49. Chapter Forty-Eight

Chapter Forty-Eight

Reese's eyes light up like the fourth of July when his wife's voice floats through the air. Laughter follows and I recognize it as Ori's. I follow Reese into the foyer, to find both girls with their arms full of bags.

"You should have told me you were here. I'd have helped," Reese says, going to Josie and taking the bags from her hands. He sets them down by the staircase as I reach Ori and take the ones from her hands.

"Nice to see you, Justin," Ori says. I put the bags down, then go back to her and give her a hug.

"It's great to see you," I say, hugging her tightly.

It feels good. I miss her. We spent so much time together before she moved. I kind of miss taking care of her.

Or taking care of someone, I guess. Maybe that's what I'm missing. Maybe Sev isn't the answer, but a dog is. Or let's start smaller and go with a cat. Oh, a hamster! They're cute and small. Probably easy to take care of.

"Justin?" I glance down to see Ori looking at me with a raised brow. "Can't breathe."

"Shit, sorry." I let go of her and step back.

She pats me on the arm, smiling. "It's okay."

I give Josie a quick hug next and we share a hello. We don't know each other well, so the greeting isn't too warm. After it's done, I feel weird that I hugged her at all. That isn't something I typically do. And when Reese is giving me a knowing look, I just know he's thinking the same thing.

"How long will you be here?" Oriana asks as we all walk into the kitchen.

"Until he gets his head out of his ass and goes back to his boy toy," Reese answers for me.

I roll my eyes, and the four of us head into the kitchen.

"Looks like you guys had fun while we were gone," Josie says, gesturing to the counter that's full of empty beer bottles and half a bottle of whiskey. The bell rings, and everyone shares a confused look.

"The pizza!" Reese shouts, running to the door to press the button beside it to open the gate.

I chuckle. "Yeah, we had some fun."

"I hope you ordered enough for us," Josie says. "I'm starving."

"You just ate," Ori says with a roll of her eyes.

"Listen, your girl here likes to eat, okay? It's his fault." She waves at Reese.

"Whatever it is, sure is my fault, baby," Reese says when he walks back in.

This man is so lovesick, it's gross.

"Really, how long are you staying?" Ori asks again because I didn't answer her before. She grabs some of the empty bottles and puts them in the recycle bin. Josie helps her. How sweet of them to just come here and clean up after us. If Sev were here, he'd be doing the same thing. I just know it.

"I don't know," I admit. "I just needed to get away for a bit."

"Think you'll have time to stop by?" Ori asks. "I'll make your favorite."

That's so tempting.

"You really know how to bribe a man, don't you?" I say.

"Imagine what she could get out of you if you liked pussy," Reese says, nudging me with his elbow.

"Did you just call my wife a whore?" someone bellows from the foyer. Reese's face falls and he freezes. Ezra walks in a second later, scanning the room for Reese. He turns slowly, waving at his best friend looking like a deer in headlights.

"Wasn't me," Reese says, then shoves his hands in his pockets and rocks back on his heels. Josie and Ori both hide their laughs behind their hands. Ezra goes to Ori to kiss her. "How the fuck did you get in here anyway?" Reese asks.

"I know the code," Ezra says.

"Yeah, but you were like a ninja." Reese throws his hands up like he's about to do karate.

"You're just drunk and not paying attention," Ezra responds.

"He's right," I add.

"You're drunk too!" Reese shouts.

I shrug. "You're idea."

There's a knock on the door. Reese throws his hands up. "Who the fuck is it this time?"

Me, Ori, and Josie all yell, "The pizza guy!"

"You'd think he'd remember food," Ori says.

"Alcohol," I add with a chuckle.

Reese returns a moment later with three large pizza boxes.

"You ordered all of that for just us?" I ask.

"I was hoping for a snack later, but since everyone's here guess that won't happen." He puts the pizza down, turns to face his wife and smiles salaciously. "Never mind."

"Pig," she mutters.

"T-Rex," he responds, then makes a roaring sound.

I turn to Ori and Ezra. "I should have stayed with you."

Everyone laughs as we move to the counter to grab pizza. The girls sit, while the guys stand. The girls tell us what they did today, which is a long list of stores they went shopping in. Plus they saw a movie, got their nails done, and went to lunch.

How does someone tolerate being out of the house for so long?

As we eat and chat, I realize I don't hate this. I'm in a room with a handful of people and I'm not trying to find an excuse to get away. I'm comfortable here. Which makes me feel even better about moving. Being around these people won't be so bad, and maybe eventually, I'll tolerate being around other people too. Or maybe I won't need any other people. I mean, look at Reese's wedding. There were maybe twenty people there. Maybe these people right here are all I need.

Maybe there's one other person I'd like to be included too. Because even though I'm content right now, seeing Reese putting his hands all over Josie, and Ezra looking at his wife like she's the light of his life, it makes me miss Sev even more than I already did.

I miss him. And the thought of being with him more like we were yesterday doesn't scare the shit out of me like it did this morning. Or maybe this is the alcohol talking. I should wait until tomorrow to see how I feel. Give myself more time to think about it. Figure it all out with a clear head. I tune back in to the conversation everyone else is having. Something about a bookstore that Ezra and Ori are opening. Issues they're running into maybe? I can't quite catch on to it all because I missed too much in the beginning and my head is still foggy from the alcohol.

My phone lights up in front of me and I see Banks name on the screen, so I pick it up.

"Are you sitting down?" he asks.

I frown, but answer, "Yes."

"Good. Because this info is going to knock your fucking socks off, brother."

"Who's that?" Reese shouts, jerking his chin toward me.

"Is that Reese?" Banks asks.

"Yeah?" I say into the phone, confused at how he recognizes his voice, but this is Banks. Guy probably has voice recognition shit set up on his phone or something, I don't know.

He barks out a laugh. "Man, you need to put me on speaker phone."