Picking Up the Pieces (Pieces, #2)(94)

The only person missing was Max. I wanted to ask Shane where he was, but I worried how it might look. So I kept my mouth shut and silently hoped that he’d decided not to show.

***

I had chosen Arturo’s, an Italian restaurant, for one specific purpose: I knew it would be fun as hell to watch Shane try to find something to eat. And since he had insisted on at least beginning our night together, I felt I was owed my own sick form of revenge. I mean, seriously. Who wants to have a joint bachelor/bachelorette party? Shane Reed, that’s who. And while I knew it mostly had to do with his not wanting guys hitting on Amanda all night, he’d just have to get over that shit. We had all bickered about it for three hours one night until Shane finally relented under one condition: we’d at least all go to dinner together. So here we were. One big happy friggin' family.

I walked up to the hostess and told her the name of our reservation.

“Oh, the rest of your party is already here. I’ll show you back.”

So much for Max deciding not to come. I motioned for everyone to follow, and we made our way into the restaurant. I may have noticed how cozy the restaurant was, how it seamlessly combined a homey feel with a touch of elegance. I may have noticed that, if I hadn’t noticed Max’s girlfriend first. Damn, did she have to be so pretty?

Max stood when he saw us coming, but I barely registered him beyond this. Well, this and the fact that he was wearing gray slacks that were tailored to perfection and a crisp, white button-down with the top two buttons undone. Yup, barely noticed him at all. My eyes were, however, all over his girlfriend. She was stunning. Tall, thin with a tan complexion and dark features: every ex-fling’s worst nightmare. A trump card. And while I knew that it shouldn’t matter—that I was over Max and who he dated was none of my concern—I couldn’t help my instant hatred of her. It didn’t help that she was so hot. Even I wondered what she looked like naked.

“Hi, guys,” Max said in greeting.

“Hey, Max. Been here long?” Shane called.

I shot a glare over my shoulder at Shane, who probably got hard just at the sight of Max.

“No, maybe five minutes ago. Uh, let me introduce everybody. Mary, this is Lily.”

Mary extended her hand toward me with a large, genuine smile. “Lily, it’s so nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“God, I hope that’s not true.” My eyes grew as big as saucers once I realized I had just spoken those words out loud. I quickly grasped her hand and shook firmly, laughing off my verbal diarrhea as a joke, and hoping like hell she bought it.

She laughed with me, but her smile was tight. Christ, I sure know how to make a first impression. I moved off to the side so Max could continue his introductions.

I felt Amanda bump my shoulder with hers. “You are f*cking smooth. You know that?”

“Shut up.” The retort was weak, but it was all I had at the moment. We moved to sit down and I all but ran to the other end of the table to avoid ending up anywhere near Max and his Victoria’s Secret model. Shane and Amanda sat next to one another, and I sat to her left. Next to me were Steph and Danielle, and across the table sat Matt, Mark and Luke. Ben sat beside his brother, with Max next to him and Mary across from Max. That left Kyle and Kate to sit directly opposite Shane and Amanda. Comfortable as I was going to get with the seating arrangements, I relaxed slightly.

“Good evening, my name is Melody and I’m going to be your server for this evening.”

I tuned Melody out as she ran through the specials, especially since she had chosen to stand at the opposite end of the table, but my ears perked up when she asked if she could get us anything to drink. “I’ll take a Stoli Vanilla and Coke,” I nearly yelled. When everyone turned to glare at me, I shrugged. “May as well get this party started, right.” Then I slunk back in my chair and hoped to disappear.

“No red-headed sluts for you tonight, Lil?”

I knew who said it without even having to look. Though I did anyway. He wore that cocky smirk that had irritated me over a year ago when I met him, and it was causing the same reaction now. I knew he was joking, trying to lighten the mood, but I wasn’t up for it. He was crashing the party that I had worked hard to organize. And on top of that, he brought some chick with him for us to entertain all night. Same selfish Max. “No, I learned my lesson with those. They only attract a bad element.”

His jaw ticked slightly, but his smile never wavered. Though it didn’t matter. I knew I’d gotten to him. I just wished I had felt better about it.

Melody took everyone’s drink order and then took off to get them. A weird silence descended on the table. I never knew thirteen people were capable of being that quiet.

“So what are you girls doing tonight?” You could always count on Shane to break an awkward silence. I suddenly regretted putting him through carbohydrate hell. Well, almost.

I wasted no time in responding. “Well I hired a few male escorts. They should be arriving at the room in about an hour and a half. Then I thought we would head to the center of town and buy some meth. Smoke that for a while, and then, see where the night takes us.”

“Amanda prefers heroin, Lily. Don’t you know her at all?” Shane said, beating me at my own game. Sly devil. He really was perfect for Amanda.

Our drinks arrived as we all discussed our plans for the evening. Ours involved a new club called Swanky that had opened two blocks away from Bally’s, and the guys’ involved an upscale nightclub called The Last Out. Melody said she’d give us more time to look over the menus, and then be back to take our order.