Thick as Thieves (Aster Valley 4)

“Huh?” Nolan shook back his sun-streaked blond hair like a golden retriever who’d heard his name called and grinned affably. “Oh, nah, dude. E didn’t invite me. We were talking before dinner about how you two planned some adventure shit while you were in Mexico, like zip-lining and snorkeling, and I was telling her if she wanted real adventure, I could show her where to go outside the resort, like this kick-ass twenty-mile hike with a rope ladder you can take down into this underground cave complex—”

I wrinkled my nose. “But it’s an all-inclusive resort,” I repeated, wondering if maybe I was drunker than I thought. “Why would anyone want different adventures than the adventures that are… included?”

Before Erin said a word, I could still tell there was another good-natured eye roll pointed in my direction. “Because it’s sometimes fun to step outside of our comfort zones, Parker. That’s what life’s about.”

Julian stopped trying to squirm away and instead patted my leg reassuringly. “Or not. It’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, I mean, you gotta do what life’s calling you to do,” Nolan said with a kind of earnest passion. “You gotta live your truth. You’ve gotta find the life path that’s meant for you. That’s what I was telling E.”

“Julian,” I whispered loudly. “Is your not-boyfriend calling Erin ‘E’? Is she letting him?”

Our friend Tiller snickered from across the table. “Ah, Parks. It’s been years since you’ve overindulged. I forgot how much fun drunk Parker can be.”

“Hey! I’m not drunk,” I informed him.

“You’re not sober,” Julian’s sister, Hazel, countered.

This was also true. But it had been way too long since our gang of childhood friends—Tiller, Erin, Hazel, Julian, and me—had been together, so I figured I had an excuse for getting a little bit tipsy.

Hazel was working for her dad in Denver and married to her job. Erin was working out of Denver, too, but on the road all the time as a buyer for Rokas Sports, her dad’s flourishing local sporting goods chain. Tiller was busy being a famous football player in Houston while his friend Sam was busy managing construction on Tiller and Mikey’s new ski resort in Aster Valley, which was where Julian was spending an annoying amount of his time, too, since he was doing lawyer stuff for Tiller. And meanwhile, I was a manager and ski instructor for Rokas Sports here in Vail. Since nothing made me happier than having all of us together, I was determined to enjoy it, even if being together meant sometimes tolerating other, more annoying people, like—

“Alcohol’s a crutch for when a man hasn’t examined his life, my dude,” Nolan the philosopher pronounced, and I gritted my teeth.

“Excuse you. I have a great life,” I informed him. “Awesome friends. Amazing best man.” I pulled Julian more tightly against me. “Stable job. Sweet girlfriend.”

“You mean fiancée,” Hazel corrected. “Almost wife.”

Oh. Right. My palms started to sweat a little bit. Or a lot.

“Whoa.” Nolan’s eyes widened, and he gave a full-body shudder. “Did anyone else just feel the atmosphere get, like, really heavy in here? Or was that just me?”

“Just you,” Julian said firmly. “We’re all very excited about tomorrow.”

“It’s supposed to be a beautiful day,” Tiller’s fiancé, Mikey, commented.

“And this hotel is killer,” Sam’s boyfriend, Truman, added.

“Erin’s going to be a beautiful bride,” Hazel chimed in.

“Wait,” I demanded, rubbing my damp palms on my trouser leg, “what’s tomorrow?” Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my side. “Ow! Erin, god. That hurt.”

Now Julian was the one rolling his eyes at me.

“I was joking,” I said, turning around to face my annoyed fiancée. “You know I would never forget my ski time with your dad and the guys. I’m looking forward to—oof! Stop elbowing me.”

“Then stop trying to be funny when you’re so bad at it,” she teased. “Anyway, the girls want to meet at the bar to do a bachelorette nightcap thing we read about in a magazine, and then I’m going to head upstairs.” She pushed her chair back. “See you at the altar, funny guy. I’ll be the one in white.”

She was beautiful even when she was annoyed with me. “Hey, stop,” I said, pushing my own chair back and taking her hand in mine. “I’m just kidding. You know that, right? Nothing could excite me more than walking down the aisle toward you tomorrow on your father’s arm.”

Julian groaned behind me. “Can you ever be serious?”

The answer to that was no. Definitely not. Because I was completely full of shit. I was nervous, and the only way I knew to get through that was to make it all seem less important than it was. It was what I did. Julian’s skin turned blotchy red when he was embarrassed or upset; I cracked stupid jokes.

I clenched my back teeth together. “Okay. I’m being serious. I love you.”