I shook her hand from across the bar. “I’m Karla. It’s nice to meet you.”
Brayden was chatting with a guy to his left then turned back around to get my attention. “Babe, I want you to meet Simon.”
Brayden leaned back so I could see Myla’s best friend. “Simon.” I took his hand in mine. “I have been dying to meet you for a while now.”
Simon kissed the back of my hand. “You are even more stunning than Myla told me. It’s such a pleasure.”
Simon, Brayden, and I sat chatting away for a while. Every so often, different players came up and Brayden would introduce me to them. It was nice to see how excited he got to finally have me meet the guys he spent most of his time with.
Gavin made his way over to us, getting a whiskey ginger from Jordan. He slapped Brayden on the shoulder. “Hey, man. Aren’t you going to introduce me to your lady?”
Brayden turned around without missing a beat. “Karla, may I present to youtheGavin Hayes.”
He gave me a half hug before taking his drink from Jordan. “Thanks for coming tonight.”
“Of course! It’s great to finally meet you. Brayden has told me so much about you.” I shot Bray a quick glance as he squeezed my knee gently.
“I’m sure he has.” Gavin chuckled. “I am not as big of a douche as he claims I am.”
Brayden elbowed him playfully in the ribs. “Oh, come on now, Hayes, you know I don’t lie.”
“Ouch,” Gavin teased as his eyes snapped to the door. A woman with long blonde hair and an unhealthy amount of makeup on was looking around like she was lost. “Excuse me.” He bee-lined it right for her, ushering her into the hallway.
Gavin wasn’t the only one who noticed the latecomer. It felt like the entire party froze and everyone awkwardly stared at the front door.
Brayden got up from his seat, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. “I think I need to go get Myla.”
I pointed at her as she started to come out of the back hallway and Brayden walked over to her. Jordan stood in silence, eye fixed on the door like almost everyone else.
“I must be missing the punch line,” I said to no one in particular.
Simon looked over at me. “You took the words right out of my mouth.”
Jordan leaned over and whispered just loud enough that only Simon and I could hear. “That was Gavin’s ex-fiancée. She left him at the altar years ago.”
Simon and I both gasped in unison.
I tapped my finger to my mouth. “You know, I think I saw something about that on the news.”
“Saw what?” Brayden asked as he wrapped his arms around my middle from behind.
“That was Gavin’s ex, Marsheila,” Jordan blurted out before I could answer.
Brayden stiffened up a little. “I should go out there.”
I grabbed his hands, not letting him let go of me. “You need to let them handle this. Gavin and Myla are fine.”
Jordan poured Brayden another drink. “Listen to your woman. Gavin will take care of that wretched bitch as fast as he can.”
Before I could ask for more juicy details about how wretched the bitch of an ex actually was, Myla and Gavin were walking back in hand in hand, acting like everything was normal. They came back over to us and Myla wrapped me up in a huge hug.
“I am so excited you’re here!” She kissed me on the cheek. “Do you like my eyes?” She batted her baby blues dramatically.
“You look marvelous, darling.” I couldn’t help but notice that our birthday girl was just about two sheets to the wind.
She grabbed her big brother, pulling him into her side. “Can you believe he was able to keep this whole thing a secret from me?”
I smiled at them, sipping my soda. “I know, it was so hard for him.”
