Page 28 of A Twist of Fate

“When she asks his name,” Zeke tipped his head to our mutual friend. “His eyes bugged out, and I shit you not, I thought he was going to pretend to be Kane for a minute.”

“I was,” Sully mumbled sulkily.

“Until Kane came in from the back yelling Sully’s name and asking if he could cover his next appointment for him because they wanted some sick Manga piece.”+

“Who scheduled a manga piece with Kane?”

“Let’s just say, we’re ready for you to come back,” Zeke told me as he leaned across the table and planted a sweet kiss on my temple.

“So, what happened next?” It wasn’t lost on me that their story had saved me from reliving the heartache of my first encounter with Toby. I really could kiss them both.

“The girl has the biggest damn stars in her eyes,” Zeke told me as they both laughed.

“She said, ‘I can be your Boo and you can be my Sully Monster!”

“Oh no! That just sounds wrong.” The words came out with laughter. The second time today they’d brought it out of me.

“It’s good to see that,” Zeke commented as he spun his finger in front of him to indicate me.

I nodded toward Zeke, but didn’t want to make a big deal of it so I put the heat on Sully instead by poking him in the side. “And you didn’t propose? It was a match made in… in… shit, I don’t know, crazy town. Isn’t that your thing?”

“Did you have another date with the new chick from the bakery?” Sully questioned as he pouted while Zeke laughed at the both of us. It really was no secret that Sully ended up with a lot of crazy ink groupies over the years. It didn’t hurt this time, referencing that day to me. I needed more moments like that. The ones that brought a smile instead of shoving a hot poker through my insides. I needed my boys back in my life, and I was officially done shutting them out.

“Why don’t you come back to the shop with us when we’re done so we can break the news to our temp.”

“What’s her name?”

Both men shrugged.

“You don’t know the name of the woman who has been working in your shop for months?”

Sully laughed. “We started calling her ‘temp’ from day one and it stuck. I honestly don’t know what her real name was.”

“I’m shocked she stayed.”

Zeke laughed but Sully waggled his eyebrows at me suggestively. “She stayed for the eye candy, sweet cheeks. Plus, I think she thought she could tempt Kane into taking her for a whirl, but that broody son of a bitch hasn’t touched a wo…”

Whatever he’d been about to say had been cut off by Zeke clearing his throat and apparently kicking him under the table. It sounded like he had meant Kane hadn’t touched a woman. I wonder what he meant by that? Ignoring whatever Sully had been about to say, I changed the subject a bit. “So you want me to come over there in order to break the news to your temporary employee?”

“Yes,” Zeke said as Sully nodded his head up and down emphatically.

“You cowards!” I teased them. “Fine, I’ll do it, but you owe me a bonus for coming back to break someone’s heart.”

“We love you, isn’t that a huge enough bonus?” Sully asked me.

I shook my head. “Nope, not even close.”

“Well, damn!” Sully reached over and grabbed the tin of mints he had set in front of me earlier, just as I popped the last bite of my sandwich in my mouth.

“Whaw wat uck?” I asked with my mouth full.

“Sorry, I couldn’t understand that, fish mouth.”

I narrowed my eyes at the man before swallowing. “What the fuck?”

He grinned. “If my love isn’t enough for you, then I can’t share my mints. You’re just going to have to fire Temp with tuna breath.” Sully appeared thoughtful for a moment and then grinned at me. “I wonder if she’ll take it as an invitation that you wanna eat her tuna?”

“You’re gross, Sul!”

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