Page 34 of Imperfection is Beauty

Marcus nodded, then said, “Pleasure to meet y’all.”

I smiled and gestured to the open seat at my side, “Want to sit down?”

He nodded, then took a seat, and I swear I tried not to react when the chair groaned under his weight.

He caught my look, shook his head, and said, “Go ahead, you can say it.”

I pretended to look at him as if I had no clue. “What are you talking about?”

He chuckled, “You want to be nice and not say I’m a big bastard, that’s okay with me.”

Grinning, I winked at him and then leaned closer, dropped my voice to a whisper, and asked, “How are you feeling?”

He nodded, “Better. All fucking healed.”

I nodded right back, “Yeah, that’s great. You're going to have to be one hundred and ten percent healed when you face off against Palmer in a few weeks.”

I realized I just told him I watched him play football.

Before Marcus or I could do or say anything to that, even though I saw he wanted to, I heard Betty whisper, “This… He looks so much different up close.”

I shook my head and then wanted to bang it on the table.

“You talk about me?” he asked with a small smile teetering on his lips.

I glared at him, “Please take the remote, hit rewind, and then hit the forget button. Can you do that for me?”

He nodded, then said, “Make you a deal.”

I breathed out, sighed, and said, “What is it with you and your deals?”

He winked, “Cause they’re good deals.”

Knowing he was more than likely right, I shook my head and said, “Name it.”

“Give me your phone number,” and then, like the klutz I was, I simply stared.

He waited.

Betty waited.

Red waited.

But I was frozen in my seat.

Did he? Did… did he really just ask me for my phone number?

When I didn’t respond, Betty started laughing her ass off. Holding her stomach, she wiped her tears away and then, once she had herself under control, smiled at Marcus, “Forgive her. Her number is…”

Marcus winked at me and then put my number in his phone.

Then he tapped some buttons.

That was when my phone lit up atop the table.

Unknown –You’re fucking adorable.

Grinning like the weirdo I was, I tagged my phone and then typed out a message of my own.

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