AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Remington: Third and deciding vote. Majority rules.
Flynn: You are all cocks, you know that?
Remington: Oh, did you miss me, work hubby?
Nic: Fuck, you two have started, so I’m out. See you at 6.
Flynn: You never had a chance of getting in. Shit, I’m funny.
Forrest: I swear we can’t be related. Switched at birth, I say!
Remington: Hard to argue when you look so alike.
Flynn: No way he is as good-looking as me.
Flynn: What, no comments??
Flynn: Where did you all go?
Flynn: Fuckers!
I might have more work to do now than I was counting on, but I know beers with the boys is better than therapy and much cheaper. I don’t need to sit and have some doctor tell me how fucked up I am. I know that for myself.
* * *
“So let me get this right. You took her home, carried her to bed, and walked away, without taking it further?” Remington lifts his beer up to me. “That takes restraint, my friend.”
“I’m not going to hit on a girl who’s drunk and way too young for me. Besides, all we did the whole time she was awake was argue. She drives me fucking crazy.” I’m not admitting to them that part of me sparked at every snarky comment she threw at me.
“She was hot, a fiery redhead. I’d do her,” Flynn chimes in with his take on Tori.
“You fucking touch her and I will end you.” The guys all fall quiet in front of me. Shit, where did that come from?
Flynn bursts out laughing. “Ooh, way too touchy for someone who is trying to tell us he’s not interested.”
“Flynn,” I growl at him, not that he ever seems to get the message.
“What? Just stating the obvious here.”
“You’re wrong. Conversation finished.” I glare at him to let him know I meant it.
“So, what’s the plan about Rome, boss man?” Remington understands the message and changes the subject.
“It’s fucked up my trip home to see Mum. I’ll need to head over there to make sure everything gets sorted out. Laurence is on his way over tonight to get things moving, but I want to be in front of any negative publicity before it happens. Social media can escalate things so damn quickly.” I’m already thinking ahead at what I need to get cleared here before I can leave.
“Hey, this is a work-free zone! Rem, how was the holiday?” Forrest is usually the quiet one in our group, but tonight he seems to be more vocal than usual.
When you work in the hotel business, it’s actually hard to take a holiday and not be thinking of work. But Rem takes it to a new level of distraction.
“Oh man, diving with the sharks was insane. I almost crapped myself at one point when the great white swam straight at me and took the cage in his mouth. I thought his jaw was going to snap the metal. Fuck, it was so intense and the best adrenaline rush ever.” The look of pure excitement on his face tells us that he lives for this shit.
“What, better than climbing Mount Kilimanjaro or heli skiing at the peak in the Swiss Alps, in the snow that is the most unstable and could have taken you down in an avalanche any minute? What the fuck is wrong with you?” Flynn asks, shaking his head at him as he lifts his beer to his mouth.
“You only live once. No point holding back.” And Rem means it without hesitation. He has an unofficial death wish, I’m sure. It’s why we let him go and get it out of his system on his own a few times a year, while we all sit in the safety of our cozy life here.
“True that, but it doesn’t mean you should invite death any quicker than you need to, you crazy bastard. You can have that shark shit all on your own. When I swim, I want it in the calm waters of the Mediterranean.” Forrest signals to the server that we need another round.
“Nothing beats surfing a wave off the coast of Australia,” I say wistfully. “You don’t even know what real waves are here, or a proper summer for that matter. Fuck, now I am really pissed I’m not heading home.” The weather would be starting to heat up there, and maybe I could have found time to sneak in a few mornings of surfing.
