Page 11 of The Rules

He was piling bacon onto his plate when she replied with an eye-roll emoji.

Dylan: BTW we’re sitting together. With Cat and Josh and her parents.

A few moments went by this time. Enough time to finish loading his plate and pour himself some coffee.

Dani: Who picked those seats?

Really?What, did she think he was looking to make this awkward-as-hell morning after into a romantic brunch date? He set his coffee down, balancing his plate, and typed with one hand.

Dylan: The bride. Guess you should have brought that date after all.

He felt guilty as soon as he said it. Dani was right: this was Josh’s wedding brunch thing, and here he was making it about his bruised ego. He gathered his things and headed back to the table, determined to get himself straightened out before Dani arrived.

He took the seat closest to Josh, reaching over him to tap his mimosa to the bride’s. “You look gorgeous this morning, Kit Cat,” he said with his sweetest grin. Everyone called Cat “Kit Cat.” Everyone except Josh who called her Catia, butchering her beautiful name with his New England accent. She ate that shit up, though.Love.

“Thank you, Dylan. That’s sweet of you to say.”

Josh slid his arm around her, beaming. Fuck, his best friend was sprung. And Cat was just as bad. They say your wedding day is the best day of your life and he was pretty sure that was spot on for Josh. Dylan hoped for Josh’s sake things would stay that way, but everything shines when it’s new. Give it time and all that lovey-dovey shit turns to resentment. Hell, Josh should know that. He’d been married once before and it hadn’t turned out well. But Josh’s parents had died when he was a kid, before they had a chance to get divorced, so he had this warped vision of how things could have been. He’d been looking his whole life for it.

Josh deserved all of that, he did, but the very thought of it made Dylan’s skin itch. There’s only one person you can truly count on, and that’s yourself. Dylan’s own parents had done a bang-up job teaching him that lesson. He chuckled to himself at the thought. Dead or alive, parents will find a way to fuck you up one way or another.

“Catia,” Carlos said correctly. “Where is Danica?”

Danica?Dylan almost choked on his eggs.Is Dani’s name Danica?He’d known her for two years and he’d always assumed she was a Danielle. He was pretty sure he’d called her that at some point.

While he was trying to remember a specific incident, and hoping it wasn’t last night, Dani walked into the dining room. She’d showered and let her hair dry in waves that looked like she’d just come from the beach, and she had on a pair of tight jeans and a blood-red blouse. She was also back in heels and makeup— regular Dani. Or…Danica.

“Good morning, everyone,” she said, leaning over to kiss Cat’s mother on the cheek. Carlos and Josh both stood to give her a hug.

Dylan contemplated whether he should too. Would not hugging her make it obvious he had just seen her naked in his bed an hour ago? But he had seen her last night, and it wasn’t his special occasion, so why would they hug? No, he should stay seated and stop acting ridiculous.

Dani pulled the chair out beside him and took a seat.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Cat asked. “Why does everyone have to be reminded to eat? This isn’t like any of you.”

“Right,” Dani said. “Sorry. In a minute. I just woke up.”

Dylan couldn’t help the snort that came from him at her lie, and she sent him an icy glare in return.

He turned his attention to Josh and Cat. “So, you two are headed off tonight, right?”

Cat smiled and turned to Josh in that way she had where she let him answer stuff, then stared at him like he was reciting poetry.

He shot an eye roll at Dani, but she wasn’t playing along.

“Yup,” Josh said around his sip of coffee. “Seven days. You’ve got everything under control at work?”

A little over five years ago, Josh was the lead architect at a boutique firm in the city, and Dylan had a job selling construction materials to contractors. When Josh’s boss wanted to sell the firm, they’d taken a huge gamble and invested every dollar they’d ever saved to go into business together. They were both barely thirty years old at the time, and had zero experience running a business, but Dylan had the connections, and Josh had the drive. Best decision they’d ever made.

He gave Josh hisclosersmile. “You got it, partner.”

“We have a lot of irons in the fire right now and we need them all,” Josh said. He had his glasses on instead of his usual contacts, and instead of sweats like Dylan, he’d put on a real shirt. He didn’t look the least bit hungover. Dylan suddenly felt like he was rushing into class ten minutes late and being questioned by the professor on his homework.

“I’m aware, man,” he said, irrationally irritated at the reminder. “I’m the one who put the irons there.”

Josh smiled and picked up his coffee cup, the brand new ring on his left hand glinting. “Good. I shouldn’t need to hear from you for a whole week then.”

“Looking forward to it.”

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