Page 9 of Just Bromantically Invested

“Great. I’ve been holding off watching the newGhostbustersmovie since I know you love the?—”

“Oooh, that’s a good one. So ridiculous.”

Penn turns his attention from the grass to me and his dark, sweet eyes study me. “You’ve seen it already?”

“Yep. Bertha boys took me out for my birthday.”

“Oh. Right.”

“I’m sure I told you.”

“Yeah, probably.” He switches off the hose. “Either way, I’m sure we’ll find something. I just really wanted to spend time?—”

My ringtone goes off, blasting through the backyard. “Give me a second.” I jog over to silence it, but Seven’s name is on the screen.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Are you free?” His voice is tense, and it immediately puts me on alert.

“Of course, what do you need?”

Seven huffs. “Molly and I are at the airport picking up his dad, but Rush called, and Xander’s having an attack. I fudgingknewI should have brought him with us. Iknewit.”

“Hey, it’s fine. I’m fifteen minutes away. I’ll grab the truck and head over now.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I was almost done for the day anyway.” Even if I wasn’t, it wouldn’t matter. Xander struggles with panic attacks, brought on by his medical anxiety. Fifteen minutes is a long time to expect him to wait before I can pick him up, but Rush doesn’t drive, and Molly is normally the one there when Xander needs someone.

Like anyone in the house, I’ll do anything for Xander, so I don’t hesitate as I shove shit in my bag and throw it over my shoulder.

“I’ve gotta get Z to Derek. I’ll text you when I’m done, okay?” I throw back to Penn.

“Umm … okay?”

I sling an arm around Penn’s neck and kiss his head before leaving. Rushing off isn’t something I want to be doing when we have alone time, but at least I can go knowing I’ll get to see him later, and he’s the one who suggested it.

I’ve got the work truck with me today, so I jump in and hightail it home, counting down the minutes until I can shower and head over to Penn’s place.

Chapter 4

Penn

One minute, he’s there, and then, he’s … not.

I try to ignore my disappointment as I lock up the backyard before heading to my car. It’s really hard not to resent being ditched, but I know Madden has a big heart, and I know Xander needs him. I’ve been there through his panic attacks, where he literally thinks he’s dying, and it’s scary as shit. So no. I won’t get all weird about it, even though it fucking hurts.

With no clue if he’s coming over later or not, I head home, shower, and get changed into something casual. There’s this pit sitting heavy on my chest, something that’s been growing deeper lately, and the more I try to ignore it, the deeper it burrows.

I think … I think I’m lonely.

The feeling has been sneaking up on me for a while now, and as fun as my twenties have been, they’re more thanhalfway over already, and it’s starting to sink in that I don’t have a whole lot of people in my life.

My work friends are strictly colleagues. My parents live on the East Coast. I moved out here to be close to Madden, and now he has this full life with this new family, and I’m scared I’m going to be forgotten about.

Because I have no one of my own.

I pull out my phone and open a dating app that I downloaded one pitiful night and haven’t looked at again since. All my details are in there, and the number of attractive women on there looks promising, but I wouldn’t know where to begin.

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