Page 22 of Necessary Roughness

Years of adulation from fans had clouded my perspective and inflated my ego.

“How long have you had it?” I asked.

“Oh, a few days,” Leonard answered matter-of-factly, pressing his eye against it before pulling away and looking at me again. “This telescope has taught me that it’s not what’s far away that surprises you, but what’s right under your nose.”

All right, I thought,that was odd.

I cleared my throat. “Are you talking about?—”

“Brett!” Leonard exclaimed, interrupting me.

“No!” I said, raising my hands in protest.

Holy shit, Leonard just called me out.

But a voice from behind me shook me from my thoughts. “Are you that disappointed to see me, Luke?”

I turned to see Brett standing behind me.

Fuck.

“It’s good to know that just the mere mention of my name results in you screamingnoat the top of your lungs,” Brett added before walking past me toward Leonard’s telescope.

I scoffed. “I didn’t scream.”

But Brett ignored me. He was too busy eyeing Leonard’s ridiculous contraption. For some reason, that enraged me. Brett had walked past me as if I were invisible. First, he spends all daymaking a living recording podcasts about me, then he makes a snide comment and pretends I don’t exist.

The man was a real class act.

Brett studied the telescope like a curious student. “What’s this?”

“This,” Leonard said with pride and childlike enthusiasm, “is The Sky Spy 5000.”

“Wait,” I said, “I thought it was 3000? And wasn’t it called something else?”

Leonard shook his head. “No.”

Brett laughed. “You think he doesn’t know the name of his own… um… what is this, exactly?”

Leonard showed off the telescope as if he were a model showcasing a prize onThe Price is Right. “It’s a magical telescope.”

“Magical?” Brett asked, furrowing his brow.

Leonard nodded, unphased, seemingly oblivious to Brett’s condescending tone.

Brett was obviously completely incapable of having a normal conversation with a person without insulting their work.

It was good to see that his cruelty extended to everyone and not just me. Brett was the type who liked to share his hatred with everyone. An equal-opportunity hater. I wondered if his animosity held him back in his personal life.

Suddenly, I found myself wondering if Brett was single.

“Magical!” Leonard exclaimed, shaking me from my thoughts. “That’s right. You can see everything with it. And sometimes it’s not the stars that are the surprise, but what’s close by.”

Silence filled the air around us, penetrated only by the sounds of waves on the shore.

Brett glanced over at me and if I hadn’t known any better, I could have sworn I saw a look of nervousness on his face. I’d onlyseen it once before—when Brett had shut the door quickly after Stacy squawked in the background.

For a moment, as Leonard tinkered with his telescope, I wished I could read Brett’s mind. I wished that I could push past all the snarky comments and the sarcastic quips into what he really thought of me.

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