Brynn is sitting on my bed with her legs folded underneath her when I tell her about my mandatory extended weekend.“This is great, Maks.”She claps her hands and grins.
“Are you having the same conversation I am?”
I was basically forced to take time off because in the past two weeks, I’ve dropped two trays, mischarged a table, and started asking uninvited questions about my boss’s son. How is this great?
She hops off my bed. “Of course, I am. Your creepy, but undeniably hot boss, who bought you tires, hijacked your secret Santa gift, and sent you birthday flowers, is worried about your mental health, so he recommended some R&R.”
Awesome. I confide in her, and she turns into Sherlock Holmes.
“One: Jaxon is probably the one who hijacked my Santa gift. Two: it doesn’t mean he sent the flowers just because he remembered it was my birthday. And three: the tires were probably from Reid.”
She grabs my travel bag from my closet and begins stuffing my underwear inside.
I get off the bed and snatch the bag away from her. “What are you doing?”
She props her hands on her hips and blows a stray hair out of her eyes. “We’re taking a road trip. Now, pack your shit so we can leave.”
Six hours later, we’re swerving in and out of Houston traffic, trying to find Ryleigh’s new house.
“Ahhhhh! God, I have missed you two hookers,” she shouts when we finally arrive at her front door. She holds her arms out at her sides, as if we even needed an invitation to tackle her with hugs.
Ryleigh is Reid’s older sister. Looking at her is like looking at Reid with long hair and boobs—if you take away the fact that he is one hundred percent masculine, and she’s the poster child for pearls and lace. They share the same blond hair and bright green eyes, and they both have the most adorable dimples when they smile their perfect smiles. From the moment Brynn and I met her, it’s been the three amigos all the way.
I squeeze her tight. “We’ve missed you too, Rye.” Hugging her is the closest thing I’ll get to hugging Reid right now, and the thought of that brings tears to my eyes.
I just wish he would call.
We order pizza, drink wine, and spend the night dissecting Carlos Suppato and the mysteries that seem to surround him. I don’t even bother mentioning Cal. That’s a case I’m not ready to crack. I don’t talk about Reid either, not any more than I have to. Every time I think of him, my heart squeezes a little tighter in my chest.
“I think he’s just a man who happens to have a lot of money. He sees a girl trying to make something of her life, so he does what he can to help her out without making a big deal out of it,” Ryleigh says about Carlos as she opens our second bottle of Pinot.
Brynn plucks a pepperoni off her slice of pizza and pops it in her mouth. “I think he wants in your panties.”
I shoot her a death glare and hold my glass out for a refill. “I’m going with Ryleigh on this one.”
“Come on, Maks. With an ass like that, if he’s got a penis, he wants to stick you,” Brynn says.
Ryleigh visibly shudders. “Ew.” Then she fills my glass.
“What? Have you seen her ass lately?” Brynn says as if it justifies her previous statement.
“Is Carlos married?” Ryleigh asks.
I take a sip. “There’s a picture of him and a woman on the wall, but I’ve never seen her at the restaurant. Honestly, I don’t pay much attention to what goes on outside of my tables.” Unless it involves a certain unapproachable man who could intimidate the pants off the devil.
“She probably left his perverted ass,” Brynn says.
I grab a slice of pizza from the box. No plates needed. We’re classy like that. “Stop it, Brynn. He’s been really good to me.”
“Oh yeah. He wants to be reeeally good to you,” Brynn teases, and we both ignore her.
“Enough about my drama. Tell me about this guy you’ve been shooting,” I say, because I was ready to change this topic five minutes ago.
Brynn blushes and grins when I mention her latest photography project. “Oh my God…”
And here she goes.
We spend the rest of the weekend laughing, drinking, and talking about things that would make the guys in the locker room blush. Of course, I brought my laptop with me, and on our last night there, Reid finally calls. After three weeks of near-nervous breakdowns and panic attacks, there was no way I was taking a chance on missing him.