“But not Tim. He never talks.”
Evan and Smith had worked with Martin and Tim the previous day, turning the Hillford job over to them. Tim had a lot in common with Smith. Both were large and quiet and worked like machines. Unlike Martin, who never shut up.
“Then there’s Jordan.” Evan liked Cash’s girlfriend. Cute, smart, an ex-Army MP who didn’t take anyone’s nonsense, she was a favorite among the crew.
“She’s cool.” Smith shook his head. “Don’t know what she sees in Cash.”
Evan walked out of the truck, Smith behind him. They went inside the house and started moving the larger pieces.
As they carried out a sofa, made of concrete apparently, Evan said, “Cash is okay. He seems surly, obnoxious, and rough around the edges if you don’t know him.”
Smith grunted as they set the couch down in the truck then wrapped it. “And if you do know him?”
“He’s surly, obnoxious, and rough around the edges.” Evan grinned. “A lot like someone else I know.”
“Asshole.” But Smith’s lips curled. “So I’ll bite. Why are you so fuckin’ happy lately? Is it really because you finally got laid?”
“There’s more to life than sex, Smith.”
“Yep, got laid. Who’s the poor girl? Or guy? Not judging, man, but with you it could probably go either way.”
Evan cocked his head, bemused. He had no problem with his sexuality, so he’d never been bothered by what other people thought. “I seem gay to you?”
“It’s how you dress.”
“How is that?”
“Fancy.”
In Smith’s world, apparently two plus two equaled seventeen. “So only gay people dress nicely?”
“Mostly, yeah.”
“That’s a stereotype.”
“Tell me it’s not true.”
Evan tried, but all the gay friends he had did care what they wore. “Reid dresses nice. So do a million other professionals.”
“Yeah, but Reid has Naomi. And she isallwoman.”
“I dare you to say that to her face.”
“I would, but she’d probably stick one of those spiked heels through me just for breathing her air. Woman doesn’t play.”
Which Evan could tell Smith respected. “Well, what about you?”
“What about me?”
“What do you dress like when you’re not here?”
Smith looked confused. “I dress the same. Jeans, T-shirts, sweats. Just normal clothes, and I drive a normal truck, not some jacked-up Lexus piece-of-rich-guy crap.”
“Ah, I see. So the car and nice clothes make me gay.”
Smith glared. “I was being an asshole. I thought saying you look gay might make you mad. It didn’t. Let it go.”
“I’m telling Lafayette.” Who was gay and proud of it. “And Heidi.” Heidi said little, but she didn’t take anyone’s shit. And she couldn’t care less what others thought of her. Like Lafayette, she was a part of the team. One Smith claimed to want to belong to, no matter how much he bitched.
