Welcome to Blissville

by Walker, Aimee Nicole

  “Whoa,” he said, eyes wide with surprise. “You just used my first name.”

  “Asshole?” I asked.

  “No, that’s what you call him when he’s not around,” Adrian said.

  “Oh, I’m sure it’s much worse than that,” Dorchester quipped.

  “I did ask you to stand up with me at my wedding, so it’s only right I stop being so formal when I talk to you,” I told John.

  “You only did it so you’d have an even number of attendants,” John scoffed. “Who else were you going to ask? One of your past hookups? Oh, wait, one of them was implicated in the death of the other, which leaves your former lover, or the guy who waved his dick at you, or me. I’m pretty damn sure which one of us Josh would prefer.”

  “Silver,” Adrian and I both said at the same time, drawing ire from John and pulling Silver’s attention to our group.

  “I was just telling John how I’m going to replace him with you as one of my attendants if he didn’t stop smarting off. I can’t have someone up there trying to upstage me on my big day,” I told Silver. I couldn’t very well repeat what John had said since it was Silver’s brother that was my past hookup whose death could’ve been prompted by the other hookup’s negligence. It was obviously a good thing that my days of hooking up were over since I made such crappy choices.

  “We’re about the same size so I’m sure I could fit into his tuxedo if I need to step in,” Silver said good-naturedly.

  “Not so sure about that,” John fired back. “I consider myself to be well-endowed, but even so, there are places the tuxedo pants might be a little too snug for you.”

  “What can I say?” Silver replied, shrugging. “Some of us are just blessed.”

  “Or cursed,” John mumbled, then tilted his head toward Adrian as if he might not be so fortunate.

  “Hey,” Adrian said. “I’m blessed just fine and how the hell would you know anyway?”

  “Wives talk.” John laughed and walked away with an irritated Adrian right on his heels.

  “No damn way my wife is talking to your wife about my small dick,” Adrian said loud enough for everyone waiting their turn at the fifteenth hole to hear.

  “Aha, so you admit it,” John said then burst into laughter when Adrian realized what he’d said.

  “You tricked me into saying it, asshole,” Adrian said but struggled to keep the heat in his voice. He looked over at me and Silver laughing our asses off by that point. “Suit up, Silver, you’re going in.”

  “I’ve heard that plenty of times too,” Silver fired back. “I’m the man for the job.”

  It went downhill from there, and everything became a dick or stamina joke to the point that our last three holes of golf were so pitiful that I came back from last place to win. Of course, Adrian thought it was all a conspiracy on my part and ribbed me off and on during the baseball game.

  The other group had an early dinner at a fancy restaurant before going to the theater, but we ate greasy, tasty ballpark food instead. Josh and I agreed to focus on our group of friends rather than texting one another, which was harder to do than I thought. I found myself wondering how he liked his massage, then I got more than a little possessive when I thought about another man’s hands on Josh’s body. I was ready to growl like a beast when my mind went there, though I knew damn well he’d never allow someone to touch him as intimately as the massages we gave each other.

  “What’s the name of that massage parlor again?” Adrian asked.

  “Happy Endings,” John said because he never missed a beat.

  “You do realize that your wife went there too, right?” Kyle asked John.

  “And the rest of our significant others,” Harley mumbled, not at all happy with the way the conversation was heading.

  “Yeah, but that’s why John’s wife was the first one through the door. She’s not used to a happy ending,” Adrian informed us.

  Their banter entertained our group and everyone around us for the entire nine innings. I was more than eager to get ahold of my guy by the time the game was over. Silver let us in through the private entrance in the back of the club. The place was alive with thumping music and thrashing bodies, but our table was easy to find beneath the big banner that read: CONGRATULATIONS, GABE AND JOSH!!!!

  I had an amazing day with my friends, but nothing came close to making me as happy as when I saw Josh smiling and laughing at the table. He was wearing a sparkly crown on his head, and a sash across his chest with the word GROOM printed on it. Meredith and Chaz had similar sashes, but theirs said BEST WOMAN and BEST MAN on them. Josh was so beautiful that I stopped in my tracks and just stared at him. I wasn’t the only one enthralled by the happiness at our table because the other men stopped and smiled at their significant others—or their heart’s desire in the case of Kyle and Silver.

  I turned to Kyle and said, “Don’t blow your chance at real happiness. Shake off that reserve, take a chance, and grab life by the balls.” Of course, I had to practically shout it over the music for him to hear me, which meant the other guys heard it also,

  “Or him by the balls,” they all chimed in encouragingly.

  “Yeah, okay,” Kyle said, his face red with embarrassment. “Maybe I should start with a drink first.”

  Josh looked over then and saw us all standing there. The smile that spread across his face was enough to obliterate the fear that clawed at my gut for the time being. He waved, and all eyes turned to us. The couples exchanged hugs and kisses and the four people who hadn’t made that leap yet shared what I called longing glances.

  “Don’t worry, Adrian and John,” Chaz said once the little reunions were over, “we got you sashes also.”

  John and Adrian began arguing over which one of them was going to wear the BEST WOMAN sash. I knew their ribbing was going to go on for a while, so I led Josh away from the crowd and onto the dance floor. I didn’t need alcohol to loosen up that night because I had one mission on my mind: keep Josh smiling. We danced for so long that I lost track of where everyone was or what they were doing because my whole world was in my arms, grinding his pert little ass against my dick. There were a few slow dances peppered between the hard-thumping club music, and I loved the opportunity to slow things down and kiss Josh like it could be the last time.

  “This time next week I’m going to be your husband,” he said after a long, sexy kiss.

  “I can’t wait,” I told him honestly.

  “I can’t either, but tonight I’m going to take you back to the hotel room and fuck you like a stranger.” Josh nibbled on his bottom lip as if he was hesitant about my reaction.

  “It’s time to say goodnight to our friends, Sunshine.”

  It turned out they were nowhere in sight and our waiter told us they’d paid the tab and left some time ago. I didn’t feel bad because we’d spent the better part of the day apart and the night was supposed to be about celebrating our upcoming nuptials. What better way was there than dancing with my guy for hours before we went back to our room, where Josh pounded me hard enough to wake the rest of the hotel.

  I hoped, pleaded, and prayed for an easy, chaos-free week leading up to Gabe’s reunion with his birth mom, meeting his sisters for the first time, and a not-so-small event in our lives called a wedding. Our parents were scheduled to arrive on the Thursday before the wedding and stay with us in our new home since we had enough guest bedrooms to accommodate them. Bonita and her family were arriving in Cincinnati on Thursday also, but we weren’t meeting them until Friday morning for brunch at their hotel. We would have our wedding rehearsal Friday evening followed by a catered dinner for our wedding party and parents. I wasn’t sure if Gabe was going to invite Bonita, Miguel, and the girls but I made sure there was enough food for them should he extend an invitation. I figured he was waiting to see how things went Friday morning first. If it went well, I suspected he’d want them to feel included and I was positive that Al and Martina wouldn’t mind if he did.

  As exciting as al
l of that was, it took a lot of work and preparation to make it happen. Oddly enough, I wasn’t even worried about the wedding part. The caterer had everything under control, Gabe hadn’t changed his mind about marrying me, and Judge McDonnell was ready to officiate the event. We only needed one person to show up to make it official, and I was fine with that. It was everything else that had me tied in knots. I had to make sure there were plenty of towels and food on hand for our parents’ stay and set aside time to spend with them, which meant I needed to rearrange my work schedule that week.

  I had become more flexible and relied less on routine once I found harmony in all parts of my life, but I quickly realized that my laid-back attitude was harder to hold onto with so many big, exciting things looming in front of me. I fell back on my old routine to feel in control of my life and the myriad of emotions that fought for dominance in my brain. Which explained why Chaz and Meredith found me sitting on the floor in the supply closet of the salon taking inventory the Monday afternoon after we returned from our bachelor bash weekend.

  Chaz crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at me with an amused expression on his face. “I thought that was supposed to be my job now. Am I not doing it good enough?” The crooked smile on his face told me that Chaz knew exactly why I was there and that it had nothing to do with being short on hair or nail products. That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to give him a hard time.

  “If you start sucking more in other areas of your life and less at your job,” I said, zinging him, “you could use those lips for something more satisfying than grinning at me like a lunatic.” Instead of getting his feelings hurt, Chaz only smiled broader. He knew how much I loved him and saw through my snarktastic comment.

  Meredith snorted then said, “He’s worse than I thought, Chaz.”

  “His eyes are looking a little wild,” Chaz said to Mere. He unfolded his arms and offered his hand to assist me off the floor. “He looks a little hungry too.”

  “I bet his nerves are making it hard for him to eat,” she replied, nodding her head.

  “Good thing we picked up his favorite foods from the diner on the way over,” Chaz added, as they continued to talk about me as if I wasn’t in the room.

  “Then feed me instead of fucking around like clowns.” I grabbed Chaz’s hand, and he groaned while he helped me to my feet like I weighed a half ton. “You better start working on your strength and stamina for when you and Kyle stop dicking around and really get to dicking around. What do you authors call words that are spelled the same but have multiple meanings?”

  “Homonyms,” Chaz said patiently.

  “I would’ve guessed versatile,” I paused for effect, “like Kyle.” I casually tossed that out there as I walked around my friends in search of food. I expected a big gasp or response from Chaz that didn’t come, which meant I shocked him silent, or he already knew. The blush on his face when he entered the kitchen told me he already knew, but how? Did he assume, did he ask, or perhaps he had firsthand knowledge? I was more than a little curious, but that took a back seat to my ravenous hunger.

  I at least used utensils and a napkin as I devoured the pot roast dinner they brought me rather than just shove my face into the container or use my fingers. I hadn’t lost complete control of myself even though my riotous emotions had me in a tailspin.

  “Let us help you work through some of this, baby,” Meredith said. “Maybe if you get it off your chest you can sort it all out and feel better. Normally, we’d let you internalize your feelings until you either work them out on your own or talk to us and let us help, but this is too important for us just to sit back and wait.”

  “Really, dude,” Chaz said, sitting across from me at the small, round table in the kitchenette. “Get it all out so you can enjoy your week.”

  “What has you worked up the most?” Meredith asked. “Is it having overnight guests at your house? Do you need help getting the bedrooms ready or anything?”

  “Nah, that’s done.”

  “You want us to help you plan meals while they’re in town?” Chaz asked. He could barely boil water, but I loved him for his offer.

  “No, that’s under control too. We stopped at the store on the way home yesterday to stock up. We’re keeping it pretty simple because neither of our parents would want us to make a big fuss about them coming,” I told them. Mere and Chaz exchanged a look that said it was too late and the ship to Stresstown had already set sail.

  “Okay,” Meredith said patiently, “are you nervous about meeting Gabe’s birth mom and his sisters?”

  “A little,” I admitted. “I want Bonita and the girls to like me.”

  “They’re not going to like you, honey; they’re going to love you,” Mere assured me.

  “I do hope so, but I know it will be okay if they don’t,” I replied. “That’s not what has me worked up in knots.”

  “Is there something wedding related that Mere or I could take off your plate? Do you need us to make phone calls to make sure that everything is going smoothly?” Chaz asked.

  “No, I already did that this morning.”

  “Then what is it?” Mere asked, sounding confused.

  Up until that moment, I probably couldn’t have pinpointed what had me on edge until my friends helped me cross reasons to panic off my Reasons to Panic checklist. The real source of my struggle wasn’t related to the reunion, overnight guests, or even the wedding. It was something so far out of my control that I felt helpless and weak, which in turn made me want to control everything that I could in place of the things that I couldn’t.

  “This is going to sound crazy,” I said in warning, but instead of looking leery they placed their elbows on the table and leaned in closer.

  “We were born for crazy,” Chaz told me.

  I could tell by their expression that they were expecting something a bit more lighthearted than Emory’s background and the reason he believed he was in Blissville. I felt sick inside for betraying Emory’s trust, but I had to explain why those “Wanted” posters hanging all over town scared the fuck out of me. My confession regarding what I knew about Emory received the same non-response as my announcement that Kyle liked to give and receive cock.

  “But apparently, you both already knew that,” I said.

  “Emory said he wanted to write books, but he knew shockingly little about the process,” Chaz told me. “I got the feeling he was covering something. I quietly did an internet search and read some articles about his past. I didn’t say anything because it was obvious he wasn’t here to hurt anyone, and I didn’t feel right gossiping about him.”

  “Same,” Meredith answered. “He was too vague about some things, and I wondered how he could afford to move here when he obviously wasn’t working and said he hadn’t published a book yet.”

  “Gabe would be very proud of your sleuthing skills,” I told them.

  I too wondered how Emory could afford to travel from city to city to help solve crimes. I seriously doubted that the police departments he helped paid much, nor did I think the television shows that featured him would shell out much cash for his appearances. He was either independently wealthy, inherited some money, or worked from home doing something he didn’t share with the rest of us. Even though I was curious, I would never ask him.

  “What does Emory’s background have to do with you looking like a cat on its eighth-and-three-quarters life?” Chaz asked. “Oh,” he said. “He’s had a vision about one of you.”

  Mere gasped and sat straight up in her chair then covered her heart as if she was trying to protect it from the truth. “Jazz, is that true?”

  “Yes,” I admitted then told them the rest. “I just can’t shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen.”

  “Honey, this guy has been on the run for weeks. He would’ve shown up here already,” Meredith said calmly.

  “Maybe,” Chaz said. He didn’t sound nearly as confident as Meredith that Gabe wasn’t in trouble. “A guy like him would
know how to avoid detection from law enforcement agencies. He’s probably changed his appearance and is using cash he kept squirreled away if this day ever came.” Chaz tipped his head while he thought some more. “Probably even money he’d taken from the evidence locker they’d collected from drug busts, searches, and seizures. Billy did that, and I bet it’s not that uncommon. I mean, here these cops are eking out a living while that money sits in an evidence locker. Hell, I bet most of it never gets tagged into evidence. I think the temptation to resist making their lives a little better would be too great to pass. I doubt he’s fled the country and he’ll be looking for revenge.”

  Meredith nudged Chaz with her elbow to get him to shut up after glancing in my direction. Either my thundering pulse was visible beneath the skin of my neck or the veins in my forehead were popping out as my blood pressure soared, maybe even both. Chaz didn’t even notice Meredith’s attempts to get him to shut up and he sure as hell didn’t see me stroking out across the table from him because he was staring off into space instead of looking at me.

  “If he thinks Gabe is responsible for ruining his career then he won’t go down without trying to take Gabe with him,” Chaz said. “Or, if he truly wanted to hurt Gabe he’d kill the one Gabe loves most in the world. He’d turn his attention on Josh when everyone focused on protecting Gabe.”

  “Charles Bailey!” Meredith yelled. “What-the-ever-loving-fuck is wrong with you?” She followed up her question with a smack to the back of his head, which forced him back to reality.

  “Huh?” Chaz asked. “What did I say?”

  “Look what you did to Jazz.” Meredith pointed to the tears that ran down my face.

  “Fuck! What did I say?” Chaz asked.

  “You basically implied that there’s no fucking way that Jimmy De Soto hopped on a dinghy and headed to the Bahamas and that he’s most likely hiding out nearby so he can kill Josh to get back at Gabe,” Meredith recapped.

  “I said that?” Chaz asked. “Oh man, I was just plotting for my book out loud more than anything. Damn, Jazz, I’m so sorry I said that to you.”