Page 140 of Out of Bounds

King drove an old, red truck that everybody made fun of on the team. That truck was older than King. It was easy to clock every time in a parking lot. How the hell did I miss that?

Adam gestured at him and King nodded, lumbering over. Even better. Having Adam along with me for the ride after breakfast was great but King wasn’t just level-headed, I could trust him more than anybody else on the team to keep his mouth shut.

"What are you doing after this?" I asked Adam, my voice low.

Kassie raised an eyebrow. "Uh, Ryan, you’re going to sleep."

“Yeah, Ryan-cakes, you’re going to sleep.” Adam laughed and pointed at Kassie’s orange juice. "Can I have that? I’m hungover as shit."

I pushed him out of the booth and gave him my orange juice, taking the place next to Kassie while King sat in the place I justleft. I draped my arm over the back of the booth, and my hand hung over Kassie’s shoulder. She didn’t need to know what I had planned.

I’d have to ask Adam and King after breakfast.

"You’re right," I told Kassie. "I need to sleep."

That wasn’t happening but my art girl didn’t need to know that.

"We missed you on the bus, illustrator-in-chief." Adam threw back the rest of my orange juice. "I hope your art meeting was worth it. Ryan’s annoying as shit when you’re gone."

"We’re not talking about that," I told him, with a clear look his way.

"The bus?" Adam set the glass back down and took a long look at both of us, confused. "You two look like shit. Why do you two look like shit? You didn’t even come to my party. And fuck you, by the way."

Kassie hummed under her breath, avoiding the question.

Something new dawned on Adam’s face and he took another, longer look at both of us. And another one. With a snort, Adam burst into laughter. "Holy shit!"

I glanced down at Kassie but she looked just as confused.

"Zariah owes me fifty bucks!"

"What dumb shit are you talking about?" Kassie asked, exasperated.

King pointed at the french toast. "Ryan, you ordered her two plates for breakfast?"

That took Adam’s attention. Both of my teammates stared in surprise at the plates before Kassie pushed one in front of me. My agreement for the conversation.

"Nope, he’s eating that," Kassie told them and passed the syrup to me.

"Who?" Adam frowned.

"Ryan."

King glanced back at me. "What?"

I poured out a fourth of the glass bottle of syrup over the french toast and broke a piece of bacon in half, scooping up a piece of the french toast in it. Fuck, it was good. I picked up the fork, cutting into the eggs.

"What the fuck?" Adam snickered.

Kassie put her elbows on the table, a warning in her words. "Andwhatis wrong what that?"

"Nothing’s wrong with that, Kassie. Nothing at all. But…you got him eating French fucking toast?" Adam blanched. "You have him eatingsugar?"

With his eyebrows up to his hairline, King nodded, just as perplexed.

"You’re exaggerating," I told him, digging in with my fork again.

"Exaggerating, sure." With his hands pressed together, Adam waved at the two of us. "King, buddy, do you notice somethingoddabout our friends today?"

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