“I’m not your anything,” John grunts. “And my leather jacket isn’t faded.”
Chad beams at him. “You know what I mean! You stepped in and protected me when that guy tried to start a fight.” He turns back to look at the rest of us. “John was my hero!”
“Someone tried to fight you?” Blake asks, obviously concerned, but Chad quickly reassures him.
“Nothing happened because of how quickly John stepped in. We were fine.”
“That sounds scary though,” I comment.
“Chad bumped into the wrong drunk asshole on thebusy street. It wasn’t a big deal,” John explains, and unfortunately, as a man who wears makeup, I know just the type of asshole he’s talking about. Those guys are the worst.
Chad is looking at John like he owes him his life for last night. “It was a big deal. I know I said it last night, but thank you, it meant a lot to me that you cared enough to step in like that.”
John clears his throat, looking very uncomfortable at the public praise from Chad, but the waiters walk in with our final course, saving him from any further discussion.
Everyone focuses on the dessert, and Chad changes the topic to what we want to do tonight. “I thought we could all start at our hotel’s casino and then, if anyone wants to split up, we can see where the night takes us!”
“That sounds good,” Jace agrees. “We might try to meet up with my uncles again later.”
“I still can’t believe I missed them last night.” Chad huffs.
“Tell them to meet up with all of us!” Blake suggests. “Joey and Patrick are the best.”
“They had tickets to a burlesque show tonight, but when it’s done they said they’d check in,” I assure them.
Chad settles the bill and stands, loudly announcing, “Casino time!”
“Casino time!” Jace and I cheer back, sharing a smile.
When in Vegas, right?
9
CHAD
There’s only one seat open at the craps table John walks up to, so I stand behind him to watch as the rest of our friends head toward the slot machines. “So are you a big gambler?” I ask over his shoulder.
He just shrugs and grunts, but now that I’ve spent more time with him, I feel like I’m beginning to interpret all the various noises he makes more easily, so I understand perfectly. He obviously loves it, but he doesn’t want to jinx anything by admitting that.
A waitress comes around, and I order us both double margaritas. I knew coming to Vegas with my best friend and all his friends would be a great time, but it’s so much better than I could have imagined.
“You just going to stand there?” John asks, looking back at me with a quirkedbrow after a few minutes. I’d kind of spaced out reminiscing about how great everything has been so far.
“Yeah, it’s fun to just watch sometimes.”
I think I hear him mutter “Jesus” under his breath as he shakes his head.
I’ve been trying to balance my time today with John so he still got to spend plenty of time with Liam. I know what they have is as important to them as my friendship with Blake is to us, and I would never want to get between that. But when he didn’t follow Blake and Liam to the slots, I figured now would be a great time for more bonding.
It’s almost John’s turn again, so I lean in closer to him and ask, “Can I blow it for you?”
“The fuck?” he says, sounding alarmed for some reason as he turns back to me. “What are you blowing?”
“The dice,” I clarify with a huge smile. “Isn’t that a thing people do? Maybe I’ll be your good luck charm.”
He looks at me with wide eyes before he shakes his head again, and I think he might even be fighting a smile. “Sure, Chad. You can blow my dice.”
“Awesome! Just tell me when.”
