Chapter 23
“Can I get you guys another round?” the waitress asks.
I’m at one of the semi-regular Beers and Balls nights with two other guys, but her eyes are exclusively on me.
“All good here,” I say, nodding to my mostly full glass.
“Same,” Rhody says.
Leo nods in agreement. Once the waitress has moved on, he glances at me. “If you ask for her number, I bet we’ll get a free round.”
“Dude”—Rhody laughs—“have you seriously not heard?”
Leo frowns, glancing between me and Gideon. “Heard what?”
“Flynn is dating”—he pauses for emphasis—“Rory Kensington.”
Leo’s eyebrows rise as he focuses on me. “Really?”
“Really,” I state, then take a sip of beer.
“My reaction too,” Rhody says, also taking a swig. He grins. “I can’t believe you hadn’t heard. They snuck into the bathroom at Graham’s birthday party for a quickie. It’s all anyone was talking about.”
“Is that why Kit didn’t come tonight?” Leo wonders. “Is he pissed you’re banging his cousin?”
“I can’t take you seriously as a doctor when banging is part of your vocabulary,” I tell Leo. “And, no, it’s not. Kit gave me his blessing.”
I’m guessing Kit’s absence is due to Collins’s pregnancy, which hasn’t been widely announced yet, but the excuse he gave our group chat was a last-minute work trip.
Which is also feasible. Since he started working at his family’s company, Kit has steadily taken on more and more responsibility at Kensington Consolidated.
“Was he drunk at the time?”
I scoff. “No.”
“You’re an upgrade from Albright, I guess,” Leo comments, reaching for his beer. “Fucked up, what he did.”
Rhody nods in agreement. “Figured she’d marry him before Kit got Collins down an aisle.”
One kid—soon-to-be two—later, Kit has yet to add husband to his other title of father. He’s not the one holding things up; his girlfriend is. She said she didn’t want to get married simply because they were having a baby together, and I suppose that’s about to be the case again.
“I heard Carson is dating the girl from the video,” Leo says. “His mom was ranting to mine about it. They thought they were going to land Rory Kensington as a daughter-in-law; now they’re stuck with a woman everyone has seen sucking their son’s dick. Talk about awkward.”
Carson texted her.
That thought has popped up at inopportune times—while I was drafting memos, jogging on the treadmill, cooking—ever since Rory revealed that Carson told her about that night at Proof.
There was so much going on. The fire alarm, the towel thing.
It wasn’t until hours later that it occurred to me that I didn’t ask—and she didn’t offer—for more context about her conversation with him.
Did she reply?
What did she say, if she did respond?
Is she still texting him?
I care.
I should care because it’s relevant to the situation we’re in. Everyone knows about us. This isn’t a hypothetical anymore. My father would probably give my inheritance to Perry rather than release the funds after finding out I faked an engagement just to get the money.
But that’s not why it’s bothering me. Carson is a cowardly, self-centered asshole who didn’t deserve a second of Rory’s attention, let alone four years, but they were together a long time.
He was part of her plan—the ring and the wedding and the babies—and their awful ending doesn’t erase any history.
Whether or not she’ll admit or even realize it, Rory is mourning a certain future. All I’m offering is a distraction.
I reach for my beer, swallow a large sip, and then settle back in my seat to watch baseball with my friends.