Fuck.
She was still pissed.
All weekend, she hadn’t taken any of my calls or responded to any messages. Her damn friends wouldn’t even answer so I could find out if she was okay or not. The one time I did get Genesis to pick up, Ro had hung up the phone before I could even speak to her.
“Hey.” I nudged Cash with my foot when he started snoring again. “How many flowers do you think it will take for Roanna to forgive me?”
His face was pressed into his pillow, so his voice was muffled. “What did you do?”
“Didn’t tell her I was coming with you guys. She didn’t know until Thursday night.”
“That was kind of shitty of you, dumbass.” He lifted his head, his face pinched as he thought about my question regarding the flowers. “I don’t know. A few dozen at least, I figure.”
I found the website for the local florist close to Roanna’s apartment. It was open even on a Sunday, so I placed an online order for three dozen red and white roses. It was the first time I’d ever sent flowers to anyone, so I struggled for a few minutes with what to write on the card. Deciding to keep it short and to the point, I went with “I’m sorry, sweet girl” and ended it with a heart emoji and my name.
She was supposed to get it before my plane even landed at LAX, so I hoped she would be glad to see me when I got to her place later.
Everyone was slowly getting up and eating the buffet-style breakfast someone must have ordered beforehand. Platters of scrambled eggs, breakfast meats, hash browns, and French toast were set up. Needing the grease to combat my roiling stomach, I loaded down a plate and sat at the huge dining table the guys and I had played poker at Friday night.
Kassa and Gray were already sitting there with Kin and Jace. I sat between the two chicks who seemed to be just as hungover as I was.
“Good thing you drove,” Jace told his girlfriend, feeding her a bite of bacon from his own plate. “You don’t look like you could handle being up in the air today, baby.”
“It’s your fault,” she grumbled, chewing slowly. “What kind of shit was that we were drinking when we got back here last night? It was so smooth I didn’t even notice I drank so much of it.”
“That’s because it was a twenty-five-year-old scotch,” Gray informed her. “Harris’s dad called the bar where we did the whiskey tasting yesterday and bought us each a bottle as a memento.”
“Yeah, well, Jace only has about a third of his bottle left.” She pushed her plate away then folded her arms on the table and laid her head down. “Kassa, no whiskey at your bachelorette party.”
All the blonde could do was groan in agreement.
I listened and watched them in silence as I ate my breakfast. When the bachelorette party showed up at the strip club the night before, I started missing Roanna even more. Lucy would have invited her if I’d asked, but that would have meant actually telling Ro about my trip to Vegas before I was ready.
In hindsight, I should have stopped being a pussy and told her. Then I wouldn’t have to go home to
a pissed-off girlfriend, and I could spend the next few days lost in her, where I’d wanted to be all damn weekend.
I was walking out of LAX with Cash a few hours later when my phone rang.
Hoping it was Roanna calling to tell me she’d gotten the flowers and she forgave me, I was disappointed to see it was actually Emmie.
Cash glanced over at my phone as we stopped to grab a cab. “What did you do?” he laughed when I didn’t answer immediately.
“I didn’t do shit. I was with you all weekend. Did you see me do anything I shouldn’t?”
“Point taken. Better answer it before she starts breathing fire again.”
Cursing under my breath, I swiped my thumb over the screen and lifted it to my ear. “Hello?”
“Good, you’re on the ground. I’ve been trying to call you for about an hour but figured your phone was on airplane mode.” Her voice as cool, clipped, but I couldn’t tell if she was pissed at me or not. “Come to my office. We need to talk.”
“Can it wait? I’m on my way to see my girl,” I told her.
“No, it can’t wait. Not even an hour. Come straight up to my office as soon as you get here. We have a situation regarding our friend Judge Blaylock.”
It took me a second to place the name, but when I did, I stiffened. “What the fuck does he want? I thought you took care of him and his whiny little bitch of a grandson.”
“We can discuss that when you get here. Hurry your ass up.”