Chapter 15 #4
Laney stands next to him, her hands planted on her hips. “I’m gonna hear about that call later, especially if they lose.”
“It’s bullshit.” Rhonan turns around, grabs his drink from the table beside him, and drains half of it.
Elliot has one hand shoved in the pocket of his jeans, while the other is holding his beer. “It’s only the first quarter. I don’t think the game is decided from one call this early.”
“Not according to Fletcher. Trust me, I know my fiancé,” Laney fires back as the three of them continue to stare down at the field below them. Henley is standing there as well, remaining stoic and relatively unbothered by the call, sipping on his water.
Dilynne and I are standing off to the side in the back of the room, drinking from our glasses of champagne. “My brother is drinking water,” she says, almost in a disbelieving tone.
“Is that a problem?”
“Only if he’s not aware of it.”
I stifle my laugh. “He hasn’t been drinking since the night he went out with Warren.”
She looks at me from over her shoulder. “Really?”
“Yeah. He also finally finished Remy’s room and when we dropped her off at Carol and Nick’s earlier, I thought he might change his mind about coming here. He looked so distraught about leaving her.”
Dilynne grins around the rim of her glass. “Is that so?”
“Why are you smiling?”
“No reason. What about his alter ego?”
“Which is?”
“Gorilla man,” she answers, which clicks when I remember how Henley referred to himself a week ago.
“Oh. I think the gorilla has been tamed for the time being.”
“More like tranquilized,” she mutters. “So you two are good?”
Is this the moment I tell her about the kiss? And about how he’s been opening up to me?
Luckily, Henley takes the reins on that decision, walking over to us and kissing my temple before asking, “Do you want a refill?”
Dilynne’s mouth falls open.
“No, I’m okay. Thank you.”
He nods and then turns to his sister. “What about you?”
“Um, I’m good for now. Thanks.”
“All right.” Nodding again, he heads to the back of the suite and starts filling a plate with food that is set up for us, buffet style.
Dilynne looks back at me. “He fucked you, didn’t he?”
“What? No…”
Her eyes narrow as she lowers her voice. “Well, something has definitely changed because the man that just came up to us…” She points a finger at her brother across the space. “That is not my brother.”
Sighing, I pull her off to the side a bit more. “We’ve been…talking. He kissed me, admitted that he’s feeling things, but asked me to just be patient while he works through stuff, so I have been.”
Dilynne’s entire face softens. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
She clears her throat. “Wow.”
“What are you two whispering about?” Henley asks as he comes back over to us, handing me a bowl of popcorn and a spoon.
Dilynne grows confused. “Uh, why is there a spoon in that bowl of popcorn?”
“Because that’s how Elodie eats it.”
Dilynne’s eyes nearly fall out of her head. “Okay, who are you and what have you done with my brother?”
Henley’s face transforms into the annoyed look that he normally has. “Jesus, Dil. Calm down.”
She stabs a finger into the center of his chest. “No, you are acting really weird, okay?”
Laney is giggling behind her hand. “Dilynne, isn’t it obvious?” she says.
“Is what obvious?”
“He likes his nanny,” Laney announces, drawing the attention of the entire room to us now. My cheeks instantly grow hot.
“Thank you for that,” Henley mutters before turning to me. “I’m sorry in advance for what is about to happen.”
Rhonan and Elliot race over to us like teenage girls that just heard the juiciest secret ever. “Holy shit. Did I just hear what I think I heard?”
Henley groans, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Please just leave us alone.”
Rhonan slaps him on the back. “No can do, my friend.” Then he turns to me, brushing a hand through his thick, dirty blonde hair. “I just want to point out that I caught his crush on you before everyone else.”
“Uh, no you did not,” Dilynne counters. “I warned her first.”
Elliot grumbles. “Dear lord, Dilynne. It’s not a fucking contest.”
“No one asked you, Grumpzilla.”
“Okay, that’s enough,” Laney interjects, pointing to the windows where the game is still happening.
“Need I remind you that we’re here to watch Fletcher play, not interfere in Henley and Elodie’s…
situation,” she finishes, unsure of how to classify what we are.
And that makes two of us. “So, kindly return to the window and watch the game because if Fletcher asks you about a play and you don’t know what he’s talking about, you know how irritated he’s going to get. ”
Rhonan and Elliot begrudgingly leave the group. Dilynne looks at Laney. “Me too?”
“Yes. I just want to speak to Elodie and Henley alone for a minute, and then we’ll be right there.”
She rolls her eyes. “You act like I shouldn’t be privy to this conversation.”
“The way you just reacted proved that you shouldn’t.”
Stomping off in annoyance, Dilynne finds a seat right at the glass, propping her feet up while sipping on her drink.
By the time Laney turns back to Henley and me, my pulse is firing so fast, I can feel my entire body shaking. “Sorry about outing you, but it was sort of obvious. You two all right?”
Henley pulls me into his chest, kissing the top of my head, calming me almost instantly. “I knew this was going to happen.”
“Welcome to the club,” Laney mutters. “I love our group, I do. But when something shifts, you’d think the damn world was ending. Just know that if there’s anyone who understands the scrutiny you feel, it’s me and Fletcher.”
Henley nods. “Thank you for that, Laney.” He peers down at me before asking, “Are you okay? I told you this game would be a lot to handle.”
“I’m fine. Just trying to balance everything.”
He tips my chin up and kisses my lips. “There’s nothing for you to balance. I don’t give a shit what any of them think, okay? I’m just trying to focus on you, so if you can do the same for me, we’ll be fine.”
The sincerity in his voice is such a difference from the irritation I picked up when I first met him over two months ago. “Okay.”
“Good girl.” With a chaste kiss, he releases me and then heads back to his seat, ignoring the questions that Elliot and Rhonan are tossing at him.
“Oh my,” Laney says, pulling my attention back to her.
“Yeah.”
“I take it things are going well.”
The sigh that leaves my lips takes some of my nerves with it. “Yes. He’s opening up to me, Laney, like he said he would. There’s been more…touching,” I say through nervous laughter. “But now that we’re here for the night, I’m unsure of what tonight will bring.”
“You two haven’t…”
I shake my head. “Not all the way, no. But I don’t even know if he booked one room or two.”
Laney rolls her eyes. “God, I remember when Fletcher and I were taking things slow. I swear, using that word only made me want to sleep with him even more.”
“That’s exactly how I feel,” I mumble around the rim of my glass. “It’s been hard to restrain myself.”
“Then my advice is to go with what feels right. Speaking from experience, by the time Fletcher and I aired everything we needed to, there was no hesitation from either of us.” My heart and body are so primed that I’m sure there won’t be any from me as well.
“Speaking of hesitation though, have you made a decision about performing at the winery?”
“I’m not gonna lie, I haven’t thought about it much this past week. I’ve been a little…distracted.”
Laney bounces her eyebrows up and down. “What a horrible problem to have.” Laughing, she continues, “But I do need a decision from you.”
Part of me doesn’t want to perform because I’m afraid of how it’s going to make me feel, but the other part is dying to sing for a crowd. “Okay. Fine. I’m in.”
Laney starts clapping. “Hell yes! Oh my God, I’m so excited. You’re going to be amazing.”
“I hope so. I’ve never performed an entire set, but I know a lot of songs and I might sing a few originals too.”
“That’s perfect. We can talk more about it later…”
Dilynne’s boisterous laugh interrupts our conversation. “Yes, girl! Take it off!” The boys follow suit, cackling as they press their faces to the glass, peering below us.
Laney and I share a look before rushing to the window to see what’s got everyone cheering.
An older woman in her sixties is twirling her shirt around in the air, standing in her stadium seat in nothing but her bra and jeans as “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys is playing through the stadium speakers.
Clearly, she’s enjoying herself and doesn’t care what the people around her think.
Good for her.
Elliot mumbles around the rim of his glass. “And here I was thinking the saying was, ‘Tequila makes her clothes fall off.’ Turns out, it’s songs by the Backstreet Boys.”
All of us break out in laughter.
“God, if I had the chance to see them back in their prime, I probably would have behaved that way too,” Laney interjects as the woman starts twerking now, her dance moves such a contrast to the beat of the song. Perhaps she has had some tequila as well.
“If I had a house, I would take out a second mortgage to see NSYNC do a reunion tour,” I add.
The boys turn to look at us like we’re a puzzle they can’t solve.
Dilynne clears her throat. “You’re on your own with this one, you two. Boy bands weren’t my thing. But if I had the chance to be with Frank Sinatra or Jon Bon Jovi back in his prime, then add me to the list of fangirls gone wild.”
The boys start talking shit, us girls continue to reminisce about our celebrity music crushes, and the game gets more intense by the minute.
But in the back of my mind, I’m still wondering if this champagne is going to make me lose my clothes later, or if it will be my lumberjack of a single dad boss that does that instead?