Page 28 of Hot Doggin'
“Fucker,” Stiles mumbles. We've been here less than thirty seconds, and his fingers are already covered in glitter. “We should glitter bomb his ass.”
“I second that emotion,” West snipes. “Nash, where you headed to, man?”
He’s cleaning his hands off with a baby wipe. “I promised Violet I would take her by the cemetery to visit G.”
He’s taking his buddy's mother to the cemetery to visit her son. Guilt sets in hard. “I need to stop by there on my way home.” My best buddy, Danny, is also buried at the same cemetery. It wouldn’t kill me to stop by and visit him today. To pay my respects. Except, it just might.
“I’ll ride with you,” Stiles offers.
I’m so fucking grateful for him. My ride or die.
“Where’s Pharo? How come he gets to miss all of this?”
Nobody says a word, and I stare at Jax.
“What are you looking at me for? I’m not his fucking keeper.”
“Is he deployed again?”
Jax rolls his eyes. “He’s out of town. I won’t swear that he’s deployed, though.”
“Then where the fuck would he be?”
He wipes his gluey fingers off on his jeans. “That’s a great question.”
“Cut your bullshit, Jax,” Rhett snaps. “Pharo’s deployed with the Reserves.”
“Is he? Riggs is a reservist. How many times a year does he get called up to deploy?”
He has a point. I look at Stiles. He stares back. “Yeah, but they have a different MOS.”
“And what is Pharo’s MOS?” Jax asks.
Why have I never asked that before? “I don’t know.” I look around, but all I see are blank faces. “Anybody?” They shake their heads.
“Exactly,” Jax spits. “If he’s a reservist, I’m fucking Santa Claus.”
“You’re fucking Santa Claus?” West asks, gluing a pom-pom onto a popsicle stick. “I’ve always wondered if Santa’s candy cane tasted like peppermint.”
Brandt snorts, smacking West in the arm. “Ohh, you know those little peppermint balls you love?”
Jax aims his glue gun at West, like he’s going to squirt him. “That’s not what I said, jackass!”
“Could you watch your mouths? We’ve got a line of kids here,” Stiles points out.
“So where is Pharo?” I ask, not letting them distract me.
Jax chuckles sarcastically. “When you see him, ask him.”
“Where’s Mandy?” Stiles asks.
The guys quiet down. “Under the weather,” Brandt supplies when no one speaks up.
“Is he sick?”
“Code Black,” West adds.
Code black means a Bitch is struggling. “Well, why the fuck are we standing around here scratching our balls and making them shine with glitter when we’ve got a man down?”
