"Think my man wouldn"t be too happy about that," I returned an understatement. "But you gotta know, I am happy with my guy, so no offense to you and your offer, but I"m good where I"m at."
"You sure you wouldn"t wanna take a shot at better?" he pushed.
Him? Better?
He"d been watching but had he actually seen Merry?
"Got a good thing," I said softly, hoping to get through and get this a.s.shole away from me. "Been waitin" for it a long time. It"s good for me. It"s good for my kid. No way I"m gonna f.u.c.k that up. You with me?"
Not that I"d even consider it with him.
Then again, I wouldn"t consider it with anybody...but Merry.
He studied me.
I let him.
When I was about to quit letting him, thankfully, he nodded.
"I"m with you, babe. I hear that. But I"m two doors down, you know? s.h.i.t happens with that dude, he doesn"t look after you, there"s always a cold one waitin" for you just down the street."
I had a feeling he didn"t know what looking after a woman meant.
And I was never going to find out.
"Thanks, that"s sweet," I lied.
He smiled.
He had good teeth, but I knew that was all that was good about him.
"You ever need anyone to look after your boy, I"m around a lot." He kept smiling. "And I like kids."
And that was never going to happen.
"That"s sweet too," I lied again.
"Just so you know, in case s.h.i.t goes south, I can be all kinds of sweet."
How was he not getting the hint?
"Noted," I murmured.
He kept smiling. "Later, babe."
"Right. Later."
He did a slow turn, doing it watching me.
I did a quick turn and hoofed it to my house.
Once I got inside, I finished my text to Merry and hit send.
Ethan"s all good and you"re all kinds of sweet.
And that was no lie.
The second after I sent that, I went to my Contacts and found what I needed.
I put my phone to my ear and got Ryker"s voicemail.
I waited for the beep and shared, "My d.i.c.khead neighbor just asked me out. He took no for an answer, but that didn"t stop him from pushin" it and bein" chatty. Since it"s flyin" through the "burg, you gotta know Merry and me sorted things out. If you don"t want Merry breathin" down your neck on this, or wadin" in and committing felonies when the bada.s.s is unleashed, you need to do whatever it is you"re doin" and you need to do it quick. My neighbor is watchin", that watchin" he"s doin" is watchin" me, and if Merry cottons on to that, all holy h.e.l.l is gonna break loose."
I got a beep to tell me I got a text before I finished my message, so when I was done, I went right there to see the text from Merry.
Late lunch. You and me. Frank"s. You good for 2:00?
I had early shifts that week.
But I"d go to the moon at any time he wanted to have lunch with Merry.
In other words, I was good with anything.
You"re on, I told him.
Text me with your order sometime between then and now. I"ll call it in before we go so you"ll get out in time.
He thought of everything.
Thanks, baby.
Anything, brown eyes.
I drew in a deep breath.
Yeah.
f.u.c.k yeah.
I had a good thing.
Sit tight. Be smart. And don"t jack s.h.i.t up.
That text was not from Merry.
That text was a poorly timed incoming from Ryker while I was sitting across from Merry at Frank"s with a breaded tenderloin sandwich in front of me.
Get a move on, but now, shut up. I"m with Merry, I returned.
"Who"s that?" Merry asked, lifting his Reuben and the inevitable happening, considering it was a Reuben a la Frank, shoved full of corned beef and sauerkraut, which meant a huge glob of it fell out before Merry even got it to his mouth.
I tossed my phone in my purse and ignored his question.
"You should know this, actually bein" from the "burg and all, but you gotta eat a Reuben a la Frank with a fork," I educated him.
"Women eat sandwiches with forks," he replied to me. "Men make a mess and don"t give a f.u.c.k."
I couldn"t argue his point, so I didn"t. I took a bite of my sandwich.
I did it hoping Merry wouldn"t press me about who was texting me.
I also did it uncomfortable because I was no relationship expert, but one thing I did know: a surefire way to f.u.c.k one up was keeping something important from the other person. In fact, I was pretty sure keeping anything from the other person wasn"t a good thing.
Merry might not need me to share every piece of information about myself.
I just knew if he asked, I should be open to sharing.
Including whoever texted.
Especially if it was about some trouble Ryker was involved in that was happening right on my street.
I"d felt Merry gearing up to go apes.h.i.t. That feeling let loose where he actually lost it, that would be a bad thing. So I knew Ryker was not wrong.
I just hoped whatever he was up to, he"d deal with it and do it in a way so Merry never knew I even had an inkling.
And worse, didn"t share.
"It good, babe?" he asked.
I focused on Merry and not my thoughts. I did this chewing and realized he was asking about my sandwich.
"Yeah," I answered before I asked, "You gonna let me buy lunch?"
"Women argue with their girls about who"s buyin" lunch," he stated. "A man takes his woman to lunch, he pays."
I was glad he seemed to have forgotten about the texts.
But I was still uncomfortable about it.
I lifted my brows. "Is that a bada.s.s rule?"
"Nope. One of the commandments," he returned immediately.
"You sign those in blood?" I asked.
"Yup," he answered. "Though not ours. The man whose a.s.s we kicked to earn membership in the brotherhood."
"Sorry I missed the initiation ritual," I said through a smile before taking another bite.
"It was quite the show, baby."
I chewed and did it still smiling.
Merry took another bite and lost another quarter of filling.
I swallowed so I could laugh without choking.
I did it thinking, this is how it feels...happy.
Outside many miraculous moments with my son, which were all about lucking out by having a kid as awesome as Ethan, I had no clue.
I had no clue just sitting across from the guy who did it for you at a booth in a diner could make you so...f.u.c.king...happy.
But it did because that was what I felt, sitting with Merry, trading smarta.s.s back and forth, and eating fantastic sandwiches.
Just that.
And that"s all I felt.
f.u.c.king happy.
"s.h.i.t."
It was Wednesday evening. Darryl was behind the bar with me. He was yanking out the bins full of recyclables in order to clean them out.
When he cursed, I looked to him to see he was bent to his task but his head was tipped back, his eyes were at the front of the bar, and his face was set to displeased.
I looked that way and felt my body get tight.
She"d timed it meticulously. I was a chick so I knew that to be true. Just after six on a weekday, the bar was full of patrons who wanted to get loose after their day by throwing back a drink.
She was there at that moment because she wanted an audience. She wanted people to know she"d thrown down with me. She might even be wanting to save face.
And if she thought Merry was testing her, she wanted that s.h.i.t to get back to Merry.
As for me, I was p.i.s.sed she was there. I was p.i.s.sed she was there with her eyes locked to me and her expression telling me where this was going. I was p.i.s.sed she was bringing this to my place of work.
But I was also curious.
Not only at what she was going to say but because Tanner Layne was there to witness it. Tanner was sitting at the end of the bar in what looked to be a debrief work huddle with his buddy Devin.
They"d both been in since things with Merry and me started officially (and even when it was unofficial). I knew they both knew what was going on, Tanner probably more than anybody.
But in that time, they hadn"t treated me any differently.