Page 90 of Fake It For Love (Faux Love)
RYAN
Iwas so not looking forward to this night. I knew that was rude but hanging out with Tony and his pals was at the very bottom of my list of fun things to do.
Still, I didn’t want to be negative. So far, Tony had turned out to not be so bad. He was great with Norah and Claire. I especially appreciated him helping Claire the night of the storm.
It was nice to know she had friends that cared. If and when we decided to move forward with our relationship, I wanted her to have a support group. I traveled a lot and wanted to know someone was looking out for my girl.
My girl. She was mine.
I met Tony and crew in the lobby. A small bus had just pulled up. LED lights flashed through the open door. I had heard of party buses but had never actually been on one. This could be interesting.
“Let’s roll!” Tony shouted.
His war cry was met with shouts from the other guys. I hoped like hell the driver was ready for this crew.
We loaded onto the bus. Tony immediately opened one of the three ice chests and started passing out plastic bottles of beer. Someone had thought ahead by using plastic instead of glass.
“Tell us about the flight,” Tony said once the bus started moving.
“Sure, what about it?” I asked.
Derrick shook his head. “My wife would have killed me if I tried to do something like that. Was Claire pissed?”
“No,” I said and took a drink. “But she was worried.”
Tony scoffed. “You weren’t the one trying to keep her in the room. That woman was like a caged tiger. I was afraid she might turn on me at any minute. She was practically climbing the walls. Claire was not okay. Did you know she was going to go to the airport, right in the middle of that hell storm?”
“She was?”
“That’s a good woman for you,” Gabe said with a shake of his head. “She’ll kick your ass and cry over you at the same time. Did she kick you or kiss you when you walked through the door?”
I grinned. “She wasn’t pleased with me.”
“Shit,” Tony groaned. “She had me calling the airport every five minutes. I’m sure the guy wanted to kill me. When the power went out, she was ready to go. She never cried, but she made it clear she would be very displeased should that plane fall out of the sky.”
It was nice to know she was that worried. “It wasn’t my best decision.”
“You’re a badass,” Derrick said with a shake of his head. “I feel like I’m kicking ass when I take the minivan over seventy.”
I had to laugh at the image of him in a minivan. Claire had told me these guys were not the same as they were all those years ago. When they were together, they acted ridiculous, but they were just a bunch of married dudes with wives and kids. I knew one of them was a lawyer and another one worked in an investment firm. They probably spent their days in suits and lived the same day over and over.
“We’ve got our own Top Gun here,” Tony said. “You have to take me up one of these days.”
“Sure,” I said.
“I think we deserve some credit for all his success,” Gabe said.
This was going to be good. I gave him my full attention. “Please, do tell.”
Gabe looked at the other guys. They all seemed to be equally interested in what he had to say. Gabe grabbed another beer from the cooler and handed it to me. “Look, it’s no secret we were all assholes in high school.”
“Speak for yourself,” one of the other guys said. “You four were the assholes. We just had to tolerate you.”
“That’s fair,” Derrick said.
Gabe stood up like he was going to give a speech. He held on to one of the straps hanging from the ceiling. Lights were running along the floorboard and the ceiling and splashing him with color. “We could be dicks,” he said. “We were young and dumb, but that doesn’t excuse it. Ryan, you especially took the brunt of our bullshit. I can’t believe you never laid us out.”
“There were more of you than me,” I said dryly. That earned a laugh.
