My face scrunches up. “There’s absolutely no part of me that needs a therapist to help me with my fantasies of Lucas’s death.”
His eyebrow shoots up. “Yes, because being raised by a manipulating psychopath to become what you did definitely would never call for some help with your mental well-being.”
“Right? That’s what my guns are for. They’re each my teeny tiny therapists. And then when I feel down, I make Jackson put on a Sasquatch suit.”
Everly leans back in his chair, eyes narrowing at me. “I regret speaking to you.”
“Would you like to come to dinner?”
“With you?”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely not.”
“I will make your favorite!”
“You don’t know what my favorite is.”
“Yes, but if you weren’t so damn stubborn, you’d tell me and I wouldmake it,” I say. Weirdly, this comes out sounding like a threat.
Everly looks amused now. “I’m sorry, is this supposed to be an apology? Because it really just sounds like you’re getting sassy with me.”
“What would you like, Everly?”
He appears to think about this for a very long time before shaking his head. “Nothing.”
I take a deep breath, but I really don’t know what to say or do. I’m not meant for this kind of stuff. “Do you want to punch me?”
That seems to pique his interest. “I kind of do.”
“Okay, sure. Uhhh… say tomorrow? At six? You can punch me and Jackson will make you dinner.”
“I’ll think about it,” he says.
I narrow my eyes at him. “Dammit, I’m trying to be a good person and want to give you something to focus on, and you’re being stubborn.”
He looks quite pleased with himself. “Good. I like it when you suffer. Now I need to get back to work.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“I’ll fuck you up if you don’t come.”
“You really think you could?” he asks.
“I know I could.”
“I need to go back to work. Some of us actually work.”
“I worked really hard today… I found someone’s missing phone. It was in between her couch cushions. She was like eighty-five and kept telling me to take it off. And I don’t think she was talking about the couch cushions.”
Everly hesitates. “Did you?”
“Of course I did.”
He snorts and then escorts me back to Waylon’s table before leaving.
