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Was Adrian sure about this?
“Getting hitched,” I said. “The old ball and chain. You sure you want that?”
“If I’m tied toher?” Adrian said with fire in his eyes. “You guys have no idea. Gabby is everything I didn’t know I wanted. If having her means breaking The Pact, so be it. I’d do anything for her.”
Marriage had never interested me much. Back in college, I’d told the guys it was because I was focused on grades and then on inheriting Dad’s business, which yielded more wealth than I’d ever anticipated. My parentsput on a good façade for others, but I saw the reality of their fractured relationship. They hid a private reality of heartache and estrangement.
I’d grown up witnessing their emotional detachment, and I didn’t want to repeat history.
Seeing him this happy, though? I squirmed with unexpected jealousy. Would I ever want to tie the knot? Maybe someday, like Adrian said.
With the right girl.
I tapped my soda can against his beer and dug the cards from the inside pocket of my jacket, tossing them onto the table. They slapped against the wood, and their white rectangular shapes contrasted against the table’s surface.
“Is that what you think these were about?” I asked. “The Pact?”
River reached in and took the cards in his hand. He shuffled through each one in turn, pausing at each as if they said different things.
“If so, I don’t see why,” he said. “What does it matter ten years after the fact? We made that when we were all young and stupid.”
“Speak for yourself,” Maddox said.
“You mean you weren’t young?”
“I wasn’t stupid.” Maddox grinned, tipping back his beer.
“Me neither,” Wesley said.
“But he attacked Bria and Grey over this,” I said. “Gabby, too. Don’t you think these might have some kind of connection to that?”
The space between our group was silent. Adrian wentstill. Maddox stared at the beer in his hand, and River eyed the cards on the table. He’d brought up a point that none of us wanted to think about—least of all Adrian.
“Come on,” Adrian said. “I’ve been with Gabby for months and nothing else has happened to her. You can’t really think anything will happen now.”
“Besides,” I said, trying to be helpful—though I wasn’t sure it did much to ease his worries. I mean, the last thing a guy wanted to think about the night before his wedding was the fact that he and his wife might be in danger.
“Even though we gave the new guys crap about it,” I went on, “deep down we all knew it wasn’t a big deal. The Pact was only temporary, to get us through school without female distractions.”
I wasn’t sure if my comment had the desired effect. I’d been the one to mention my suspicions. Now, I was trying to alleviate that worry.
No one responded for several moments. Sure, The Pact had started out as a spoof—but we’d learned to take it a little more seriously after what had happened to Bria and Gabby.
Will wouldn’t come after any of us now, would he? Not now that he’d been arrested for just that?
“Think about it,” I went on, voicing my thoughts. “Will’s in jail. What could happen?”
“That’s the wrong question to ask,” Maddox muttered, tipping his head back for another drink.
Hm. True.
That was the kind of question that made people throw salt over their shoulders or knock on wood toactivate whatever superstition they thought prevented bad things from happening.
As far as I knew, Maddox wasn’t in love with anyone. He’d had a fling with Scarlet, the fraternity sweetheart back in college. The two of them had dated on and off all through school regardless of The Pact, even as she’d messed around with a few of the other guys, too.
The two of them had gone into business together until he ended that pursuit in order to launch his theme park.
As for River? I didn’t think he was romantically involved with anyone, either.
