Page 15 of Scandalous

“Nah, just to tell you that Ezra showed off his swallow,” Liam quips, referring to Ezra’s tattoo he has low on his hip.

Santi shoots him an unimpressed look.

“All right, we wanted to know if you thought there was a way to get Ezra to change his mind about her. I know what he said, but we won’t know what will happen unless we invite her to a party. Maybe she will fall in love with all of us and become our personal sex doll,” Liam teases.

Santi rolls his eyes. “You know Ezra. He won’t change his mind unless he wants to. He’s struggling with the way she might change our dynamic. We need to let him be for now.”

Liam sighs.

“I know we all agreed that we would stand together on all issues, but I’m getting sick and tired of him refusing to let us meet her. If he wants to keep her from going to one of our parties, fine. I go to the States often. Who is to say I won’t find myself in New York?” I tell him.

He rubs his face. “I hear you. We will try again at the meeting later. I’m going to go shower and get ready for it.”

I stand, fighting a smile. “Yeah, we need to make sure we’re done in time for the live.”

* * *

“All right, let’s get started,” Ezra says as he walks into the living room, notebook in hand.

“How was your mum?” Liam asks.

“Lovely as always,” Ezra says as he sits, opening the book.

I look around the table at all the guys. Even after all this time, I wonder how we ended up here.

When my parents sent me off to a boarding school as a kid, I was crushed. I didn’t understand why they didn’t want me. I felt like they were abandoning me. I was depressed. Sullen.

Then I met my roommate. It happened to be Liam. Liam was different than me. Even though he was in a similar situation, he didn’t let it bring him down. He was still as happy as he is today. Through late-night conversations, I realized that he felt the same things I did, only he expressed them in a different way. I kept everything inside, letting it make me sad while he used his antics to get attention any way he could.

We became fast friends after that. Then we met Ezra who was four years older. For some reason, he took us under his wing and introduced us to his friend Santiago, who was two years older than him.

Together we created our own little family and ever since, it’s been the four of us.

“Drake, you paying attention?” Ezra asks, raising a brow.

“Yes, daddy,” I tease.

Ezra shoots me a glare, making me smirk. While he might not be the oldest, he’s definitely taken on the role of leader of our group. At twenty-eight, almost twenty-nine, he’s just as bossy as he was at sixteen.

“How are the clubs doing?” he asks.

“We’re in the black,” Santi says without looking at him. “San Juan and Sydney have paid for themselves already. London is almost there. I’d give it another two months and it will be paid off.”

“That means next up is Vegas,” Liam says, rubbing his hands together.

Years ago, when Liam posted a video of all of us, we didn’t expect it to go viral. That it would lead us down this road of having very public lives. With our following, we started hosting parties in cities where each of us is from.

Santi, San Juan. Ezra, London. Liam, Sydney. Sin City itself, Las Vegas for me.

The parties still happen every year, but now we’re opening clubs in each city to keep the party alive.

“That it is,” Ezra murmurs as he jots something down in his notebook. “We need to talk about who we’re inviting to Glow Down Under.”

Each party is a three-day event with live music. While we sell tickets for asinine prices, we also have a select group of people we personally invite. Influencers and celebrities alike that will make people want to spend their hard-earned cash.

Santi and Ezra throw around names while I tune out, thinking about what it will be like to have a club in my hometown. Will this give me a reason to go visit more than once a year? Will I actually spend time with the people whose blood runs through my veins?

“You know who we should invite?” Liam says, pulling me out of my head.

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