Page 14 of Pick Me
“Meaning you’ll make aneffortto be nice?” he demanded. “Which is different from not actively being a dick?”
Webb was staring at me, too, with one eyebrow raised, like if I said no, he’d want to know why. “Yeah, okay,” I said grudgingly.
“And you’ll be approachable and talkative? You’ll ask him how his day is going and make him feel welcome?”
I envisioned a scenario where I actuallyaskedGoodman to tell me the random trivia about his day, which was akin toaskingsomeone to slap you repeatedly.
“I said yes. He’ll be my new BFF, okay? We’ll do each other’s hair and tell secrets.” We absolutely wouldnot, but Hawk was right. Being rude to Goodman was uncalled for when my main complaint against him was that he was illogically appealing and my inability to ignore him was driving me insane. “Seriously. I’ll apologize to him today, okay?”
“Good,” Hawk said firmly.
But then a deep voice behind us said, “Hey, Webb,” and Hawk nearly jumped out of our booth.
Webb grinned and held out a hand to the owner of the voice, a guy about my height and build, with light hair and blue eyes.
“Jack! How’s it going, man?”
“No complaints.” Jack shrugged as he shook Webb’s hand and smiled, which turned his face from fairly good-looking to genuinely handsome. Deep creases at the corner of his eyes suggested he smiled often.
Honestly, a man could do a lot worse than being set up with Jack…ifa man were in the market for a hookup, which I wasnot.
Especially not in the Hollow.
“Did you need me to do something, Jack?” Hawk’s brown eyes went wide, and he set his palms flat on the table like he was ready to abandon his lunch if his boss needed him.
Jack put a restraining hand on Hawk’s shoulder. “No way, dude. It’s your break. Besides, I need to feed my right-hand man so he doesn’t collapse on me, eh?” He shook the shoulder under his hand, and his friendly gaze swung to me. “Knox. Hey. How’s it going?”
I nodded in acknowledgement. Then, remembering Webb’s warning to be sociable, I added, “Good. Yeah. Nice to see you. I, uh… I like your wainscoting.” Never let it be said that I wasn’t suave.
Jack grinned.
“Hawkins, move over here so Jack can sit by Knox,” Webb instructed.
All three of us stared at him. I maybe stared a little harder than the others.
“But… Can’t he sit next to you?” Hawk asked, bewildered.
“Hecould,” Webb shot back. “But there’s more room onthatside of the bench.”
Oh my God. Like sitting next to the guy was going to make me want to jump his bones or vice versa?
Stop it, I mouthed at him.
Jack took the seat next to Webb, across from Hawk. “So, Knox, how do you like being back in the Hollow?”
Not a question I was ever going to answer honestly. “It’s great,” I said. “Fine.”
“He’s spent the last couple months working on the books all by himself, even on the weekends, poor guy—” Webb said sadly.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not an abandoned puppy, Webb.”
“Still,” Jack said kindly. “That’s dedication.”
“He’ssodedicated.Toodedicated,” Webb said in that same sad,terriblevoice that made me wish the idiot would go back to forcing us to talk about our feelings. “Especially when he’d much rather be…hiking.”
Hawk and I stared at Webb like he was insane—I hadn’t hiked since I was a Cub Scout, which had been long before Hawk evenexisted—but Jack’s face broke into a cheerful smile.
“Oh, cool. I love hiking, too. Hawk and I have gone out together a time or ten, haven’t we, Hawk?” I felt Jack’s booted foot tap Hawk’s under the table companionably. “We’ve done Tremblay Peak. The J. Arthur Trail. Montagusset…”
