Her lips twitch when I meet her stare, and I’m trying real fucking hard not to knock this table over and cover her mouth with mine.

Like she knows what’s going through my mind, she lifts a challenging brow.

Oh fuck.

I scoot my chair into the table more, hoping to cover my growing dick.

Damn. What the fuck is wrong with me? It’s like I’m fifteen and unable to control my boners all over again.

“Anyway,” Allie says pointedly, interrupting our stare-down. “We’re here to talk about important dates and duties.”

She begins rattling off information, way more than I can process or care to process, and Denny takes it all in. She passes Steve to me, pulling her phone out and taking careful notes.

I order breakfast for Denny while AJ takes care of Allie, both of us way too afraid to interrupt them.

“So what gives, man?” my best friend asks quietly, the girls still absorbed by their discussion of flowers.

“What do you mean?”

The look he gives me says he doesn’t buy my shit.

“It’s just what Den said—she was tired after the gala last night and stayed over.”

“Sure, understandable, but care to tell me why she was at the charity event with you in the first place? Last I heard you were taking Penny.”

“Shh!” I whisper angrily, peering over at Denny and Allie to make sure neither of them heard that.

They aren’t paying us a lick of attention.

“Keep that shit on the DL,” I tell my friend.

He jerks his head back. “She doesn’t know about that?”

“No, and I want to keep it that way.”

“What are you up to, Shepard?”

“A bunch of none of your goddamn business.”

My eyes drift back over to Denver, loving how animated and into the conversation she is. She’s genuinely happy for her best friend, and I love that about her.

She once told me about her goals for life. She’d meetthe onein college, they’d fall madly in love with just the right amount of angst in their relationship, and then when college was over, they’d get hitched, spending the rest of their days happy as fucking clams.

Or some shit like that.

I know she wanted that to be us.

I sure as shit screwed that one up.

“Just be careful, man,” AJ says. “Last time you two were together it didn’t end well. She wrecked you.”

My eyes still focused on Denny, I tell him, “No, AJ,Iwrecked us, and I’m not going to make that same mistake again.”

Fourteen

Denver

“I needyou to not freak out when I tell you what I’m about to tell you.”