“Fine. I’ll just go back to my apartment. Alone. And cry. Alone.” He turned back to the window and sniffed. “So alone.”
“Fucking jackass,” I said under my breath. “Manipulating bastard, sugar pig, and also very bad at cards.”
“I can hear you. And the only one of those that’s accurate is the sugar thing.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Get your ass up, and let’s go. I’m never going to find this place in the dark. It’s over the mountain, and Aster Valley rolls up their welcome mats at sunset.”
He stood up and stretched, exposing the strip of skin I’d come to think of as my own personal Valhalla. I focused back on the stack of T-shirts in my hand, making sure they were placed just so in the suitcase.
Parker came over and bumped me out of the way with his hip. “Go get the stuff in the bathroom. I don’t want you perving on my panties.”
“As if,” I snapped. “Flatter yourself and your ugly-ass tighty-whities. Straight guys have the most boring underwear on the planet.”
“Not true. I wear jocks for work. And they come in all kinds of rainbow colors.”
Parker in a rainbow jock… Do not go there.
“Thank you for that lovely mental image, Parks. I’ll try not to drool over the image of your hairy ass cheeks flapping in the winter wind as you teach some trophy wife how to snowplow.”
I was pretty sure his ass cheeks were perfect like the rest of him was, but today was definitely not the day to think about them.
My job today was to distract him from the fact that Erin had just bulldozed his future and broken his fucking heart, leaving me to pick up the pieces and put him back together.
He finished packing his stuff before turning to me with a frown. “What’s wrong with my ass?” He turned around this way and that to try and get a good look at it. “I don’t have a good ass?”
“Focus. You can ask me about your ass again once we’re on the road.” I tossed his toiletries kit into his suitcase and reached for his tux.
I tucked all the pieces into the hanging bag and thrust both his and mine at his chest while I grabbed the rolling suitcases. “C’mon. If you’re a good boy, I’ll slip you one of Mom’s Valium tablets in the car.”
Parker sighed. “Christ, you’re a good man. You know just what to say when shit goes sideways. Always have.”
We managed to get to the parking garage with only three or four excruciatingly awkward conversations with bewildered wedding guests, and I gave Parker the promised pill. In typical Parker fashion, he started talking my ear off about utter nonsense before fading into a slurry, affectionate mess and finally nodding off.
When he fell asleep, his hand still rested on my leg from when he’d reached over to squeeze it while thanking me for being the “best best friend man, best man, I mean best friend, man” a guy could ever have.
“Just you and me,” he murmured. “Always.”
Fucking hell. This week was going to be excruciating, and now I was right back where I started.
In love with Parker Ellis who was suddenly and glaringly single again.
I was fucked.
5
PARKER
It wasn’t the first time I’d slept halfway sprawled on top of Julian, but it was definitely the first time I’d done it in a vehicle. While he was driving.
“Well, hello,” I mumbled, pushing off him. “Personal space much? God, you’re handsy.”
He didn’t laugh at my joke. Instead, his nostrils flared, and his jaw tightened.
“Hey,” I tried. “You okay? Sorry for dozing off on you.”
“What? Yeah. Fine. No, it’s… I can never remember how to get here, and the directions are in my phone, which is still in your back pocket.” His jaw finally relaxed enough for him to shoot me a sheepish grin. “I didn’t want to fondle you while you were unconscious.”
I reached underneath my thigh and found it, typing his password in and pulling up the map app he used. I knew Julian well enough to know he’d already have the address entered into the system, and sure enough, it was right there.
I did a double take at the address. “Brokeback Ridge? This place is on Brokeback Ridge? Why, Julian James Thick, you dirty girl.”
He sighed, but I could tell by the quirked-up corner of his mouth he thought it was funny, too. “Tiller and Mikey already gave me hell about it, even though Mikey was the one who helped me find it.”
We talked about it as Julian continued to follow the directions through darkened curvy roads narrowed by passes from a snowplow. When we finally pulled into the barely marked driveway, I felt like we were about to drive off a cliff to our doom.
“I didn’t sign on for any Thelma and Louise shit,” I muttered, clutching the handle above my door as the SUV lurched over pits and bumps. I tried not to notice Julian’s hands white-knuckling the steering wheel. When the headlights finally found the quaint little cabin, we both heaved a sigh of relief.