Chapter 27
CHAPTER 27
SIMON
T he night of Josh’s party, I pulled up to Benny’s house and groaned when I saw how many people had shown up. There were bodies everywhere, spilling out of the house and onto his front lawn. Thumping music and colorful, pulsating lights filtered out from inside.
The wide driveway was lined with more sports cars than any showroom in the city, low-slung masterpieces of engineering in red, yellow, and black. Benny’s huge house, a recently restored Tudor manor with a steeply gabled roof, loomed at the top of the drive, currently resembling a club more than a home.
As soon as he’d been able to afford a place like this, he’d bought it and had lived here even while it’d been in such a state of neglect that he’d barely had running water at first. The last few years, he’d pushed every penny he could spare into it, fixing it up from top to bottom, more than just restoring it to its former glory.
Sometimes, the effort he’d put into it made me question my own choices. He’d bought a house he planned on living in forever while I’d opted to buy a penthouse at the southern end of Central Park in Manhattan, in a newly constructed building lauded as being part of Billionaires’ Row. A place that hardly felt like a home but that was awesomely located and had come with all the bells and whistles.
On the other hand, I didn’t blow my money on huge parties like this anymore. I hadn’t had to wait to buy my place like he had or worry about fixing it up, but just because I had money didn’t mean I wasted it.
Well, not anymore anyway.
Now that I was getting closer to my thirties, I was realizing more and more that I was pretty tired of the party scene. I’d only come tonight to wish my buddy a happy birthday and to try to have a word with Abi—if she even showed up.
After that was done, I’d be gone. Yet, I did wonder about the house thing. Maybe it was time to start thinking about making a move. Find a place I wanted to make my own. My home.
Well, maybe after the Fit Gal thing is done, that is. I don’t have time to worry about shit like that right now.
Winding my way up to his garages, I used the clicker he’d given me to open one and parked inside. Then I let myself into the house through his kitchen door. Unsurprisingly, there was a mass of bodies packed in here as well, and immediately, a few girls took notice of me.
They were women we’d partied with in the past, all coming over to say hi, but I hardly even looked at any of them. I had no intention of talking to any girl except for Abigail tonight, and while I was used to being something of a magnet to women wherever I went, it had completely lost its appeal.
Instead of paying anyone any mind, I made my way through the house to Benny’s man cave, where I found him, Josh, and David playing pool. There was a built-in bar on one side of the room and a massive TV mounted on the wall on the other, u-shaped leather couches taking up the space between the pool table and the TV.
Why he needed a man cave when he lived alone and his entire house was basically a man cave, I didn’t know, but I suddenly wondered why I didn’t have one. Why haven’t I ever even thought about it before? I’ve been working too damn much, ignoring my life.
After my ultimatum to my dad, I’d found myself reassessing quite a lot of things. I blew out a breath and shook myself out of my weird-ass, pitiful misery. Delivering a stolen pitch was far from the worst thing I’d ever done. I felt awful about who it had belonged to, but I couldn’t change everything about my life overnight simply because I was starting to question a few things.
I grinned as I walked up to my friends, approaching Josh first and reaching out to shake his hand. “Happy birthday, man. I hope it’s been a good one.”
He shook with me before he pumped his eyebrows. “Look around you. It’s been great.”
“I’m glad.” I exhaled and withdrew my hand from his, turning to David next and then to Benny. “Quite the turnout, man. When you said you were doing this for Josh, I kind of figured it’d be a few guys and some beers.”
He laughed. “Nah. It’s been a while since we’ve had a rager. I figured it was about time. I’m glad you decided to show. You’re like a little old grampa these days, staying in all the time.”
“Yeah, well, like you said, it’s Josh’s birthday.” I surveyed the progress they’d made with the game on the table. “I’m going to grab a drink, but I’m playing the winner. Show you how it’s done.”
Josh smirked. “That means you’ll be playing me.”
“Bullshit.” Benny laughed, tightening his grip around the pool cue he was holding. “It might be your birthday, but that doesn’t mean I’m throwing the game. If you want to win, you’ll have to do it fair and square.”
David clapped me on the shoulder when he came to stand next to me. “I’ll come with you to grab a drink, but you should know they’re not here yet.”
“Who?” I glanced at him as we strode over to the fully stocked bar.
“You know damn well who. Benny told me you were hoping to speak to Abigail tonight.” David moved behind the bar, grabbing two tumblers out of a cabinet and picking up a bottle of whiskey from the counter. The music wasn’t as loud in here as it was in other areas of the house, which meant it was easier to hear him, but he still had to speak up.
He dropped some ice from a bucket into the tumbler and added a splash of whiskey to each. “So how’re you doing?”
I shrugged. “I’m going to need more than that in my glass before I’m opening that can of worms.”
“That bad, huh?” Bringing the bottle back up, he poured at least a triple shot before he pushed the tumbler toward me. “What happened? Benny mentioned your panties were in a twist yesterday.”
“That tends to happen when your dad tricks you into betraying someone you care about.” I wrapped my fingers around my drink, picking it up and taking a long sip before I shook my head. “Dear old dad blew up whatever I might’ve had going on with Abi. Again.”
David winced. “He’s not shipping you off to Harvard again, is he?”
“Worse. He stole intellectual property and forgot to mention it to me.” I took another deep drink, needing to get the fire raging within me under control. “I don’t think there’s going to be any coming back from it this time, brother. I’m going to try, but he had me dig my own grave and I didn’t even realize it.”
He shot a look at Josh and Benny, and the next thing I knew, they were at the bar too. David lined up four shot glasses and slid a bottle of Jagermeister out of the freezer, filling the little glasses to the brim.
“George has struck again,” he said by way of explanation to the others about why he’d summoned them, and both groaned before they reached for their shots.
We held them up in the air, toasted to Josh’s birthday, and then I told them about the whole sordid situation. Benny’s jaw slackened, his face growing serious while Josh collapsed onto his butt on the stool closest to him. David simply flinched and refilled everyone’s drinks.
“So what now?” he asked, handing over a beer to a girl who had come up to the bar and then waving her away when she tried to join us. “No one outside of us can ever find out this happened.”
“Agreed.” I took a sip of my drink, relishing the smooth burn of the alcohol as it slid down my throat. “Honestly, I don’t know what happens now. I need a shot at apologizing to Abigail, and it looks like tonight might be my only chance.”
“I’m assuming she didn’t want to talk to you after the pitch, while you were still at Fit Gal yesterday?” Benny cursed under his breath. “This is a potential disaster, bro. I realize you probably already know that, but shit. What the hell was George thinking?”
My head shook. “The simple answer? He was thinking that he wanted to win. Win what, I don’t know, considering that they were only mock pitches and nothing rode on them, but that’s where we’re at.”
“You’ve tried calling her?” Josh asked, but it wasn’t really a question.
“She disappeared after the pitches yesterday and she was giving me the cold shoulder before that,” I said to Benny before I nodded at Josh. “I’ve called. Texted. I even considered a carrier pigeon, but she’d shoot it down when she realized it came from me.”
“Bullshit.” David chuckled. “She’d never shoot a pigeon. It’s much more likely that she’d track you down and shoot you .”
“Fair enough.” I drained my drink and handed the empty glass to David for a refill. Then we all took our drinks and headed out of the man cave, joining the party.
“Do any of you know if they’re planning on coming tonight?” I asked.
“Eden said she was,” Josh volunteered, a strangely excited grin spreading on his lips. “That girl got hot after high school, don’t you think?”
I groaned and shook my head at him. “Don’t get too excited, bro. Eden is Abigail’s soul-sister. If Abi’s mad at me, I can guarantee that she’s pissed at all of you, which means Eden will be too.”
“Maybe she is, but she still said she would be here.” He lifted his gaze to the front door as if he was looking for her. I hadn’t seen any of them yet, though. “Have you got an apology ready?”
“Yep.”
“Well, then it looks like you’re in luck. You might just get the chance to talk to her after all.” He inclined his chin and I spun around to see Eden and Hazel walking in. Followed by Abigail and Austin.
She was hanging onto his arm, her gaze turned up to his face and a smile on her lips. My gut churned at the sight of them together again. Fuck, who the hell is that guy really and why is he always with her?