Page 23 of Pinky Promises

Chapter 10

Callum

Thefamiliaropeningtuneof Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” begins to play throughout the ballroom speakers, followed by female cheers I know all too well. I chuckle as I watch Brynn, Hadley, and Lexi rushing to the dance floor to dance to one of their favorite songs.

The wedding reception is in full swing: we’ve dined on the best meal, laughed at Brynn and Hadley’s rendition of theFresh Prince of Bel-Airspeech, and awed as Ben and Lexi danced their first dance. Who knew that guy from Beauty and the Beast could sing so well?

“For fuck’s sake, I thought the DJ was never going to play this,” Ben sighs as he all but falls into the empty chair between Asher and me. He removes his tie and places it on the table before unbuttoning the top button on his dress shirt.

“Over the honeymoon stage already,” Asher taunts beside him while he adjusts a sleeping Olivia on his chest.

“Hey, I love my wife, but I needed a break from dancing. So, I may have paid the DJ fifty dollars to play some songs in particular that I knew Lexi and the girls would be too preoccupied dancing to to even notice I slipped away.”

I hold up my beer, and he cheers me with his own. “Very smooth,” I say before bringing the cool bottle to my lips. I’m curious about what other songs Ben paid the DJ to play.

“Anyone else find it funny that I’m the only one at this table who hasn’t had my tongue in the bride’s mouth,” Asher says, his tone calm as if he just was talking about the weather.

Ben growls, “The fuck?”

“Well, me and Olivia actually,” Asher corrects himself.

I rub the space between my eyebrows as I recall the memory Asher is referring to.

Before Ben and Lexi got their heads out of their asses and made their relationship official, the girls came up with a plan behind Lexi’s back to push Ben’s buttons so he would admit his feelings about her, and somehow, I got roped into helping. I hadn’t wanted to agree at first, but when have I ever been able to say no to Brynn? Plus, Brynn promised that I would get to pick two months’ worth of movie nights, and Hadley gave me her bank card to buy our lunch.

The plan was simple: show up at Maritime Media, pretend to be Lexi’s boyfriend, and make Ben jealous, thinking she had moved on. Easy enough, right? I surprised her, and before she could understand what was happening, I was kissing her. I saw Ben watching me as I approached, so I made it Oscar-worthy.

Brynn’s words rang through my head as I pulled Lexi into my arms.“Just pretend she is someone else.”If only my best friend had known that I had pictured her as I kissed Lexi with so much passion that by the time we broke apart, Ben was standing in front of us, ready to have a pissing contest.

“But hey, it all worked out in the end,” I joke, trying to diffuse the situation, although Ben still seems tense.Good going, Asher.“Look at where we are. You got the girl in the end; you just needed that little push as the girls said.” His shoulders seem to relax a bit. I smack his bicep with the back of my hand. “And you get to kiss her for the rest of your life.” I watch Ben’s eyes seek out the girls, Lexi in particular, and the corner of his lips turn upward.

“That I do,” he says as if reassuring himself.

The song changes to a classic ’80s jam, and I bellow out a deep laugh. “Oh, you’ve gone and done it now, Harrington.” The girls break out in the same choreographed routine they started in college, which won them first place two years in a row in the WCU lip sync contest. This song brings out the crazy in those girls. We watch all three of them go from the sprinkler to the roger rabbit to the cabbage patch in the middle of the dance floor. And that’s only the beginning. The over-the-top lip-syncing has everyone around them cheering and clapping. I know they are feeding off the energy of the crowd.

“They are quite the sight.” Asher joins me in laughing and shaking his head. “Mommy and your aunts are a little crazy,” he whispers down to his daughter.

“Well, at least they’re not dancing in their underwear this time.”

Asher’s head snaps so fast in my direction that I worry he might have whiplash or woke up Olivia, but she remains asleep still. Ben only chuckles as he takes another sip of his beer. He must know this story already; otherwise, I’m sure he would go all alpha-hole knowing that not only have I kissed his wife, but I’ve seen her in her underwear.

“They were practicing for the lip sync contest held at our college, and it was maybe two in the morning. The air conditioner just happened to be busted in their dorm, so they were practicing in their underwear, doing weird girl shit if you ask me. They had one too many wine coolers, and Brynn called me over for an emergency. I was worried about her, so I rushed over and busted into the dorm room like a bat out of hell, only to discover their emergency was just needing feedback on their routine.” The routine was a mix ofRisky BusinessmeetsPretty in Pink.

I smirk at the memory, but holy shit, was it mortifying. The scene I walked in to reminded me of how pornos start when the pizza boy shows up to find a bunch of chicks dancing around in their underwear, ready to ravage him. Only I was the pizza boy, and no one wanted to ravage me, just dance like idiots.

“What the fuck, man? I don’t know how I feel about that, you seeing my girl in her underwear. Ben, how are you not bothered by that?”

“I knew. Surprised you didn’t.”

“No,” he says in a stern whine, and Ben and I continue to laugh. His tone startles Olivia, and she begins to stir. He whispers something to her before rubbing small circles along her back. “I’m going to have to ask her for a redo, though, so I can see it. Although these days, she’s gotten a little weird about being naked in front of me. She thinks her body is all fucked-up after birth. But she still makes my dick hard, and even after this little one was born, it still fits perfectly inside her.”

If only Olivia could understand what the hell her dad was talking about. He shrugs as if the information he is sharing is one, table appropriate, and two, something I need to know about Hadley. That would be false on both accounts. I’ve known Hadley for years and know more than I’ve ever wanted to about her.

But Asher, being Asher, doesn’t read the room and continues talking. “I think she’s never looked sexier, especially when she breastfeeds. Shit…” He trails off as if he let his imagination run wild. Talk about awkward wedding talk. I’m sure this is how Ben envisioned his reception, reminiscing about the time I kissed his now wife and talking about his sister-in-law’s tits. I shiver at the thought.

“And…I think that’s my cue to go dance with my wife.” Ben stands, adjusting the sleeves of his dress shirt, revealing colorful sleeve tattoos. One would never guess that under the businessman attire is ink—lots of ink. I’ve never asked what each tattoo means, but I know some of the artwork are memorial tattoos for his parents.

I scoot my chair out and down the rest of my beer. “I think I’ll join you.” Ben glances over his shoulder with his brow arched in question.

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