I’m in the system.
And I can see everything Ransome is doing.
“Holy shit.”
4
RANSOME
“So, how’s the wife?” Maverick asks as he sharpens the end of his pool stick.
I glare at him.
“What? Can’t a guy ask his best friend about his home life?”
“Remind me again why we called 911 that day,” I mutter to Baron, but Maverick just laughs. Needless to say, he’s made a full recovery.
“Come on, brother. Is it really that bad being married to Jenica?” Mav presses on.
“It was a marriage in name only, and you know that.” I take my shot and sink two balls in one go. I wonder if I could do the same thing to him.
“Name only or not, it’s got to have some benefits, if you know what I’m saying.” He nudges Baron, who laughs and then looks at me apologetically.
“What?” Baron asks as I glare at both of them. “Come on, Ransome. She might not be your first pick, but the girl is… attractive.”
He chooses the word carefully, but it’s still the wrong one. Any word about my life is the wrong one right now.
“You two are asking for the graveyard shift.” I warn them. I’m referring to the job of scrubbing out the cargo bays of the trucks.
Maverick takes a shot, misses, and winces as he rotates his shoulder stiffly. But his grin is relentless. “Just throw a bone. Is she any good?”
“Any good at what?” I snap, taking my shot and sinking it.
“You know…” Mav makes a pumping motion with his hand while poking his tongue into his cheek.
I smirk and saunter over to him. “Let me let you boys in on a little secret.”
My voice drops low. They both lean in, dumb grins on their overly eager mugs. I give it a second, then?—
“I’m not fucking her,” I snap, knocking their heads together.
Maverick lets out a yelp. Baron laughs through a pained curse.
But I’m not amused.
“Fuck,” Maverick mutters, rubbing his shoulder. I must have jostled it just now, but for some reason, I feel zero regret. “You could have just said that.”
“I did. Just now.”
“Care to at least tell us why?”
“You want to know why I’m not fucking Jenica.”
“Well, yeah.”
“That’s not weird at all.”
“Oh, c’mon.” He gives me his best pleading look. It’s creepy as all hell, and he knows it. “Let an injured man live vicariously.”
