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“Excuse me?” I said with surprise.
“It’s the name of my Dallas nightclub, and you and Flynn are cordially invited. Well, your invitation is cordial. His is a necessary evil. Feel free to leave him at his hotel if you prefer.”
“Another invitation from you. I’m beginning to feel special.”
“That’s the idea. Is it working?”
He had me tongue-tied. I also hated just how happy I was to see him. “Not even a little,” I finally managed to get out. Damn. I needed to be quicker on my feet with him.
“Be there around nine tonight because I’m not taking no for an answer. Here’s the address, and your boyfriendisoptional. I look forward to seeing you.”
* * *
It was seven thirty. Devin was lying on a towel on the floor after taking a shower. I straddled his back and began to work on his tense and knotted neck and shoulders. He grimaced in pain as I kneaded the knots in his neck. In the last month he’d put on a few pounds, but I’d been careful not to say anything since he was constantly being ribbed about his appearance and lack of fitness from Erich, team personnel, and the media. Devin was his own worst enemy, though. He’d put in the hard work for a few weeks, maybe a month, then would lapse and eat anything he wanted. His lack of discipline was something I didn’t understand.
To make matters worse, the day before, during a Russo press conference, Erich announced in jest that Devin couldn’t even keep up with Erich on a stationary bicycle. I’d seen the conference and felt as embarrassed as Devin looked. It was an unnecessary low blow.
“What do you want to do tonight?” I asked.
“I don’t know, what do you want to do?” he asked in a sleepy voice.
I had an idea. If Blake was going to sign with Perez, he and Devin would need to start co-existing. Or that was what I told myself as I said, “We were invited to a nightclub.”
That seemed to perk him up. “Oh yeah? Who invited us?”
“Blake Carlton,” I said, knowing my voice sounded too cheerful.
Devin’s shoulder’s tensed momentarily before relaxing again. “Where did you see him?”
“He came by the Wheaton store opening. He invited the both of us to his club. He’s from Dallas, so I guess it makes sense that he owns stuff here.”
“And it also ‘makes sense’ that he happened to be at the Wheaton shop?”
“It was a store opening.” I hated how fake I sounded.
“Fine, let’s go to his club,” he said nonchalantly.
Now it was my turn to tense up. I hadn’t expected him to agree that easily. “Good, let’s leave around nine,” I said, trying to hide the shock from my voice. Thankfully, he couldn’t see my face.
“Sounds good.”
I grabbed my phone and booked an Uber, still surprised how easy it’d been to get Devin to agree. I was beginning to wonder if he had an ulterior motive. “You won’t start anything tonight, right?”
“Like what?” He seemed almost offended that I’d even ask the question.
“I don’t know. No sniping or anything.”
“As long as there’s free beer, I don’t care if he tells the whole goddamn world I’m an alien.”
“Who said anything about free beer?” I teased.
I still didn’t trust him as we stepped into the packed club. The first thing Devin noticed was the music.
“This is a fucking country-music bar,” he said with disgust. “You didn’t tell me that.”
“Wearein Texas.”
“If I’d known, I would have stayed at the hotel.”
