Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 85608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
“Hey, you made it,” Locke said, coming to his feet to shake my hand. He was the man of the hour and already intoxicated.
Blake stood up next, elbowing me in the side. “You sly motherfucker.”
I laughed. “So, you heard?”
“That you’re fucking marrying that girl?” Blake said with a hint of admiration in his voice. “How did that happen?”
Malcolm shuffled the card deck while my youngest cousin, Lawrence, looked on in awe. Malcolm was seated between his two other brothers, Nate and Trent. Both toasted me when I stepped into the room.
“Got lucky, I guess,” I finally said.
“No way. We saw that girl in New York,” Blake said. He punched Locke. “Back me up.”
“She’s hot,” Locke agreed. “But I feel ripped off that we weren’t introduced now that I know you’re getting married.”
“What’s all this about?” Malcolm asked.
I took a seat and crossed my foot over my knee at the ankle. “I was having lunch with Blake and Locke when Whitley came downstairs from Percy Tower. I hadn’t expected to see her. We flirted, and she left.”
“She was wearing a minidress and fur coat,” Blake said. “She acted like she was going to eat you alive.”
So, I hadn’t been the only one who thought that. Whitley had nearly given me a heart attack that day. Course, they didn’t have to know the real reason behind it.
“She does. Pretty regularly,” I joked.
Blake slapped my arm and guffawed. The rest of the guys chuckled too. It sounded sexual, but they didn’t know Whit. The phrase was literal.
“Were you already engaged then?” Locke asked.
“I don’t remember a ring,” Blake said.
Locke rolled his eyes. “As if you’ve ever looked for one.”
Malcolm snorted.
“Ouch,” Trey said.
Nate called out, “Shots fired.”
Blake didn’t even seem miffed. He shrugged good-naturedly.
“I proposed after that. Before we came here.”
Which was the truth.
Unlike Margaret and my mother, who had grilled us about the proposal and future wedding plans, the guys were content with bare-bones information. Soon, we got into the game.
The poker match I played in New York with Camden, Court, and Sam was regularly high stakes. More money was played at every match. Sam was ruthless and cleared the table more often than not, but I’d honed my skills off of his playing.
When I sat down for this match, everyone expected the old Gavin King, who relentlessly lost every penny he put down. They were in for a surprise as I slowly began to sweep the table.
“The fuck, Gav?” Nate asked when I took him for every chip in one spectacular hand. “When did you get good?”
“Me?” I asked with a gleam in my eye.
When Blake, Nate, and Law were out of money, they moved over to the pool table. Locke’s money was running low, too, and he looked at the pool game with regret.
I put my hand down. “Go on. Play with them. I need another drink anyway.”
Locke didn’t argue. He got up to play the game. At least he knew when to cut his losses. I headed to the wet bar, and Malcolm followed me with Trent on his heels. As it always was.
“The man of the hour,” Trey said, shaking my hand.
“That would be Locke.”
“He’s marrying our sister, but he’s not family yet. Your occasion feels more momentous.”
“Don’t let Margaret hear you say that,” Malcolm grumbled under his breath.
Trent shrugged. “I mean, we always knew Maggie was going to settle down. She dreamed of weddings. But Gavin?”
I clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m just full of surprises.”
Malcolm quirked an eyebrow. “That’s putting it mildly.”
Trent grabbed a beer and tapped my glass with it. “Happy for you.”
Then, he headed over to the pool table, leaving me and Mal alone.
“He’s right, you know,” Malcolm finally said. He was smiling, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “We didn’t expect this with you and Whitley. That seemed to happen fast.”
I shrugged, lifting the glass to my lips. “When you know, you know, right?”
Malcolm pursed his lips, as if he’d never considered that before.
“What about you, Mal? I’m the infamous bachelor,” I said with an eye roll. “But you haven’t even been dating.”
This time, Malcolm smirked. “I’ve gotten better at keeping it hidden from our nosy family.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Yeah? You’re seeing someone?”
“You could say that,” he said with a shrug.
“Is she coming to the wedding?”
He shook his head. “I’m not ready for that. I don’t know how you are.”
“You don’t know Whit.”
Malcolm shot me a thoughtful look. Almost as if he was going to say something more. He was the intuitive one. The only one I hadn’t been sure would swallow the pill I was feeding them. But he finally smiled.
“I’m happy for you. Let’s hope it happens to me one day.”
“I’ll drink to that.”
We clinked glasses together to an unknown future. One where we both swore ourselves to another, like Locke was doing this weekend. In my fantasy, I imagined a girl who knew all of my tricks and wanted me for who I was anyway.