Page 10 of On the Run
I was used to him being dismissive. I wasn’t used to him being persuasive. “As much as I hate to admit it, the words you’re speaking… make a certain sort of sense. For once.”
Rafe snorted. “I like to change it up every so often, just to keep you on your toes. I won’t let it go to my head.” He clapped his hands once, then rubbed his palms together. “So, I think what you need to do is have a party. Invite a nice guy or two. See where things go.”
I stared at him in concern. “Okay, I take it back. You’re making zero sense again. Clearly one good piece of advice is your limit for the year.”
“I’m being serious.”
“I know you are! That’s what’s so funny. Sure, I’ll throw a party, Rafe. Then I’ll stand in my underwear in front of all the guests, just like theotherhalf of my recurring nightmare. Solid plan. ‘Dear Aunt Hagatha, my brother’s lost touch with reality. What should I do?’” I rolled my eyes. “I have no idea how we got back on the subject of my sex life. Let’s go back to me taking a class. Or, like, auditing a class, maybe. That’d be—”
“A party,” Rafe insisted, folding his arms over his chest. “The more I think about it, the more I like it. Whynotstart there? If you want to find your one truedestinedlove, you’re gonna need to meet more guys.”
Wait, what? “Meet guys? For what?”
“For playing checkers, Beale.” He shook his head like he doubted my mental stability. “To see if you’re compatible, obviously.”
I laughed again, a wheezing, desperate sound. “You’re out of your goddamn mind. That’s not how it works. And I amnotthrowing a party,” I said way too loudly.
“Party? Who’s having a party?” Dale asked loudly.
“No one.” I gave Rafe a challenging look.
“I’m not saying arave.” Rafe lowered his voice and rolled his dark eyes like I was the one being unreasonable. “I’m suggesting you have a small, intimate get-together with a couple folks you’re comfortable with. Fenn and Mason, me, Gage, Taffy, Maddie. You. Silvio. A select few of my gay friends—six, eight, maybe ten—”
“Ten!”
“We’ll see how it goes! Then, once you’ve met them all, you wait and see which one the Universevibratesfor you, or however the heck it works, and boom. Eternal happiness.” He drew a circle in the air with both hands. “How silly would you feel if you just haven’t been trying hard enough all this time and let something special get away?”
“But—”
Rafe tilted his head toward Silvio significantly, and my eyes slid in that direction. I bit my lip. The guy was really good-looking. Small and slender, with high cheekbones and a tip-tilted nose, and I was a sucker for a man with intelligent eyes… but I didn’t feel any kind of connection to him.
Not a single whisper from the Universe.
Dead radio silence.
“No,” I whisper-hissed. “I told you, I’m not into Silvio. For real, for real. And you’re making it sound like some weirdBachelorthing, where I meet a bunch of gay dudes and pick one lucky guy to fall for.” I made a fake-vomit noise.
“I mean—”
“Plus,” I continued in that same voice, “recall please that even if I somehow lost my mind and agreed, I don’t own a house where I can throw a party! Dad’s house is under construction, so is Fenn and Mason’s, and yours is gonna be full since Dad and Gloria are staying there. The more I think about it, the worse this sounds.” I tried to adopt his authoritative tone, but it didn’t seem to work.
“What if you have the party at Mason and Fenn’s! They gave you the key.”
I tilted my head to one side. “Because I’m staying there to keep an eye on the contractors while they’re out of town and so I don’t have to pile into your house while Dad’s house is getting fixed, not so I can have a party.”
“Or maybe it’s because it’sdestiny!” Rafe said excitedly. “You can have the party in the yard by the pool.”
“No, I couldnot.”
“Wait, I know! You can make it a surprisefor them, for the day they get home! A ‘Congrats on Shacking Up’ party, to celebrate them cohabitating—”
“Think they call that a housewarmin’. I’m down!” Dale shouted so loudly that people on both sides of him flinched.
“The man has superhuman hearing,” Rafe muttered.
Dale yelled out to the bar in general, “I got a friend who makes toilet covers outta seashells and resin! Doc Mason’ll love ’em. Really liven their place up. Who wants to go in on a set with me for the housewarmin’ party?”
“Me ’n’ Tammy,” Mac Horne pronounced from the corner where he and a bunch of other bikers had congregated. “The Stallions MC’ll bring a keg to the party. Doc Mason was real helpful when Bobo burned his leg the other week.”
