Surrendering (Surrender 1)

Tripp steps up next, “Let’s get you a beer, man.”

I glare at Max. “What was that about? You looked like you were going to pummel him.”

“He had his hands on you and his lips on your mouth. I didn’t know you had a boyfriend.”

“Well, now you know. We’ve been seeing each other for several weeks. Quit acting like Robbie.”

“Sorry, RJ, I flipped a little. I’ll apologize.”

“Thanks.”

We join the crew back at the bar and I grasp Declan’s hand. “Come on, I want you to meet two of my best-friends in the whole world.”

When we get to the table, I interrupt the conversation, “Harp, Charlie, I want you to meet Declan Collins.”

They both openly gasp at him. Charlie starts to choke on her drink. Harper beats her back until there are tears running down her cheeks. I burst into laughter. “Maybe you shouldn’t inhale with a mouth full.”

“Bitch, you seemed to have left out a few details about your guy.”

I stop laughing because I know the next words out of her mouth will cause me humiliation.

“For example, I’m seeing a guy that looks like a fucking Greek God. Or possibly, when you meet him, you’ll need to change your panties. These are the kind of things you tell your best-friend when you describe your new guy.”

Yep, complete humiliation. He chuckles behind me and I throw my face in my hands. Harper tries to diffuse the situation.

“Hi, Declan, I’m Harper and this is Charlie. Obviously she has no filter.” I peek through my fingers to see Harper swat Charlie’s arm.

“Declan, that is my former best-friend, Charlotte. We call her Charlie and she speaks before she thinks most of the time.” I shoot a look at her to tell her to shut up.

“Sorry, Rave, I was just being real. I didn’t mean to call you out.”

Abbi and Ella are watching our exchange with amusement.

I move to sit down in front of my drink, but Declan takes my wrist before I can. He turns so he’s seated instead and I have to sit on his lap. I pick up my glass and drain the whole drink.

“Careful, Sparkle, I have plans for us tonight. Don’t want to carry you up to our room.” He says in my ear.

Did he just say our room? I glance over at him and he smirks before taking a slug of his beer. I settle on his lap and turn to face the group. Everyone has pulled up a chair around the table. I have one more drink, but I notice that each of the girls has had several more. I can tell Harper and Charlie are drunk when they start talking about our upcoming girls’ weekend.

“Rave, Kendall’s able to come for the weekend. We decided we want to do NNN on Thursday.”

“Sounds good, what about the rest of the weekend?”

“Friday night we want to go dancing.”

“Okay, where?”

“Kendall got an email from Adam that said we should go to the new place in East Nashville. He’ll be spinning that night.”

The conversation hushes. Robbie moves his elbows on the other end of the table at the mention of Adam. Adam and I used to date, but I broke up with him my first year of college. I had decided we were better off friends. My brother thought he was a jerk. I personally didn’t care, but I’m not sure I want to discuss this with Declan present.

“Then you can plan Saturday night.”

This

sounds reasonable. Declan speaks up behind me, “You should all come see Sayge play Saturday night. I’ll make sure you get in.”

“That sounds fucking great. RJ, it must be awesome to have a friend in a band.” Charlie shouts across the table.