That was probably a result of being trapped in the close quarters of a ship for months. Boundaries blurred. On board, there was no way to avoid being up in everyone else’s business.
“I don’t know, Sinclair. Lara was easily a twelve on a scale of one to ten. Seems like I could put up with a whole hell of a lot given the benefits,” Skip observed.
“Hell, yeah. You were punching way above your weight class with her. And you dumped her for getting a littleclingy?” Gus scoffed.
“What can I say? Maybe I’m not as shallow as you two. Looks aren’t everything.” Dean hoped his thinly veiled insult didn’t go unnoticed by the other two men.
His plan didn’t work out as well as he’d hoped as Skip smiled. “I’m good with being shallow. And you dumping her means she’s single. I plan on taking advantage of that the minute I’m back in town.”
Dean widened his eyes. “What?”
Was Skip seriously going to ask out the woman Dean had spent the better part of the last year hooking up with? At least for the months he’d been stateside when they hadn’t been ona break—meaning in a fight.
“Something wrong? Dude, tell me you wouldn’t do the same thing in my position,” Skip challenged as Gus outright laughed at the exchange.
Dean schooled his expression and shrugged, pretending the idea didn’t bother him. “Nah. Nothing’s wrong. It’s fine with me. Go for it.”
“Don’t worry, buddy boy. I’m going to go for it.”
Skip asking Lara out shouldn’t bother him. Dean wasn’t even sure he’d ever really liked the woman all that much to begin with. Or if she’d been just a convenience…until she became simply an annoyance and very inconvenient.
In hindsight, Lara really wasn’t a very nice person at all.
She’d tossed her jury summons in the trash and still, even after all the lectures he’d delivered, refused to evenregisterto vote. She ate her way through the produce section of the grocery store, insisting taking samples wasn’t stealing. That was one reason he’d stopped letting her come with him to the commissary on base. She treated waitstaff like they were lesser and consistently tried to undertip.
Once he’d even caught her taking back half the money he’d left on the bar as a tip. Not a huge surprise since she wasbetween jobsmore often than not.
Skip stood. “It’s been fun, but I’ve got a flight to catch.”
Gus reached for his bag on the ground. “Yeah. Me too.”
For once, Skip and Gus’s timing was perfect. Dean was more than ready to end this conversation about Lara. But saying good-bye to his teammates and heading to the gate where he’d wait to board his flight to Atlanta didn’t end the weirdness he felt about this whole Lara situation.
It was like there was an itch in the back of his brain, an itch he couldn’t scratch caused by knowing Skip could very well be seriously dating Lara by the time Dean’s extended leave ended and he got back to base.
Why did he feel like that? He didn’t want to be with her anymore. But that didn’t mean he wanted Skip to date her.
Besides the awkwardness that there would no doubt be when they all hung out together, there remained a certain level of… what?
Possessiveness? Selfishness, maybe.
As an only child he never had liked sharing his toys. Hated when his mother donated his discarded stuff, even if he hadn’t used it himself in years. He had the same feeling now about thediscardedLara.
He should probably feel bad about that. For some reason he didn’t, thereby proving he was a shit person who had no business seriously dating anyone anyway.
Yup. It was a good time to skip town for a while. Hopefully, a week and a half away would be enough and he’d come back a new man, content to see his friend happy with whatever woman he chose. Even Lara.
Chapter Three
Ruby ran her fingers through Tessa’s hair andtsked. “Whocut this last?” the salon owner asked, the expression of horror clearly visible on her face.
Already feeling uncomfortable enough seated in the chair Red had vacated to make room for her, Tessa cringed. “I did.”
Ruby sighed and glanced at Susan. “How much time do we have? When is Dean home?”
“This afternoon,” the mysterious Dean’s mother answered.
Dean truly was a mystery. Tessa knew nothing about this man except for what she’d heard his mother say. Hell, she barely knew anything about his mother either. Yet she’d agreed to date this unknown woman’s son anyway. For money.
