Page 40 of Moonshot

Opening my chair and sitting down beside him, I unzip the cooler and hand both of the guys a fresh one. I’m glad fate intervened, and I stopped on the way here. There’s no way my provisions would have been enough for three people without grabbing a few more.

As I pop the cap off of my beer, I notice Zach and Trevor clinking beer bottles together. “Did I miss something?”

“Nah. Trevor’s already got one foot out the door. He’s moving to North Carolina.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s there?”

“A new life,” he answers flatly, taking a swig from the amber bottle.

I’m afraid to dig any deeper on this, so decide to focus on getting my line ready to cast.

“Trevor’s ex did a number on him,” Zach mutters under his breath. “You know how that goes.”

“Man, that sucks. Had you guys been together long?”

“Couple of years. I thought she was the one, man. Dropped by the house one day to grab something. I’d been on shift all day and needed to get an assignment I was working on for a class I was taking. Guess since we work twenty-four-hour shifts, she didn’t think there was a chance she’d get caught.”

“Oh, fuck,” I utter.

“Who knows how long it’d been going on. I went to work and never gave it a second thought that she’d be two-timing me. I should’ve known. Ashley’s gorgeous. She had men coming on to her everywhere we went. I’ve learned the hard way. Only date down.”

“What do you mean, date down?”

“She was a fucking ten, man. I’m not a bad-looking guy, but I’m not dating anyone above a seven ever again.”

My eyes connect with Zach’s. All guys seem to think their girl is hotter than she really is.Well, except Ava.

“Nah, man. This girl was a ten. You know those billboards you pass when you go downtown. The ones with the girl wearing the big ass rock on her finger for Carlson’s Jewelry?”

“Yeah?”

“That’s her.”

“Holy shit.” I guess she is a ten. “I’m sorry, Trevor. I know that has to suck.”

“Yeah. I was completely in love with her. But her damn face is everywhere in this town. I can’t get away from it. Every time I drive by that fucking billboard, I want to hurl something at the damn thing.”

“Do you have family in North Carolina?”

“Nope. I grew up here.”

“He got a job with the fire department there. He’s going to be living the mountain life,” Zach says, looking almost envious. “Sycamore Mountain. Has a nice ring to it.”

“Well, I have a funny feeling that place is more suited to loners like you,” Trevor adds. “I’m not looking to date again, but hell, I don’t want to have to drive an hour to get some pus-”

“Ah, you got one, I say, tipping my beer toward Trevor’s line.”

Damn fish probably felt sorry for the loser. He probably threw himself on the hook all Hari-kari to make him feel better.

“What the fuck ever, Zach.” As Trevor struggles to reel in his catch, I have to fight not falling off of my chair when the tiny spot fish that could fit in his hand breaks through the water. He’d been working so hard to pull the thing in I expected to see a largemouth bass on the other end.

“Awe, isn’t he cute?” Zach chuckles. “Catch ten more, and you can serve it up on a cracker.”

Trevor removes the sorry excuse for a fish and quickly tosses him back in the water.

“Sorry, man. About the girl. And the fish.” I take another gulp of my beer and decide to join the He-Man Woman Haters Club. “If it’s any consolation, I know how you feel. The only difference being, we’d only been going out for a little while. But I was all in, man. I thought this girl was it for me.”

“Bitches, man. I’m not going down that road again. Zach here has it all figured out,” Trevor says.

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