Page 11 of The B!tch List

“Well, I love the fried chicken and there isn’t really anywhere else in Dayton that you can let loose.”

“Yeah,” Shaw said, clearing his throat and placing his fork onto his plate, “Nancy likes to let loose.”

Before I could even curl my lip in disdain, he smiled and turned to Tate.

“We all do though. We’re a real friendly town.”

Tate nodded. “Yeah, I get that feeling, even after less than a year here. I understand why my mom and sister love it here.” He then leaned forward and spoke to me. “Wait a minute, are you the Nancy who Lily is friendly with?”

I smiled, thinking of my friend. “Yes, that’s me.”

“I thought the name rang a bell.” He clicked his fingers and then pointed at me. “You’re the one who helps her out with JJ from time to time.”

“I am.” It was only with ideas on how to entertain him or useful learning games, but it was Lily who was eager to do those things with him. She was all in on that job and I knew once JJ was too old to need a sitter she’d be lost. Lily had fallen for that little boy hard in the time that she’d been taking care of him.

“She’s real helpful, that Nancy,” Shaw added, his beer bottle poised at his lips.

If Tate hadn’t been sitting at the bar next to him, I was sure I’d have emptied my glass over Shaw. He was being particularly annoying today and I was not in the mood for it.

“Talking of helpful,” I replied in a loud voice. “Did Shaw ever tell you how he likes to help his sister, Bronte, with new beauty treatments. Didn’t you once tell me about something called Anal Bleaching?”

I tilted my head to one side and furrowed my brow, feigning interest as Shaw almost choked again, this time on fresh air.

“N-No,” he finally stuttered. “I’d never let anyone near my ass with bleach, least of all my sister.”

Tate laughed loudly and slapped Shaw’s back. “Hey, Shaw, whatever floats your boat. Nothing wrong in taking pride in yourself.”

“But I didn’t!” Shaw turned to me. “Tell him you’re joking and that I didn’t have my butt hole bleached.”

The timing couldn’t have been better as Carter’s voice boomed, “What the hell?” around the bar which had started to fill up. “When did you get your ass chemically cleaned? Was it when Bronte waxed your balls?”

Damnit, I just knew it!

Shaw made a noise a bit like a strangled chicken and glared first at Carter and then at me.

Before he had chance to speak, Carter drummed out a beat on the bar top. “Anyway, less of your balls and ass, who wants a drink. Hunt is on his way and as usual is late, so it looks like I’m buying.”

Sometimes I really wanted to slap Carter. Why’d he change the subject when Shaw was getting more embarrassed by the second? If I tried to start the conversation up again that would make them think I cared about Shaw’s butt hole and his testicles and I really didn’t. Okay, maybe I had more than a passing interest in his balls, his hole not so much.

Thank God for Tate. “Hang on, back on up there,” he said, pushing his plate away and grinning. “You got your ass bleachedandyour balls waxed by yoursister?”

“No,” Shaw snapped. “I did not. What sort of guy do you take me for?”

“A guy with an asshole that needs chemically cleaning,” I muttered into my drink.

Without looking I knew Shaw’s gaze was on me. I got a poke in the thigh from his finger.

“What did you have to say that for?” he hissed in my ear.

When I looked up, he was turning back to Tate and Carter, who had now moved to stand at that end of the bar. “I did not have my ass bleached, yes I got my balls waxed, but there’s no way Bronte went anywhere near my butt.”

“Yet you let her near your balls,” Carter sighed with a shrug of his shoulders. “Go figure.”

“She only supervised,” Shaw cried. “Lilah waxed my damn balls.”

Once again the good Lord shone down on me.

“You had your fucking balls waxed. What the fuck?” Hunter Delaney bellowed.

---