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Chapter 12
I fear my last words will be, hold my beer and watch this.
Step one in my Fix Grayson Plan is not proceeding according to plan. The girls and their men are going bowling tonight, but Grayson is refusing to get off his butt and join us. He must be genuinely depressed. He normally jumps at the chance to compete with Aiden and Ryker.
Come on. For me.
I type and add a GIF of a dog with great big puppy dog eyes for good measure. When I don’t get a response, I try again.
It’ll be fun. Promise.
I add another GIF of a baby girl with huge eyes begging.
If I say yes, will you stop sending me creepy GIFs?
Probably not. I do love me some creepy GIFs but of course, I lie.
Yep. I’ll pick you up in 5.
I’ll meet you there.
Fine. Whatever.
I give in because at least I finally convinced Grayson to get out of his house. Gee. I hope he showers. The look of his place when I visited does not evoke confidence in his hygiene habits.
When I arrive at the bowling alley, I look around the parking lot, but I don’t see Grayson’s truck anywhere. I debate waiting for him at the entrance for all of ten seconds. But I am not his girlfriend. And, more importantly, I am not pathetic. I walk inside and head toward the lane Hailey reserved.
“Hey, Suzie. Where’s your boyfriend?” Phoebe calls when I join them.
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
“He’s a boy and he’s your friend, thus boyfriend.”
“That’s not the definition of boyfriend and you know it.” I show her my back to ask Hailey, “What happened to our shy Phoebe? I don’t like the new and improved Phoebe.”
Hailey hip checks me. “Sure, you do. You just don’t like it when she’s sassy with you.”
True. I love how Phoebe has come out of her shell. This Phoebe is way more fun than spoiled rich and scared little Phoebe, although spoiled little rich girl Phoebe was okay. She wasn’t as much fun is all.
Ryker hooks a hand around Phoebe’s neck and drags her close. “Give it a rest, will ya?”
Phoebe pouts. “Why? She pushed and pushed until I gave you a chance and you kidnapped me.”
Pain flashes in Ryker’s eyes before he blinks, and it’s gone again. Someone still feels guilty for what he did despite having his reasons – and they were good reasons.
“I have a feeling pushing Suzie isn’t going to get you anywhere,” Ryker admits.
Damn right, it won’t! Suzie is Ms. Single until the end of time. My heart clenches at the thought but my head reminds her of the snake in the grass, aka Toby. Argument settled.
“Hey,” Grayson says as he comes up behind me.
Ryker and Grayson do some complicated man hug thing. Aiden gets in on the action by slapping Grayson on the back. Phoebe rolls her eyes at me and mouths men. See? Men don’t know how to handle their emotions. It’s up to me to solve Grayson’s problems. It’s what friends do.
“How should we divide into teams?” Grayson asks as he looks around at the group.
Aiden’s grin is sly. “Men and against women?”
Phoebe shrugs. “Sure.”
