“Fancy seeing you here, mate.” Ryan leant out of his window and gave Chase the once over. “Word of
advice, next time you so much as look at my girl, you’ll be drinking your food through a straw.”
Chase laughed and went to speak, but Ryan cut him off.
“You’re on thin ice, Lockwood. I mean it. Stay away from Emily and stay away from me. Understand?”
Ryan put his hand on my knee and rubbed it. Chase bent down, and his face turned to stone when he saw me sitting in the passenger seat.
“Enjoy slumming it, Em,” he sneered. “When you want to try dating a real man, you know where to find me.”
“That’ll be a hard pass, Chase. I’d rather stick pins in my eyes,” I replied sharply.
We didn’t wait around for Chase to give us another word. We’d had our say. He’d been warned off and neither one of us wanted to look at the slimy toad for a minute longer than we had to. So we sped off and left him to eat our dust.
After a few minutes of driving around aimlessly, Ryan pulled over, cut the engine and turned to me.
“Let me take you out, on a real date, not one I’ve stolen off Lockwood.”
“You didn’t steal anything from him. That guy is delusional. But yes, a date sounds… Nice.”
“Nice? It’ll be more than nice.”
He shuffled over to me and nuzzled my neck, making me collapse into a hopeless mess of giggles. I was way too ticklish.
“I’ll look forward to our better-than-nice next date,” I purred, finding his lips and losing myself in my Ryan.
“So?” Brandon sat forward expectantly, drumming his fingers together as they dangled in-between his knees. “What did you think of the asylum? Any good?”
“Nope. It’s a no-go. Too many corridors and empty rooms. It lacked… Spirit.”
He rolled his eyes at me and groaned. “We’re not looking for a fucking wedding venue, Ry. Just four walls and some kind of roof to accommodate us for the night. Do you need me to take a look at it?”
Over my dead body. I wasn’t letting him anywhere near the place. This was not up for discussion. I knew he’d have loved it. He’d have used that chapel as his own private MGM Grand if he could. But it wasn’t his to use. Not any more
“No point. I think we should check out the waterworks again. Or maybe the old foundry? We’ve had that place on our list for ages.”
Brandon looked at me like he was scrutinising every word, but he didn’t argue. Finn was the one who broke the stand-off.
“Did you get any further with Emily and all that shit with her dad?” He looked between Zak and me, but it was Brandon who replied.
“Fuck, haven’t you heard? Did we forget to tell you? Ryan nailed Lockwood’s ass to the cross last weekend over Emily. Dude got blown off faster than a groomsman with a Vegas stripper.” He leaned over and slapped my knee to congratulate me. Shifting from suspicious, to pissed off, to proud all in the matter of a few seconds.
“Nice imagery, mate.” Finn scowled and then laughed as Brandon filled everyone in on what’d happened on Friday night, like he’d actually been there watching the whole thing himself. He was like a proud parent with how he described it. I couldn’t tell if he was more proud of me for stepping in or Emily for going along with it.
“So, its official now? With you and Emily? You’re a thing?” Finn asked, and Zak smiled to himself.
“Yeah. She’s mine.” I shrugged, and I noticed Brandon grit his teeth. “You got a problem with that?” I asked, ready to go nuclear on his ass or anyone else’s who wanted to call me out on it.
“Nope.” Brandon shook his head, but he wouldn’t look at me.
“I’m taking her out again tomorrow. Any ideas on where’s a good place for a date?” I was aiming that at Zak, and maybe Finn.
Brandon piped up. “What? Is the back of your van not good enough for her?” And then wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Prick.
“Fuck you,” I spat back, and he gave a fake laugh.
“Just remember which side you’re on.” Brandon sat back in his chair and tried to look like he wasn’t pissed off with me.