Ryker's Guide (Spicy)

Friendships

Carbry

Carbry grinned at the laughter coming from the living room as he added the caviar on top of the Creme Fraiche he'd scooped into the tartlets. Meri's cowboy best friend was having a sleepover with her, and they were currently arguing about what movie to watch next. While he added a few chives, then arranged the tartlets on a small tray, he hummed absently to himself.

Daryl was a good friend to Meri, and he was a good man. Although, Carby had noticed that he and Ryker were having some pretty pronounced relationship issues. Frowning at the thought, he grabbed the tray and began carrying it to the living room while trying to ignore his creeping guilt. When Meri had died, he'd relied too heavily on Ryker's company, which had driven a wedge between his friend and the cowboy.

Then Meri had come back, and Carbry had hoped that Daryl and Ryker could resolve whatever problems had been plaguing them, but the mending of their mate bond hadn't yet come to fruition, leaving Carbry to worry about both of them. As he appeared in the living room holding the tray, Meriwa grinned brilliantly at him from her spot next to the cowboy on the couch. His heart swelled with joy in the face of her happiness.

"King Vampire!" She exclaimed as his eyes cut to the half-empty bottle of outrageously expensive whiskey they'd pilfered from his whiskey cabinet. Carbry grinned when he looked back at her while she finished speaking. "Did you bring the pizza bites?!"

Daryl laughed at her as he watched Carbry place the tray of tartlets he'd made for them on the coffee table. "Why are you yelling Mer?"

She shrugged, petite nose wrinkling in distaste when she saw that the snacks Carbry had brought were not the pizza bites they'd both been demanding. "I'm not yelling! What is that? Fucking sour cream and tapioca?"

Daryl snorted, bending over and grabbing a tartlet from the coffee table where Car had placed it next to the empty plates from the other hors d'oeuvres he'd made. "It's Creme Fraiche and caviar, I think."

Ignoring Meri's theatrical noises of revulsion, Daryl offered Carbry his disarming cowboy smile that spoke to the fact that there was far more to the cowboy than met the eye. "Thank you, Carbry. They look wonderful."

Beside him, Meri huffed and flopped back into the couch, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting. She didn't realize that the alcohol was already affecting her so much, and he wanted to kiss the adorable pout off her face. But, he figured that wouldn't be appropriate in front of her friend, who was buried under a blanket with her.

"Don't lie, D. They look weird and slimy. Where are the pizza bites, old man?" Her purple-eyed glare only made Car's heart melt.

Nevertheless, Carbry frowned at her, but it wasn't genuine. He couldn't recall a time where he'd ever been genuinely annoyed with Meri. "Your monstrous snacks are warming in the oven."

She rolled her eyes and was about to say something else when Daryl exclaimed. "Fuck, Car! These are fantastic."

Meri scowled at Daryl, but that brief look of curiosity in her eyes told Car that they intrigued her. "You don't have to lie, D. I-"

Before she could finish her thought, Daryl was holding a tart in her face, "They're outstanding. Try one, grumpy gus."

"No." She shook her head and held up her hands as if she was going to push the tart away, but her grin told Car that she wasn't serious.

Daryl smirked, and that's when Car noticed he was probably just as drunk as Mer. "Don't be a baby, Meri! Try it."

"No." She giggled and wrestled with the cowboy. Daryl eventually won by shoving the thing in her mouth.

She scowled as she chewed, but when she finished, she grinned at Carbry with a look of surprise tinged with love and adoration as she said, "Okay. They're not that bad. Not as good as pizza bites, but you did good, sexy."

Car snorted in amusement. He knew she was lying. She loved the tartlets, and her false bravado came off as endearing rather than assholeish. Carbry sighed happily as he asked, "So, what's next on your movie playlist?"

Daryl shrugged. "Meri says Devil Wears Prada."

"And you?" Car asked with a wide grin.

He smiled mischievously. "Day of the Dead. But, the zombie doesn't want to watch a zombie movie."

"Dick! I'm not a zombie." Meri said before smacking Daryl in the head with a throw pillow.

The other man chuckled as the oven timer dinged, and Carbry, smiling hugely at the thought of Meri so indescribably happy, went to get the horrendous pizza snacks out of the oven for the two of them.