Page 118 of Loved

“You’re a great actor,” Brendan said. “I’m going to need to call you whenever I need to get out of a bad date now.”

Rob looked very pleased with himself. “I’m definitely the go-to person for that. So which bar are we going to?”

“We’re not,” I said as Ian pulled up to the curb. “We’re going for a drive.”

“I feel like I’m about to get murdered,” Brendan said.

Rob slapped him on the back. “Ian doesn’t do that anymore. Right, James?” He opened up the back door.

I’d never asked Ian to kill anyone. But…yeah. I was sure he’d killed at least a few people in combat. I didn’t really know. Ian didn’t like to talk about it. All I really knew was that he had really bad PTSD.

“Where exactly are you going?” Brendan asked.

“I need to go ask Penny’s father for permission to marry her.”

“Yeah, okay. I think this is where I bow out. But tonight’s been fun. We should all hang out again sometime.”

I looked at Rob, waiting for him to bow out too and go hang out with Brendan.

“What are you looking at me like that for?” he asked. “There’s no way I’m missing this. See you later, Brendan. We’ll call you.” He climbed into the car and slammed the door closed.

Would we though?

But Brendan put his hand out for me. “Despite all the joking around…I do think you and Penny make a good couple. I hope she says yes.”

“Thanks, man.” I shook his hand. Maybe Rob was right. Brendan wasn’t so terrible.

Rob rolled down his window. “I can’t wait to tell you all the details after I kiss Penny tonight.”

Yeah…Brendan was fine. Rob was the terrible one. I climbed into the car.

“Where to?” Ian asked.

“Penny’s parents’ house.” I quickly caught him up on the plan as we started driving.

“It’s crazy, right?” Rob asked.

Ian shook his head. “No. I’ve seen the two of them together. They’re a great couple.”

“Seen? More like watched.”

“Hilarious,” Ian said. “You’re just jealous because you’re not allowed to watch the footage and I am.”

“No one is allowed to watch any of the old footage,” I clarified.

“No one is allowed to watch the super-hot footage,” Rob mimicked.

And now I was wondering if he’d actually snuck a drink somewhere. Or maybe he was high…

“Do you think we should call Jen?” Ian asked.

I stared at him. “Why would we call Jen?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Rob’s part of this. I thought maybe you’d want to include your sister too.”

Rob put his head between the front seats. “Ian, are you fucking our sister?”

“What?” Ian swerved the car and almost hit the curb.

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