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The guys offered their hands, and both smirked as Uh-O gawked. He shook their hands, grimacing a bit at Aithan’s bone-crushing grip, and looked utterly perplexed. “Uh, yeah, good to meet you.”
Drew nodded. “Zel mentioned you.”
Owen glanced at me. “Yeah? Good things?”
“No,” Aithan replied, straight-faced.
I burst out laughing and Drew chuckled. Aithan smirked. Owen just looked confused.
“I told them you dumped me because I got fat.”
His expression fell. “Oh.” His face flushed and he rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, well, I was a dumb kid, ya know?”
“Oh, believe me, I know.” I was not letting him off the hook and having my guys backing me up felt really fucking powerful.
Drew wrapped his arm around my waist. “Your loss is our gain, man.”
I could almost see Owen’s brain straining to understand my relationship with the guys.
“Whatcha doing these days?” I asked to give him some traction before he skidded into a mental ditch.
“Me? I’m, uh, working at the smelter. You know, up north.” He looked around, as if searching for someone, then turned back to me. “Hannah said you moved to New York.”
“Me?” I laughed. “No, I’m in Seattle. Don’t listen to her. We haven’t spoken since sixth grade. She doesn’t know shit about my life.”
“Oh. Well, you kinda disappeared halfway through twelfth grade. A couple people thought you had a nervous breakdown or something. They said you were hospitalized.”
Aithan’s hand drifted to the nape of my neck and Drew’s fingers tightened on my waist.
“Yeah, I was, but only for a week.” Jeez, people’s imaginations were nuts and their memories were fucking short. “I had a thyroid storm. Remember? I have Graves’ disease. That’s why I gained weight and had so much anxiety.”
His gaze narrowed. “But Hannah said that’s supposed to make you skinny.”
“For fuck’s sake, Uh-O.” Was he really going to argue this with me? “Not for everyone. I told you that before you dumped me. Guess you weren’t listening.” Didn’t anyone ever fucking hear anything I said?
“Oh my God! Zelda Gordon? Is thatyou?” The baby doll voice was straight outta my nightmares, but the woman attached to it surprised me. She was pretty, freckled, and red-haired, but she wasn’t an itty-bitty stick anymore. As round as she was tall, Hannah Ardelean was a walking, talking handful of poetic justice. “You look fucking amazing!” She made a beeline right for me from the host stand.
I did not hug her. Our friendship, if it could ever be called that, had ended like a dumpster fire. “Hi, Hannah.”
“O, go get me a beer,” she ordered Owen then focused on me. “You have no idea how many times I’ve thought about you, Zel.” She talked with her hands as much as her mouth, gesturing at me. “I told Uh-O just the other day—” Her gaze darted from Aithan to Drew and she said, “Wait. Who are these hotties with you?”
I almost laughed. Hannah was not what I expected. “These are my boyfriends, Drew Katterman and Aithan Mazur. This is Hannah Ardelean.”
She gaped at me. “Boyfriends? As inplural?”
“Yes,” Drew said, “as in plural.”
“Holy shit.” She took the beer Owen returned with then pushed him toward the host stand. “Change our table. We’re gonna sit with Zel and her men. I have a bajillion questions.”
“I don’t think they came here to hang out with us,” he said, garnering a dark look from her and surprised gratitude from me. I did not want to spend dinner with this little shit.
She shrugged. “You’re probably right.” Then she added, “I’m following you on social media, Zel. I’ll message you there.”
“O-kaaay?”
“Just your professional profile. I didn’t think you’d accept a friend request.”
Deciding there was nothing to lose from bitchy honesty, I replied, “You’re right. I won’t.”
