Ash Rising (DEAd Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

shoulder. “Really? Congratulations!”
    “Okay, okay, already,” Daniel muttered, scrubbing his hands over his face.
    “Wait, you haven’t asked her yet? You’re telling me first? You’ve got a ring, right?”
    “No, I haven’t asked her, and yes, got the ring right here.” Daniel patted his pocket. “Guess I wanted to show you first. Want you to be my best man.”
    “Best man?” Ash could hardly get the words out and not because he was struck blind by the big shiny diamond Daniel showed him. “Me? Yes. Yes, I’m honored.”
    “If she says yes.” Daniel touched the gem and then replaced the box in his pocket. “The wedding probably won’t be for a while. I hear there’s lots of planning and shit involved.”
    “If she says yes,” Ash mocked. He jumped up and grabbed a bottle of champagne from the fridge. “Congratulations, man. We need to celebrate. I’m going to be a best man. My best friend is getting married!”

     

     
     
     
     
     
    “Good to see you, asshole. Really is.” Daniel gave Ash a bone-crushing hug, riding high on the christening of his infant daughter.
    “Couldn’t miss this, seeing as how you had the spectacular good sense to make me Abigail’s godfather.” Ash returned the embrace with a thump on his friend’s back. Daniel slung a companionable arm around Ash’s shoulders and winked at his wife.
    “I had the good sense to grab hold of that woman and never let her go.”
    “True.” Ash grinned and raised his glass to Maggie, who mock-scowled even as her face pinked. “Love her like a sister.”
    He winced at the choice of words, thinking of Maggie’s sister and loving. He’d loved her sister, all right, in every physical sense of the word. He’d been Daniel’s best man, with Maggie’s sister the maid of honor, at the wedding five years ago, and he’d spent the night doing things with sister dearest that would make a porn producer blush.
    Good times.
    Maggie raised a brow at his flinch, but thankfully Lisa walked up to distract her. Ash’s gaze dropped to the male hand Lisa held before following the arm up to meet Andy’s guilty eyes.
    “Still can’t believe those two have been seeing each other for so long,” he muttered to Daniel. “And why you guys never said anything. I might have been assigned all the way the hell up north the last few years, but we still talked often enough to let me know.”
    “Lisa made us swear we wouldn’t tell you.”
    “Why?”
    “I have no idea, and neither does Andy. But she made us promise, swear up and down we wouldn’t tell. Something about how as long as you weren’t seeing anyone—anyone serious—she didn’t want you to know. Maybe she feels bad, or thought you’d feel bad. Who the hell knows?”
    “I don’t get it. I’ve seen Lisa when I’ve been home over the past couple years, and Andy more than that.” The underlying awkwardness between him and Lisa had eventually faded, and they’d fallen back into their usual easy camaraderie—at least, he thought they had. Hopefully, she’d dealt with whatever had been bothering her and hadn’t transferred her neediness to Andy. The relationship was exactly what Andy had been wanting since they were kids. Good for both of them and especially Lisa. She’d finally found a relationship that was healthy for her. Her misguided attraction to him had to have been in reaction to the hell she’d been through with her ex-fiancé.
    But still. “What difference does it make if I’m dating anybody or not? Never bothered her before.”
    “She’s always worried about who you’re seeing and what you’re doing—you know that. She cares about you. Maybe she felt bad that we’re all coupled up and you aren’t.”
    Ash made a rude noise. “I’m happy for her and Andy. Happy for you and Maggie, too. Just because I haven’t found someone I want to be with long-term doesn’t mean I won’t eventually. Why the hell wouldn’t Lisa want me to know?”
    “Don’t ask me,”