“Don’t be crass.”
“All I’m saying is you could probably holler into it and get an echo back, like a cave. Your man probably has to go spelunking to find your g-spot, after Grady’s been in there so many times. No bouncing back from that thing.” He hikes a thumb in the direction of Wyatt’s pants.
I splutter some of my bourbon, which is a damn shame.
“The man is just obsessed with you, bro,” Weston whispers loudly to his brother, across the table from Ronnie and me.
“IT’S A NORMAL FASCINATION!” Ronnie yells. “The way poor people are obsessed with rich fuckers. Always nice to dream about what others were blessed with that you weren’t.”
“How does your wife live with you?” Weston asks.
“I have mastered my wife’s body, don’t you worry, young one. This tongue is just as long as either of yours.”
I’m not sure if he forgot Hallie was standing here, or just has no personal boundaries, but she scoffs at his overshare.
“I bet this one’s hung like a buffalo too,” Ronnie chatters on, nodding sideways at me. “Have you seen his hands and feet? The man could double as a brick wall. I hope Lexi survives him.”
“Lexi Weiss? Ew.” Hallie chooses to make her presence known again in a way that doesn’t do her any favors.
A stillness falls around our table, frost settling in. “Watch your mouth,” I warn her, the only one I feel in the mood to issue.
If the rattle in my voice doesn’t warn her of the monster lurking beneath my skin, her survival instincts aren’t enough to earn her the privilege of natural selection.
“You disrespectin’ this lady?” Some prick who can’t reach my belly button tries to swing his dick in my direction.
Wyatt turns his dark baseball cap around, which I didn’t see coming. He’s probably more ready to defend his sister-in-law’s honor than have my back, but I respect a man who can hold his own against a piece of shit.
If my old life didn’t prep me for enough of that, prison sure did. Can’t say that was the last I had to do it either.
“Depends,” I say, cracking my knuckles.
“On?”
Sucking my teeth with my tongue, I eye the newcomer, his too-tight jeans, and the mustache he can’t pull off before unfurling from the stool and standing to my full height.
The way I tower over him is enough to make a hit of fear dart through his eyes, but he hasn’t seen anything yet.
“On whether she’s going to take Alexis Weiss’s name out of her mouth and apologize.”
“You the kind o’ man that’d hit a lady?” he asks.
Let my eyes run up and down his frame and find himverylacking before I respond, “Think you’d do in her place.”
Behind me the Grady brothers rise on my right, and I hear Ronnie’s stool clanking as he clamors to join us. Not sure he’s an asset in this situation, I certainly don’t need any of their help, but maybe this group chat idea of his wasn’t so dumb after all. It’s kind of sweet, them jumping to my aid.
“Lexi?” The ferrety mother fucker laughs around the toothpick in his mouth, looking back at the blonde by his side and then to me. “This is about the Weiss spinster? Been there, done that. Half the town has. She peaked after high school.”
“At least she had a high point. You never even got off the ground,” Ronnie says, eyes narrowing on the first douchebag I’ve met in this town.
“Hey, Gary, how is living in your mom’s basement deep in your thirties? Are you feeling the shame like an oil on your skin, or is that just the creeper vibes you give off?” Weston asks, shoulder brushing the top of my arm as he widens his stance next to me.
“Hey!” Gary bites back. “My mom needsme, okay. Not the other way around.”
“I’m sure she’d have no way to go on if you stopped watching porn in her basement all day,” Wyatt hums. “But it must be hard to find work so you can get your own place when you can’t be fucked to show up.”
“I’m not you guys,” Gary wails. “I wasn’t meant to be a mechanic.”
“Or a bartender. Or in construction. Or at the plant,” Ronnie adds on.
