“Yeah. Just got in. You off to class?” I ask.
“Yup. Baby ballerinas at Mom’s studio. We still on for drinks tonight?” Grace asks, and Kenzie groans and shoulders past us into the condo. “What’s her problem?”
“No clue. Did you see her last night?”
Gracie shakes her head. “But judging by the look of her, I’d say she either had a really good night or a really bad one. It could go either way.”
“Yeah. Guess so. I’m gonna go crash. I’ll see you tonight.”
She moves to the elevator, and if I had the energy to run, I’d sprint to my bed. Myrtle greets me when I walk through the door, and I give her some loving and a treat, then let her follow me to my room. She uses her doggy stairs to get on my bed, and then my lazy dog passes out before I do.
The next time I wake up, it’s because Everly is sitting on my bed, laughing.
I crack an eye open, close it again, and rub both eyes with my fists.
“What are you doing here?” I grumble and push my hair out of my face, then wipe the drool from my mouth. I’m not what you’d call a pretty sleeper.
Evie laughs at something she’s reading on her phone and leans back against my pillows, smiling. “The game starts in an hour, and I thought you’d want to shower before we hit up West End.” She looks back down at her phone and laughs harder. “You should see this shit. The Kronicle is doing a bump watch and polling for an It couple nickname. My fave is Hazy. Get it? Hayes and Lindy—Hazy.”
I grab my glasses from my nightstand and force myself to sit up so I can see what she’s looking at. “Wait . . . did you just say bump watch? Like they think I’m pregnant? Did they get another fat picture? Jesus. One fucking burrito and everyone thinks I’m pregnant.”
“They’ve been speculating the quickie wedding was because you’re pregnant. Have a few drinks at West End tonight. That should put it to rest. Some asshole will snap a pic and send it in.”
I snatch her phone and look at the screen. There’s over two thousand comments on the last post. “Two thousand people are discussing whether I’m pregnant because my jersey was big last night?” I shake my head and toss the phone back to her, then lie back down. “It’s a jersey. They’re big.”
Everly gets up and yanks my blanket off. “Get up. Get showered. And let’s go.”
I look at her and wish I had something to throw. “You should have been a drill sergeant.”
“Camo is not my color. Now move your ass.”
“Should you be drinking, trouble? Rumor has it you’re pregnant with twins.”
I take my tequila and club soda from Maddox with a glare. “You’re a dick.”
“He can’t help himself. It just comes naturally.” Everly sips her white cranberry cosmo and leans back against the bar, her eyes trained on Gracie, who’s flirting with a guy we’ve never seen here before. “Who is that?”
“No clue, but he sure is pretty.”
“Dudes don’t like to be called pretty, trouble.” Maddox holds up the remote and changes the channel. The Revolution comes on the screen, and they zoom in on Jace and Easton talking down by E’s net. “They making nice yet?”
“Not as of yesterday. But I think Jace and I came to a tiny understanding.” I pinch my fingers together a smidge, and Maddox ignores me. “I guess we’ll see.”
I shoot off a text to E, telling him to kick some ass tonight, then scroll through my messages. “Shit.” I slept through Sam’s text.
“Something wrong?” Maddox prods, like the nosey little shit he is.
“I messaged your dad earlier and missed his text when he got back to me.”
“Looks like you missed him till Monday then. He’s taking Mom away for the weekend.” He looks around the bar, then back over at me. “Where’s Kenzie? She feeling okay?”
“Huh?” I ask, then realize what he said and focus on him. “Kenzie had a study session tonight with some friends from school. Were you here last night? She looked like shit when she got in this morning.”
“Yeah. She was hammering shots. She got pretty wasted.”
Gracie moves across the room with her mysterious stranger in tow. “Can I get another lemon drop, madman?”
“Sure. Anything for you, buddy?”
The stranger shakes his head, and I cringe. If Maddox calls you buddy, you’re a douche, and that’s his way of telling us to stay away.