RT and Z stepped to the side, clearing the way for Cooper Krenshaw and Dalton Calhoun, who were being escorted by Braydon.
“It’s been a minute,” Dalton said, shaking Reese’s hand.
“It has.” Reese gestured to Brantley. “This is my better half. Brantley Walker, meet Dalton Calhoun.”
They shook hands, and then more introductions were made. Cooper ridiculed Brantley until he put on the other sash, which, according to Dalton, was the only way for anyone to know what everyone was doing here in the first place. Never mind the enormous banner on the wall that read:Congratulations, Brantley and Reese.It wouldn’t have been complete without the drawing of a ball and chain on both ends.
Reese couldn’t stop grinning. He wasn’t sure what to expect when JJ informed them they were having a casual bachelor party, but this wasn’t it. This was better than anything he could’ve dreamed of. Friends and family hanging out, laughing, joking, and having a good time.
“Y’all should mingle,” RT said.
“And when you’re hungry, I hear they’ve got wings,” Z informed them, his eyes lighting up like a kid on Christmas. “It’s almost like they knew it was my birthday.”
“It’s not your birthday,” RT told him, his eyes shining with love as he looked at his husband.
“It should be.”
“You think every day should be your birthday.”
Z grinned back at him. “With you, baby, it is.”
RT rolled his eyes, triggering laughter from everyone within earshot.
And because his brother told him to, Reese mingled.
Chapter Nineteen
Slade was nearly four hours into aparty that would likely go through the night when he heard a familiar voice. Someone pressed up against his side a second later, nuzzling his neck with a giggle.
If he weren’t already three sheets to the wind, the firmness of her breasts would’ve pissed him off. Instead, they made him smile because the fact that his ex-wife went and got a boob job to impress a man, only for said man to move on to someone younger—who was alsoau naturel—was a bit like karmic justice in his book.
“Did you miss me?”
He shifted sideways, grinning when Jennifer tipped and fumbled for the bar to keep from toppling over.
“Not really,” he said honestly, glancing at his ex-wife for the first time.
She was smiling; her lips painted a glossy, fire-engine red which clashed with her winter-pale skin. But not even that could impact her beauty. Jennifer was the most naturally beautiful woman Slade had ever laid eyes on. With her silky chestnut hair, big brown eyes, perfectly shaped lips, and a porn star body, Jennifer was like a fine wine—she seemed to get better with age. She had been take-your-breath-away-beautiful back when he’d fallen head over heels in love with her, and she still was now, all these years later, when he secretly wished she would just fall off the face of the earth.
“What are you doin’ here, Jennifer?”
“I think the better question is, what areyoudoin’ here? Sittin’ at the bar all by your lonesome.”
Slade damn sure wasn’t alone. No, he wasn’t talking to anyone at the moment, but Moonshiners was packed to the gills with people. He’d spent the first couple of hours talking, catching up with people he hadn’t seen in a long time. Then he’d spotted Atticus and Carson looking cozy as they sat at a table with a group in the corner, laughing and staring into one another’s eyes, and Slade opted to hold down this bar stool and lick his wounds.
It was all he could do not to leave, and now he wished he had.
“Why are you here?” Slade pulled away, attempting to put some distance between himself and Jennifer’s overpowering perfume.
“I heard someone was celebrating the last of their bachelorhood days. I had to stop in. See if I could talk you out of it. There’s only one woman for you, baby, and we both know it.”
Slade rolled his eyes. “I’m not gettin’ married.”
“That’s not what I heard.”
“Then someone lied to you.” He tossed back what was left of the whiskey in his glass, then tapped it on the bar, signaling the bartender for another.
She giggled and raked one of her fingernails along his jaw. “Does your fiancée know you’re claiming to be single?”
