Page 146 of Loved

Penny laughed. “The two ofyouare ridiculously cute. Now come on. If I’m crashing this little reunion party, I don’t want to be late.” She grabbed my hand.

***

The three of us were the first to arrive at the bar. We found a table in the back. I pulled out Penny’s chair for her and then sat down before Rob could snake the seat next to her. The three of us had been out to eat a few times since moving here and Rob had a bad habit of always sitting between us.

“So what exactly happened between you guys and your friends? I feel like I’m in the dark. You mentioned a falling out?”

“Yeah, back in high school,” Rob said.

“Oh.” She turned to me. “I thought you said it was college?”

“It was college,” I said and looked at Rob. What the fuck was he doing mentioning high school? He knew perfectly well we couldn’t explain that mess to Penny. We’d promised Matt to never mention it again. And yes, I had talked about everything with Dr. Clark. But that was different.

“Oh yeah,” Rob said and scratched the back of his neck. “Did I say high school? I meant college. We all just kinda drifted apart a bit. Well, James more than me. He fucking ghosted all of us for months when he moved to Delaware.”

“We all still talk on occasion,” I said. But Rob had kind of nailed it. I’d needed a fresh start. But I knew now that cutting out my friends wasn’t the right move. They’d always been there for me when I needed them. When Iletthem be there, that was.

“When we ran into Mason when we visited New York, he didn’t even know about your divorce,” Penny said.

“Well, that’s why we’re here,” I said. “To reconnect.” I was back in New York for good this time. And I wanted my fresh start to include the Caldwells.

“I think that’s great.” Penny smiled up at me. “It’ll be nice to have a few more friends. And maybe that will mean Rob has some other people to hang out with too.”

“Don’t pretend you’re sick of me,” Rob said. “I know which Hunter brother you truly prefer.”

“Yeah. The one I’m engaged to.” She flashed him her ring. “Are all your friends like Rob? Like when you tell them we’re engaged are they going to hit on me?”

“Not unless they want to die.” I was surprised by the words that tumbled out of my mouth. I cleared my throat and tried to laugh it off. “They’re not like Rob.”

“Well that’s good.”

“Penny, you have a very strange way of flirting,” Rob said.

She laughed and rolled her eyes.

“They’re pretty late,” I said and glanced at my watch. “You’d think they’d be on time since this was their idea.”

“I’m usually the late one,” Rob said. “It’s incredibly rude the other way around.” He waved over a waitress and we ordered a round of drinks.

“I’m sure they’ll be here any minute.” Penny put her hand on my thigh and smiled. She looked so cute when she was nervous.

I grabbed her hand. “You’re right.”

“So the four of you kind of grew up together? What kinds of things did you used to do?”

“Gangbangs mostly,” Rob said.

Penny’s jaw actually dropped. “What?”

“Yeah.” Rob shrugged. “One girl, four cocks. Do you think you could handle it?”

“Rob, I’m not going to tell you again,” I said. “Stop it.”

“But did you really?” Penny asked, her voice hushed. “Gangbang women together?”

“No. He’s just winding you up. Ignore him.”

Penny shook her head.

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