Loving a Man Who Forgot Me Novel Chapter 43
He gave me a gentle squeeze before setting me down with a wink.
“Couldn’t wait for you to do it.”
At six-three, and a hundred and ninety pounds according to his fight stats, he was a big, muscly, tatted up bear, capable of intimidating the biggest and meanest of ‘em.
But truth was, he was more like a playful, trouble-making puppy than a bear.
As long as you didn’t get on his bad side. He sized up Jason beside me with a look of scrutiny. “This must be your coach.”
“Nash, this is Jason. Jason, Nash.”
“Huge fan, man. Last month when you knocked out Daniel Hallaway in the second round, that was incredible.
Best fight I’ve seen in a long time.” Jason was having a hard time holding back his fanboy already.
Nash gave him the guy nod and shook his hand. “Get Abbs here to bring you to the next fight. If you’re still around.” It was clear from his tone, he had his doubts.
I shot him a scowl, which he ignored. Don’t be a dick, Nash.” Addie stepped forward and gave him a shove, steering him away from the two of us. He slapped her hand away with a smirk.
“I wasn’t.” He glanced back at us, still smirking. “If I didn’t like the guy, he’d know it.” “Whatever, you were being a dick and you know it.”
Jesse,” Nash shouted unnecessarily given that everyone seated around the large space on various leather couches and chairs was already watching our spectacle of an entrance. “Addie’s being a brat. I think she needs a spanking.”
Addie whipped her glare around on Nash’s brother, who was keeping another pretty girl in a tight dress company. “You even think about touching me and I will kill you.” Jesse laughed at her threat. “I hate both of you,” she grumbled.
“No you don’t.” Nash threw his arm around her shoulder and pressed a sloppy kiss to the side of her head.
“Eww.” She shoved him off and he returned to his seat, dragging the busty, pouting bimbo back onto his lap.
“This is my crazy family,” I told Jason with a sigh. He was smiling, but his eyes were a bit unsure. “Come on, you may as well meet the rest of them.” I dragged him into the sort of semi-circle, carefully avoiding Abel’s gaze.
“You already know who this guy is,” I smiled at Jesse, “but these are Abel’s cousins, Zack and Josh. Zack’s the one with the baby face, and Josh is the one with the hot wife, Kaye,” I teased, flashing her a grin.
“You mean I’m the handsome one and he’s the lucky one,” Zack corrected, earning a laugh from just about everyone except his brother. The neatly trimmed beard covering Josh’s jaw was the only thing not identical about their faces.
The only other visible way to tell the difference between them was the two full sleeves of tattoos Josh sported. His clean-shaved twin displayed no visible ink, but together they made up my favorite pair of Boston’s finest and bravest. The cop and the firefighter, ever competing.
There was an exchange of handshakes and nice to meet yous, and then I turned my grin on a face I wasn’t expecting to see. “Jaime, I didn’t know you would be here, where’s Molly?” I bent over and squeezed him around the shoulders.
“At Mom and Dad’s with Amelia,” he beamed, proud father. “You guys will be at the party tomorrow, right? I need baby snuggles.” “Of course. I just came out tonight to hang for a little bit. Not staying too late though.”
Remembering my manners, I stepped back to Jason’s side. “This is my boyfriend, Jason, Jason this is Jaime.” “Another cousin?” Jason stuck his hand out and Jaime took it. “Yeah, my dad is Andrew Reid, or Ace as you might know him.” Of course Jason was familiar with Ashes and Embers’ bass player.
“Oh, right on.” Jason was clearly doing his best to keep his cool, but I knew him well enough to see the way he was buzzing like an excited kid. “Did I hear you have a daughter, how old?”
“About to turn one.” And just like that Jaime pulled out his cell and the slideshow of baby pics began. We dropped into empty seats beside him and before long, Jason had managed to ease himself naturally into the conversations around us.
Talk soon shifted to sports and the next stunts Jesse was going to tackle on his show. It was like being in a room of little boys, except for the adult beverages the friendly waitresses popped by regularly to refill. The volume of the chatter and laughter went up with each drink.
Addie, Kaye, and I scooted chairs around and made up our own little group on the edge of the circle. “How’re the girls?” I asked Kaye.