Blair nods. “Yeah. Are you sure it’ll fit on the trailer?”
“What are you two going on about?” Wes asks. “What are you picking up?”
Santi grins at him. “Last night, on our way home there was a for sale sign on a hot tub sitting at the bottom of someone’s driveway. We’re going to buy it and bring it back here.”
“I hope you plan on cleaning that thing,” Wes grimaces. “They carry germs and if it’s been out in the elements?—”
“Wait,” I snap, my shock finally fading away. I point between Blair and Santi. “What wasthat?”
They both look at me, then trade looks with one another. Blair at least has the good grace to look guilty. But Santi? He’s grinning at me like he just found out he won the lottery.
“Oh that? People call it PDA,” he replies, his grin shifting into a coy smile. “That stands for public display of affection.”
“I know what it stands for!” The volume of my voice raises as a barrage of emotions pelt at me from every angle. “Why the fuck are you two doing it?”
“Because kissing is what people do when they like each other,” Santi explains. He throws an arm over Blair’s shoulders. “What’s wrong? Does it bother you?”
“No.” I’m not sure if my response is all that convincing. The heat in my words is very clearly at odds with my denial.
Santi turns to Wes. “And what about you? I saw the two of you the other night together. Are you okay with me joining the fun?”
She’d been with Wes, too!? I gape in surprise.
Blair swings her attention over to Wes, who smiles at her.
“This what you want?” he asks her.
Blair opens and closes her mouth, falling silent as she considers this. After a moment she speaks up, “I, um… Well, would it be selfish for me to say yes?”
Wes and Santi laugh.
“No, baby girl. If you want us both, I can be open minded,” Wes says. He glances over at Santi and winks. “A goddess needs more than one devotee, don’t they?”
Blair’s smile is twisted with embarrassment and Santi laughs.
“WHAT IN THE EVER-LOVINGFUCKIS GOING ON?” I bellow.
Wes shoots me a bemused look before returning his attention to breakfast. The others stare at me with surprise.
“What?” Santi asks innocently, despite the sparkle of delight in his eyes. “You just said it doesn’t bother you.”
“You don’t even like women!” I remind him. “You’re?—”
“I think I was just waiting for the right woman to like,” Santi corrects with a grin down at Blair. When he looks back at me, it’s with a smirk. “Any other objections?”
I want to tell him that he has no fucking right going around kissing people. Instead, I take a different route.
“Oh, I don’t know,” I snarl, my temper rising. “Maybe it’s the fact that you’re staking a claim on a woman who I had to cut up a body for last night!”
All three of them react to the news differently. Santi’s brows fly upwards but then twist together with concern. Wes shoots a worried look at Blair before hardening it to glare at me. But it’s Blair that I stare back at and watch as horror makes her pretty face go slack. Instantly, I feel a little guilty. The way her eyes grow wide with alarm and she seems to shrink ever so slightly makes me feel like a real piece of shit.
Not enough to back down, though.
“W-what?” she steps out from beneath Santi’s arm, toward me.
“Yeah, that’s right. Someone finally came snooping around looking for you,” I jeer. “And it was me and Ledger who had to take care of shit while you were off on your little excursion with Santi.”
Heavy footsteps announce Ledger’s arrival. We’re all silent at his approach. I promised that I’d let him tell her, but the cat’s out of the bag now.
