Page 22 of Cold Foot Komodo

“Because you say big words.”

“Oh my God, Cash. Is this about the other day?”

“Kade used the word consciousness in a sentence.”

“Wait,” King rumbled, head cocked at Cash. “You think consciousness is a big word?”

“If it has more than seven letters, it’s a big word, King. Duh.” Cash shook his head and looked across the fire at Sasha. “That’s why I don’t call King ‘Nerd’. He don’t know nothin’.”

Sasha was having such a hard time containing her giggles.

“Look, if anyone is a nerd around here, it’s my graduated-first-in-her-class nurse sister,” Timber said proudly. “She probably knows lots of seven-letter words.”

“We should play strip-scrabble,” Cash suggested.

“Every time you talk I get a headache,” Wreck muttered.

“Battle of the nerds,” Cash said. “This is a genius idea.”

“I think we’re all physically dumber for listening to your ideas,” Katrina dead-panned.

“I would play,” Raynah said. “Pretty sure no one wants to see a big ol’ pregnant lady in strip games, though.”

“Ummmm, do you have boobs?” Kade asked.

“Yes, Kade. I have boobs,” Raynah told him.

“Then we would all love to see you in strip poker.” He held his hand up and squinted one eye. “If I cover you like this, you look normal.”

“Can we behead him?” King asked Wreck.

Sasha was trying so hard not to cackle-laugh. She swung her gaze to Reed to see if he was hearing this hilarious interaction, but he was watching her lips.

“There is that smile again,” he said low.

“My phone is still going crazy,” she admitted.

“I know. I can hear it vibrating. Do you want me to set it over here?”

And she understood what he was really asking.Can I take that burden from you and give you a peaceful night?

And you know? After all of the uncertainty of the move, and the mess that existed at her rental house, and her mother’s attempt to keep her claws deep in her life here, she appreciated him asking. He didn’t know her history, or how heavy it reallygot sometimes. He just knew her mood had shifted when she’d opened the text.

“Sure,” she said softly, handing him the phone.

Reed pretended to chuck it into the woods, and she laughed as he set it on the empty log next to his chair, face-down. She wouldn’t hear it vibrate from over here.

Thank you,she mouthed.

He nodded once, and then pointed to the list of soups they still needed to vote on. The paper was pinned down under her plate now, and she pulled it up, then looked over at him with her eyebrows raised, like “Which one?”

He pointed to a couple, and she agreed with him. She pointed to the tortilla soup one and did a thumbs-up.

With a curt nod, Reed stood and said, “We have an announcement, you bunch of criminals. It seems you kept some of your cooking skills in prison, because none of these sucked very much. The tortilla soup wins it though—”

“Yes!” Cash crowed, standing up. He fist-pumped and stomped around in a tight circle. “I knew it! I knew I was the best. This makes me Second now, right?” he asked Wreck.

“What? No. King is Second.”

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