Page 78 of Caught Up

There was a line of cars parked outside Aly’s house by the time we arrived. I found a spot as close as I could and went around to open Lauren’s door for her while she snagged the gift bag she brought. She seemed perfectly steady on her heels when she got out, but there were cracks in the sidewalk, so I offered her my hand just in case.

“Such a gentleman all of a sudden,” she said, wrapping her fingers through mine.

“That’s me, a real gentleman. Grab her hand in the streets and her hair in the sheets.”

She laughed, a bright, infectious sound that had me turning my head to look at her. It was the first time I’d seen her laugh like this, loud and open, and my ego swelled a little, knowing I’d caused it. Until now, I’d mostly made her frown or moan, and I decided that needed to change. The moaning, we could keep, but the frowning had to go.

A sign on the front door said the party was out back, so we followed the sound of voices around the house. There were maybe thirty people filling Aly’s backyard, a grill going on one side, and two sets of cornhole boards set up on the other, with tables and outdoor furniture in between. Josh was easy to pick out because of his height, standing as far away from the grill as humanly possible. Aly was much closer.

“Oh, hey!” she said, turning as we approached. “You made it.”

Lauren shifted beside me. I pressed my hand against her lower back and guided her forward. “Aly, this is Lauren. Lauren, Aly.”

“Hi,” Lauren said, lifting her gift bag. “Congrats on your engagement. Junior said you liked white wine, so I got you a little something.”

“Oh, thank you,” Aly said, taking the bag and then leaning down to hug Lauren. She pulled back and tugged the wine free, her eyes going wide. “No, really. Thank you.”

Huh. Must have been a nice bottle.

Lauren grinned. “You’re welcome.”

A familiar, pathetic mewl came from nearby, and we turned toward it. Last month, I’d spent a gross, sweaty weekend helping Josh and Aly turn their back porch into what they were calling a catio (See?Weird.), framing the space out and then staplingheavy-dutyscreens in between the wood. All so Fred could sit outside and watch the birds while Josh and Aly drank their coffee. And then they’d adopted Maud, who now had all four paws dug into the screen, crying to be let out. Fred sat on the cat tree behind her, looking unimpressed by her behavior.

“Oh my god,” Lauren said. “That is so cute!”

She and Aly headed toward Maud, and I ambled after them.

“Cat people,” a low, disgruntled voice said from behind me.

I looked over to see a blond guy almost as big as Josh walking over.

“Tyler, right?” I asked as he stopped at my side.

He nodded and took a sip of his beer. “Junior?”

I nodded back.

His gaze went to Lauren. “How’d you manage to bag such a baddie?”

I took a deep breath. Yup, he was still a fucking douche. I’d only met him once before, when we’d helped Josh move in here, but those few hours were enough to get a good read on him and wonder how the fuck Josh had put up with him for so long.

Be nice,I told myself.You can’t go threatening Josh’s only other friend in the world just for pointing out how hot Lauren is.

“I’m good at making her come,” I said.

Tyler huffed a low laugh. “Fair enough. She got a sister?”

“Yeah, but she’s older and married with two kids.”

“Shame.” His gaze swung back to me, taking in the tattoos on my neck, the words scrawled across my knuckles. “What is it you said you do again?”

“Imports,” I said. “You?”

He grinned. “Finance.”

We fell silent, watching the women play with Maud through the screen. At least the two of them seemed to be hitting it off.

A waving motion caught the corner of my eye. I glanced left, over the heads of the crowd, to see Josh motioning to me. I pointed to the women and motioned him our way instead. He shook his head, waving harder.

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