Page 41 of Last Fall

Seth grinned as he shoved the money in his pocket. “I bet Wes that you want to make Zoe your lady and that you wouldn’t let us talk smackabouther.”

I glared at Wes. “You betagainstme? You know...I told you!” I was so angry there was nothing but half-words coming out of mymouthnow.

And stupid Wes? All he did was shrug. “And it was worth five bucks to me to find out for sure. How else would I get these morons to help me setyouup?”

I took a few seconds to cool my head. “Stop,” I growled. “Stop this shit now. No more games. This isn’tfunny.”

“I know that. Don’t you get it? This woman you want? She’s basicallymylittle sister. I love you, man. Love you like a brother, but this is not something I’m going to just becoolwith.”

“Fuck.” It was impossible for me think of Zoe as someone’s sister now. She was a woman.Mywoman. “This is rich comingfromyou.”

I had a feeling he would have punched me for that if we weren’t sitting side-by-side in a booth. “You want to repeat thatoutside?”

Damn, he was genuinely pissed. I wanted to irritate him, stick him where it hurt, but not send him into a nuclear rage. And right now, he wasborderline.

I held up my hands. “Sorry. Thatwaslow.”

“Even before Carrie,” he shook his head,“I was never a jerk. The using wasmutual.”

“I know.” Wes loved women and as far as I could tell he usually made sure everyone had a good time. From the moment he met Carrie there was no one else. He was a totally reformed asshole completely loyal to his wife. “Carrie is off limits. Iknowthat.”

“Never forget that.” Then he relaxed. “And I will stop withZoenow.”

“Thank you.” I tried to do the friendly thing and let the whole subject drop, but apparently Wes couldn’t let it go. I was halfway through a nice, calming gulp of beer when he cleared histhroat.

“So what’stheplan?”

“Plan?”

Wes shrugged. “You like her, she likes you, but you’re not dating yet. So what’stheplan?”

Chris and Seth grinned. Apparently my love life was entertainment foreveryone.

“You can’t beserious.”

“What?” Seth shrugged. “Wes is married and boring now that he won’t tell us anything. I keep going back to Grace even though we’re a disaster. And Chris here has become a monk. You’re the most interesting thing we’ve got goingrightnow.”

“That’s because Chris went and moved to a remote island. What chance does he haveforlove?”

“It’s not remote. It’s barely a longer commute than Randy has up in north Tampa. It’s a totally populated island. I’ve always wanted to live on anisland.”

That was way more explanation than I expected from my dig. “Feeling defensive there buddy? Something you want toshare?”

He glared at me. “You want some fishing tips? Because that’s what I’m doing on mydaysoff.”

“See?” Seth groaned. “Boringmonk.”

“Why do you keep sleeping with Grace?” Maybe if I kept bringing up stuff until the food arrived they’d forget tobugme.

He shrugged. “The sex is amazing. We just can’t do anything outside the bed together. She’s abitch.”

“And you’re a loser,” Wes shrugged. “Makes sense. Shefreaky?”

“Just because you alone keep the sex toy industry in business doesn’t mean we all do,”Isaid.

“Hey,” he spread his hands wide, “I may not be able to offer any fun stories anymore, but I am happy to provide productreviews.”

“No thank you,” Chris muttered, sitting back so our waitress could put all our food down on the table. It also allowed him a good vantage point for admiring her assets. The man may be a monk, but he wasn’t blind. Not sure what was going on with him, but it wassomething.

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