Page 128 of When Wrecked Meets Ruined
It was the most low-key bachelor party I’d ever been to. Probably for the best. In March, one of my teammates got married, and the bachelor party was in Vegas. When they say that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, they aren’t talking about NFL players.
“Too bad it’s not a blunt,” Declan said, rolling the cigar between his fingers.
I nodded in agreement. I hadn’t smoked weed in years. Too risky. I’d nearly blown my college football scholarship and didn’t want to make the same mistakes again or deal with the backlash of failing a drug test.
I struck a wooden match and lit my cigar. Took a puff. Not impressed. “It tastes like ass.”
“They’re Cuban,” Jude said as if that should make them taste better. “Gideon sent them.”
That explained it. If Gideon bought them, you could guarantee they were expensive. He always had to have the best of everything. I lived in Jersey City now, across the river from him, so you would think he’d want to pal around sometimes. You’d be wrong. He was too busy making deals and watching the money in his bank account grow. Too busy to come to his own brother’s bachelor party.
“I heard he’s bringing a date to the wedding,” Jude said. “Have you met her?”
Jude, Brody, and Jesse looked at me expectantly.
Everyone was always so curious about Gideon’s personal life. As if I had all the answers now. But Gideon kept his personal life private just like he did with everything else.
“Nope.” Which reminded me. The wedding invitation. I glared at Jesse. “I’m still pissed that I wasn’t allowed to bring a plus one.”
Jesse held up his hands. “Take it up with my future wife. Second thought, don’t. I don’t want anything to stress her out.”
I took a swig of my whiskey. It burned all the way down and lit a fire in my stomach. Must be some good shit. “Did she come alone?” If he saidshebrought a date, I would grab a girl off the street if I had to. No way I was showing up alone if she brought some douchebag.
Jesse nodded. “Yeah. She came alone.” He opened his mouth to say more but shut it as if he thought better of it.
I wanted to ask a million questions. How did she look? Happy? Sad? Angry at the world? Had she asked about me? Was she still as beautiful as I remembered? Or had I built her up in my head to be something,someone, she’d never been?
Instead of asking, I downed my whiskey like it was water and formulated a plan. I knew Quinn would go along with it, so I texted her and set the whole thing in motion.
Then I sat back and smoked my cigar that tasted like ass and drank the whiskey that tasted like tears and regret.
Even after all these years, thinking aboutherstill fucked with my head. The guilt. The remorse. The love…
I’d offered her my heart, and what had she done? Obliterated it and walked away without a backward glance.
I rubbed my chest as if that would ease the ache. It did not. Heartache was a living, breathing thing, a beast I fed and nurtured, and no matter how many girls I’d been with since Evie, it refused to die.
* * *
The following day, I woke up in my California king—alone—with a pounding headache and the taste of ass lingering in my mouth. After brushing my teeth, I downed an energy drink, got dressed in running shoes and boardshorts, and hit the beach. A surfer’s paradise right on my doorstep.
I’d booked a suite in a Malibu boutique hotel that looked like a California beach house and catered to beautiful people. It was right on the Pacific Coast Highway, and I had an ocean view, a hammock on my balcony, and a rain shower.
Sometimes I still couldn’t believe this was my life. But my body told me I’d be paying for it two decades from now and beyond.
I ran up and down the short stretch of private beach, putting in my miles and sweating off last night’s whiskey. Then I guzzled water, toed off my Nikes, and dove into the ocean. I swam out as far as I could and floated on my back, buoyed by the saltwater, the sun a burst of pink beneath my closed lids.
Evie was only twelve miles away.
Visions of her flashed before my eyes.
Evie sucking on a cherry Blow Pop.
Evie in my football hoodie cheering me on.
Evie lying naked on my bed with a little smile on her lips.
Evie, with her face tipped up to the sky, laughing in the rain.
