Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 66205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
The following morning, Gray watched Darius transform as they made their way down the mountain and out of Westslope. Someone was taking the bachelor stuff seriously.
“So you’re just not gonna talk to me?” he asked.
Darius was all but white-knuckling the wheel of the truck, and he had his focused face on. “Look,” he said. “I don’t know what Ry was smoking when he thought a hockey game with you guys would be a good idea, but if I want a fightin’ chance to win this thing, I gotta bring home the other activities. They’re clearly all gonna be competitions.”
Gray found a grin. “You’re really going all in.”
“I ain’t givin’ you material to mock me for years, knucklehead. I’m not ready.”
Gray laughed.
“Daddy, I don’t like this!” Justin announced.
Gray peered into the back seat, where their three kiddos were in various stages of preparing to be props at the first bachelor party activity. Jayden was texting, presumably with Ace, and Cassidy was half asleep. Justin was…breaking up with a lollipop.
“It tastes weird.” He extended it to Gray.
“Give it here.” Darius tilted his head but kept his eyes on the road, and he parted his lips.
Gray stuck the lollipop into his mouth.
Darius promptly grimaced. “This is one of the sugar-free ones.”
“I’m not feeding the kids sugar before breakfast,” Gray stated. That was ludicrous. “Those were on sale—and they contain real fruit. They’re organic and everything.”
“No wonder they taste like shit.” Darius shook his head.
“Yeah, shit.” Justin giggled.
Gray rolled his eyes. “Language, baby.”
“Sorry,” Darius and Justin said at once.
That was funny.
While they drove past Downtown and the exit toward Camas, continuing toward the Valley, Darius muttered to himself about Ryan. How his brother had been so damn stupid to pick hockey.
“He probably thinks you’ll have strength in numbers.” That was Gray’s guess anyway.
“In what universe can a team of nine or ten grunts on the wrong side of forty beat four hockey players and a Shay Tenley who’s some highly trained martial arts fighter?”
Gray snickered. “In Ryan’s universe?”
Darius scoffed.
But yeah, tomorrow would definitely be fun. They didn’t know the exact teams yet; Gray had provided a list of men they were close enough to to extend invites to a bachelor party, and the three best men had taken things from there.
He presumed not all could make it. Especially not today. It was a regular workday, and given the early hour…
Two wedding guests had had to cancel last minute, but then Cole had asked if he could bring a plus-one. So far, the seating chart plan was intact. Thankfully, not everyone would bring their kids to the wedding either. There’d still be around fifteen of them of all ages, but several had opted for babysitters.
Mom had said the number of guests was going to fluctuate up until the last two days before the wedding. So…seventy-four, seventy-five…seventy-six guests, thereabouts.
They had enough food for ninety, so Gray wasn’t worried.
They’d been smart about the tables too. You could always squeeze in an extra guest at a round table.
“Let’s not forget about Avery,” Darius said around the lollipop. “Just when we focus a little too much on Ryan—or even Abel—that’s when Ave will strike.”
Gray shook his head in amusement.
Abel wasn’t gonna be a problem. Gray had given his best friend a fantastic bachelor party last year. It’d been a very small wedding, with just their closest friends and family; in fact, only ten people had attended the ceremony itself, and not just due to Covid restrictions. Abel had requested something tiny so he wouldn’t get worked up.
He and Madigan had gotten married at the inn. They’d hosted the reception there too. And the bachelor party for Abel. While Darius and a handful of others had taken Madigan out for dinner and drinks on Lincoln and Adeline’s yacht, Gray had invited Abel and half a dozen family members and friends for a luxurious treatment at the inn. Dinner by the chef from a restaurant in Vancouver that Abel was obsessed with, lots of drinks, massages, a plethora of Abel’s favorite snacks and desserts, from Adeline’s Rice Krispie treats to a Nutella cake by Elise. More drinks. Several trips down memory lane. Britney on repeat. Midnight cheeseburgers from Coho Bar & Grill.
It’d been a great send-off. A great wedding too.
“For chrissakes.”
Gray followed Darius’s stare and burst out a laugh. Arriving just south of the Valley, at Cedar Point, they drove alongside the large parking lot for stores like Target and Old Navy, plus some smaller chains—and one crafts store. And Abel hadn’t been exaggerating about the tailgate breakfast.
The area outside the crafts store was fairly empty, as they didn’t open until ten, so their family manning two portable grills in one spot between two trucks stood out quite a bit.
Darius turned into the parking lot, and Gray just smiled wider. Ryan and Madigan were literally putting up crime scene tape to seal off their little area. Then Gray could see Ryan gesturing to his boys about the kids having to stay within the taped zone.