Xander grinned.
Ash rolled his eyes.
Then Elle appeared, dropping her purse on our table and apologizing to all, profusely, for her lateness. We all got up to greet her, and as I hugged her, I teased, “Well, look who’s late this time.”
“I know,” she sighed. “It was a mommy thing. Emma spit up on my dress a millisecond before I walked out the door. There was projectile. Some of it hit Flynn, too. I had to change, then we swung by his place so he could change.”
“Aw, look who’s having a bad day.” I smoothed her long platinum hair, just teasing. She looked fantastically polished, as always.
“It’s really not bad. I could use a drink, though.”
Everyone around our table had sat back down, except for the two of us, and I reached over the bodies to pick up the Cosmopolitan I’d already ordered for her. I handed it over.
“Thank you.” She took a sip. “You look incredible. How’s the party so far?”
“Pretty hot. The album was good. I think they’ll be playing it again.”
“Have you seen my sister? She was supposed to show up…” She looked around into the growing crowd. “Oh, God. There she is.”
I looked in the direction she was frowning… to where her sister, Angeline, was standing with one of her girlfriends, Shayla. They were talking to Shayla’s brother—Johnny O’Reilly—by the tables where Breakneck was seated with their dates.
Elle waved, but Shayla didn’t seem to notice, and Angie’s back was to us.
“Well, that’s nice she came by…” I offered, unsure how to read Elle’s tone.
“Isn’t it, though?” she said dryly. “I’m pretty damn sure Johnny’s presence was the deciding factor.”
I looked at Elle, startled. She visibly cringed.
“And why on Earth would that be the case?” I demanded.
Of course, we both knew why it would be the case. Because Johnny O was a rock star.
And Elle’s little sister had a serious rock star fetish.
I felt for Angie. I really did. Crushes were hard.
And Johnny was… attractive.
He was also a raging player.
I, myself, didn’t do players. Anymore. I was completely over the rock star thing. As in, I had no interest in dating a rock star.
I wanted to be a rock star.
Elle’s sister Angie, however, was crushing on a new one every other week.
Oddly enough, she didn’t seem to ever actually land one, pretty as she was. I had a theory on that, something to do with her being afraid of actually landing one. It had to be something like that. Because getting a promiscuous rock star to sleep with you, if you were as pretty as Angeline was, wasn’t the hardest task in the world.
Just in case, though…
“Please tell me you warned her about that one.”
“Oh, I warned her,” Elle said. “I also gave her the largest box of condoms Joanie could find for me at Costco. Just in case.”
“Fingers fucking crossed,” I muttered. “And good on Joanie. I need an assistant who’ll buy me condoms.”
Not that I had much use for condoms right now…
Kinda skipped right over that phase in my current relationship. Wasn’t even sure why or how that went down.
I just trusted Ronan like that.
“You really do,” Elle said. “I highly recommend.” Then she muttered, “I can’t watch this,” and turned away.
“You could send Flynn over. To, you know, have a talk with Johnny.”
“You kidding me? I do that, and he becomes even more desirable.”
Probably true.
Still, I watched Angie talking to Johnny. He was gorgeous, and he clearly knew it. And Angie was a hopeless romantic. She was just waiting for her knight in ripped jeans to swoop down on his motorcycle and carry her away to her happily ever after.
I used to be that idealistic, too.
“Well, we were all twenty-five once, right?” I said.
Elle sighed. “We sure were.”
We weren’t exactly old ladies here. I’d just turned thirty this year myself. But we’d both been through some serious breakups since we were Angeline’s age. That shit definitely made you feel older, wiser… and made you way more careful about who you opened your heart to.
I was pretty sure Angie didn’t yet know the difference between a man you took to bed a few times and a man you seriously considered marrying. The first were a dime a dozen, if you wanted them.
The second… fucking rare, in my estimation.
I glanced at Ronan, who was still standing by, leaning on his half-wall, pretending not to be watching what I was watching. He met my eyes and gave me a questioning look.
I gave him a sex look right back, doing my best to project I’m gonna fuck the hell out of you tonight with the full force of my eyes.
He just stared at me, like, I’m gonna fuck you right back.
“Do you think he’d make her come?” I mused.
“What?” Elle said.
“Johnny,” I said, turning to her again. “I feel like he might come on her face and then be like, ‘Thanks, babe, now pass me another beer.’ Do you think so?”
“Christ. I hope not.”
“You know the type,” I told her. “We’ve all slept with them at least once. Unfortunately.”
“Can we not talk about men coming on my little sister’s face?”
I grinned at her.
And just then, the pretty brunette whirlwind that was Angeline appeared, in her usual adorable fluster. She dove in-between us, tossing herself on Elle.
“Hey! Sorry I’m late!”
“It’s okay,” Elle said, hugging her sister. “I knew you would be.” I noticed she didn’t admit to being late herself.
Sisters. Sometimes I felt like I’d missed out not having one to torture. And, you know, bond with and stuff.
“Shut up,” Angie said, shrugging off her jacket and plunking down next to her best friend, Courteney. “Hey guys,” she said breezily, and smiled at me.
“Hey, sweetie,” I greeted her.
Elle headed over to talk to Ash, and I was just about to lean over and ask Angie about this Johnny O thing. Because I was nosy like that.
But then I glimpsed Flynn standing against the wall. He seemed to
