34. Graham
GRAHAM
I’m going to burn these panties. I don’t want her to have anything that Kraig touched.
“I hope you don’t like them.”
“Are you buying me new ones?”
“I like you without them.”
I hand Dani the plate of snacks I found for her and, her hand in mine, lead her back to the party.
I want to take her home. Want to make her love me. She wants to. I can see it, the yearning in her eyes. She’s falling for me, and I didn’t even kiss her.
Someone bodychecks me.
“Blink twice if you need help.”
Then my brothers are crowding around me.
“I’m actually good right now,” Dani says around the crab-and-cheese pastry she’s eating. “Graham’s been a real good sport.”
Grayson looks suspicious. “Are you on drugs? Did you drug her to bring her to this party?” he demands.
“Nope, just drunk,” she squeaks.
Her eyes do look a little big, her pupils round and dark, though I think that’s because five minutes ago she had my fingers on her cunt. I hand her a napkin. She takes it gratefully.
“I told you, I’m the victim here,” I drawl.
“Fuck you,” Grayson snarls.
Aaron turns to Dani. “Let us know if he gives you any trouble. We appreciate your discretion in this matter.”
“I’m from the Upper East Side. The whole place would collapse and WW3 would break out if people couldn’t keep their mouths shut,” Dani jokes.
“This is a nice party. I want to get a wedding invite. Can you not fight here?” Spencer hisses.
“I don’t think we’re getting any more invitations.” Finn raises an eyebrow. “I feel like we’re crashing.”
“You are,” I tell him.
“A wedding invitation? All her friends and family have pictures of his dick on their phones, so I think the next customary step is a proposal,” Connor says, not looking up from where he’s texting.
“Look,” Dani says in a rush, swallowing a bite of the tiniest hamburger I’ve ever seen. “It was a big misunderstanding…”
“You did what?” Aaron growls. Connor shows him a photo.
Aaron swears.
“Huh.” Finn looks at it. “Mine’s bigger.”
“Can you stop looking at photos of my junk? What the fuck is wrong with you? Who does that?” I snap at my brothers.
“My cousin and I compare titty pictures.” Dani hiccups.
“See.” Finn gestures. “This is perfectly normal behavior and has nothing whatsoever to do with being raised in a hole in the ground.”
“Shut up. This is a nice party. Also, Dani is not a good measuring stick of normal behavior. She blackmailed me.”
“Her kidnapper,” Grayson says flatly.
“Stop saying kidnapping.”
“Ooh! What are we whispering about? Is it a secret?” A short redhead ducks under Grayson’s arms into the huddle.
“So was this a dick selfie, or did you take that photo yourself, Graham?” The redhead turns to Dani. “Hi! I’m Lexi, Graham’s almost sister-in-law. We’re going to be family!” Lexi wraps Dani in a hug that I know from experience is unexpectedly rib-cracking for her small size.
“Oh, Lexi! Hi! You’re the one who Graham said was bringing pasta salad.”
“See!” The tiny redhead swats my oldest brother. “I told you we should have brought it.”
“That’s okay,” Dani assures her. “It wasn’t a potluck, but I made a little card for it in case it showed up.”
“We were supposed to bring things? You didn’t tell us that!”
I jerk back, breaking up the huddle.
“Uh, Hannah? Bridget?”
For some reason I’m shocked to see my younger half sisters. I had not, admittedly, informed either side of my family that the other was going to be there. I guess I was hoping that if I didn’t say anything, it wouldn’t be real.
“You came!” Dani, thankfully, is still in tipsy-hostess mode. “Don’t worry. You didn’t have to bring any food or anything like that. And Graham already had gifts bought on all of your behalves.”
“What?” Spencer recovers first. “You didn’t tell me you were buying gifts.”
“I wouldn’t have bought anything if I’d known you were,” Finn complains.
“I didn’t bring anything.” Connor looks up from his phone.
Dammit. Now the rest of my half-siblings are coming over.
“Is this the famous Connor who ruins cars?” Ryan grins and holds out his hand.
Dani makes introductions. I realize I’m holding my breath.
Ryan looks between me and my brothers. “Man, you guys look a lot alike.”
“Genetics are weird,” Hannah chirps.
Thank God the younger two weren’t invited. My half-siblings are blatantly staring.
I tried really hard to keep the two sides of my life separate. It seemed better for everyone.
“You know, we should all hang out,” Bridget says brightly.
“Really? Because I have a yacht that I’ll take any excuse to use,” Spencer says lightly.
“Ooh, can we host Claire’s bachelorette party on it?” Dani’s excited. “Sorry! You probably already have a wedding party and everything. I’m just in unofficial maid-of-honor mode and can’t help but plan.”
“What? You have to be in my bridal party!” Claire grabs her hand.
“Especially if Graham’s paying for everything.” Hannah grins.
“I love a bachelorette party. And if you need a stripper…” Spencer smirks.
“No.” Grayson’s shaking his head.
“Not me! I think Connor needs to pay off some debt.”
“I didn’t lose that much on crypto.” Connor snorts.
“Dude, I was going to say the car.”
“Oh no.” Dani’s shoulders slump.
Across the room, my mom is yakking a mile a minute with Dani’s parents, who are nodding along politely.
“Let me just go run interference. One sec, then I’m going to give you girls a tour since we’re prepping for Claire’s wedding. There’s a blank check with your name on it, isn’t that right, Graham?”
“You don’t have to, Graham,” Ryan tells me. “We have a budget from Mom and Dad.”
Aaron and Grayson exchange another look.
“He might as well,” Dani tells Ryan. “He never buys anything fun.”
“I don’t have to, because Spencer just buys whatever the hell he wants. He has a helicopter.”
“Oh, I’m totally down!”
We stop to say hello to Aaron’s fiancée, Daisy, who apparently Dani knew from summer camp and already had an invitation on her own merit.
“By the way, nice dick pic, Graham.” Daisy blows me a kiss. “You’re really the talk of the party. Aaron thinks you should get it pierced.”
“No, Aaron does not,” my brother says, shocked.
A few older women toast me with their glasses as Dani and I hurry over to our parents.
“There he is! Glad you could join us, kid. We were looking everywhere for you.” Mom smiles at me. “This is my kid.” Mom grabs my arm and whirls me to face Dani’s parents. “He’s incredibly boring. All he does is work and make money. But curiously, he never shops.”
“We think he’s lovely,” Linda says. “We just adore your son. He’s a wonderful young man, and we just can’t believe what he sees in Dani.”
“He is wonderful!” Aurora shakes me slightly. “And are you kidding me? Dani is great! She’s really got him out of his shell, don’t you think, Frank?”
My stepdad just grunts.
“I hear there’s already talk of a wedding.” My mom chatters on. “You know, I love a wedding. Free food, open bar. Yay!” Mom pumps a fist.
“Well, I’m sure that Dani’s parents have other guests they need to meet,” I say delicately. I’m sure Mom’s been talking their ear off.
“Are you kidding me?” Hank is aghast. “I want to hear all about Graham right from the source.”
“We’ve bonded.” My mom smiles. “I learned that Hank also has a Costco card, and we are planning a Costco date. They have giant wheels of cheese, so the rumors say.”
“Beans, don’t give me that look, you love cheese,” Hank tells his daughter.
“Graham likes cheese too.” Mom grins.
“They’re a match made in heaven.”
“They’ve gotten awfully cozy.” Mom winks.
“It was, we must say, a big surprise to learn that Dani’s been secretly dating someone,” Linda offers.
“Yeah, us too,” Frank interjects. “So she kept it a secret from you, too, eh?”
I don’t like the line of questioning.
“I just didn’t want him to, you know, ghost me or something. Or if it was a big joke,” Dani says in a rush.
“Graham would never do that. Graham’s one of the good ones,” Mom assures her parents.
Dani drains the rest of her drink. “Have you seen anyone else floating around with more of these?”
Mental note for next wedding.
“I’m just fuzzy on the timeline and was hoping you all could help fill in some missing pieces.” Frank presses them, gesturing casually with his beer bottle. “Was Dani, say, sneaking out to go see him or anything like that?”
“Our daughter sneaking out to go meet a boy?” Linda’s eyebrows shoot up.
“I think the doorman would have said something, but maybe she paid him off. Right, honey?” Hank winks at Dani, who looks like she wants to drown herself in her wineglass. “They could have been sexting, though. You know, that’s what the kids do these days.”
“Not my daughter.” Linda glares at Dani.
“I’ll check Graham’s phone,” Frank says flatly.
“No one’s checking anyone’s phone. They’re adults, and we’re very happy that they’ve found love. Yay!” Mom gives me another shake.
“Yes. About time.” Linda sighs.
“The nick of time.” Dani’s father snickers then pulls her in for a quick hug.
“Don’t mind Frank. Open bar, am I right?
He’s a bull in a china shop,” Mom says rapidly.
“Frank, you’re going to ruin this for Graham.
And me. I want a fancy wedding. Dani, I promise I won’t be a weird, controlling mother of the groom.
You can put me in whatever dress you want.
No pressure! I’m also not organized enough to plan anything, so you don’t have to worry about me micromanaging. ”
“Honestly, we’ll take all the help we can get,” Dani assures her.
“What? This is a nice couples shower.”
“Her cousin hosted this. Dani did the bridal tea,” Linda corrects.
“Um, no. I planned both Colette’s tea and this, because her cousin was MIA for literally all of it, and—”
“Dani, we are not talking about this here,” Linda hisses and grabs her daughter. “It was so lovely to meet you both. Rest assured, Graham, the wedding will be tasteful and worthy of someone of your social standing.”
“Looking forward to our Costco date.” Hank waves to my mom.
“Sorry! I promise we’re not white trash,” my mom calls as Dani herds her parents off.
“Frank!” She hits him with her clutch.