Page 21 of Tormented Billionaire Romance Series

“He's my best friend,” Gabe said with a chuckle. “I'm allowed to be ridiculous!”

“Dude, cut itout.”

“Why? Are you afraid your fiancé is going to get out of the shop and see you wrestling another guy?”

“No, she's probably at home right now.”

“I bet she's working. Why don't you go see her?”

Ryan huffed as he broke free from Gabe's grip. “I don't like bugging her at work, unlike the way you bugged Clara.”

“I can't believe it's taken you this long to work up the guts to ask her to marry you. You always did have a thing for Jen back in school.”

Ryan shook his head. “No, I was dating Tracy back then. It would have been bad form to try to go for Jen.”

“Well, you're not with Tracy anymore.”

“Thank God for that.”

Gabe cackled. He nudged Ryan again. “So, go say hi to your future wife!”

“Maybe in a minute. Are you going to find a new date for the wedding?”

Gabe shook his head. “No, I don't have time and I don't want to burn Clara like that. It might not have ended well, but I'm not going to be a dick about it.”

“I would totally be a dick about it.”

“You mean like the time when Sara nearly busted your balls?”

Ryan gasped. “Ugh, I can't believe you would bring that up! Of all the times!”

“You two were making out in the locker room and she kicked you because you tickled her by accident.”

“I hate you so much right now, dude.”

I shook my head at them.

As entertaining as it was to hear them reminiscing, I felt like the odd man out.

No one told me. No one thought it was important. And why would they? We had broken up. But I'm still miffed about the whole thing. I barely checked my accounts. I hadn't wanted to look at her face too much while I was abroad.

“—she comes now! You should go to her!”

Gabe nearly shoved Ryan off the bench.

Ryan shoved back. “Dude, quit it!”

Those two are ridiculous. Successful, but ridiculous. I wonder why no one wanted to tell me about Clara and Gabe? Did they want to protect my feelings?I rolled my eyes.I'm not that sensitive. She probably was embarrassed that she moved on so quickly.

I perked up slightly. Ryan had shifted from sitting to standing. He was loosening his collar with eagerness. I saw my sister set up on the grass. She held up a book to her face as she munched on chips.

“Now's your chance,” Gabe encouraged. “Go tell her how much you love her. Maybe write her a sonnet or two.”

“She'll like that,” I added. “She always had a thing for poetry.”

“Yeah, what Levon said!”

Ryan huffed and squared up, smoothing back his chin-length blond hair. He crossed the grass briskly and perhaps a bit unsteadily. There were a few times where he stumbled a bit, but he seemed to catch a decent stride as he approached.

---