After seeing him at the Swing Through Cafe, Blue hadn’t laid eyes on the man, which suited her, if this was how she reacted when he was near.
“Hey there, pretty girl. How you doing?”
“Good, Fox. You?” Blue dragged her eyes from Jay, who was talking to JD Hopper. Jeans and a deep blue button-down shirt shouldn’t make him look so good.
The problem was, she knew what was under those clothes now and always would. Maybe exposure would help with her reaction to the man. That, and dating again.
“You and me would be great together, Blue Jay.”
“You and Betsy broken up again, Fox?”
They’d been dating for years, and their breakups were legendary because they happened at least six times a year, but the couple always found their way back to each other.
“For good, this time. I’m done with her bossing me around. She told me I needed to do more to impress her.” The man looked outraged.
“Yeah, what did she suggest?” Blue asked, pouring his beer.
“My hair needs a trim, and she said my whiskers need to go because I can’t grow a decent beard like JD and Sawyer.”
Betsy had a valid point, Blue thought. The whiskers were misshapen and sparse. His hair looked like a bowl had been placed on his head and someone—probably Mrs. Gleeson—had cut around it.
He wasn’t bad looking, Blue supposed, just really scruffy.
“Do you love that woman, Fox?” she asked, handing him his beer.
“Of course he does,” Dan Duke said. He’d been sitting on the stool, listening to the conversation. “They wouldn’t have been together, even considering all the breaks, for as long as they had if he didn’t.”
“I ain’t owning up to that,” Fox muttered before he took a drink.
“Let me put it another way,” Blue said, shooting Jay a look. He was playing a shot, and those jeans stretched nicely across his firm ass. “If Betsy took up with someone?—”
“Make it Beau Keller,” Dan said, smirking.
“Okay, let’s say Betsy dates Beau Keller. He’s a good-looking guy who keeps himself in shape and always looks handsome.”
“The hell you say,” Dan snapped.
“Really handsome,” Blue said to annoy him, “but back to my point.” She gave Dan a look that shut him up. “If Betsy dated Beau, and he was real good to her and treated her nice, and she thought, well, hell, so this is what it could be like if I left Fox for good and found someone who really cares about me.”
Fox was looking shocked now. Clearly the man thought this dumpster fire of a relationship he had with Betsy was going to continue his entire life.
“And instead of you two always getting back together, she said no the next time because she wants to settle down and have a family, and she’d get that with Beau. How would that make you feel, Fox?”
Fox was the color of sour milk now.
“You think on that and come back to me with an answer in a minute while I pour our law enforcement another beer,” Blue said.
Instead, Fox got off his stool and staggered away, throwing Blue hurt looks as he did.
The youngest Duke brother whistled. “You wake up in that mood today, or did someone do something, and if so, do you want me to arrest them?”
“One of you should have said those words to that idiot before now,” Blue muttered.
“What about Betsy? Surely she’s equally to blame?”
“Is Betsy here?” Blue made a show of looking around her.
“And I repeat. Who pissed you off?” Dan asked. “We’re family now, so you can unburden yourself to me.”
