Page 12 of Stuck Together

Chapter 4

Logan

“Hey, man. You gonnastay all night?” Derek asked before he sat a beer in front of me and pulled a chair over. When I looked up, he took a sip of his own beer.

“What time is it?” I asked, searching for my phone. I silenced it and shoved it in my bag after Grandmother left, not wanting to be disturbed.

Derek chuckled and shook his head. “Dude, you must be out of it. It’s after six.”

“Oh, shit.” I dug my phone out of the side pocket and saw I had three missed calls and over a dozen missed texts. “Rylee is going to be so pissed at me.”

“Nah, that girl never gets mad at you.”

This time I laughed and shook my head. “You are sorely mistaken. She gets mad plenty, especially when I’m late.”

Derek sipped his beer and leaned back in his chair. “Well, not much you can do about it now. Might as well drink a beer with me and shoot the shit. I ordered a couple sandwiches for us.”

I glanced up from my phone and he was staring at me. “Pastrami on rye?”

“Of course.” He raised his brows and gave me a huge grin.

“Dammit, Derek. You knew I wouldn’t say no to that.” I shook my head and read through my missed text messages. “Just let me respond to these first.”

A few of the messages were work related and could wait until tomorrow. All the missed calls and the rest of the text messages were from Grandmother. I was supposed to pick Rylee up at 4:30 pm today and I completely forgot. Thankfully, Grandmother was prepared, as usual, and picked up Rylee after I never responded to her messages.

Grandmother might drive me crazy sometimes, but I could always count on her to take care of me when I needed her most. It had been almost thirty years since my parents died and in all that time Grandmother never failed to take care of me. Even when I was a pain in the ass like today.

What was she thinking hiring Madison? There had to a dozen or more candidates ready to step into an advertising executive position with us. Althea Group was a highly sought-after ad agency and we never struggled to find top notch employees. Grandmother was up to her old tricks and I was in no mood for her matchmaking games.

Madison and I were grown adults now and at this point in our lives, I was sure we both had too much at stake to fall victim to our grandmothers’ meddling. Judy, Madison’s grandma, was certainly involved in this little game as well.

I sent off a quick text to Grandmother and sat my phone face down on the table. Derek spoke before I had a chance to look up. “You gonna tell me what’s got you all worked up?”

“Who said I was worked up?” I rubbed my eyes and yawned.

“Shit, man.” He laughed again. “Don’t go tryin’ to play tired on me. You forget, I know you. You arenottired. Somethin’s gettin’ to you.”

I picked up my beer, wanting to hide behind the glass. Derek knew me too well. He was one of the few friends I had, and I couldn’t ask for a better one.

I met him about year after he moved to Manhattan from Florida of all places and opened Recaps. I never understood why he chose Manhattan to open a sports bar. Surely, Florida had plenty of room for another bar. He didn’t talk about home much. All I knew was he lost a girl to a fatal car crash and had to get away from the place that was a constant reminder of her.

For eight years, I’ve sat in this bar, mostly to work and occasionally to drink. On the days I drank, Derek would join me. Over the years we shared a lot and became good friends. He was one of the only people I’d ever confided in about the women from my past.

“Remember the girl I told you about? The one I grew up with,” I said.

His raised a single brow and his lips turned down a tick. “The one you left the day after, you know,” he tipped his beer toward with me a frown, “and never saw again. That one?”