Page 59 of Give Me Forever Love

“No bottle opener?” I ask, taking a seat on his couch as he does the same with his own beer. I don’t come to his place often, basically because he was always at the loft at Red, but now we don’t have that anymore.

He waves his hand. “Yeah, I got one somewhere.” He sits down in the leather Lazy Boy. “When did y’all get home?”

“A few days ago,” I say, taking a sip of my beer.

He nods, looking at the TV. “How was the trip?”

“Good,” I say. “I asked K to marry me.”

His eyes jump to mine. “Come again?”

I chuckle. “You heard me.”

“I think I need to get my fucking ears checked.”

I shake my head and roll my eyes as I bring the beer back to my lips.

“She say yeah?” he asks.

“She did.”

He rubs his face, looking baffled. “Damn. This is going to take some time to accept. I mean, I was just getting used to the fact you had a steady girlfriend.”

“We’ve been dating for a while,” I say in our defense.

“Bryce, a week would have been a while for you. I’m not saying you’re rushing; I’m just saying… shit, I don’t know what I’m saying.”

“How about congratulations, brother? I’m fucking happy for you,” I suggest.

He smirks. He leans up and holds his beer out for me to tap. “Congrats. I’m fucking happy for you.”

I clink my bottle with his. “Thanks.”

“Now Harrison, on the other hand.” He tsk-tsks. “She’s got a world of boredom headed her way.”

“Don’t start that shit,” I say. “Just because I’m not the fucking clown of the party doesn’t mean I’m boring. I did just take her to New Amsterdam and asked her to marry me in a field of red tulips. Which means perfect love by the way,” I say, matter-of-factly.

I am pretty proud of that, and I even called Mills and asked him before I did it. He was shocked and said he honestly didn’t deserve to give his blessing, but if that’s what I wanted then I had it. He did deserve it. The man didn’t know he had a kid.

“Damn. You did some research. I’m proud of you.” Jace laughs.

“Don’t make fun of me, asshole.”

“Don’t be so uptight. You know I’m kidding.”

I smirk. “Yeah, that’s your problem. You’re always kidding.”

“You don’t joke enough, and I joke too much, is that it?”

I shrug. “You joke enough for the both of us.”

He laughs. “Touché.”

The ballgame comes on and we grow quiet for a moment. As we watch the Braves do their thing, Jace gets up for another beer. “Want one?” he asks.

“Yeah,” I reply.

His phone vibrates on the coffee table. I lean up to see who it is, but he about breaks his neck to grab it from my sight.

---