“What did you say?” Inglorious growled out.
Nanco blinked, unsure what to reply. I tried to hide my laughter at her bewildered expression.
Chill sat back and considered his words before his face twisted in disgust. “Not like that! What’s up with you guys?”
“Hey, wait a minute, what’s wrong with me?” Nanci demanded.
I swapped a look with Sabre, who snickered. We both guessed what was coming because Chill had the foot in mouth syndrome.
“You aren’t my type.”
“I’m everyone’s type,” Nanci retorted.
“Nope, not this guy. You’re too hard to handle, too much hard work, I like an easy life,” Chill continued.
Sabre groaned. “This is going to go so badly.”
“Yup,” I murmured, already amused. Chill just couldn’t see that Nanci was getting offended, and Inglorious looked ready to kill him.
“Are you saying I’m high-maintenance? Difficult? Maybe even…” Nanci broke off as she searched for the word she wanted.
“All that and then some. Add stubborn, crazy, no, make that a raving lunatic and twisted. Yeah, you ain’t God’s gift, babe,” Chill stated. Two growls met his words. Chill looked up as Sabre snorted. Inglorious glowered at Chill, but Nanci looked murderous.
“Chill’s so fuckin’ dead,” Sabre whispered.
“I’ll say,” Lasher said, sitting beside us. “Nanci’s gonna kill him.”
“Fifty bucks, he’ll tap out,” Sabre murmured.
“Bet Nanci makes him cry,” Lasher replied.
“Brother, I’ll match that and reckon Chill escapes as he usually does,” I added. Oil placed his own bet, followed by Razor and Inglorious. Hercules, Moon, and King also got their bets in as Nanci and Chill exchanged words.
Without warning, Nanci leapt from the table and lunged at Chill with a fork. Chill saw the weapon, screamed, and scrambled away. His chair tipped over, which gave Nanci a momentary pause as she decided to go around it. By then, Chill was crab-crawling backward as he eyed the fork in Nanci’s hand.
“Take it back!” Nanci ordered.
“No. Add violent to that, too!” Chill spat. He got up, and Nanci leapt. She landed on him, and the fork got jabbed somewhere that made Chill shriek.
Meadow’s head popped up over the serving counter, and a look of concern crossed her face before she realised Nanci was attacking Chill. Meadow shook her head and returned to work.
I snorted, amused. If Meadow understood why they were fighting, she’d be mortified.
Nanci got a grip on Chill’s ears, and I grinned. Chill could easily buck Nanci off, but wouldn’t want to hurt her, so she’d always get the upper hand. This wasn’t about Nanci just trying to bash Chill’s brains in because she wanted him and Meadow together. She’d admitted to me that Chill had said he wasn’t good enough for Meadow. That had rankled her. Nanci adored Chill and believed with all her heart that he was a great guy.
If Chill were hurting himself by not pursuing Meadow, then Nanci would want to fix whatever image problems Chill was facing. The problem was, Chill was hardheaded, and Nanci wouldn’t be able to bash it into his mind that he deserved Meadow. Chill would have to arrive at that conclusion himself. Fuck knows why Chill thought he didn’t deserve a good woman. As far as I was concerned, he was a stand-up guy.
Nanci and Chill’s shrieks reached a higher level.
I spotted movement near the stairs.
Staring in disbelief, a little fear and complete confusion, stood Amy.
I moved across the room quickly before she fled. “It’s okay. That’s just Nanci, Inglorious’s old lady. She’s trying to bash some sense into Chill. The idiot has some stupid ideas about what type of guy he is,” I said.
“Is it working?” Amy asked as she let me lead her to our table. Inglorious and the others nodded a greeting to her.
Nanci glanced up and spotted Amy, and Chill snatched the advantage. He bucked her off, and Nanci landed on her backside. Before she could catch her breath, Chill was up and running.
