Brek, who he would currently refer to as hisex-best friend because he found the whole situation hilarious, leaned against the finished wall Jase had just screwed in place.
“I still don’t understand exactly why you told your family you and Heather broke up,” Brek said.
“I think I can explain it,” Eli paused, studying the drill in his hand. “Since he’s been so pouty after his wife left, his family has been on his ass to meet someone. But he decided instead of just telling them he didn’t want to date, he would fib and tell Babushka that Heather broke his heart—which she didn’t. Babushka took out Heather’s van in retribution. Then Jase convinced Heather to actually tell his family they broke up—when they hadn’t—and now Babushka’s working for Heather.” He inhaled a long breath. “Then they went to the strip club.”
That about summed it up.
“And he agreed to buy Heather a new van, which now means we all have to hang fucking drywall,” Eli continued.
Yes, that summed it up. Jase had really screwed himself.
“You forgot to add that Babushka’s not allowed to play with Heather anymore.” Jase drilled the current screw about two seconds too long until it made a grinding sound. “Are you assholes gonna stand around or are you here to work?”
“You know what your problem is?” Brek kicked off from the wall and held up a new sheet of drywall.
“Bet you’re gonna tell me.” Jase wiped the line of sweat that’d dripped in his eyes.
Eli tagged the extra drill. “I bet I know what it is.”
The sheetrock slipped, and the turning screw burned against the pad of Jase’s thumb. “Shit.”
“You have a case of the Heathers,” Brek said.
Jase’s stomach turned over on itself. He did not have a case of the anyones.
“That’s what I was going to say, too.” Their buddy Dean piped in.
Eli went to work on the other side of the panel. “You should’ve seen them. He was ten seconds away from tearing off her clothes so he could practice his caveman routine right there.”
He was not. Although, the thought of Heather without clothes didn’t piss him off as much as it should. Fine, it didn’t piss him off at all. It turned him all kinds of on.
“Why’d you two fake break up, anyway?” Eli asked.
The question was innocent, but it ticked Jase right the hell off. His breaths came uneven. The setup was fake, but the whole thing felt like a real breakup. “Sometimes shit doesn’t work out.”
And sometimes the chick shuts you down before you have the opportunity to explore each other.
Brek released his grip on the now attached drywall and took a swig from a plastic water bottle. “She didn’t really have a choice with Babushka.”
Still, she’d indulged his grandmother in an afternoon that nearly made him stroke out.
“You can’t really blame her for taking Babushka for steaks.” The last screw in place, Eli stepped back from the wall. “I mean, have you met your grandmother? If she wants steaks at Pistol Polly’s, she’ll find a way to make that happen.”
“It won’t happen again. I forbid it. She’s coming back to work at the flower shop. She’s not allowed to work for Heather anymore.” And that would be the end of that.
Brek chuckled. “You let us know how that ultimatum works out.”
“I’m serious.” Jase kept his eyes fixed on the thin layer of dust on the concrete floor, unwilling to glance up.
“Again, have you met your grandmother? Remember that time she convinced us to take the Lucas twins to homecoming?” Eli said.
That’d been one of the worst nights of their lives. It’d involved the Golden Corral salad bar and pudding. Jase shivered and refused to think about it.
Eli had that look on his face, the one he always got right before he said something that would make things worse. “You should probably apologize to Heather for being such a jerk at lunch.”
The pulse in his throat throbbed. “I wasn’t a jerk.”
“Eh.” Eli shrugged. “You kinda were.”
