Frenemies With Benefits (Geek To Chic Book 2) (28 page)

“As much as I would love to hear all of the guys’ sage
advice on women, I must decline.
 
I can’t
leave Izzy alone.”
 
Nor did he want to
leave her, ever.
 
He would be content to
never leave his penthouse again as long as she was there with him.
 

“I think she could use a break from you man.” Derek
laughed.
 
“Roni?”
 
He called a second later.
 

His cute little clumsy fiancée came into the living room,
flipped Alex off, and smiled at Derek. “We’re not leaving yet are we?”
 
She almost pouted.
 

“No sweetie. I thought I would take Alex out for the
night.
 
I figured Izzy could use a break
from him and you guys could use some girl time.
 
Is that ok, if you stay and help her out while we go to dinner?”
 

Roni clapped her hands together.
 
“That sounds great.
 
I will order us Chinese food and cupcakes
from that bakery down the street.
 
You
boys go and have fun.”
 
She kissed his
cheek and turned to head back to the bedroom.
 
“Oh and Derek, if you happen across a mob boss at dinner tonight, do me
a favor and get an estimate on a hit man for me.”
 
She looked directly at Alex before she
continued.
 
“I may need one soon.”
 
She bounced off after her not so subtle
threat.

“I think Izzy is a bad influence on your fiancée dude.
 
Roni is suddenly a little blood
thirsty.”
  

Shaking off the fear that now two women wanted him dead,
Alex quickly grabbed fresh clothes from his room, and chose to shower in the
guest bathroom since the women all went silent and gave him the evil eye when
he entered the bedroom.
 
Did he say two
women wanted to kill him?
 
He meant five.
 
For his own safety he locked the bathroom
door.
 

Empty Chinese food cartons littered the bed Izzy was
temporarily imprisoned in.
 
Jemma,
Caroline and Gracey had taken off shortly after the boys went to dinner; Roni
had stayed to ‘care’ for her, Izzy thought that was code for deep emotional
discussion.
 
“Are you going to stare at
your Lo Mein all night or are you going to tell me what is on your mind?” Izzy
jokingly asked Roni.
 

“What makes you think I have anything to say?” Roni questioned
as she sucked a Lo Mein noodle into her mouth.
 

“Really?
 
You’re going
to make me point out that you have started and stopped a million different
questions, as well as paced the room every few minutes.
 
Now what do you want to know?”
 
Izzy sat back against the dozens of pillows
Alex had brought into the room to ensure she was comfortable.
 

“How…what…I mean are you and Alex going to get married or
live together or share custody?
 
Can you
two raise a baby without killing each other?”
 
Roni looked so serious and scared for them that Izzy had to laugh.

“Oh you’re so cute, honey, I plan on killing him during
labor.
 
That way I can blame it on the
pain and the hormones, no jury will convict a woman who was in labor of
murdering the man who knocked her up.
 
It
is a perfect plan.”
 
Izzy smirked.
 

Despite her clear attempt not to laugh at Izzy’s murder
plot, a burst of laughter sprang out of Roni.
 
“You know, I may have insinuated in front of Alex that I was going to
hire a hit man to off him.
 
So you may
not have to murder the father your child in the delivery room.”
 
The girls both laughed.
 
“Seriously though, what are you going to do?”

Tears pricked the backs of Izzy’s eyes; she quickly swiped
them away with the backs of her hands.
 
“When I was in the hospital Alex didn't even seem upset I was carrying
the Porter heir.”

Beyond the tears, Izzy could see the corners of Roni’s mouth
twitch.
 
“The Porter heir? Oh crazy
hormonal Izzy is going to be a challenge even for Alex. Look, you know even if
Mama Porter wouldn’t have told everyone she knew about you guys, we all would
have figured it out.
 
The way he looks at
you, is the way every women dreams a man will look at them. You guys have been
seeing each other for months.
 
You have
to know how you feel about him. So how do you feel about him?”
 
Roni’s tone was so serious, almost
motherly.
 

Sniffling a little, Izzy pulled her knees to her chest and
wrapped her arms around them.
 
She placed
her cheek on her knees and looked at her best friend, “I love him.
 
I’ve loved him since he rubbed my feet the
night we met.”
 
Izzy felt defeated.
 

“That’s great! So you will get your happily ever
after.”
 
Roni exclaimed.
 

Silently, Izzy shook her head in response to her friend’s
excitement.
 
“He asked me to marry him;
well more like her told me we would be getting married.” She huffed.
 

“Wait, what?
 
He told
you that you were going to get married, instead of asking you to marry
him?”
 
Roni asked completely
confused.
 

Izzy proceeded to tell her friend all about the conversation
Alex and she had in the hospital regarding marriage.
 
“He didn’t even try to convince me that he
wanted to marry me for any reason other than the fact that we were going to be
parents together.
 
I know you and the
rest of the world thinks they see something in his eyes when he looks at me but
clearly that is not how he really feels.
 
He has never told me that he loved me, yet he wanted me to marry me all
of a sudden?
 
Come on Roni, you know he
just wants to make sure he is part of the baby’s life. Which I will of course
make sure he always is part of the baby’s life, no matter what state our relationship
is in.”
 
She desperately wanted her
friend to understand why she couldn’t allow herself to be sucked into the
fantasy of marrying Alex.
 
“Plus he
hasn’t mentioned it since I came home, or back to his place, from the
hospital.
 
So obviously, Alex talked
about marriage because he was freaked out over the baby.”
 

“Well, have you brought it up? Or maybe told him that you
loved him?”
 
Roni’s rational voice seemed
to echo in the room.
 

“No and no, I know that is the logical thing to do, really I
do, however, emotionally I need him to make that move first.
 
I know it sounds childish, but I….I….just
need that from him.”
 
Tears ran down her
face, once again.
 

“Oh, sweetie.”
 
Was
all Roni got out, before she engulfed Izzy in her arms, Izzy cried in her arms
as Roni stroked her back.
 

After a few moments, Izzy wiped her eyes and broke the
embrace.
 
“Enough about me, let’s talk
wedding plans!”
 

“That sounds like fun.
 
You’re my maid of honor, and the other girls will be my bridesmaids, of
course.”

“You better get married soon then or I will need a tent to
wear as my dress.”
 
Izzy playfully said,
brushing her hand gently over her stomach.
 
The two giggled and started planning the wedding of the century.
 

~*~*~*~

The guys all sat around the table at Sullivan’s in stunned
silence, Alex downed the tumbler of Scotch and signaled the waitress for
another.
 
Alex had been nice enough to
wait until each of them had a drink in their systems before he dropped the bomb
he was going to be a daddy.
 
When Phin
had asked what the occasion was for the fancy dinner and Derek had laughed
stating, “One down four to go,” the guys had caught on that Derek was one for
one in his guesses for the bet.
 
Alex
followed that announcement up with telling them about the baby, and the name of
the baby mama.
 

When the waitress returned with Alex’s drink, Phin raised
his glass in a toast, “To our fallen brother.” Ignoring Alex’s glare the boys
laughed and clinked glasses.
 

Gavin leaned forward, crossing his arms and resting them on
the table, his face twitching with laughter while he tried to be serious.
 
“Tell us, how do two people go from almost
murdering one another on a daily basis to having a baby together?”

“My guess is all that anger toward each other boiled over
into sexual tension.”
 
Collin added
speaking over his bottle of beer. “Want to explain why from the first moment
you two met she has wanted to castrate you?”

Alex focused his attention to the tumbler in his hand; he
watched the amber liquid swirl in tight circles as he moved his wrist.
 
“That, my friend is a long story.
 
The short version is that the night she
slapped me in the bar was not our first meeting.
 
We met years ago in Cabo.”

“Now the pieces are falling into place.
 
The only reason a woman would have that
violent of a reaction to a man is if he had fucked her and walked away without
a goodbye.”
 
Rocco drawled.
 

Derek’s eyes were large and he slammed his own drink.
 
“I thought I recognized her, never could put
my finger on where I knew her from since I only met her that one time in that
dark night club.”

Nodding to his friend, he went on to tell the rest of the
sorted story of the biggest mistake of his life and how he had spent the last
few months desperately trying to make up for that mistake.
 
Then he went on to tell them all about their
agreement and he fucked that up by not making it out of the bedroom with her
like he wanted to, ending his story of sorrow with his fucked up version of a
proposal in the hospital. “The truly fucked up thing is that I have been practically
begging her to let us be a real couple.
 
Once we told you guys,” Alex shrugged, “I figured we would be a real
couple.
 
And I could move forward to
asking her to move in asking her to marry me. I have been in love with her for
almost seven years, and when I get my chance with her I totally fuck it up to
the point, I am sure she hates me again.”
 

“And I thought I was a dumb fuck when it came to
women.”
 
Phin shook his head at Alex’s
predicament.
 

“You are a dumb fuck when it comes to women, which is why they
never stick longer than twenty-four hours.”
 
Alex quipped in return.
 

The waitress returned a moment later with their meals and
the guys all dug in.
 
Quiet again since
their mouths were full at the moment.
 
They
would each start to say something, as though they had the answer to his dilemma
and then shake their heads and return to shoveling food into their mouths.
 
Yeah these guys held the answers to all
romantic problems.

Alex decided he needed to take the attention off of
himself.
 
It was time to throw his best
friend under the bus.
 
When the last bite
was consumed by the men, Alex cleared his throat to gain their attention and
held his almost empty tumbler up.
 
“I would
like to take this opportunity to publically declare Derek awesome.
 
His awesomeness knows no bounds.
 
I am doing this now because I sure as hell am
not declaring it in front of hundreds of people at his wedding.
 
Hears to Derek the most awesome man on
earth.”
 
Alex had to chuckle a little
seeing the shocked look on the faces of his friends for the second time that
night.
 

“Congrats, man!
 
Hears
to Derek and Roni, may she not accidentally castrate him on their wedding
night.”
 
Collin chortled.
 

“Congrats.”
 
The other
guys added as they raised their glasses and bottles for the toast. The next ten
minutes were spent with the guys, Phin especially and Gavin a close second,
explaining why marriage killed relationships and a man’s sole.
 
Derek laughed the entire time, taking a few
minutes to explain what a woman was willing to do in bed once that ring was on
her finger.

“Once you get your shit together and get that girl to marry
you Alex, you can relax with me and watch these fuckers trip all over trying to
get what we already have.”
 
Derek wisecracked.

“Do I get to know the names in the envelopes?”
 
Alex was so curious.
 

“Nope, that is for my enjoyment only.”
 
Derek smiled back.
 

The guys began protesting about how they would be single
forever, arguing that there are far too many gorgeous women in the world to get
tied to only one.
 
Alex thought that
Derek was right it was going to be fun to watch each of these guys fall in
love.
 
He imagined the women they fell
for would kick their asses into line really quick.
 

Although the guys hadn’t been able to offer him any concrete
advice regarding his situation the dinner was fun and what he needed to give
him a break from the constant frantic chatter in his head.
 
Derek came up to the door to retrieve his
fiancée before heading home.
 
Before he
opened the door, Derek grabbed his shoulder and turned him to face him.
 
“One last piece of advice, I almost lost Roni
because I was terrified to tell her how I felt.
 
Be open and honest with Izzy, I bet you’ll be surprised what she has to
say.”
 

With a curt nod of acknowledgement he opened the door.
 
Roni was lying down on the couch watching
TV.
 
Derek went over to her, picking her
up and placing her in his lap as he sat down.
 
“Did you girls have a good time?”
 
He cooed at her as he kissed her.
 

“Yes, we did.
 
We had
a lot to talk about.
 
How was your
dinner?”
 
Roni glanced at Alex, “I see he
has had a few drinks.”
 
She giggled.
 
Alex was leaning against the wall, well more
like the wall was holding him up at this point.
 
Between the Scotch and his exhaustion, he thought passing out for the
next year or so sounded like a good idea.