“Just like you ordering my burgers without tomatoes?” She questions, I knew eventually she would.
“You don’t like them,” I say to her, my fingers flexing around the door frame. “So why not say that?”
“Because it’s one more unnecessary thing Boone has to do when he’s doing a hundred other things for other people.” She brushes it off.
“That black bean burger is only on the menubecauseof you,” I tell her.
“What?” Her brows furrow, and I want to smooth the lines between them with my finger.Friendly, really friendly. Check yourself, Killjoy. You’re losing your control.
“Kaia told Boone you don’t eat meat, so he made sure you had something you’d actually enjoy. You aren’t a hassle asking for no tomato.”
Rhea opens her mouth to argue and closes it again. Thinking about what she can say that validates her point. “I don’t like to be a burden,” she confesses.
“I know,” I narrow my eyes at her. “Who told you that not liking tomatoes makes you a burden? I’ll kick their ass.”
That makes her laugh, finally, remembering our conversation from the night I taught her how to make the martini. She stretches out her legs and kicks my thigh gently. “Can we bowl now?” she asks, mocking me back.
“Yeah.” I give her my hand, ignoring the tremor and how it stills when she presses her palm against mine as she hops from the truck to the cement. Inside, the bowling alley hasn’t left the early two-thousands with its dirty, blue carpet and scuffed hardwood floors. Most of the lanes are empty except for three at the other end of the building, occupied by most of the guys from my old squad and a few from the group. “Come on.”
“So, if I’m pretending to be your girlfriend, do we need a complicated backstory? We can say we met at the Hollow, you’re clumsy, so you spilled a martini on me…”
There she goes again, poking the bear for fun. I turn from the kid behind the counter, handing out shoes, and growl at her, and she laughs. “Size eleven, please,” she says, keeping her eyes off me.
“Ten,” I say to him, “I have tiny feet for a guy my size, don’t tease me.” I don’t look away as I try to deflect from how nervous she was to say that out loud in front of me.
“Scouts honor,” she hums with a soft smile.
“You’re my roommate tonight,” I tell her. “No need to lie. These guys will see through it anyway.” I lead her down toward the commotion that’s happening at the end, and as we get closer, I hear them starting to take note that I’ve brought someone with me. “Don’t back down,” I warn.
“Military brat,” she winks and wanders out in front of me to start greeting the guys without my introductions. I walk toward José, and he hands me a glass of beer I probably won’t drink.
José Garza is one of the guys I actually served with, a skinny little kid barely twenty-five with a wife and two kids depending on him. He’s funny, though; his humor is dry, and the best part of all is that he doesn’t dig. He knows more of my past than anyone in the room, but he never brings it up, and he never uses it against me.
“Where’s Sarge?” I ask, looking at him. Landon usually came around for these things when he was invited. Something about showing up for your community outside of hard times.
“Said he had something to do.” He shrugs. “Who’s the girl?” He asks, pointing to Rhea. She’s introducing herself to José’s wife and daughter while the rest of them toss me stupid looks.
“Rhea.” I consider drinking the beer. It would be easier than trying to explain to them what weare.“She’s my roommate. Guest room.”
“She’s pretty,” he notes. “Didn’t really think a scary dog was your type.”
“Don’t call her that,” I say, shaking my head. “And there’s notype. She’s here as a friend to shut you all up.”
“I do love it when a man dates the exact opposite of his ex-wife. You’re really sticking it to Ri, here, Black.” Josè comments and starts to wade into the conversation. Riona loved Josè, which only made the divorce harder when it came. Splitting up friends was just as bad as splitting up time with Daisy.
“Fuck you, Garza.” I scowl and find an empty stool to pull on my bowling shoes. Rhea finds me eventually and starts to do the same. “Do you want a drink?” I ask her, but she’s hyper-focused ontrying to pull the knot free from her shoe. Her grunts of frustration grow, and the knot remains tight. “Rhea,” I say, but she doesn’t look up as she brings the shoe to her teeth. “Don’t—” I grab the dirty shoe before she takes it between her teeth. She scowls at me as I start to loosen the knot before handing it back to her. “Do you want a drink?”
“Please,” she says. “And a burger.”
I nod, leaving her on her own to tie her shoes.
When I wander to the counter, I see Landon standing near the entrance with a birthday bag in his hand as he watches everyone at the other end of the building.
“Careful,” I say. “You’ll ruin the birthday with that ugly mug,” I say, after ordering quickly. He doesn’t respond to my joke, and it’s pretty clear that his head is elsewhere as I approach him. “It was just a joke, Sarge, no need to get bent up about it.”
“If you’re here, the party’s already ruined, Black.” He snaps out of his fog and gives me a half-hearted smile.
“Josè said you weren't gonna make it.” I stand next to him as he watches the party.
