons unleashed from closets… dick comparison charts…”
Jesse snickered, but I just shrugged. “My dick’s got nothing to hide.”
Dylan laughed at my cockiness.
Honestly, I just hoped the girls would be welcoming to Danica. She was my girlfriend, and I hoped like hell she wasn’t going anywhere. And since Brody was now managing my band, they were all pretty much stuck with the both of us.
“I just hope they all hit it off,” I said. “I mean, if you guys were here, I’d hope Katie and Amber would hang with Danica.”
