Beautiful Beginning(40)

who is better than you at seducing cougars?” He patted Will’s cheek,

cooing, “No one, Blossom. No one.”

Will yawned, clearly too tired to argue, and waved him off. “Yeah,

whatever.”

Max walked around the van, stopping just beside the passenger door. “Ben,

your chariot awaits.”

“Fuck you,” I said, slugging him in the shoulder as I climbed into the

seat.

But I could hear him laughing as he rounded the front and got in, asking,

“All right back there, William?”

“Yeah, yeah,” came the mumbled reply. “You’re both *s.”

Max put the keys in the ignition and the engine roared to life. After

grinning proudly at me he turned back and his face grew puzzled when he

attempted to put the van in gear, only to be met with a horrible grinding

noise.

“That’s encouraging,” I said.

“Would you stop being such a twat and relax? I’ve got this.”

“Of course you do.”

The van lurched forward and I made a dramatic point about fastening my seat

belt. The tires screeched as we took the first turn and I reached blindly

for the dash, anything to hold on to. Will wasn’t as lucky, and the sound

of him tumbling around in the cargo area could be heard from the front

seat.

“When was the last time you actually drove a car?” I asked, bracing

myself as we prepared to take another turn.

He pursed his lips as he considered this. “Vegas,” he said with a nod,

completely unfazed by the trail of blaring horns in our wake.

“Vegas? I don’t remember you driving anywhere in Vegas.”

He checked the directions on his phone, blazed through a yellow light at

the very last minute, and nearly rear-ended a car at a stop sign. “It’s

possible I borrowed a car while you boys were occupied.”

“Borrowed? Jesus.”

“Yeah. And actually . . . to be fair, it was a limo, not a car. But that’

s not the point. I got there safe and sound in the end.”

“And did you notice anything unusual? Maybe a few rude hand gestures aimed

in your direction? Police sirens?”

After several near-misses with much smaller cars—

because you could practically see the Brit working to flip left and right

around in his mind—we pulled up in front of the cleaners. Max glared at me

as he put the van in park.

“Oh, God, somebody let me out,” Will groaned. I climbed down and opened

the back door, watching as Will stumbled from the cargo area, and

immediately moved to throw up in the bushes. Apparently, my point had been

made.

The dry cleaner was a small, nondescript business nestled between a Chinese

food restaurant and a comic book store in the center of a strip mall. Max

motioned for me to lead the way and we paused at the front door, gazing up

at a neon sign reading Satisfaction Guaranteed buzzing overhead.

“Bit unfortunate, that,” Max mused under his breath.

Thank God the clothes were ready. We opened each bag to make sure

everything was accounted for—six dresses, eight tuxedos—and proceeded to

carry them out to the van. Max made sure to keep his promise to my mother,

and kept me far from Chloe’s wedding gown.

“There’s no way you’re driving us back,” I said to Max once the last

bag had been loaded.

“You still going on about that?” he asked

“Did you see yourself out there? After he puked, Will was practically

kissing the ground.” I reached for the keys, managing to snag them from

his hand.

“Like you could do any better? My gran’s a better driver than you. She’s

eighty-two and has glaucoma.”

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you over the sound of the police helicopter

and the warrant for your arrest,” I said, and swore as Max grabbed the

keys back from me.

Will stepped between us, snagging the key ring and rubbing his temples.

“Will you two just shut the f*ck up? If I have to go back to the hotel and

run from those women all night, I am not putting up with your bullshit,

too. Ben? You drive,” he said, pushing the keys into my hand again. “Max?

Play nice and wait your turn. My cab is here. I’ll pick up the rings and

meet you back there.” He looked between us, waiting for some sort of

protest.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Fine,” Max sighed.

“Good. Now try not to kill each other on the way back.”



I entered the address for the Del into my phone and waited for the

directions to appear. Max sat silently in the seat next to me.

“Thanks,” I said, and started the engine. Although we’d barely made it

to the dry cleaner’s alive, Max had handled the entire morning with his

trademark calm and optimism. I had to admit I’d be drunk and firing

employees that weren’t even mine in the hotel lobby if he hadn’t stepped