Page 8 of Just This Once

Foster chimed in next, claiming,

Sorry, Hope. I’m at practice.

The football star had a legitimate out; I guess I’d forgive him.

Thane came in third, telling me he was working right now, followed closely by Hudson, who said he was on his waytowork.

After that, Damien wrote a simple,

In class.

That made five replies, all within thirty seconds to tell me how they were too busy to make time for harmless Hope.

Which meant there was only one guy left for me to count on.

As the plane taxied down the runway, I got more comfortable in my seat and gave number six another two minutes to reply before I started to poke.

Oh, Grumpy…

There. That ought to prod him out of his bear cave.

And what do you know; within moments, he answered.

I just don’t want to.

With a chuckle, I glanced up, only to find my seatmate scowling at me in confusion.

My smile fell, remembering he and I were not friends, and I returned my attention to the screen of my phone, only to get another kick out of Parker’s text.

He’d always been the catty one and therefore the most fun to spar with.

Rolling my neck to mentally prepare for our battle, I ran my tongue over my teeth, then set my fingers back to the screen to deliver my next jab.

Then how do you expect me to get from the airport to Alec? I haven’t seen my baby brother in over a year. Sixteen MONTHS to be exact, Grumpy. He’s probably seven feet tall by now.

Get a rideshare.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. Typical Parker.

In this town? I don’t think so. Didn’t one of you nearly lose a girlfriend a few months back due to a rideshare? And besides, have you not heard how common it is for a single, young woman traveling alone to get kidnapped, raped, and killed by climbing into cars with complete strangers?

If only. After five minutes of listening to YOUR mouth, they’d pay us to take you back.

There he was: my merciless, go-for-the-throat Parker. I had been expecting a below-the-belt roundhouse exactly like this one, so I wasn’t too shocked to receive it.

To be honest, I’d bated him into it on purpose, just so?—

Parker!

There.

So Thane would pipe up with a quick scolding and basically kowtow him into behaving and doing whatever I wanted.

God, I was so good at this.

I smiled with glee, glad my evil plan was working accordingly. Knowing Thane’s one-word text was the knockout blow I needed, I tapped my fingers on my knee and waited two more seconds before Parker admitted defeat.

Fuck. Fine. I’ll be there in an hour.

---