Page 25 of Clean Out of Luck

“What are you going to say, man?” Linus asks, laughing. “No?”

Jack’s eyes widen at that.

I laugh stiffly. “Of course not. Jack is a great guy. Phoenix asked me to keep an eye on his little sister, so I kind of blanked out there for a second. Sure. Worth an ask. I think she’s single after the last date. She can be…well, she can be ornery.” And it’s my favorite thing about her.

“She seemed really sweet—and the poor thing was so embarrassed, I felt bad for her,” Jack continues.

That poor thing was madder at me than she was at her date. Do I think I deserved her anger? No, obviously not, but Scooter and I have known each other for years. I’m comfortable with her annoyance. Her anger. And she’s comfortable giving it to me. Which is one of the highest compliments I could get from a person.

“Can I get her number from you?”

Now, that’s taking it a bit too far.

I clear my throat. “Why don’t you DM her and get her number that way?”

“You mean you won’t share?”

“Wait a second…I might be slow about a lot of things, but Wade, my man. Are you jealous?” Linus asks with a laugh.

“No,” I bark out.

“Wait—” Jack looks back and forth between Linus and me, confusion on his face. “Are you interested in her?”

“No, of course not.”Liar, liar, liar.

Jack’s face relaxes. “That’s okay. I don’t want to step inif I’m not welcome.”

“No problem.”

“Are we going to play the game or have a sleepover so we can talk about Jack’s new girlfriend some more?” Enrique asks dryly.

Five seconds later we’re playing the game. I work Jack into the front with a short shot, and when he hits it farther back, I launch it right into the back of his thigh. It makes a fantastic popping sound.

“Dang!” Jack grunts.

And it’s all-out war from there. We go limping home with a lot of circular bruises, but I feel better about life.

Chapter Eight

Scarlett

“I founda mistake in the transcript you filed yesterday,” Claire says.

I glance up sharply from my computer. It’s late morning and I’ve made it this far without a sharp remark from Claire. It’s practically a record. “What? I proofed those already.”

She slaps some papers down in front of me. There’s red pen circling a few things on the printed papers. She raises her eyebrows and looks at me with triumph in her eyes. “I keep telling you to print them. But you just won’t listen.”

I scowl, pick up the stack of papers, and look to see what she circled. I misspelledconsoleand a couple of other minor things in a one-hundred-page document. This court case has been going on for a long time. I’m thrilled that it is nearly over. Claire has been especially awful lately, and she loves reviewing my work, scavenging for any little mistake she can bring to my attention.

“The good news is we are not at the spelling bee championships,” I reply sweetly. “And this case is closing today. These will simply get filed.”

She grits her teeth. “How can you be okay with these kinds of mistakes?”

“I’m not okay with them. I would’ve preferred to have caught them before they were sent to the lawyers, but now that it’s all done, there’s no reason to go back and correct it. Both lawyers ended up with the copy that had the mistakes in it. They’re not going to ask me for a completely proofed copy, not when their cases are closing today.”

Claire taps a red nail on my desk in an annoyingly rhythmic beat. “I’ll just leave these here then, to remind you to do better next time.” She turns around and walks back to her desk.

I frown at the back of her blonde head, but when she turns to look at me, I just smile sweetly. I’m going to have to clean my house again tonight. Seems to be a recurring response to my interactions with Claire.

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