Rich Groom (The Dirty Thirty Pledge 1)

Glenn grabs the paper out of my hand and brushes it off like I got it dirty. “No, I’m not shitting you. If you’re not married before you’re thirty, you’re going to do this.”

My entire mind goes blank. This is…absurd. Ridiculous. I’m trying to imagine that day in court. But this can’t be real. It really can’t. “Glenn, that contract may be ‘enforceable,’ but you and I both know if that goes to court it won’t hold up. It’s ridiculous.”

He nods, looking me up and down. “You’re right.”

“So what are we doing here?”

That same look of confusion is on his face. “I’m doing this for you, Frankie. This is what we’ve always wanted, and you’re not locked in a ball and chain situation. And thanks to our business, we’re fucking rich. You have no reason not to do this. We’re going to be fucking legends!”

As he speaks, he gets more and more excited, his eyes lighting up the same way they did when he was pitching us the business plan for First Shot. I shake my head slowly, trying to choose my words carefully. “Things change, Glenn. Not everyone wants the same things forever.”

“And some things don’t change. Sometimes people just forget what they need and they need their friends to help them out.”

My hands reflexively curl into fists. “And what exactly are you trying to help me with?”

“I’m trying to help you move on. You’ve been stuck in the past for way too damn long, man. You barely come home anymore because you’re trying to avoid that bitch.”

I see red, and Wallace’s hand is on my shoulder. “Jesus, Glenn. You’ve got your asshole hat on tonight.”

“Let me get this straight,” I say, ignoring what he said about Anna so I don’t punch him. “You’re going to sue me because I don’t want to fuck lots of women in a month because I signed a stupid piece of paper when I was a horny teenager? What are you even going to sue me for? What could you possibly win?”

He’s still grinning stupidly. Like this is some kind of big game or joke. “I’ll sue you for breach of contract. And maybe you forgot the last rule of the dirty thirty pledge?” He doesn’t hand it back to me, instead he holds up the paper and points. “And thanks to the morality clauses in our by-laws, if you come under breach of contract, your portion of the company is forfeit.”

I turn around and look at Wallace. His mouth is a thin line and I can’t read his expression. This is the last thing that I expected when I walked in here tonight. I thought that I was coming to a bar to have a drink with two old friends, not to be threatened with a lawsuit that will cost me my entire livelihood. “You’re insane,” I say to him.

“I’m not,” he says, placing the contract back into the cabinet. “I’m pragmatic. Besides, Angler, this is all win for you. If I was a dick, I’d be telling you to forget about the pledge and then hit you with all this later. I’m not doing that. I want you to do the pledge. You’re going to have so much pussy that your cock is going to fall off. I’m your man on this.”

The feeling ripping through my gut is brutal and familiar, but I never thought I’d feel it again from Glenn. It’s betrayal. “This is worth endangering our friendship over?” I don’t particularly want to know the answer, but I have to know.

“Yes,” he says. “I’m not going to just stand by while you waste your life wanting someone who threw you away.”

I turn and walk out of Glenn’s office, because if I don’t, I’m going to hit him in the face. One hundred percent. I stop by the bar and toss a few bills down for the beer, because after that, I don’t want to owe that asshole anything. Not even in a bar that I own. At the last second, I grab the list of women that’s sitting there and shove it into my pocket. No one needs to see that sitting there. And then I’m gone. Out into the night air. I don’t make it very far.

“Frankie,” Wallace calls from behind me. “Wait.”

“You’re okay with this?” I say, turning on him. I check my voice when I see the group of people looking in our direction. These people know who we are, and with the Green Hills gossip system, this is something that I don’t want getting around.

He sighs, and shakes his head. “Not really. I don’t know. I mean, I want to do it. I need to get Tia out of my head and I can’t think of another way to do it. But I didn’t want to spring it on you. I’m sorry that he did that. I wanted to at least, you know, ease into it.”