ADDICTED

58

LEAH

A tremendous belch tore across the room.

My head felt like a bowling ball as I lifted it, blinking back the bleariness to see Julia laughing as Isabelle held her hand to her mouth.

"You nasty muthafucka," Ryan blabbered. "Cover ya damn mouth before you burp. That's basic ass etiquette."

"I didn't know I was going to burp, now did I?" Isabelle stuck her tongue out at him from where she was nestled in Julia's arms. They were getting quite comfortable with each other.

"Jesus," Julia said with a chuckle. "You're all horrible drunks."

"We don't usually drink at home without other forms of entertainment," I said very seriously.

Isabelle lifted an arm with a single, pointed digit. "We could change that! Do they have Ubers out here, James?"

The swaddle of blanket around me stirred.

I twisted my neck to the side, finding James licking something off his lips. He appeared to startle from a nap at the sound of his name.

"Ubers?" he asked incredulously. "Fuck no. We're out in the fucking woods."

I had to bite my lip to keep from chuckling. I'd never seen him this drunk.

After the senior Mullers made their grand exit, Isabelle had slung shots around at all of us like they were water. We would all be vomiting our brains out by tomorrow morning.

Me, especially.

"So why the hell do you live out in the fuckin' woods?" Isabelle demanded.

Groaning, James muttered, "Because it's goddamn peaceful."

"Who needs peace? Peace is boring."

Ryan suddenly heaved himself off the couch. "Alright. Listen, bitches. Richard and I are moving to the burbs. And we're going to start a family. We're going to have twenty kids—foster, obviously—and two cats. Maybe a dog. A wiener dog. And I expect all of you to come to our housewarming party."

I glanced at Isabelle to see if I was the only one completely surprised by this. Her mouth was already on the floor.

"When did this happen?" I asked. "Are you and Richie gonna tie the knot?"

Ryan smoothed down his shirt. "Maybe. I've been looking at rings."

Launching myself off the sofa, I snatched him up in a bear hug. "Oh, I'm so happy for you! I can't wait to visit my godchildren! They're going to be so spoiled."

He squeezes me back in that distant yet affectionate way of his. "I'm counting on it."

"Why am I just now hearing of this?" Isabelle lamented, breaking through our joyous moment. "I see you every weekend and you bastards never thought to tell me?" She shuffled over to us, stumbling as she did.

We pulled her into a group hug. She sniffled at Ryan with a miserable bend to her face.

"It's something we both have always wanted," Ryan told her. "I just proposed the idea to him yesterday. He said we could start house hunting. We want"—He looked at me—"peace."

"That's wonderful news," rumbled James' voice from behind us.

The three of us broke apart to bring him back into the conversation. James slipped his arm around my waist.

His eyes were glassy and his usually-gelled hair was awry. He was adorable. Sexy as hell, but adorable too.

I reached up to pinch his cheeks with a giggle.