Page 356 of His Virgin Romance Series

Dad nodded, and I headed out of the drawing room and towards the nearest empty room I could find before I picked up.

“Larry?”

“Hey, dude… I need the goods.”

“What?” I asked. “Now?”

“Yeah… what’s the problem?” he asked. “You’re the one who said the sooner, the better.”

“Fuck,” I swore. “I’m at a dinner at my parents’ house.”

“So sneak out through the back door,” Larry said impatiently. “I thought you wanted to get rid of your last package fast.”

“I do,” I said, thinking about how great it would be to get this over with tonight. “Fine… I’ll make an excuse and get out of here for a bit. Meet me outside the park near my apartment and hurry.”

“Great, see you—”

I didn’t even wait for him to finish. I hung up and hurried back into the drawing room. I didn’t want to have to cut the evening short, but I saw no other way around this. I went up to Gabby and interrupted the conversation.

“I’m sorry, ladies,” I said. “But I just received a call from my boss. It seems there’s a small emergency with the latest editorial and I need to check it out.”

“Oh no… does that mean you have to leave?” Mrs. Swanston asked.

“But Gabby hasn’t even played for us yet… and she promised,” Mom said, taking me by surprise by how disappointed she looked.

Gabby gave me a questioning look. “Can’t you handle it tomorrow?” she asked.

“Uh… I’m afraid not,” I said. “It won’t be long… I’d say half an hour or so.”

“Well, then why don’t you go do what needs to be done?” Mom suggested. “Gabby can stay here with us, and when you’re finished, you can join us again?”

I looked at Gabby to see if she was okay with that, and she smiled and nodded. “Okay then,” I said, giving her a light kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be back as fast as possible.”

I excused myself and headed out the door. I was aware that my father was watching me, but I felt a little too guilty to meet his eyes as I left. I was glad that I had borrowed Zack’s car today, it would make this a whole lot easier… not to mention faster.

I zoomed over to the apartment, grabbed the bag of weed from my closet, and headed straight for the park. It was a lovely night, and I looked around impatiently for Larry, who was of course nowhere to be found.

“Fucking Larry,” I said, under my breath. He should have been here by now.

I was just about to call him when I saw him turn the corner and walk towards me. A second later, I saw that he was not alone. He had brought his damn girlfriend with him after I had expressly told him that I didn’t want to deal with her at all. He must have thought coming with her had sidestepped that whole problem. I gritted my teeth and decided to let this one slide. After all, this was my last deal, and after this, I would be putting this whole business behind me.

The girlfriend was tall and pretty… much prettier than Larry deserved. She looked smart too, and I couldn’t help but wonder how Larry had managed to get a girl like that. She was obviously way out of his league. I didn’t question it too much; I was just impatient to get this done so that I could go back to my parents’ house with the knowledge that I could start fresh with Gabby having turned over a new leaf.

“Hi, man,” Larry said. “Why are you all dressed up?”

“I told you, I was at a dinner,” I said.

“At your parents’ house.” Larry nodded. “You get all dressed up for that?”

“My parents are not your average parents,” I replied impatiently, before turning to his girlfriend. “You must be Chrissy?”

“I am.” She nodded.

Her eyes were hard to read under the streetlights, but I could still tell that she was sharp and alert. I started to feel a little uneasy, but my eagerness to get this deal over with was clouding my judgment.

“So… do you have what we asked for?”

“Yes,” I said, passing him the package without hesitation. “This is going to be the last package.”

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