A Very Merry Bromance (Bromance Book Club #5) (18)

Mack’s eyebrows tugged together as he stirred cream into his coffee. “Gretchen . . . Winthrop?”

“Yes, fuck stick. Which other Gretchen would I be talking about?”

Mack and Noah exchanged a glance, probably at Colton’s petulant tone. “What do you mean, you saw her?” Noah asked. “Like, for a date?”

Ha. Right. Colton ripped open a packet of sugar for his coffee. “Did you know she was one of the CAW whiskey Winthrops?”

Mack lifted his mug. “Yeah, didn’t you?”

“Wait, I didn’t know that either,” Gavin said. “Are you serious?”

“Doesn’t make sense, does it?” Mack said. “She wears secondhand clothes, lives in a tiny apartment, hates expensive gifts.”

As Mack talked, Colton felt an unfamiliar surge of jealousy. He hated being reminded that Mack and Gretchen had briefly dated. Which made zero sense and was sexist as hell, to boot. She didn’t belong to either of them, yet here Colton was. Seething because Mack knew where Gretchen lived.

“So what happened last night?” Malcolm asked.

“She was sent as an ambassador.” His words were even more bitter than his coffee. He reached for more sugar.

“What does that mean?” Noah asked.

Colton leaned back in his chair and spread out his arms. “CAW whiskey wants to sign yours truly to an endorsement deal.”

“Holy shit,” Del said. “That’s fantastic. Congratulations.”

The guys all chimed in with way to go and nice job and get us some free samples.

“I told her no.”

Silence exploded like a popped balloon.

“Why the hell would you say no?” Yan sputtered after a moment.

“I don’t feel like doing it.”

Gavin’s eyeballs nearly fell out. “You don’t feel like a multi-million-dollar endorsement deal for a major global brand?”

“Not right now.”

Vlad leaned over and put his hand on Colton’s forehead. Colton swatted him away. “What’re you doing?”

“Checking for a fever.”

“I’m not sick. I just don’t want to do it.”

“Okay, no.” Yan shook his head. “This doesn’t make any sense. What aren’t you telling us?”

“She hates Christmas.” He leveled Mack with a glare. “Did you know that?”

“Nope, but that doesn’t surprise me.”

“You turned down the endorsement deal because Gretchen hates Christmas?” Noah was staring at him as if he’d just sprouted a unicorn horn.

“No.”

“Then what does that have to do with anything?”

Shit. He’d talked himself into a trap. He couldn’t explain himself without explaining . . . other things. “Forget it,” he grumbled.

Fat chance of that. Mack ran a hand across his jaw. “Colton, I swore I’d never ask you this because I never felt like it was any of my business, but . . .” He paused to inhale, and Colton instinctively held his own breath. “What exactly happened between you and Gretchen at my wedding?”

Colton’s fingers tightened around his coffee mug. “Nothing.”

He must’ve said it too quickly because Mack let out a slow Fuuuck. “You slept with her, didn’t you?”

Colton stiffened. “As you said, Mack. That’s none of your business.”

“That’s a yes,” Noah said, picking up his phone as if he couldn’t stand to even look at Colton anymore.

Colton grabbed the phone and set it back down. “It’s nothing.”

The silence that followed was of the we knew it variety. The accompanying expressions were of the you’re an asshole kind.

Mack swiped a hand down his face and made an annoyed noise. “Christ, Colton. You could amuse yourself with any woman in the world. Why the hell would you do that to Gretchen?”

Um, wow. That was a whole lot of insult for two tiny sentences. He pointed at Mack. “Okay, first of all, I resent the implication that I amuse myself with women on some kind of regular basis. I haven’t even been on a date since your wedding.”

Every eye widened in surprise.

“Second, why are you so sure I was the one who initiated it with her?”

Mack’s eyebrows shot into the stratosphere. “Are you saying it was the other way around?”

“Yes! I was walking her back to her hotel room, but she jumped me in the elevator and the next thing I know—”

He snapped his mouth shut.

“The next thing you know . . . ?” Malcolm prompted him.

“Nothing. Whatever happened between Gretchen and me is one hundred percent private, and I don’t want to hear another goddamn word from any of you that might cause her embarrassment. Do you hear me? Not one goddamn word.”

Noah poked his tongue in his cheek. “Normally, I would abide by your wishes, but this is Gretchen we’re talking about. She’s a friend, and I need your word that you didn’t do anything to hurt her.”

For fuck’s sake, how long had his friends held such a low opinion of him? “I didn’t hurt her.”

“Just tell us what happened,” Vlad said.

Colton hesitated. For one thing, he’d promised to keep it a secret. But, also, it was embarrassing as fuck. “I don’t know what happened.”