AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Tanner
Tanner Rose wasn’t sure what had crawled up his best friend’s ass and died, but he was sure hoping to find out soon. All Declan seemed to worry about lately was him—where he was, what he was doing, and who he was fucking. None of that was his friend’s business. Declan was treating him more like a business partner and less like the friend who knew him better than anyone else in the whole world—and that hurt.
Sure, maybe he was taking things a bit to the extreme, but it was only to see how much push back Declan would give him. He used to be fun, but the older they got, the less Tanner saw that fun side to his friend. He was hoping that sooner or later, fun Declan would show back up; maybe even want to share a woman or two, but that hadn’t happened yet. Tanner was worried that his friend wasn’t going to find a balance between his work and private life and that would have him crashing and burning before they even got off the ground, and he wouldn’t let that happen.
His idea to bring Cindy on as their stewardess today was a good plan. It would help Declan remember who he was if the two of them shared her and she was up for a good time. When he called her, she just about jumped at the chance to fly to France with the two of them. Who knew, maybe she’d even be willing to spend a week or two with them and really help Declan unwind.
He got to the hanger about ten minutes late and found Declan sitting on the jet waiting for him, angry scowl firmly in place. “You’re late,” he growled. God, he felt like a teenager getting caught sneaking in past curfew.
“Sorry, Mom,” Tanner teased. “Traffic was a bitch.”
“You need to take this trip seriously,” Declan said.
“And you need to lighten up a little. Which brings me to my next surprise,” Tanner said. He held his hand out to help Cindy onto the jet. “I thought I’d bring a little bit of fun with me,” he said.
“No,” Declan shouted at him, causing poor Cindy to jump. “We just talked about all of this. No offense Cindy, but I don’t want to share a woman with you to blow off steam. I want to go over our proposal for our investors in France, get some rest, and arrive at our meeting fresh and ready to work. You need to get your fucking head on straight.”
“Give us just a minute, Cindy,” Tanner said.
“No problem. I’ll go meet with the pilot and get everything ready for the flight,” she offered.
“Thank you,” Tanner said. He watched Cindy disappear into the back of the jet and turned on Declan. “What the fuck is wrong with you lately, man?” he asked.
“What’s wrong with me?” Declan shouted, pointing to himself. “What the hell is wrong with you, Tanner? All you seem to want to do is fuck women and have a good time. We’re trying to build something here and if you’re not as invested as you used to be, tell me now. Do you want out?” Declan asked.
“No,” Tanner barked. “I don’t fucking want out. I want you to learn to balance fun and work. You don’t have any downtime anymore, Declan, and I’m worried about you.”
“I’m just fine,” Declan lied. “I don’t need you to worry about me and I certainly don’t need you to bring women around to share. Getting laid doesn’t solve all the world’s problems, Tanner. Maybe you should try laying off pussy for a while and then you’ll see that there are more important things in the world.”
Cindy chose that moment to walk back into the room and when she giggled, Tanner couldn’t help but laugh. “See, that’s the problem right there,” Declan insisted. “You think everything is a fucking joke, and it’s not. Grow the hell up, man,” Declan shouted.
He stormed off to the bedroom and slammed the door. “So, I’m guessing that he’s a no for sharing me with you,” Cindy said.
“Looks that way,” Tanner agreed. “Doesn’t mean that we can’t have a little fun for the flight over,” he said.
Cindy shook her head, “Maybe I should just go,” she offered. “I’m sure that Mary Lou can handle the flight by herself. She’s very capable and besides, I was up for sharing, but I don’t really do the whole one-on-one thing with guys, Tanner. It gets too messy,” she said, grabbing her jacket and bag from the seat. “Good luck in France,” she said. Tanner watched as she stepped off the jet and back onto the tarmac.
“Fuck,” he spat. “None of this is turning out the way that I planned.”
His pilot’s voice filled the cabin, letting him know that they were going to be taking off in about five minutes since they got the all-clear from the tower. Tanner sat down and buckled in, trying to figure out how the hell this all went sideways and what he could do to fix things.
Declan never used to be this uptight. He used to be fun and enjoy doing a lot of the same things that Tanner had. They’d party together just about every night and still show up early to work the next morning. Maybe Declan was feeling the effects of his age. Tanner sure felt every bit of thirty-four and that was probably what had been driving him to grab life by the balls and ride as hard and long as he possibly could. The two of them had two very different viewpoints of how life should look in their thirties and it was starting to become a problem that Tanner wasn’t sure he’d be able to solve.
“Drink before we take off, Mr. Rose?” Mary Lou asked. Sure, alcohol wasn’t the answer, but it would help take the edge off until he could figure out what to do about Declan. That was something that he usually used sex for—to take the edge off, but without Cindy sticking around, his hopes for that literally flew out the window. Mary Lou was happily married with two kids back at home, so alcohol to the rescue.
“Scotch, neat,” he said.
