Page 11 of Best Friends

Mac chuckled. “Sure.”

“What’ll you have?”

He looked down at the bottle in Jesse’s hand. “That works just fine.”

Jesse spun to face the bar. He asked the bartender for another bottle just before hearing a familiar voice.

“Heeyyyy, everybody!”

Jesse looked over his shoulder, a smile crossing his lips—he’d know that voice anywhere. He turned and saw Hayden wasn’t alone. Some woman was draped on one side. Guy’s night. What part of that was unclear?

Not only that, Hayden had grown a beard. Not just the normal thick stubble, but something just shy of biker-ready. Jesse knew it had been a couple of weeks since he’d seen Hayden—they’d been playing phone tag as Hayden had been on the go—but it was like he was looking at a stranger.

Jesse took Mac’s beer from the bartender and turned toward his friends, mentally preparing himself to play nice. Jesse stood back and watched as Hayden was introduced to the Marine. They shook hands before Hayden introduced the woman to everyone.

“This is Delilah,” Hay said with a grin. “Delilah, meet everyone.”

Hayden waved his hand out as he said everyone and finally seemed to notice Jesse at the back of the crowd. Delilah waved to everyone, grinning, before Hay urged her over to where Jesse stood.

“And this is my best friend, Jesse.”

Delilah’s broad smile faded slightly. “Nice to meet you, Jesse,” she said, shoving a hand his way.

He looked down at his hands full of beer and handed one off to Mac before he shook her hand. As he shook her hand, he got a good look at Delilah. She wasn’t Hayden’s usual type, not that he was that discriminating. He realized the woman was a bit older than he’d subconsciously assumed. Up close, he could see the faint lines around her eyes and mouth, along with the heavy makeup she was wearing. She had to be over forty… had Hay moved on to cougars now?

Whatever floats his boat.

“Nice to meet you, too,” he forced from his lips. He lifted his stare from hers and looked to Hay. “You got a second? I need to ask you something.”

“Yeah, sure,” Hay said before looking at Delilah. “Gimme a sec?”

“Sure,” she said sweetly. “I’ve got to tinkle anyway.”

Before she left, she grabbed the back of Hayden’s head and planted a big kiss on him. Jesse shook his head and rolled his eyes slightly, waiting for the maneater to let his friend go. When she finally did, she smiled up at Hay…

Before turning to glare at Jesse.

Jesse frowned. What the hell was that about?

Delilah made her way out of the bar area. When she was out of earshot, he turned to Hayden. “Guy’s night. Guuuuyyy’s Night. She doesn’t look like a guy… unless there’s something under that dress of hers that I don’t know about.” Dress might’ve been an understatement. It looked like it belonged to a pre-teen and the woman had forced herself into it.

“Judgmental much?” Hayden asked, meandering closer to the bar. He lifted a hand to get the bartender’s attention.

Jesse moved in close. “Dude. You know what the plan was. Guy’s night. No women.”

Hay ordered his beer before turning to Jesse. “You said Benj was bringing someone, so I figured we were fine.”

We? “Benji brought a new neighbor along… a guy. For a guy’s night. Soo… it kind of fits the bill.”

“What are you getting your panties into a bunch for?” Hay asked. “We’re supposed to be having a fun night out. What’s the big deal?”

Jesse shook his head. Why was he making such a big deal out of it? Hay was just being Hay… right? He sighed and eyed his friend. “I brought everyone here because Adam and Clay are on the outs again.”

“Nothing new.”

“It’s different this time,” Jesse said. “Talking to them… I don’t know… it felt like it was bad.”

“Can’t be too bad if they agreed to come out,” Hayden said.

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