Page 50 of Love, Luck & Clusterf*ck

“Damn,” one of the guys said, clapping his hands. “Told you.”

I wish I had some evidence to support that claim, but that’s how it’d be in my perfect world. The good guys would get to be the ten-inch sex gods, and the jerks would suffer from premature ejaculation and crabs.

I didn’t want to be over there anymore. I’d unleashed some more of my pent-up stress on someone who’d asked for it, and now I was done.

I headed back to my table where Adam had his palm up in the air. “That was fucking awesome.” I didn’t high-five him because I didn’t want it to seem like I’d done it as a performance. Matt had just rubbed me all wrong, that’s all. Kate slapped his hand instead. “I’d ask you to marry me but been there, done that. My heart couldn’t handle another rejection.”

While he was making some dramatic chest-clenching gesture, I’d shifted my eyes and sawhim. Great. Just fucking great. He was sitting with a guy I didn’t know, the two of them at a small table pulled up very, very close to ours.

Kate noticed me noticing. “They just got here. Adam invited him.”

I yanked my head and mouthed, “What the fuck did you do that for?” Stephen wasn’t at our table, but he might as well have been. I’m sure he’d be able to hear everything we said.

Adam shrugged. “I asked him earlier, before I knew about your little spat. I didn’t even think he’d show. Isn’t that right, boss?” Adam held up his beer and nodded, then put his arm around me. “But don’t sweat it. It’s all good. Our room will be a much happier place on Monday if we all just kiss and make up. Here, I’ll start.” He made a loud smacking noise.

I couldn’t not laugh when I was around this guy. I ducked out from under his arm. “We’re not the ones fighting, you goof.”

I could sense Stephen paying attention to us, even though he was talking with his friend. I felt like I should go apologize or something, but I still felt that irritation, like he’d crossed a line somewhere and made it personal. Maybe that stemmed from us meeting before I knew his identity, but…. Argh. He made me question things and I didn’t like that.

I decided just to bide my time until Dre arrived. It shouldn’t be much longer now. My mango margarita sat mostly untouched in front of me since I didn’t know what we were going to be doing after this. It was the first weekend of the rest of my relationship life. Yay.

On second thought, maybe I should’ve been pounding the drinks.Shut up, Perry. Rah-rah, you can do this. This was Dre here, not some blind date that my mother was setting me up on. I knew this guy better than almost anyone. I just didn’t know him as boyfriend material, but I’d already made the determination to change that.Rah-rah.

“Perry?”

“Huh?” I turned my head towards Kate.

“I said your phone is dinging.”

“Oh, thanks.” I picked it up off the table and saw a text flashing from Dre. It was only six thirty. Maybe he was early and out there waiting already. He couldn’t at least come in and meet everyone? Well, everyone except for one. They’d already had the pleasure.

Hey, babe. I hate to tell you this but something unexpected came up. I’m not sure if I’ll be back Sat or Sun but it won’t be tonight. I trust you’ll be able to get a ride home. I’m sorry.

He’s sorry?What the hell could’ve suddenly come up a half hour before he was supposed to pick me up? And he couldn’t even call to tell me—he had to text? He’ssorry?

Another text came through while I was still processing the first.

One more thing. I left my truck in your lot so you could keep an eye on her for me. You know I don’t like to take her certain places upnorth. I’ll see you as soon as I get back. Thanks for understanding. Have fun tonight but not too much fun. Save that for me, eh? ;)

Up north? He fucking stood me up to go fucking fishing?

Iwatched her expression change as she read her phone. Something had upset her. She whispered to Kate, then chugged down her orange drink.

“What’s the deal?”

I moved my eyes back to Alex. “The deal with what?”

“Come on, man. You’ve been staring at that chick since we got here. Who is she?”

I drained the rest of my glass. Damn, they made a good brew here. “Perry. New hire in Operations.”

“Ah.” He leaned back with a smirk. “I get it now. You shocked the shit out of everyone when you volunteered to sit in for Krismer, but now it makes more sense. You could’ve just told me.”

I signaled the waitress for another. “I was just helping out Walt. You know he didn’t want to do it. No one did.”

“Yeah, yeah. You did your good deed for the year, and that’s all itwas. Right, buddy?”

I shrugged. Alex was my coworker and closest friend. He’d see through my bullshit from a mile away, if I had any. Turned out, I still didn’t even know which end was up myself. Exactly whyhadI volunteered? Certainly not to fuck up her new job.

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