I make my way toward them, shooting Penny a look of warning. Her smile grows, those dark blue eyes a bit more glassy than usual. She leans toward me, smacking her hand on my shoulder.
“Did I ever tell you that you’re my favourite groomsman?”
I scoff. “Above Caulfield? Doubtful.”
“Right now, yes,” she says definitively. “He’s not currently doing a shot with me.”
“Don’t let Carter hear that.” Arden snickers beside her. “He might cry.”
I chuckle, knowing she’s right. Carter and Penny have a better relationship than she has with me. They’re closer. But it's not surprising. Most people are closer with others than they are with me. I’m a closed book. I don’t give much, so I don’t get much. Saltzy might think he’s the robotic one, but I often wonder if it’s me.
The bartender drops the extra tequila shot and I grab his attention. “Put those on my tab, please. And can I grab a martini? Extra dirty.”
I pick up my shot glass. The girls are chatting, but Arden Doll’s eyes are glued to my face. She angles her head when I meet her gaze, leaning against the bar on her elbows. Her red hair falls into the mixture of spilled liquid on the surface.
“Extra dirty martini?” she asks, cocking a brow.
I meet her eyes and open my mouth, but her head whips toward the booths before I can say anything. She narrows her gaze, trying to see through the dim lights and all the bodies.
“She’s here,” I confirm, and her eyes widen, a smile blossoming on her mouth. “I’d go rescue her if I were you. Forker is interrogating her in front of the boys. She looks like she would rather die than be in that booth.”
“I’m on it,” she confirms, “but, shots first. Ladies! Let’s do this before I chicken out.”
“And Boston!” Penny shouts.
And for some reason, even though we’re here to celebrate Penny and Declan, the toast I do with these five girls is not related to Penny at all.
No, in unison, they all chant the same damn thing.
“And Boston!”
CHAPTER SIX
ariana
God,Boston Black is hotter than I remembered.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t dress up this nicely in hopes of seeing him. Call me a pathetic puppy, I don’t care. He’sthathot. His long, black hair is thick with a well-kept, slight wave. Don’t get me started on that full beard. He’s a man in every sense of the word. A man I typically don’t pursue for my own reasons. Since I know I can’t have him, I have fun with it anyway.
Then, my brother had to announce I’m a jobless, money-less freak, and ruin any potential hot points I had in Boston’s pretty brain.
It’s a tough life, isn’t it?
Boston drops a martini in front of me with a nod. I open my mouth to thank him, but a redhead flies into the booth behind him and cuts me off. She nearly jumps over Carter, pulling me into her arms, chattering fifty miles a minute about nothing and everything, and I can’t understand a word of it.
I meet Carter’s eyes over her shoulder. He holds her body upright by her hips, his lips pulling up into an amused smirk.
Arden Doll is hammered.
“Get your ass up!” she demands in my ear, pulling back to scan my face. “The girls are at the bar. Avery’s about to make the bartender put on some Def Leppard. We’re dancing!”
I can’t help the smile that spreads across my face.
Have I ever told you how much I love my brother’s girlfriend? The second I met her, I knew. He was going to marry this one, and we’d all be luckier for it. She’s the closest thing to a sister I’ve ever had. Carter and I both won the lottery with her.
“Ohgod,”Declan mumbles, glancing at the boys in the booth next to him. “Anyone bring the ibuprofen and the ice packs?”
“In the rental car,” Seth says with a long sigh, rubbing his face with his hand. “I put them in a cooler.”
