Page 28 of Don't Bet On It
Rex choked on a laugh. “Oh, you sweet summer child. That is not the way it works.”
“Of course it is.” Zach wasn’t having it. “I’m the father. I’m responsible for half of my daughter’s genes. That means I get a fifty-percent say in what happens.”
“So cute.” Rex grabbed his best friend’s cheek and gave it a good jiggle. “That’s not how it works. Do you want to know why? I’ll tell you why.” He glanced at me. Did he think I wanted to know why?
Oh, hell, I kind of did want to know. “Why?” I asked because it seemed like the answer he was looking for.
“Because women have to push our big-headed babies out of their loins.”
Zach looked horrified. “You did not just say the word loins.”
“I did, and it was the correct word,” Rex said. “They push children out of their loins, and according to Ruby, they all have big heads, whether they really have big heads or not.”
“That’s crap,” Zach argued. “Just because they push them out, that doesn’t mean they get to make all the decisions.” He looked to me for solidarity. “Right?”
I felt caught. If these guys were guilty of running a scam on me, they were very good at it. They didn’t act like they were messing with me. No, they acted as if they were two guys talking about their families.
What the hell was their game? Unless they didn’t have a game. “I think if a woman pushes my kid out, I’m probably going to err on the side of caution and give her whatever she wants,” I replied finally, which was the truth.
Rex frowned. “That’s such a girl thing to say.”
I arched a challenging eyebrow. “Do you say things like that in front of your fiancée?”
“I’m not afraid of her.” Rex looked around, as if trying to ascertain if Ruby had appeared out of nowhere to eavesdrop. “She doesn’t frighten me.”
“Right.” I shook my head. “Personally, I find women to be terrifying.” I hesitated then decided to go for it. “Like Tallulah. She seems to have it in for me.”
Zach glanced over at me. “Why do you think that?”
I shrugged. “She just has attitude whenever she’s around me.” It was a test to see how they would react.
“I’m pretty sure you make her nervous,” Zach replied. “That’s the feeling I get anyway.” He gave me a serious look. “What’s your history with her?”
The question threw me. “I’m not sure what you mean. We don’t have a history.”
“You went to high school together.”
“You went to high school with us too,” I pointed out.
“Yes, but we were older.” He jerked a thumb at Rex. “We weren’t interested in what you guys were doing.” He cocked his head. “Did you two date?”
I snorted, then caught myself. “We most certainly did not date.”
“What about some under-the-bleachers action?” Rex asked.
“What is ‘under-the-bleachers action’?”
“You know. You sweet-talk a pretty young thing and get her to go under the bleachers with you. Then you see which base you can get her to.”
I didn’t know how to respond.
“Wow,” Zach said. “You’re like a walking red flag, aren’t you?”
Rex gave him a haughty look. “It’s always with their consent. The bleachers are a great place to get a quick feel in before a dance or something, though.”
“I didn’t spend a lot of time under the bleachers in high school,” I replied dryly. “I also didn’t go to a lot of dances.” I hesitated. “That was just never really my thing.” It wasn’t my thing because of the anxiety I’d felt when I thought about it too much. I’d gotten over a lot of my issues—or, at least, some of my issues—but back then I’d been a great big ball of worry. That was why I’d gotten into art in the first place. It relaxed me.
“Well, I don’t know what the issue is with Tallulah,” Zach said. “She doesn’t really talk about you.”
