Feeling better now that he had a plan, he cranked up the radio and finished his drive to Flanagan’s.
As he expected, Tyler and Alex were there already and had snagged a corner booth–which was fortunate considering they were going to be adding more people.
“Hey,” he said, sliding into the booth. “Um…slight change of plans. Josie, Skye, and Leanna are joining us. I mean…Josie definitely is, but…”
Tyler chuckled. “If your sister’s coming, her posse will be here.”
Elliott couldn’t help but laugh too because it was true. “Well, when I talked to Josie a little while ago she hadn’t talked to them yet, so…”
Taking a pull of his beer, Tyler nodded. “Did she invite herself or did you?”
“I called her and mentioned we were going to be here, and then she told me she had been trying to get together with you about some fundraiser thing. What’s that about?” He slid farther into the booth when Jared showed up and joined them.
“The last guy who made partner planned this big-ass fundraiser for one of the big guy’s favorite charities. It’s a major suck-up move, but…it certainly did the trick. So I want to have a plan worked out with Josie’s help before I present it to the team. I can’t make it look like I’m totally copying what Ted did, but…”
“But you’re totally copying what Ted did,” Alex said with a laugh. “You are going to have to come up with something extremely creative to make it seem completely unrelated to what that guy did.”
“That’s why I need Josie’s help,” Tyler murmured before taking another drink.
“My sister can plan a hell of a party, but I’m not so sure she can be that devious and help you manufacture a reason to organize a fundraiser. I’m not sure that’s in her wheelhouse.”
Tyler leveled him with a stare. “Dude, your sister is brilliant–like an evil genius. Trust me. She was the one who started throwing out ideas, but I’ve just been too busy with work to sit down and strategize with her.”
“Josie’s an evil genius?” he repeated. “Seriously?”
“Oh, definitely,” Tyler replied, and Alex and Jared nodded in agreement.
He racked his brain for memories of his sister being devious and other than the usual brother-sister stuff where they got each other in trouble, he never saw her that way.
But obviously, everyone else had.
Weird.
Their waitress came over and took their drink order a few minutes later and they decided on several appetizers–including some wings–to hold them over until Josie and the girls arrived.
If they arrive…
“I can’t believe you invited your sister,” Jared said a few minutes later. “And her friends.”
“Why? What’s wrong with that?”
“No woman is going to come over here when they see a table with four guys and three girls,” he reasoned. “It looks like a couples’ outing and one poor schmuck who couldn’t get a date.”
“I don’t think it will be like that,” he countered. “We’re not going to just be sitting here in the booth all night. We’ll get up and play darts or pool or…you know, there’s a whole game room back there plus the bar, so…”
“No, I agree with Jared,” Alex chimed in. “Did you do this so we’d lay off pushing you into finding someone to take home with you?”
“I didn’t…”
“I know we pushed you a little hard last week,” Tyler interrupted. “But we’re just looking out for you. It’s time for you to move on after the whole…you know…Tracy fiasco, and considering your folks are hell-bent on you not dating, there’s no harm with a little recreational sex.” He grinned. “Hell, you certainly had your pick last weekend. I can’t believe you didn’t take one of them home!”
“I can’t believe you didn’t take more than one of them home,” Jared said with a snicker. “That redhead and her friend seemed more than willing to take care of you.”
Ugh…he didn’t need the reminder.
It had taken two showers to get the smell of her perfume off of him.
So yeah…he didn’t hook up with anyone last weekend, and if Skye had just given him a chance to explain, she would know that.
“Look,” Alex said, pointing at him. “He’s frowning. Probably regretting letting them get away!” There was a round of laughter, but Elliott didn’t join in.
“We’re not going to let you get away with that crap tonight,” Jared said with a huge grin. “You are definitely going home with someone tonight. This whole carrying the torch for Tracy ends now.”
“I’m not holding a torch for anyone,” he murmured and was relieved when their first few appetizers arrived. They each grabbed what they wanted and Elliott hoped they’d move on from the topic of his sex life.
“If you’re not holding a torch,” Tyler questioned, “then what was the deal last weekend? I can’t remember the last time you showed such a lack of interest in women.”
How the hell could he explain that he had plenty of interest in women–it just so happened that his interest was heavily focused on one particular woman? There was no way he was going to tell any of them he slept with Skye because they wouldn’t be able to keep it to themselves.
Although…
He let out a dramatic sigh. “Okay, look…I wasn’t interested because…I’ve sort of been hooking up with someone already and it’s completely casual and not a big deal so…”
Three pairs of eyes stared at him until he started to squirm.
“Um…”
“Why wouldn’t you say anything?” Tyler asked. “Who is she?” And he seemed genuinely giddy with curiosity.
Without missing a beat, he said, “Someone from work.” He shrugged. “Like I said, super casual…super secret…”
“Good for you!” Jared said, saluting him with his beer.
“But if it’s casual, that means you can still…”
This time he held up a hand to stop him. “Nuh-uh. That is not my style–even when it’s casual. She’s not looking for anything serious and obviously I’m not, but that doesn’t mean I’m looking for anything with anyone else so…back off.”
Before anyone could comment, Josie strolled up to the table with a big smile, and Elliott couldn’t help but glance behind her to see if Skye was with her.
She wasn’t.
“Well, well, well…it looks like you guys couldn’t wait a little longer to order, huh?” she said as she slid into the booth. “I hope we’re getting more wings.”
Immediately, conversation started around him–his sister had that effect on people–and Elliott found himself to be mildly disappointed that she showed up alone.
“Leanna and Skye not coming?” he asked casually.
“They are,” Josie replied, snagging a wing. “Leanna had to pick Skye up so they should be here any minute.”
A slow smile played at his lips, but he hid it behind his drink.
But when he spotted Skye walking toward the table a few minutes later, he knew he was grinning like an idiot and did his best to tone it down.