Chapter 7 #2
“Timing is everything,” Ledger says, like he’s been there himself.
Dev shoots him a sympathetic look. Despite the way they tease each other relentlessly, I get the sense they look out for each other in a found family kind of way.
Makes sense, since they’ve been friends forever, but it’s still nice to see.
It does something to my heart—makes it feel kind of warm and fond for them.
“Yeah, I think I learned that today,” I say. “About timing.”
“Just be glad you found out before you said I do,” Ledger adds.
I look in his eyes, trying to find the subtext of what he’s saying. Maybe an observation about his own brief marriage ending? But I don’t know why he and his wife split, and he leaves his comment for me to take at face value.
Dev jumps in to say, “Don’t beat yourself up, Aubs. You said you were about to tell your friends. Your gut was telling you something and you listened to it.”
“I got lucky,” I say, guilt still pricking at me.
Dev laughs. “I can’t tell you how many times luck saves my ass in a hockey game.”
Ledger gives a soft smile. “Same here. Maybe this was your lucky shot.”
Maybe they’re right. I had no way of knowing Aiden was heading down the gimme all the sex path until he confessed that he wanted to bang anyone and everyone. Perhaps my gut was warning me.
I smile past the guilt and shame, through the relief and the levity. “I guess I’ll take luck.”
Dev squeezes my hand. “Even if you wanted to end things with him before you walked down the aisle, and even if you were seconds away from telling your friends, that doesn’t mean it hurts less when someone says shitty things to you,” he says, his green eyes flashing with vulnerability.
They look darker now, bordering on hazel.
“When someone treats you like you were nothing. Like the time you spent with them was absolutely unimportant.”
That sounds like it’s spoken from his experience.
“Don’t you dare think Aiden’s anything but a total flaming jackass,” Ledger adds, patting my arm a little awkwardly.
I picture Aiden earlier leaving me to clean up his dirty work.
Peeling out of the lot. He didn’t even have the guts to face the guests.
Garrett had to handle all that. Oh. Wait.
“I nearly forgot. This is the cherry on the jackass sundae. He asked me to fuck him tonight,” I add, with a can you believe his nerve smile, “before he leaves town.”
Dev sputters.
Ledger’s eyes turn into livid slits. “No, he did not,” he hisses.
“Yes. He did,” I say, and I tell them the rest of Aiden’s sex invite.
“He left the room number?” Ledger asks.
“And he thinks you’re going to meet him there?” Dev asks.
“I never RSVP’d. I was a little too shocked.”
Dev’s grin turns dastardly. “Did you know I’m the king of dares and pranks?”
Actually, yes. “Seeing as you dared Ivy and Hayes to get married, I did know that,” I answer, flashing back to Ivy’s tale of her Vegas wedding to Hayes last season, when this handsome goalie right here dared her and the new guy to get hitched, claiming it was a team tradition.
She Vegas-married Hayes but went back to her hotel room with both him and the team captain, Stefan.
Thus began her very own throupling, and she’s happily married to both men now.
Dev lets go of my hand. “And I’d really like to let Aiden know he fucked with the wrong girl.”
I’m a little giddy at the prospect of his pranks. “What do you want to do?” I ask. Make that a lot giddy.
Dev licks his lips. His eyes flicker with sweet revenge. “Would you be willing to tell him you’ll be there at eight and he should answer the door in his boxers?”
Oh, this just keeps getting better. “I absolutely would.”
Dev’s got his phone out and is studiously tapping away on it. A minute later, he swivels it around to a site that ships…dicks. “They have an express one-hour service. A giant cardboard dick will be standing outside his room at eight. Say the word, Aubs.”
I guess they aren’t mad at me at all. “I would love to get a picture of his reaction, though,” I say.
Ledger clears his throat. “Hold on.”
Uh-oh. “Is Stern Brunch Daddy going to be the voice of reason?”
Ledger gives me a long, curious look. “That’s what you call me?”
“That’s what you are. You’re a good amount of strict.”
Dev chuckles while Ledger fixes me with another look—a darker one. “Do you want me to be Stern Brunch Daddy right now?”
A shiver runs down my spine. “Yes,” I whisper.
“Then what I was going to say is this,” Ledger says, leaning a little closer, looking to Dev, then me. “We’ll personally deliver that cardboard dick.”
It’s like I’ve drunk a glass of champagne. I’ve scored two front-row tickets to Amelia Stone. I’ve won the Best Balayage in the City award. “Yes. Please. Now!”
Dev types for a few more seconds, then hits a button on his phone. “We’ll meet them in the parking lot to get the dick.”
I feverishly tap out a text to my former groom telling him I’ll be there at eight to bang. “Done.”
Ledger tips his chin toward Beverly, balancing plates as she makes her way to us. “Eat fast, then. We’ve got to get this show on the road.”
I spread my napkin on my lap at lightning speed.
* * *
On the way out, Ledger and Dev argue about who’s paying.
Ledger wins. Dev harrumphs, then grabs a couple T-shirts from the display, scanning the sizes.
Satisfied, he whips out some bills from his wallet, likely way more than needed, then slaps them on the counter.
He adds a diner postcard. It’s a retro-style shot with the name lit up in neon. “Keep the change, Beverly,” he says.
With the quickness of a woman who can figure out fifteen percent of anything in less than a second, she takes the bills and gives a very approving nod. “Thanks, kid.”
I suspect he gave her way more than the recommended tip.
He slips the postcard into his back pocket. On the way out, I pat his arm. “You’re swee—”
I swallow the end of the word as Dev makes quick work of the buttons on his dress shirt. In no time, they’re undone and he’s tugging the material out of the waistband of his slacks, then shedding it, and…where is my jaw?
Dev’s abs have abs. His pecs are stacked. And the smattering of golden brown chest hair covering those muscles? It goes down, down, down into a tempting happy trail that teases me as it disappears into his pants.
It’s Christmas morning and my birthday all rolled into one.
As I walk to the car, I don’t know where to furtively look—at his broad chest, or the ladder of his abs, or the way they taper into a tight, trim V at his hips.
I choose…everywhere. Up, down, all around, I gawk at his glorious muscles and miles of skin, a little more golden than I’d expect for a guy with a fair complexion.
He must like to take his shirt off in the summer. I hope summer never ever ends.
A throat clears. “Aubrey, do you want me to pick up your chin from the ground?”
I startle at Ledger’s dry words and try, I swear I try, to collect my thoughts.
“Why…?” It’s all I can manage.
With a smug smile, Dev tugs the T-shirt on.
“It was hot in that dress shirt all day.” With his grin widening, he tips his chin toward me, then his buddy.
“Besides, you two are sporting new threads. Seems only fair I got in on the action,” he says, tugging the new shirt down the rest of the way as we reach the car.
Bye-bye, shirtlessness. Hello…Try My Pancake Special?
I didn’t realize that was what the shirt said. “I guess we’ll know what to order when we return,” I say.
“It’s a deal.” Dev tosses me a shirt, and I catch it, faintly hoping we get to try the pancakes someday.
He slings the other one to Ledger, who grabs it one-handed. I hold mine close, liking the gift more than a casserole dish, a cake stand, and a mandolin. All the things Aiden chose. I’ll have to deal with the stupid registry soon enough.
Dev wiggles his fingers at Ledger. “My turn. I want to drive this sweet ride,” he says.
With zero protest, Ledger hands him the key fob. “You’ll love how she handles.”