Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“You’re the first one here tonight. Beer?”
I shook my head. “Water is fine. Listen…when everyone gets here, I’m going to talk to them about tomorrow, but since you’re slow right now, I’m grabbing you first.” We were lucky Griff would even be there. He rarely took Fridays or Saturdays off.
“Is everything okay?” he asked, forehead wrinkled.
“Yeah…” Leaning forward, I put my elbows on the countertop. In a low voice, I said, “That buddy of mine who’s going to be there? He’s Remington.” Griff looked confused. “The musician.”
“The one Kellan likes?” he asked, and I remembered that time when one of Remy’s songs had played and Kellan mentioned liking it.
I nodded.
“He’s really famous, right?”
“You could say that. But no one knows he’s here, and we’d like to keep it that way.”
“Yeah, of course. You know I won’t say a thing. Wow…check you out. Why doesn’t it surprise me that you know someone famous?”
“Because I’m really fucking awesome?” I teased, and Griff chuckled.
A few minutes later he began making drinks, and then Knox came in, quickly followed by Chase, Kellan, and Josh.
I tapped the edge of my water glass, strangely nervous to tell them. Not because of me, but for Rem. Fuck, I really needed this to go well. I wanted him to meet people and have friends. To realize he could be more than just Remington, and also that…hell, probably that Havenwood was a good place to do that. I sure as shit couldn’t unpack that truth at the moment. But if for some reason this backfired, I would be the one to blame for pushing him.
“Hey, man. What’s up?” Knox asked. “You okay?”
Well, obviously, I was doing a bad job at hiding it. Fucking Remy. He always turned me inside out. “I actually wanted to talk to all of you real quick.”
The bar was busier now, but between the music and everyone chatting, no one was paying us any attention.
The thing was, in a lot of ways, this would be outing Remy to them. I wasn’t sure this crew could be around us and not see the way I was with him, the way I gravitated to him. They knew me too well. Plus, Kellan already had an idea that whoever my friend was, it wasn’t only friendship there. “Tomorrow…my friend who will be there? He’s Remington.”
Kellan’s eyes went wide. “Remington!”
“Shh,” I rushed out, looking around, but everyone was still distracted.
“The musician? He’s the guy who drove a piece-of-shit car and broke down?” Chase looked really confused.
“You had Remington in your car and didn’t know?” Kellan asked him.
“How the hell am I supposed to know what he looks like?”
Kellan ignored his boyfriend. “Wait…can we back up a minute? You’re friends with Remington?”
“Yeah. We met in college. Lost touch for a while.” My eyes found Kellan’s, and I saw his soften. When everything had gone down with him and Chase, he’d asked me once if I’d ever been in love, and I’d told him yes. I could see by the sorrow wrinkling the corners of his eyes, he knew it was with Remy.
“Oh.”
“Oh, what? I’m lost,” Chase said.
“Nothing,” Kell replied.
“I’ve heard his music,” Knox said. “It’s good. Doesn’t seem like that voice would come out of the quiet guy I met at the hardware store. I’m taking it this is a big deal. What do you need from us?”
“I need you to keep it quiet, most importantly.”
Everyone looked at Kellan.
“Hey, fuck you guys very much. I can keep a secret.”
“Don’t we know that,” Griff said, having sneaked up on us, and referring to how Kellan and Chase had kept their relationship from him.
Chase flipped him off, and Griff chuckled.
I said, “It’s really important that no one knows. He…doesn’t do well with attention like that.”
“He’s a famous musician.” Josh frowned, obviously wondering how all that worked.
“So? That’s different. He’s good onstage, but the rest of it is a struggle for him. He is who he is because he loves music, not attention.” My voice came out more snappy than I’d intended.
Josh held his hands up. “I didn’t mean anything by it. Just surprising, is all.”
I nodded. “Also, just as important, I really need you to treat him like you would anyone else. He’s…shy, quiet. Don’t make a big deal out of who he is, ya know?”
Again all eyes landed on Kellan.
“Seriously, fuck you, guys. I hate you all.” He looked at Chase. “Except you.”
“Come here, baby boy.” Chase pulled him close.
I cleared my throat, vulnerability burning up my insides. “I…really need this to go well. It’s important to me.”
They were all quiet for a moment, their brains no doubt trying to put pieces together. I didn’t even know what I expected to happen with the barbecue or with Remy. Hell, I didn’t even know what I wanted.
Knox reached out first, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “We got your back, brother.”