Page 60 of The Aster Valley Collection, Vol. 2
I couldn’t hold back the chuckle. “Fuck,” I said, running fingers through my hair before taking off my own jacket and yanking at my bow tie. “This is fucked-up.”
“Did I ever mention that I love the way you lose your lawyerly vocabulary when you’re defending me?” He kicked off his shoes, pulling at pieces of his tux until he stood in the middle of the room in nothing but an undershirt and boxer briefs.
“That escalated quickly,” I muttered under my breath.
He peeled off the undershirt.
Goddamn . My best friend had a six-pack from his job on the slopes, and even in the midst of this situation, I couldn’t stop sneaking a glance at it.
I was a horrible person.
“Why are you naked?” I asked, resisting the urge to kick off my own shoes.
“Can’t stand that fucking thing. I didn’t want to wear one in the first place, and I’m sure as hell not wearing it one minute longer.
Besides, I’m going to sleep, and I’m not waking up ’til July.
” He slid into the pristinely made bed, rucking the covers up and sprawling his big body out facedown across the crisp sheets.
I stared at him, unsure whether to let him hide in the bed or not. “Are you going to actually sleep, or are you going to fall into a mental spin cycle of self-doubt and guilt?”
His muffled voice spoke into the pillow. “Second one.”
“That’s what I thought. And I will allow you exactly one hour for wallowing. And then you’re coming with me to Aster Valley, and you can wallow there in my wallow hole. I’m going to go downstairs and help sort out the bullshit. When I get back up here, we’re packing and leaving.”
“Mpfh.”
“Don’t do anything stupid,” I warned.
He shot me the bird. I swiped his room key and headed back out.
Hazel and my parents were waiting for me in the lobby.
Hazel rushed over and wrapped her arms around me. “Is Parks okay?” she demanded. I saw the same helpless guilt on her face that I felt, like we should have foreseen this somehow and prevented it.
I shrugged. “For now. But you know how he is. The more serious the situation, the more he jokes.” When this all finally hit him, though, he was going to be devastated.
It took longer than an hour to help sort everything out with the hotel and all the guests, but the woman in charge was amazing.
She’d clearly had to do this exact thing for clients in the past, and it was obvious she knew how to handle it with professionalism and grace.
When everything was finally sorted, and I was able to convince the Rokas and my parents not to try and make the drive home this late in the day, I went back upstairs to pack my stuff.
Nolan’s stuff was gone, which was probably for the best since I was still feeling murdery and my knuckles were already bruised.
Once my bag was packed and I’d changed into more comfortable clothes for the drive, I rolled my suitcase to Parker’s room and let myself in. He was dressed in well-worn sweats from one of his old sponsors, and I recognized the hoodie as one of the ones I’d stolen from him years ago.
“Hey. How’d you get that hoodie back? I thought it was in my closet at home.”
He was sitting in a chair facing out the window to the slopes. His light hair was messy, his bare feet were propped on a small table, and his hands were tucked into the hoodie’s kangaroo pocket.
“I had them send me a few more after you stole it. I figured if you liked it that much, you might want a replacement one day. But then I wore one and realized why you liked it so much, so fuck you on getting the spares.”
We both knew he’d give me the literal clothes off his back if I wanted them. That was the kind of person Parker was. Besides, I’d been stealing his clothes for twenty years, and he’d never stopped me.
I walked over so I could look at his face. The bruise on his jaw was darker, but it was the tired eyes that stood out the most. He’d been thinking himself into a heavy state.
“Alright. Get your ass up. We’re leaving.”
“I’m just going to head home,” he said without moving.
“Nope. You’re coming with me to my cabin in Aster Valley. We’re going to get drunk, watch all the Marvel movies in order, and do some cross-country skiing. If you’re lucky, there’ll be a couple decks of cards there, and I’ll let you beat me at Spite and Malice.”
Parker stared out the window. “I hate cross-country skiing,” he muttered. “All that work and not a single moment of excitement.”
I moved to the closet and pulled out his suitcase. If he didn’t have the energy to pack himself, I’d do it for him. “Liar. You love anything that makes you sweat. Tell you what. If you come cross-country skiing with me, I’ll make you my famous lasagne.”
He swiveled his head and raised an eyebrow. “You know the pity party has reached full swing when Julian offers to tackle a multistep recipe.”
“Desperate times.” I reached for the tidy little stack of socks and underwear in his drawer and tried not to think too hard about how lucky that damned underwear was as I moved it to his suitcase.
“Make me those seven-layer bars, too, and we have a deal.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re not in a position of power in this negotiation.”
“Fine. I’ll just go back to my apartment. Alone. And cry. Alone .” He turned back to the window and sniffed. “So alone.”
“Fucking jackass,” I said under my breath. “Manipulating bastard, sugar pig, and also very bad at cards.”
“I can hear you. And the only one of those that’s accurate is the sugar thing.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Get your ass up, and let’s go. I’m never going to find this place in the dark. It’s over the mountain, and Aster Valley rolls up their welcome mats at sunset.”
He stood up and stretched, exposing the strip of skin I’d come to think of as my own personal Valhalla. I focused back on the stack of T-shirts in my hand, making sure they were placed just so in the suitcase.
Parker came over and bumped me out of the way with his hip. “Go get the stuff in the bathroom. I don’t want you perving on my panties.”
“As if,” I snapped. “Flatter yourself and your ugly-ass tighty-whities. Straight guys have the most boring underwear on the planet.”
“Not true. I wear jocks for work. And they come in all kinds of rainbow colors.”
Parker in a rainbow jock… Do not go there.
“Thank you for that lovely mental image, Parks. I’ll try not to drool over the image of your hairy ass cheeks flapping in the winter wind as you teach some trophy wife how to snowplow.”
I was pretty sure his ass cheeks were perfect like the rest of him was, but today was definitely not the day to think about them.
My job today was to distract him from the fact that Erin had just bulldozed his future and broken his fucking heart, leaving me to pick up the pieces and put him back together.
He finished packing his stuff before turning to me with a frown. “What’s wrong with my ass?” He turned around this way and that to try and get a good look at it. “I don’t have a good ass?”
“Focus. You can ask me about your ass again once we’re on the road.” I tossed his toiletries kit into his suitcase and reached for his tux.
I tucked all the pieces into the hanging bag and thrust both his and mine at his chest while I grabbed the rolling suitcases. “C’mon. If you’re a good boy, I’ll slip you one of Mom’s Valium tablets in the car.”
Parker sighed. “Christ, you’re a good man. You know just what to say when shit goes sideways. Always have.”
We managed to get to the parking garage with only three or four excruciatingly awkward conversations with bewildered wedding guests, and I gave Parker the promised pill.
In typical Parker fashion, he started talking my ear off about utter nonsense before fading into a slurry, affectionate mess and finally nodding off.
When he fell asleep, his hand still rested on my leg from when he’d reached over to squeeze it while thanking me for being the “best best friend man, best man, I mean best friend, man” a guy could ever have.
“Just you and me,” he murmured. “Always.”
Fucking hell. This week was going to be excruciating, and now I was right back where I started.
In love with Parker Ellis who was suddenly and glaringly single again.
I was fucked.