“How are you doing?” I ask Nancy instead, trying to keep her attention on me rather than even glancing at Wylie.
It’s childish, I know. But I don’t care. Call me fucking Petty LeBelle today.
“Not great. I got chased by a goddamned duck this morning.”
Snorting, I nearly spit out the beer. “You got chased by a… duck? Like,quack quack?”
“Hey, you encounter a rabid duck and tell me you ain’t scared, asshole.”
“I suppose that’s fair,” I say with a chuckle. “Have you talked to Rooster about this? He can probably commiserate with you.”
“Do you want me to take that beer back and serve you milk with a mouthful of my spit in it instead?”
Clutching the mug in my hand, I move to keep her from grabbing it. “No. I’m sorry.”
The image of Nancy running away as a duck chases after her keeps me chuckling, and she tosses a wet bar towel at me. I wonder if the ducks can sense her fear like all birds can sense Rooster’s.
“You know, he’d kick your ass for smiling at his pain,” Nancy says, knowing I’m thinking about Rooster’s run-ins with various large breed birds, too.
“He could fucking try,” I say and drink half the mug.
“How are you holding up?” Nancy asks.
“It doesn’t feel like life with Johnny gone,” I admit to her.
She’s one of the few who has any idea how this hurts. She lost her husband in a gang war with her family, and she hasn’t moved on. The ring stays on her finger, and she’s still married. In her heart, she’s forever tied to him.
Giving a small smile, she shakes her head. “I wasn’t talking about losing your stepdad.”
“Mama and Johnny weren’t married.”
“They were more married than most of the married folks around here.”
“Except he was still married to Lainey’s mom in Seattle, remember?’
Waving a hand in the air, she sneers. “Who gives a shit about that traitor?”
“What are we talking about if not Johnny?”
“I saw Chanel’s car in your driveway the other morning when I closed up here.”
Fuck. “She was just… There was something that she… Johnny needed…”
I can’t come up with anything good to excuse it. Everyone knows she’s engaged to Dorian, and I don’t want them to see heras a cheater. No matter what she does to me, I always protect her.
“Johnny needed you to shove your cock into her pussy?” She gives me a knowing look as I stare in shock. Nancy’s always direct, but damn. “We all know that girl cheats on the man she left you forwithyou. And when she comes to town, you mope around for days after she leaves again.”
Great. The entire fucking town is more aware of my business than I thought. “We may have had some… relations.”
“Zep, what are you thinking?”
“I know. She’s marrying another man—”
“No, not that. She’s a fucking twat. She screws you and leaves you. Gets to have her cake and eat it, too. Why the hell do you still let her?”
Getting relationship advice wasn’t what I expected when I walked into the bar today. “I love her.”
It’s the simplest way to explain why I give in every single time.
