[An Enjoying the Chase novella]



Chapter One





I really couldn’t procrastinate any longer. After taking one last look at my girl, I forced myself to walk out of the front door and down the stairs to the lobby. Tonight was my bachelor party, but I wasn’t ready for it at all. If I was honest, all I really wanted to do tonight was lie on the sofa with my fiancée, Rosie, and watch TV, maybe catch a little early night so I could ravage her body. However, my best friend, Ashton Taylor, had decided I needed to go out and celebrate my last night of freedom.

As I stood in the lobby waiting for him to arrive, a bad feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. I had no idea where we were going or what we were going to be doing tonight – all I knew was that when Ashton had gotten married a few years back, I had taken my best man duties seriously, and of course had teased the shit out of him all night long. Tonight was probably going to be payback.

As the front door swung open and Ashton strutted in with a shit-eating grin on his face, I groaned loudly. He was wearing a black T-shirt that read: ‘Best man of the pussy-whipped party’ on the front.

“You ready for this, Nate?” he asked.

“Seriously? You’re wearing that?” I asked, pointing down at his chest.

He laughed and nodded, throwing his arm around my shoulder. “This is going to be one wild night, but don’t worry; I’ll get you so drunk you won’t even remember it in the morning,” he assured me, leading me out of the building

I sighed deeply. I had a feeling I was going to live to regret ever meeting him by the time morning came. This was probably going to be the most painfully embarrassing night of my twenty-five years of life.

When I stepped out of the door, I already wanted to cry. They were all standing there, all of my friends, waiting for me in front of the minibus we were obviously using tonight. They cheered and chinked beer bottles, grinning like morons even though it was barely past lunchtime. All of my friends were decked out in T-shirts like Ashton’s, but instead, theirs read: ‘Team member of the pussy-whipped party’ on it. My dad, Evan, was there, too; his said ‘I’m the daddy’. Even George, my soon-to-be father-in-law, wore one that said ‘Father of the bride’ on the front.

Something flew towards my face, so I caught it quickly, looking down at my own T-shirt. ‘Groom’ had been printed on the front, but they’d crossed it out and written ‘Bride’s Bitch’ there instead. I flipped it over and looked at the back. ‘It’s my last night being single, please spank me’.

I closed my eyes and shook my head. “I hate you guys,” I grumbled, but my meagre protests just made them cheer and chink their bottles again.

“Let the bacheloring begin!” Ashton enthused, grinning.

I sighed and decided just to go with it. I knew I was in for strippers, drinking, probably some embarrassing display of being tied up naked somewhere, and whatever else could come out of Ashton Taylor’s warped little mind.

My friends all started piling on the minibus, and my gaze settled on the large sign that had been hand-painted onto an old bed sheet and stuck to the side of the bus. “Son of a bitch,” I grumbled under my breath, following reluctantly behind them all and climbing on the bus. As I stripped out of my nice shirt I’d chosen for tonight and pulled on the party shirt instead, I smiled apologetically at the driver who had obviously been paid to ferry us around all night long. No doubt, he would see some embarrassing antics tonight before he dropped us all home.

I glanced down the bus, seeing everyone properly for the first time. On top of there being my best friend, dad and soon to be father-in-law, there was also eight other guys. All of whom I was close friends with; one of them I knew from work.

My eyes settled on Seth; he was grinning like an idiot. “I’m guessing you were the one who made the huge ‘pussy mobile’ sign on the side of the van?” I asked, raising one eyebrow at him. Out of all of my friends, he was the one who was most similar to what I used to be before I met Rosie and settled down. He was a player. He was the only one who didn’t understand my desire to marry the girl of my dreams. To Seth, getting married was like the death penalty.