Page 75 of Pieces of Me

“What?” I shrug.

Dean swims to the edge, holds on to it. “I’m meeting a possible buyer here in ten minutes, you dick!”

Jamie’s at my side now, though I’m sure I could’ve felt her glare from a mile away. “What is wrong with you?” she hisses. To Dean, she asks, “Do you need me to go to your apartment and get a change of clothes?”

Dean pushes up and out of the water. When he’s on his feet again, he takes his phone from me, saying, “I have a change of clothes in the car.” He turns, heading for the side gate.

I face Jamie, smile. “Good morn—”

The last thing I see is her eyes as wide as saucers. Right before I’m submerged in the water. I really should’ve seen it coming, but witnessing Jamie in all her morning glory sent my mind into a fog. A tailspin. When I resurface, they’re both watching me, Jamie shaking her head while Dean crosses his arms, his shit-eating grin as blindingly bright as the sun. “Fuck you!” I spit, wading in the pool.

Dean’s smile falls, his eyes narrowing. “Eat shit!”

“Blow me!”

He quirks an eyebrow, the corner of his lips ticking. “Like a whistle?”

My lips part, but any retort I had dies on my tongue. Dean’s face turns red from the effort of holding back, and I break first. The laughter that comes from me is so natural and unrestrained, and I don’t even care that the one I’m sharing it with isDean.

“What?” Jamie asks, looking between us.

Dean shakes his head as he settles his guffaw, telling me, “You tell her.”

“Fuck no. You tell her.”

“What’s so funny?” Jamie whines.

I say, “Dean’s first blowie—”

“Bullshit,” Dean cuts in. “It wasyourfirst—”

“No way!Youtold me—”

“No, it wasyou! Freshman year, that girl—”

“Enough!” Jamie shouts, and Dean and I hold back a chuckle like the childish dickheads we are. “Both you idiots get dressed. Now!”

* * *

Jamie and I go for a walk because she’s banished me from the house while Dean shows it to a client. She says she doesn’t trust me not to get in the way, and maybe that should bother me, but hey… I get more one-on-one time with Jamie.

“You guys are such idiots,” she murmurs, walking beside me.

I shove my hands in my pockets, keep my head down. “You said I should make up with him, so…”

“By throwing him in the pool?”

I chuckle. I can’t help it.

Jamie sighs. After a few minutes of walking in silence, she says, “This is the third time these buyers are looking at the house. The wife is, like, seven months pregnant, so she wants to jump right in. Dean says that they’re really close to making an offer.”

She turns onto a street, and I follow after her. I have no idea where we’re going, and I don’t really care. “What happens after that?”

“I guess we either accept or decline and go from there. Dean says he won’t bring anything to us that’s not even worth looking at, so the fact that he’s mentioned it at all has to mean something, right?” She glances up at me, and I shrug.

The truth is, I’ve had zero input on anything Esme house-related, which is a dick move on my part. “I should’ve been more involved.”

Jamie doesn’t respond. Instead, she leads me through a small alleyway between two houses and takes a left until we get to an empty lot on a slight incline. She walks to the highest point and sits down, facing the houses opposite.

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