Seven Groomsmen from Hell (Love by Numbers 6)

That was what I had for memories of Luke, and when I saw the other groomsmen with him, they reminded me of those assholes snapping pictures of me back then. He was as big of a jerk as they came, and any company he kept had to be just as bad; of that much I was certain.

I wasn’t sure exactly when I had fallen asleep, but I was awakened from my sleep suddenly by the sound of knocks on my door. I checked my watch and noticed it was almost midnight. Who the hell would be at my door so late? I rushed to my door, and opened it, shocked to find that my friend Jordan was standing on the other side. Her blond hair was a mess across her head and her red eyes were swollen and red.

“Jordan?” Jordan was an old friend of mine that lived in Dallas. “You look awful.” I hugged her, pulling her inside and shutting the door behind her. “Well, you don’t look awful. You look beautiful as always, but you look like you’ve been through hell.”

“I have been,” she replied. “Can I stay with you for a few days?”

I couldn’t imagine what she had been through to make her suddenly need to stay with me, but if it was that important, it was worth refuge. “Of course. What’s going on?” I set her bags aside, helped her down to the couch, and then skipped to the kitchen to make her a mimosa and grab her a bowl of ice cream. I returned and handed them to her. “A mimosa.” I settled down onto the couch next to her and then tapped her leg. “Okay, out with it.”

I listened as Jordan explained the situation she was in with the six men she’d fallen in love with back in Dallas. She started out as the nanny for their single dad’s club and eventually entered into a relationship with all of them. Unfortunately, she’d just received a random tip that one of them had killed their ex-wife, and she was worried she might be next. She was still trying to figure out what to do and needed to stay with me for a few days.

Looking for a distraction, I decided to exchange stories with her about the seven idiotic groomsmen that had been forced upon me. I regurgitated to her in fierce detail the different bad manners of the seven jackasses I was tasked with corralling, spending probably too much time venting about Luke.

“You did say when I spoke to you back at the beginning that you thought they were going to be a handful,” Jordan said.

“I was right three months ago; feels the same now.” I looked at Jordan and she looked exhausted. She barely touched her ice cream or mimosa. I tapped her leg. “Come on. I have a spare bedroom with a super comfy bed you can stay in.”

I got Jordan comfortable in the spare bedroom and watched as she immediately passed out, but with a forlorn expression on her face. I felt glad that I wasn’t in that situation. At least I hated the men I was intertwined with for the moment. I cleaned up our dishes and then returned to my own room and then drifted off back to sleep.

5

Mason

Grocery shopping was my least favorite adult activity. At one point I considered paying someone to do it for me, but they didn’t get any of the things that I liked. After trial running a delivery service, I finally just decided to do it myself. In most cases, I considered it a nuisance, but god must have decided to award me for committing to such a mundane task because as I was sifting through the ribs, who else should round the corner, but Miss Wedding Planner herself. She looked more tantalizing than any of the meats in the section. She was wearing an army green, form-fitting romper, and a pair of roman sandals. Her hair was up in a ponytail and she was amusingly concentrated on the big cuts of beef.

“Are you hoping it’ll talk to you if you stare at it long enough?” I asked.

Khloe looked over, and then as soon as her eyes landed on me, she rolled her eyes. “Hey, Old Man.” She looked back at the meat. “I’m going to a party and I need big pieces of meat.” I snickered at the phrasing and then burst out laughing. A woman like her saying something like that was too good for words. She glared at me through a half-lidded gaze. “What’s so funny?”

“You really should be careful what you say in public,” I responded. “Lest you get the wrong kind of ‘big meat.’”

“You have a dirty mind,” she growled back. “I expected more from you. Maybe something immature like that from that moron Luke, but you’re the mature one of the group, or so I thought.”