“Why would I need a big party—”
“Because you want everyone to know how much you love them,” I grit through my teeth. “Now pipe down and let me finish.”
He raises a dark eyebrow. “Okay. I’m listening.”
“You have a point, though. This should be an intimate moment between you three, so at some point during the shindig, you will ask Breslin and Asher to go out to the backyard with you so you can talk. However, prior to that, I’ll have set up floating candles in the pool, and twinkling string lights in the gazebo.” I smile. “Along with a speaker that will be playing the song you wrote for them.” I wink. “Nice touch, right?”
A slow grin splits his face. “It’s perfect.”
I whip out my phone. “Now, since it’s such short notice, I’ll need you to email me a list of who you want to attend the party so I can send them all e-invitations.”
He thinks about this for a moment. “That’s gonna be hard. I don’t really have a lot of friends.”
Crap. Therein lies the rub.
“Come on, Landon. You’re an indie rock God. You know plenty of people.”
“Followers don’t count.” He drums his fingers along his chin. “Fine. I definitely want to invite The Resistance. Oh, and Mrs. Cranes and her husband. Obviously, my manager Dylan and her fiancé Jace. And my buddy Oakley and his girl Bianca.”
I type this all into my phone next to the mile-long list of people Asher wants me to invite. “Consider it done.”
He grabs the dishes off the island. “Thanks for your help, Kit. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
I wave a hand. “Don’t mention it.”
A spasm of guilt nips at my belly as an image of me being hauled to an elevator zips through my head.
It’s the least I can do.
“So,” Asher says after we walk back into the dining room. “Where is my brother?”
Reaching over the table, I pick up the container of egg rolls and plop two on my plate. “At a poker game.”
Beside me, Breslin huffs. “Surprise, surprise.” She pauses, as if pondering something. “How is he getting all this money to gamble?” Before I can answer, her eyes go big. “I know you care about him, Kit, but—”
“He didn’t get it from me,” I defend, trying my hardest not to look at Asher.
Oblivious, Asher wipes his mouth with a napkin. “What did he think of the watch I got him?” His lips twitch. “And the T-shirt.”
I clamp my mouth shut because while I don’t want to lie to Asher, it’s not my place to tell him that his brother pawned his gift.
Breslin, however, knows me like the back of her hand. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I stuff an egg roll into my mouth. “These are really good.”
The look she gives me tells me she doesn’t buy it, but before she can press me further, the front door opens and Preston strides inside the house...
Carrying a bulldog.
Although carrying is a stretch given he’s holding the poor thing like it’s a bomb.
The four of us exchange a baffled glance because what the hell?
I’m the first to speak. “Why do you have a dog?”
Preston places the pooch on the floor and points a finger at it. “Stay.”
A stream of drool leaks down his jowls as he lays down with a huff, like he’s thoroughly annoyed with Preston.
Can’t say I blame him.
“Relax.” He swipes the remaining egg roll off my plate and brings it to his mouth. “He won’t be here long.”
Annoyance bristles through me as I stand up, but it’s hard to be aggravated when a pair of big puppy dog eyes are staring up at you.
Sinking down to my haunches, I pet his white and brown wrinkly head. “Hey there, cutie.” The dog licks my hand, and I can’t help but smile because he’s absolutely precious.
But given Preston isn’t exactly a dog lover, his cuteness does zilch to explain how he ended up in my dining room.
Snapping out of my fog, I peer up at my husband. “Let’s try this again. Why is there a bulldog in the house, Preston?”
“It’s not like I wanted to bring him here,” he begins. “I had no other option.”
“Oh, man. I gotta hear this,” Asher mutters and Preston glares at him.
“Start talking,” I grit through my teeth because I need to know what the hell is going on.
He blows out an irritated breath. “So, there I was in the middle of the poker game. I was down, but not by a lot.” He takes another bite of his egg roll. “My cards were all shit, but then Lady Luck decided to throw me a bone because I had an ace of hearts…along with a ten and a jack.”
I’m not sure what that means, but Landon must because he exclaims, “Nice.”
A grin stretches his mouth. “I know. But I knew not to get too excited until I saw what the turn would bring.”
He may as well be speaking a different language because I don’t understand any of this.
“What was the turn?” Asher questions, appearing fully invested in Preston’s story.
Not bothering to look at his brother, Preston answers, “A king of hearts.” His tongue finds his cheek. “Anyway, this motherfucker Darius found his balls and decided to raise while everyone else folded.”
“So why didn’t you fold, too?” Breslin questions.
“Because he just secured the king of hearts,” Landon replies. “All he needed was for the last card to be a queen and he’d have a royal flush.”
Yikes. Given there are fifty-two cards in a deck, that seems like one hell of a risk to me.
Preston nods, turning his attention to him now. “Exactly. Which is why I decided to go all in.” His jaw tics. “But guess what that asshole did next?”
Landon rubs his chin, thinking. “I mean, what else could he do besides go all in, too?”
“It was an underground poker game.”
Landon scrunches his face and adjusts his glasses. “I don’t follow.”
That makes two of us.
“If it was a sanctioned poker game, the only option would be to go all in with the money we were already playing with…but since it wasn’t, he decided to shake things up a little and raise the stakes.”
Breslin’s eyebrows shoot up. “By offering up a dog?”
Asher laughs. “Brings a whole new meaning to bet the farm, huh?”
“Would you two shut the fuck up already?” Preston says with an irritated growl. “He didn’t bet the damn dog. He suggested we each throw an additional five grand into the pot. Winner takes all.”
Landon whistles. “Damn.”
“I know.” His nostrils flare on an indrawn breath. “It was a gamble, but I was optimistic the river would give me my queen.”
My stomach sinks because it obviously didn’t turn out that way. “But you lost.”
His grin is cocky, causing those dimples of his to deepen. “Nah. I ended up winning.” His smile falters. “Not that it mattered.”
That only makes me more baffled. “What do you mean?”
The tendon along his neck strains as he looks away, his brows drawn tight. “When Darius suggested we up the ante and I asked him where his money was, he said it was upstairs in his safe.” Eyes darkening, he runs a hand over his mouth. “However, it turns out the fucker was overly optimistic about his full house because he only had five hundred bucks in his safe…not five thousand.”