Sharing The Mafia Boss

XXII

A smile danced on Katherine's lips as she entered the small restaurant. Her mind was filled with the memory of the wives' faces when she kissed Christian goodbye that afternoon. Although the thought of how their relationship was going to work scared the shit out of her, she was determined to make it work. Katherine went to the counter of the restaurant and placed her order. Behind her were a group of unruly men, whose loud voices filled the restaurant. Although Katherine had planned on getting a takeaway, she decided to eat at the restaurant so after her order was placed, one of the workers pointed her to an empty table, unfortunately next to the loud men, and Katherine walked to her table, while she sent a message to Sam, scolding her for not being able to come to lunch with her. Sam was disorganised as they came.
"Katherine?" Voiced one of the men as she sat down.
She looked up from her phone and looked at the handsome male who looked surprisingly familiar.
"Yes." Answered Katherine while part of her brain was trying to ascertain where she had seen the male before. The man got up from his seat and walked towards her table.
"Katherine Palmer?" Questioned the man again
"Yes." Replied Katherine. She didn't bother correcting the man by giving him her new surname because it seemed like he knew her before she got married.
"I'm Evan Taylors. Don't you remember me and the guys from high school? Well you always did have the short term memory problem." He said as the part of Katherine's brain clicked in recognition and she jumped from her seat and gave Evan a hug and a smack at the back of his head.
"Eva, I missed you so much. And I do not have a short term memory, we haven't seen each other in about eight years. I was bound to forget your face, but who would forget mine?" Asked Katherine boastfully as Evan rubbed his head
"Still hit like a man I see. And you haven't stopped calling me the by the stupid nickname." Mumbled Evan
"So are the rest of the guys here?" Asked Katherine.
Evan nodded and motioned her towards the men he was with. It took time to recognise them but when she did she gave every single one of them a hug.
"Guys. I missed you so much. I can't believe we actually lost contact." Said Katherine as she sat between the guys. It was quite a squeeze considering that the six men where hugely built. Katherine motioned for the waiter who was bringing food to her table to place it on the guys' table because it seemed like she was to have lunch with them.
The six guys, who's names were Ben, Troy, Xander, Jace, Justin and Evan, were Katherine's best friends from high school. They all were part of the football team and they always considered Katherine their badass friend and Sam, for obvious reason that she had slightly grown out of since high school, was the insane chick. They were a tight group of friends but after high school, they stopped calling and Katherine was left with Sam.
"So how is the Katherine Palmer doing?" Asked Xander as he ate Jace's fry.
"Not Palmer anymore." Stated Katherine as she lifted her finger and showed the guys her wedding ring.
"Who is the lucky bastard that managed to get married to you?" Asked Troy
"His name is Christian and I don't want to talk about it." She answered knowing fully well that if she gave them anymore information one of them, presumably Ben who was into computers, would try to look him up and see if he was good enough for her. They were very  protective of her before and she felt that they still had the same habit even after eight years. Justin's phone chimed and he looked down at it. After typing a quick reply, he had the last sip of his drink and stood up.
"Sorry guys have to go. Trouble at the office. Kat, I need your number." He said, handed her his phone and Katherine complied while handing him her phone to put his in.
"How about we have dinner at Ruso's tonight?" Suggested Evan as Katherine and Justin gave each other their phones back.
"We should. Anyone busy?" Asked Ben. Their all shook their heads and it was settled.
"I can also bring Harry. I just need to find out if he is free. He just had twins and I'm sure he has his hands full." Explained Katherine.
"Yeah, I missed the lad. Okay so it's sorted. Tonight, Ruso's at seven. Can you also bring Sam?" Asked Justin
"Seven is fine with me. Sam is busy tonight, I think. Some date with Dave." Answered Katherine.
They were always disorganised when it came to making plans, they would always bounce ideas and those that suited everyone the best was what they chose. Justin left the group to eat. After lunch, they exchanged numbers with Katherine and promised to see each other at dinner. Troy, was warned about being late as he was always late. Katherine smiled as she realised how much her group of friends had never changed, even after eight years, success and money. They remained the footballers she became friends with in high school.