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They’d broken up when she hadn’t gotten accepted into Haverick, and she’d had to move away to attend college.
It had left Thane devastated. But he’d never said a single bad thing about her, which was why I’d always kind of thought they’d find their way back to each other once they graduated.
Except Thane had been out of school for five months now, and there’d been no mention of her from him once.
“And?” Parker demanded, lifting his eyebrows when Foster didn’t divulge anything past seeing Nova’s mom.
“And she said Nova’s…” Foster winced. “Nova’s engaged.”
“Oh, fuck,” I breathed, while Parker cursed up an even bigger storm, slamming down his half-empty glass of bourbon and surging to his feet so he could pace the floor and run a harassed hand through his hair.
“So what do we do?” Foster demanded. “We can’t just keep this from Thane. But how the hell do we tell him the love of his life is fixin’ to marry someone else?”
Hearing a choking sound from the doorway to the room, I glanced over and froze.
“I think you just did,” Parker announced next to me.
Foster whirled around and winced. “Man,” he started, gripping his head in regret while Thane just stood there, looking dazed. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
Thane lifted a hand, halting him. “No, no,” he assured. “You’re fine. It’s fine. I just… I mean, wow.” He blew out a long breath and set his hands on his hips. “So Nova’s getting married, huh?”
Foster, Parker, and I gathered around him.
“Well, that’s…that’s…good,” he said and glanced at us, forcing a big smile. “I’m happy for her. I’m glad she’s found—you know—someone to spend the rest of her life with.” But his voice broke on the last word, and he spent half a minute trying to clear his throat.
“And we’ve been apart for—God—over four years now. It’s healthy that she’s moved on and…and…”
“Jesus, man,” Parker barked, interrupting him. “This isusyou’re talking to. Drop the polite bullshit and just say what you really feel.”
Thane’s face broke. “Christ,” he uttered, breathing hard and gripping his head. “I need a drink. I’m going to need a lot of fucking drinks before the end of this night.”
“Now that’s what I’m talking about.” Parker nodded in approval and slung an arm around Thane’s shoulder to usher him to the table where he had an entire bottle waiting.
But when they reached it, Thane couldn’t seem to wait for his own glass to be poured. He snagged Parker’s abandoned Glencairn and tossed its contents back with one swallow.
Foster glanced at me and winced. “This is going to be bad.”
I whimpered out a helpless groan and nodded. Thane was usually our group’s conscience, and without him working on all four cylinders to keep us in line, there was no telling what kind of evening we were about to have.
* * *
An hour later,Foster and I were the only two sober idiots in sight. Since Parker was paying out the ass for this room, none of the waitresses batted an eyelash about serving minors. So Thane had waved the two freshmen over to join him for a drink as soon as they’d arrived, to which Alec and Keene were more than excited to partake, while Parkeralwaysimbibed, and Hudson just followed the crowd.
Which left babysitting their drunk asses up to me and the star quarterback, who didn’t drink during the season.
Stopping next to me, Foster set his hands on his hips and shook his head. “Why did he have to have a birthday on Friday the freaking thirteenth?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and shook my head sadly as a conga line went jamming past us, consisting of Thane in the lead, then Keene, followed by some waitress who’d deserted her duties to hang with us, and then ending with Alec in the back, twerking pathetically. Hudson and Parker were over at the couches, with their feet kicked up as they drank bourbon and smoked cigars.
“I’m way too sober for this.”
Foster sent me a cautionary glance. “Don’t you even dare think about abandoning me for alcohol right now. I am not babysitting everyone by myself.”
I only shrugged. “Or you could join us,” I offered.
He sniffed. “Man, I have a game tomorrow. Besides, who’d make sure everyone got home safely?”
“Uber?” I guessed, only to snap my fingers and point at him. “Or we could make Ohrley rent a long-ass limo and haul us around town until we sober up.”
