He shrugged and kept his eyes on the woman speaking. We toasted the happy couple and Mikey turned to me, clinking his beer bottle to my champagne flute.
“Cheers, Sweet Cheeks,” he rumbled in my ear before walking to the stage and taking the microphone from the woman.
“Hey, everybody. I know I’m making Kitty and Stelle sweat byhaving this microphone in my hand, but I felt like I should say something.” His voice was deep with a rasp to it. I didn’t realize how intriguing it was until he was smiling in front of a room full of people. He did have a really nice smile, and other than his little alpha male moments, he was a genuinely kind man. Not everyone would have taken care of me the way he did the night before.
A whoop went up from the crowd, presumably from his teammates. “For those who don’t know me, I’m Mikey, Guy’s best friend since college and Kitty’s best friend by proxy. I’ve known them since Guy said there was a girl from West Virginia who was really special to him. Then they were just ‘best friends’ in college, totally angst-filled and in denial of their feelings for each other. I got to watch Guy toil away, waiting for the day that Kitty would love him the way he loved her.”
Kitty pushed out her lower lip and looked up at Guy. “Poor baby,” she mouthed, kissing his cheek.
“But when they came back from that fateful Thanksgiving break where her brother Frank broke Stelle’s face,” the crowd laughed, “there was no breaking them apart. And I was unspeakably jealous. Just ate up inside over them paying so much attention to each other. But then, Guy left both me and Kitty for the NHL to be a big hotshot star.” Laughs broke again. It was fun to see Mikey be so charming. “Kitty and I were still back at Alden, and I got to pick up the pieces.”
Everyone went silent. “Not like that. Not like that. Kitty and I never—uh, yeah, we didn’t do that stuff. Stelle, I swear, we weren’t ever like that. Never have been. Nope.” Guy raised his eyebrows at Mikey and the laughs swelled again.
He pulled at the collar of his shirt and acted like he was dabbing sweat from his brow. “Anyway. I’m gladas afriendtoboth of themthat we’re all here together in L.A. and that we get to see them make this commitment to each other. I’ve known it was coming since college, because I can’t imagine a world where they don’t end up together.” Kitty guffawed and wiped at her eye. “Tomany years of health and happiness for Guy and Kitty.”
Mikey raised his glass, as did everyone else in the tent.
I realized once again how much I’d underestimated Mikey.
Chapter 9
Mikey
Jess sat at a table in Kitty’s backyard, scrolling her phone and daintily sipping her champagne. What broke my heart about it wasn’t that she was alone, because I understand needing a moment to breathe during social occasions. What killed me was that her eyes were so sad.
“Where’s your man?”
“Huh?” Jessie looked up with those tired, sad eyes, clicking off her phone screen.
“Where’s Cole?”
“He had another thing tonight. I’m flying solo.”
I nodded, but my mind was alight. Hearing another woman’s voice in their apartment haunted me. Not only that, but I heard their fight after she left my apartment clear as a bell. He accused her, and me, of some pretty fucked up stuff. I hated him for doing that to her.
Fuck it. I held out my hand. “Dance?”
Jess stared at my outstretched hand. “What?”
I chuckled. “Will you dance with me, Jessalyn?”
She narrowed her eyes. “I thought you hated me.”
“I think that’s all you, Sweet Cheeks.”
Her cheeks pinked. “Don’t call me that.”
“Hate me all you want, but come dance with me,” I said.
“No. You hate me. You think I’m stuck up and a party pooper and morbid for listening to my murder podcasts and prissy because I like being in my boring relationship and not sleeping around.”
I leaned down closer to her. “Maybe he says that to you, honey, but that ain’t me.” Her eyes rounded. I’d hit a nerve. “I wanna be your best friend, remember?”
Jessie sputtered, trying to find some words. I held out my hand again. “Come on. One dance. I don’t bite.”
She smirked, putting her hand in mine. “You keep saying you won’t bite, which makes it seem like that’s exactly what you’ll do.”
I laughed, shaking my head as I walked her to the dance floor in the tent. “I don’t know where you got this idea that I’m out to get you, Jessalyn.”
