Page 20 of Pucking Sweet

He shifts his weight, distracted by the death glare Lukas is nodoubt giving him over my shoulder. “It’s uhh…Sam, ma’am. Samuel Gordon. It’s why they all call me Flash. You know, ’cause it’s for Flash Gordon, like the superhero.”

“Fuck,” Lukas mutters.

Cracked, just like a sweet little egg.

“Samuel.” I hum. “Now, what are you doing, Samuel?”

“We’re moving the balls from that truck into this truck,” he replies.

“Moving the—” I glance around to where he points. “What balls?”

“The ball pit balls,” says Big Blondie. I didn’t even need to give him the eyes and he’s cracked by association.

I slowly turn to face Lukas. “Do you want to fill in the blanks, here? Or should we all just keep playing rookie mad libs?”

He sighs. “We’re pranking Doc Price by putting ball pit balls in her car.”

I raise a brow at him. “We?”

“Me,” he admits. “I’m pranking her. These two proved to be completely useless.”

“Hey, we moved like half the balls without you,” Samuel retorts.

“Yeah, we had it under control,” Big Blondie adds.

Lukas turns on them, his tattooed arm flexing as he still holds the trash bag. “Then why did I get a text from Flash saying ‘Houston, we have a problem’ and a video ofyourdumb ass chasing the balls all over the damn parking garage?” He rounds on Samuel. “Oh, and Houston has two ‘o’s by the way, Flash.”

The three of them bicker about the spelling of Houston until I step forward and place a hand on Lukas’s shoulder. “Why don’t we leave these two to finish this good work alone? Lukas, you and I can go ahead and get an early start on our meeting. Sound good? Good.”

I walk over to my car and pluck out my purse and keys. Walking back over to the ball boys, I hold out my keys to Samuel. “Park my car and finish moving your balls. Then I expect to have my keysandRachel’s keys returned to their owners. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Next to me, Lukas narrows his eyes. “Wait, you’re gonna let us finish theprank?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Why?”

I glance over at Rachel’s rental truck. I can see the mess of red, green, and yellow balls already filling her backseat. “Because this prank is utterly benign. And if I don’t let you do it, you’ll just do something else once my back is turned again, and it will likely be even worse…like putting a dead fish in her air vent…or gluing her shoes to the floor.”

He smirks, and I know I’ve just given him two fresh ideas for future pranks.

“Move your balls, and then bring me my keys,” I say at the rookies. “Lukas, let’s go. I’m moving up our meeting to now.”

I drop my keys into Samuel’s hand and turn on my heel, not waiting and not looking back. I know Lukas is following me. I know because I can hear him cursing at me under his breath.

8

Ifollow Poppy into her fourth-floor executive office and frown as I glance around. It’s a drab place, with white walls, discount furniture, an L-shaped desk, and a pair of gray metal filing cabinets.

“You don’t even have a window in here,” I say, sinking onto the only rickety chair in front of her desk.

She sits behind the desk. “Only the outer offices have windows.”

Is that a drip I hear? My frown deepens. “You should spring for an office with windows. I mean, this is just sad.” As I say the words, the overhead fluorescent lights flicker ominously.

Poppy’s shoulders stiffen. “It’s fine.”

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