I let out a laugh. I love Coach’s Gen-Xisms.
He glares at me. “I’m being dead serious.”
A few hours later, I’m out back throwing BJ her favorite ball. I hate the thought of leaving her for four days so I’m giving her as much attention tonight as I can.
My doorbell rings. It must be Chef Benny. He obviously has the code, but he had texted a few hours ago that he was going shopping for items needed for my house. His hands must be full, and he’s in need of help.
I walk toward the door and open it without looking to confirm who it is. It’s an Amazon delivery woman. A cute one.
Before I have the chance to react, BJ leaps past me and knocks her to the ground, growling on top of her. Ohmigod, she’s about to bite the woman.
I quickly shout, “Release,” at BJ, at which point she lifts her mouth from the near bite of this woman’s neck. BJ doesn’t, however, otherwise move. The poor woman is whimpering.
I then command, “Bed,” and BJ retreats into the house. She should be heading to her downstairs bed in my living room right now.
I crouch down. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I thought you were someone else. Are you okay?”
She blinks her pretty blue eyes a few times. Her cherry red lips are spread, but no words come out of them. I think she’s in shock.
In the sweetest voice, she eventually answers, “I…I…I think so.”
I offer her my hand, and she takes it with her small, soft one, offering me a sweet smile when her eyes meet mine and then move up and down my body. “Would you like to come inside, beautiful?” I ask.
She nods as if on autopilot with her eyes transfixed on me. “I would.”
KENNEDY
“Yesterday I learned the average woman sleeps with eight men in her lifetime,” I announce. “Yesterday I also learned that I’m a huge whore.”
Sulley, Palmer, Shay, and Alyssa all laugh hysterically in the back of the car while Booster moans in annoyance from behind the wheel. “Queen Jeffries,” the name I force him to call me, “just a reminder that your brother is my best friend, and I don’t love hearing that stuff about you.”
“Booster,” I snap from the front passenger seat, “the help is supposed to be invisible. Stop listening if you don’t like what I’m saying. Just drive the car and look pretty.”
He nods nervously as he grips the steering wheel tightly. “Sorry, Queen.”
“Booster, why are we going this way?” I ask with annoyance. “We’re going to hit traffic.”
“With all due respect, Queen, it’s five in the morning. I don’t think there will be traffic on the way to the airport at this hour. I woke up at this time yesterday to study the traffic patterns and confirmed this is the best route at this precise time of day.”
We’re on our way to the airport to fly out to Las Vegas for the long weekend. We’re getting the full red-carpet treatment from the private plane to the fancy suites and the VIP experience at all the big-name clubs. I can’t wait.
“Valid point,” I admit. “Men who take time to consider traffic patterns ahead of time are a huge green flag for me, Booster. Congratulations.”
He smiles. “That’s a relief, Queen,” he says without a single amount of edge to his tone.
Sulley claps her hands in excitement. “Ooh, give us another red flag,Queen.”
I roll my eyes. She’sobsessedwith the red flags. It’s become a whole team thing now. It’s probably our number one locker room conversation at this point and a mainstay on our team text chain. The good news is that I’ve learned a few new red flags I didn’t know I had.
I pull out my phone and scroll through my catalog. “Hmm. Men who use the phraseteehee.” I twist my lips in disgust. “So lame.”
Sulley giggles. “I get that. It’s girlie.”
“Oh,” I offer, “men who wear socks with the equally appalling sandals. It’s two red flags in one.”
Palmer, whose red flags almost always revolve around food, says, “I recently discovered I don’t like men who are picky eaters. Be a man and eat the damn food as the chef prepares it. Don’t be a Karen or a Chad about every little thing, ordering things on the side and demanding variations.” She says it with a sparkle in her eyes. She knows how much her red flags about her food amuse us.
Sulley shakes her head. “Always with the food, Palmer. There’s a hidden kink in there, I know it.”
