Page 46 of Devour
“Hey, stranger,” Ash said while joining me at a cocktail table. Actually, it was cocktail hour, where the guests got to mill around while the bride and groom took their photos.
“Howdy,” I said before downing the last of my drink.
“Are you a cowboy?” Ash teased.
I shrugged. “I’ll ride a cowboy. That count?”
Ash rolled his eyes, but not in a dismissive way, more the “how did I leave that door wide open” way. If anyone could guarantee anything of me, it would be that any open doors I found always got slammed shut with some kind of innuendo. It was part of my charm, really.
“I saw you here, grinning from ear to ear, and couldn’t believe your other half wasn’t the cause,” Ash teased.
Well, he was. Mind link. Not that Ash needed to know about that. “He’s here,” I assured. “We came together.”
Ash raised a brow.
“As in carpooling. He drove.”
“A likely story.”
My turn to roll my eyes.
“Did you get a room at the hotel? Em reserved an entire block for guests to book at a discounted rate.”
Interesting. Hubs failed to mention this at all. And if I knew one thing for certain about weddings: people at weddings loved to fuck. “Who’s asking?”
Ash shrugged. “Just figured I’d mention it since she’s doing brunch tomorrow, too. We had to travel a bit to get here. It’s like a two-hour drive back for you guys, right?”
“Three with traffic, and there is almost always traffic.”
“So… you’re just going to… drive all the way home in the middle of the night?”
“That’s up to hubs, I guess. I’m a perpetually broke bitch with no work ethic.” I shrugged. “I’d feel bad except he knew what he was getting into.”
You’re still my favorite little parasite, financially or otherwise.
GTFO, I’m having a conversation.
Fine.
I definitely paused too long between responses, and Ash may have even said something additional I missed.
“Are you okay, Rhory?”
“Yeah.” I snorted. “Never better.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” I repeated, dragging the word for emphasis.
“I know we’re not like… the best of friends and more like… share some mutual friends, but you know you can talk to me. Especially if it’s something you can’t tell Eli.” Hmm. He actually looked concerned. That struck me as kind of sweet.
“No such thing. I’m an over-sharer.” And with that, I stabbed the cherry at the bottom of my glass with one of those cute little plastic swords. Yum.
“Don’t you ever worry if there’s stuff he doesn’t tell you?”
“What am I going to do? Judge him?” I laughed. “Doesn’t sound like me. If anything, I’d use it to my every advantage.”
Ash’s mind clouded, so much so it became hard even for me to sift through the conflicting jumble of ideas and emotions. “You’re wholly aware of how he feels about you, aren’t you?”