AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Woah, what the fuck?
“Gabe?” I say, concern seeping into my voice, but hedoesn’t respond. He simply looks down and flips his phone over, the screen now facing the wood.
Despite my efforts, his eyes travel pretty much anywhere but mine.
“You excited for the wedding?” Gabe shifts in his seat to face Jackson, ignoring me entirely.
Should’ve seen that coming.
It’s not uncommon for Kara and Gabe to fight, but sometimes I wonder how bad it is when people aren’t around. However, I try not to pry.
“Very. Well, I’m excited to be married to Gen…and also to be done having Savannah blowing my phone up about stuff I don’t understand…did you know that off-white and cream aren’t the same thing?”
“Yes,” Gabe and I respond in unison, eliciting a groan from Jackson.
“I get your point. But…just trust that it’s a lot.” Jackson clears his throat. “What about you, Gabe? You and Kara have been together a while.”
I tense.
Despite years of pushing him to break up with Kara, Gabe still insists on staying with her. Do I think eventually they’ll get married? Maybe, but I sure as hell hope not.
“Not for a while, man,” Gabe says with a chuckle, pulling his beer to his mouth.
Both sets of eyes divert to me and I freeze, nearly choking on the sip of beer already in my mouth.
“Ha, fuck no. What about never? I’m not the settling-down type. Dad wants me to step into a more prominent role at Baker & Park…I’m going to focus on that.”
This seems to quell them, and they shift toward their own conversation while I sit still, marinating on the thought.
It’s not that I don’t want to settle down, it’s just that I can’t think of a single woman in my life that I would want to settle down with. I never really have. In my twenty-nine years, I’ve never had a serious relationship and I don’t plan to start now—it’s just drama.
A hand clasps down on my shoulder, pulling my attention. Wes appears out of what feels like nowhere and takes the seat on my other side.
“Hey, man!” I return the gesture.
We exchange pleasantries amongst the group before Jackson clears his throat, causing all of us to look in his direction.
“The, uh…the girls are heading down…”
Letting out an exacerbated groan, I realize I am the only one reacting in an irritated manner.
“When?” Wes asks the question I’m resisting the urge to ask myself.
“Uh…now.” The moment the words leave Jackson’s mouth, an arm wraps around my middle, squeezing me from behind. I turn my upper body to find a familiar grin staring back at me: Sage.
Sage and I have gotten close over the past six months. When we first met, I’ll admit I was distracted by how beautiful she was. Between the tight ringlets and light brown skin—which, frankly, was tantalizingly peppered with sweat on the golf course the day I met her—I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t notice.
Luckily for both of us, we fell into a much different rhythm after that, and I am proud to call her a friend. At first Wes didn’t love the prospect of his sister hanging out with us, but after a while I think he realized it was the path of least resistance. There is rarely a scenario in which Sage doesn’t getwhat she wants, so…it’s typically best for him to just steer clear of trying to prevent it.
“Hey!” My tone shifts as I reach around to hug her back. My stomach instantly sours as my eyes meet the jade ones of the blonde standing behind Sage.
Hannah.
She’s still in her clothes from work, but her hair is now down in a cascade of waves. If I hadn’t seen her earlier, I would have never known her hair was up before.
Intentionally, I don’t acknowledge her.
Is it a dick move? Probably. However, just because we’re in the same group of friends now and she lives in Atlanta and managed to convince my dad to give her a job…that doesn’t make us friends.
