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However, tonight’s Russo in the crosshairs was Gage…who had his arm wrapped around a scantily dressed, heavily made-up redhead. Penny pushed her glasses up and squinted.
Wait. She was pretty sure that was Marjorie from accounting. Penny rolled her eyes. Gage was apparently starting to fish in the company pond. He’d mentioned some date with Connie from HR—for pity’s sake—just last week. Penny would have thought at least an HR woman would know better than to mess around with the boss, but apparently not.
Gage saw her staring and waved.
“Damn Russos,” Tony muttered. “Can’t turn around twice without running into one.”
“Down boy,” Jess joked.
Penny turned her attention back to Tony and felt the need to defend her boss. “Gage, while a shameless playboy, is actually a pretty nice guy.”
Crazy as it sounded, she’d actually come to view Gage as a friend lately. Which was just what she needed. Another fucking guy friend.
Since crashing theirDead by Daylightgame three months earlier, Gage had become a somewhat regular fixture in the nerd circle. Not that any of them considered him a full-fledged member.
Gage Russo would never qualify as a true nerd, but he seemed to genuinely enjoy their company, loved D&D as much as she did—which was saying something—and had proven himself her biggest competition when it came to gaming.
So really, if he hadn’t been a gorgeous, super-cool billionaire with stunning women fluttering around him like butterflies, he would have easily been inducted into the nerd circle, no questions asked.
Recently Gage had grown a beard—a ridiculously sexy beard—and now Toby and Rich were trying to do the same. She didn’t have it in her to tell Toby his beard probably classified more as peach fuzz and he should probably just pack it in and shave.
Not that he’d listen to her. Toby and Rich were too busy hanging on Gage’s every word—something that was completely annoying—while Penny’s role in their ragtag gang was to simply keep the man humble.
Although, she had to begrudgingly admit Gage had been good for the guys. Toby and Rich had become more confident of late as they followed Gage’s advice regarding women. Both of them, normally extremely shy and awkward around the opposite sex, had gone out on several dates, and it sounded like Rich was on his way to landing himself an honest-to-God girlfriend, something that had eluded every member of the nerd circle since the three of them had started working together six years earlier.
Regardless of her reassurance about Gage’s good-guy status, Tony mumbled something indecipherable under his breath. Probably because it included some bad words regarding the Russos that he didn’t want Jasper to hear.
Jess winked at Penny across the table, shaking her head. Like Penny, Jess had worked for Russo Enterprises, though for a short time, and she shared Penny’s opinion that whatever the Russo guys had been like back in school, they weren’t pure evil, like the Morettis continued to insist.
“So what are we doing for your birthday next month?” Jess asked Penny, adeptly finding a way to change the subject.
Penny groaned. “Nothing. I’m not celebrating this one.”
“Why not?” Tony asked.
“It’s not a milestone I’m particularly excited about.”
Rhys frowned. “This isn’t a milestone birthday. You’re going to be twenty-nine, right? Not thirty.”
“Twenty-nine is a milestone,” Penny insisted. “Last year in the twenties. Then…I’m going to be ancient. Like you.”
Rhys reached over Jasper’s head to playfully pull her hair. “Et tu, Brute? It’s not enough I have to deal with Tony calling me old man all the time.”
“We’re having a party,” Jess interjected, refusing to be swayed.
“Bah humbug,” Penny grumbled.
“We’ll go out for a girls’ happy hour with Keeley, Gianna, and Liza to come up with a menu and guest list,” Jess continued.
For the first time in her life, Penny actually had a few girlfriends to hang out with. They were women she’d seen occasionally over the years at Moretti parties or get-togethers but had never really talked to because, hey—wallflower. Jess had been the one to help her break the barrier, moving her out of the acquaintance column to the girlfriends one with Keeley Gallo, Gianna Duncan, and Liza Moretti. So far, they’d gone to one happy hour and had met up for lunch. Penny hadn’t contributed much to the conversation at either event, but she’d been thrilled to her toes to be invited and included.
In high school and college, she hadn’t managed to find common ground with many girls, her interests landing her more male companionship. She’d never been the type to go to parties or bars, preferring to hang out in some pal’s dingy basement playingWarzoneall night.
She had zero interest in hair or makeup—though lately she’d been thinking she might like to try something different with her looks—and she viewed shopping as the equivalent to getting a pap smear.
Then her mind drifted back todingy. Hmm. That would be a good Wordle word.
“Penny,” Jess said, trying to draw her attention back to the conversation at hand.
