“I’m not taking my shirt off.”
She blinked, innocent. “You won’t be naked. But you will be shirtless.”
“That is not my thing.”
She tapped her finger against her chin like she was thinking. “You’ll do it. You’ll hold a puppy. Everyone loves puppies.”
“I don’t like puppies.”
That was a lie.
I knew it the second I said it, and she knew it too. Her eyes lit up.
“Great,” she said. “See you Saturday.”
I tried to say no again. I did. I opened my mouth.
Then she leaned in, voice dropping, and she hit me right where she knew it would hurt.
“You think the veterans’ center doesn’t deserve funds, Maverick? You served too.”
I still remember the way my stomach sank.
Because she didn’t say it like a threat.
She said it like a disappointment.
And I’ve stood in places worse than this. I’ve walked through hell in a uniform and come out with ghosts riding my shoulders. I’ve done things that don’t fit into polite conversation.
But I can’t look at a veteran and tell him I didn’t feel like helping.
So, I showed up. I posed. I held a damn puppy while someone told me to smile, and my smile looked like pain.
And that puppy, with his big eyes and his stupid little paws, climbed right up my chest and licked my chin like I was his.
Evelyn squealed like she’d won the lottery.
Later, outside, Eddie slapped my back so hard it nearly knocked me forward.
“That one’s going viral,” Eddie said.
“Go away,” I told him.
He ignored me. Of course he did. Eddie ignores the concept of silence the way most people ignore a speed limit.
“I tried to sign myself up,” he added proudly. “They said no.”
“They said no because you’re old as fuck,” Red muttered, arms crossed.
Eddie grinned. “That’s not what they said. They said I wasn’t a bachelor.”
Red looked him up and down. “You are definitely not.”
Eddie didn’t even blink. “I offered to become one. Right there. On the spot. For the cause.”
John laughed, low and gruff. “For the cause, sure.”
Eddie pointed at me. “At least you’re doing it, Rodgers. Even if you look like you’re about to eat the photographer.”
