I’m avoiding life’s big problems with a glass of wine, a stack of junk food, and the Grey’s Anatomy binge-watch to end all binges. It’s going as well as can be expected, considering it’s the night before the wedding. Unfortunately, despite all the best planning in the world, Millen has never been far from my mind.
My phone ringing on the kitchen counter successfully drags me out of my self-imposed pity bubble. Getting up off the couch, I cross the room and check the display to see Gaby’s name flashing back at me.
“Hey,” I say with an abundance of cheerfulness.
“Kenz, what are you doing?” she asks, matter-of-factly.
“You know what I’m doing, which is everything possible not to think about what I’ve done.”
“Babe, I’ve kind of got a situation down here. I need you to come in.”
My head jerks back. Her tone is careful—too much so, in fact—and something Gaby has never been with me is careful. She’s never had to be. We tell each other everything—the good, the bad, the embarrassing, the absolute mortifying. We’re both open books.
“Gabs, I don’t work there anymore. Just tell me what’s going on.”
“You just need to get in your car and drive. I’ll explain when you get here,” she says hurriedly as loud shouts come down the phone. “Look, I’ve gotta go. See you soon.”
“Gab—” She hangs up, cutting me off.
I pull the phone away from my ear and stare at it, wondering what the hell just happened and what could be so urgent that she’d call me in.
Unless Millen is there. No, he wouldn’t be. It’s the night before his wedding. He’s probably out drinking somewhere, lamenting where he went wrong by sticking his dick in Lana Mason and pining after me. That’s not malicious of me—it’s the bitter part of my brain still furious over what transpired between the two of them.
As hard as I try to move on from it, Dad’s words from our dinner have played in a continual loop in my head. Did I give up too easily? Should I have fought harder?
Half an hour later, I’m pulling into the parking lot of The Masonry, parking in the staff parks at the back of the building and walking toward the front where I find Dalyn manning the door instead of Bruno. This makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Bruno always has the door. The only time he wouldn’t would be if there was a situation inside—very rare—or when he took his mandatory breaks.
“Hey, stranger,” Dalyn says, ushering me along to the front of the line.
“It’s only been a week, Dal.” I walk into his open arms as he envelopes me in a huge bear hug.
“A week is far too long when I’ve seen you almost every day for the past two years,” he says in my ear.
I take a step back and grin up at him. “I’m just a phone call away. We’ll still see each other, I promise. I’m just a bit off my game at the moment.”
“Anything to do with the scene in there?” he says, tilting his head toward the door of the bar. Biting my lip, I look at the closed wooden door and sigh, trying—and failing—to prepare myself for coming face to face with Millen.
“How drunk are we talking?”
“Hammered. Messy. Uncontrollable, and demanding to see you. Gaby and Bruno managed to get him up to the roof to get some fresh air because we figured it was a better look than letting him cool off out the front.”
I nod, not trusting myself to speak. Why would Millen come to the bar instead of coming straight to me?
I square my shoulders, making the decision to hear the imbibed man out before putting him in a taxi and sending him home. I’ll also be sure to give his credit card to the driver because sincere or not, you don’t turn up to a bar and make a scene the night before your wedding to another woman. It doesn’t matter how much in love with him I am, that shit ain’t gonna fly. “I’m going in.”
“God speed,” he says with a shit-eating grin and a mock salute. He reaches out and pulls the door open for me, ushering me in with a soft hand to the small of my back. If anyone else did it I’d find it a little condescending, but considering Dalyn is like the little brother I never had, I let it go.
I move through the crowd, stopping to give hugs to the old regulars sitting on their stools by the bar. Lifting my hand in a wave to Mark, I point toward the hallway at the back of the bar. He nods, his drawn brows doing nothing to help my anxiety as I walk down the corridor, counting the steps to the rooftop stairs.
Stopping with my fingers wrapped around the door handle, I stare down at my feet and take a slow, deep breath, counting to five as I exhale because I’m going to need all of the resilience I have in me to get through the next few moments.
Determined to survive whatever life is about to throw at me, whether it be a man on the edge or a last-ditch effort to fight for me or something else, I turn the knob and open the door.
I stop mid-step when I’m met by Gaby, Bruno, and a very sad—and sick-looking—Drew sitting around the picnic table in the middle of the roof. With an equal measure of relief, confusion, and disappointment, I make my way over to the three of them, more confused than ever as to what the hell is going on.
“Thank God,” Gaby breathes, leaning back in her chair, her hard eyes meeting mine. She’s one of the most easy-going people I know, so for her to look as pissed as she does right now, this can’t be anything good.
“Can someone explain why I’m here?” I ask. Bruno’s jaw is twitching like a crack addict, and Drew’s bloodshot eyes aren’t telling me anything other than he’s drunk as a skunk.
“I think we’ll let the drunk one speak because he’s refused to explain anything until you got here,” Bruno explains, his voice clipped. He stands and wraps his arms around me. “Listen to him. I have a feeling that you wanna hear what he’s got to say. Gaby’s going to stay and stop you from wringing the poor guy’s neck.” He pulls back and looks me straight in the eyes. “Keep an open mind, babe. He’s a good man, and he wouldn’t be here unless it was important. We’ve all got your back, whatever happens.”
Bruno leans down and kisses Gaby’s temple, whispering something I can’t hear to her before disappearing back downstairs. My gaze snaps to my best friend, first wondering what the hell is going on between her and Bruno, and then wondering why the hell she hasn’t told me about it. I simultaneously want to slap her and high-five her at the same time.
Drew stands up, wobbling from side to side, before finding his footing and walking around the table toward me. Stopping in front of me, he puts both of his hands on my shoulders, probably to keep himself upright. He smells like Jim and Jack had a party and invited Jose along for fun. Sometimes, that can be sexy—usually when you’ve been indulging in the same way and are too drunk to care. Right now? Not so much. The fingers of his right hand toy with my hair, his eyes glassy and red, his skin a shade of grey that can never be a good thing.
I take a step back, grabbing his hand as I go, and lead him over to the bench swing, but at the last minute decide not to go there. Too much Millen—too many memories. Once he’s safely seated at the table again, I take my place beside him. “Drew, what’s going on?”
He drops his head into his hands, bracing his elbows on his spread legs. He stays that way for a few minutes, neither of us saying a word.
“I did a bad thing,” he mumbles, his hair flopping sideways, blocking his eyes from view. He leans back in the seat and meets my narrowed gaze.
I’m used to dealing with drunk assholes thanks to my many years working at the bar, and having been called away from my pity party for one, I’m even less inclined to placate the man sitting in front of me.
“Please, Drew. You wanted to talk to me and I’m here. Just tell me what’s wrong.”
He doesn’t look away, not for a single moment as he starts speaking, each confession worse than the last.
“I was drunk.
“I was angry.”
“I never thought I’d be that pissed off that I’d do that to my best friend.”
“It didn’t mean anything.”
“I was going to let sleeping dogs lie. You were already with Millen. He said he’d stood up to his father and Harris and he wasn’t going ahead with it.”
I feel Gaby’s hand on my shoulder just before Drew deals the most sickening, heartbreaking blow of all.
“The baby is mine.”
My mouth drops open, his admission hitting me like a sucker punch to the heart. Every word that comes out his mouth after that pummels into me just has hard.
“She got me drunk and seduced me just after all of us were at the bar. He looks down at the ground, then mumbles, “The first time anyway.”
I jump to my feet and walk over to the edge of the roof, squeezing my eyes as tight as my hands are gripping the wall. I whirl around and glare at him. “You decide to tell me this the night before the wedding?” I shriek, advancing on him with my arm cocked back, ready to knock him out.
Thankfully, Gaby steps between us, stopping me in my tracks. “Take a moment, Kenz.”
“Fuck that.” I step sideways, pointing my finger at the very sorry-looking man in front of me. “Why are you telling me when you should’ve told your best friend the minute you found out.”
“And say what?” he says snidely, moving to his feet. “Oh, hey. While you were off sleeping with another woman, I stupidly let your fiancée have her way with me and impregnate herself so she could make sure you didn’t cancel the wedding?”
“Hang on, when did you find that out?” Gaby asks, spinning around to face Drew.
“Millen had told his parents the wedding was off and had told Lana the same, then she announced she was pregnant and I knew something wasn’t right. So I tried to track her down but she kept putting me off. That was, until I staked her out and she talked to me.”
“And she just happened to impart on you her entire plan?”
“No, but I made sure she told me everything, because if I’m going to lose my best friend anyway—and I no doubt will—I’m gonna make damn well sure that gold-digging whore doesn’t get her way either.” My shoulders tense at his reference to Lana and usually I’d be the first to jump in and shoot anyone down for calling a woman a whore, but when the shoe fits…
Gaby must sense my unease and steps forward. “I think we should all take a minute and sit—”
“Tell me, Drew. What did she say?”
“She tried to get Millen into bed but he turned her down. Seems my best friend has a hell of a lot more self-control than I do, because that was before Tahoe, before you’d even taken him back.”
Well, shit. Millen was telling the truth.
“But why did she then turn to you?” Gaby asks, taking the words out of my mouth.
“She saw you guys on your date at the Mexican place. She’s been fixated on Millen for a long time and couldn’t stand the idea of you having him when he’d continually turned her down.”
“You’re telling me this whole clusterfuck is because she didn’t like me playing with someone she had already claimed in her head? She’s more fucked up than I realized,” I say with a shake of my head.
“So she jumped you to seal the deal with Millen before Kenzie went away with him?” Gaby asks. “But you said that was the first time. Being drunk and having a woman jump on your dick is a one-time only excuse, Drew. What about the other times?” she presses.
He sighs, his demeanor definitely one of defeat. “Wounded male pride and stupidity.”
“At least you’re aware of your shortcomings,” I snap. My words are harsh, but I’m beyond angry right now. My emotions are on hyperdrive, and I’m warring between wanting to strangle Drew for being so fucking stupid and wanting to hunt down Lana Mason and tear her a new one. If it wasn’t so late at night, I’d probably be hopping in my car and doing the latter.
Then the real reason for him being here hits me like a slap in the face. “You wanna make me the bad guy,” I say, matter-of-factly. I drop down into the nearest chair and scrub my face with my hands.
“Kenz,” Drew says softly. He sits opposite me, shifting forward until his knees touch mine. I look up to see his eyes are fixed, his face gentle as he reaches out and gently squeezes my hand. “You two belong together. He is totally and utterly gone for you. Any other man I wouldn’t give a shit, but it’s you, and you deserve a man who looks at you the way Millen does. Just as much as he deserves a woman like you who will always have his back, even if it means walking away.”
It’s then I realize that Drew was never on board with the friends-with-benefits arrangement. I now see it was always more than benefits for him. This must be killing him inside.
“Drew…”
He cups my hands in his, leaning forward to rest his forehead against mine. “Any other man, Kenz, and I’d fight him to the death for you. You need to stop him from making the biggest mistake of his life tomorrow. He was going to walk away from everything for you until Lana screwed it all up. You have to make this right for me. I need you to make it right for you. “
I wrap my arms around his shoulders and pull him in for a hug, burrowing into his neck as his shoulders start to shake. We sit there like that for a long time. Gaby leaves us to it, giving me a gentle squeeze on the shoulder on her way past.
Leading Drew down the stairs and out the back door to my car, my mind is racing with all of the possibilities of what may happen tomorrow. What could happen if I fight for my man?
Yet again, Dad’s words come flooding back to me.
“It’s a beautiful pain that’s always worth it if you’re both willing to work to make things right.”
By the time I set Drew up on my couch and crawl into bed, I’m more than prepared to go to war.