Page 53 of The Auction
“Scruples,” Creed laughed.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, slightly outraged. “People have them.”
“I’m sure they do. It’s just a funny word to me, is all. He’s a good looking kid. Surprised he’d want to stay on his parent’s ranch when he could have had something for his own.”
“May I remind you, that this place came withme.”
Creed ruffled my hair. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Jules. You’re not all that bad to look at.”
“You motherfucker,” I said, and started after him like I was going to kick him as hard in the dick as I could.
He just laughed and danced away from me like he thought I was kidding.
I wasn’t kidding. If I’d been able to land a blow, I would have.
FOURTEEN
JULIETTE
“You wantto talk about your horse?”
“Did you put olives on this?” I picked my head up at his question. “Why would I talk about my horse?”
“They’re not olives, they’re capers. They’re good.”
We were sitting at the kitchen table, his turn to cook. He’d bought a pre-made pizza crust and filled it with a bunch of good stuff that I was totally on board with, except for these weird little round things. I picked one up and studied it. “Are you sure? It’s green.”
“Don’t eat it by itself,” he grunted. “It will be too salty. It’s supposed to go with all the other stuff to add flavor.”
“Okay, pizza expert,” I grumbled, and took a bite of the front of the slice. “Fine. It’s good.”
“Told you. So you had a horse, your dad made you put it down-”
“Her,” I corrected him. “Margo.”
He nodded and was already working on his second slice, stuffing it into this mouth. “So why don’t you want another one?”
“Because you can’t just replace Margo,” I said. I finishedall the good parts of the slice, then just started pulling apart the crust. I pulled my bare foot up on the chair and tucked it against my butt. Which he hated, but to me it made it feel less like we were sharing a meal and more like we were just two people at a table eating.
“No, you can’t. What about a dog?”
“Dogs need a lot of care and attention,” I said. Herb had no room in his psyche for feeding anything that wasn’t a contributing member of the farm. Margo had helped him to move heavy rocks out of the way of the plow when he couldn’t move them himself.
“They do. And training. What about cats?”
“What about them? There are at least four down at the barn at any given point.”
“Not the same as a pet,” he said. “Barn cat isn’t going to sleep at the end of your bed at night.”
“Oh, poor Creed, you getting awittle wonleyinworebed now that I’m gone?”
He stopped chewing and shot me a look. It was hisdo not fuck around with melook. The same look he gave me any time we peripherally talked around the subject of sex, sleeping together, or anything remotely related to his bed or bedroom. Slowly, I slid my foot off the chair and back to the floor.
“I never had a cat,” I said, quickly. “Herb wouldn’t let them in the house.”
“Herb sounds like a fucking asshole. Sorry to speak ill of the dead.”
“Speak ill away,” I muttered. “So what about you?”
