Page 39 of Payback
“Well, of course you’re a lass,” Mac laughs and then moves his hands to gesture toward Freya’s ample breasts. “You can’t have a chest like that and have any doubt on the matter. Am I right, lad?”
Mac waits expectantly for me to confirm his assessment while I do my best to look invisible.
“What?” he asks, diverting his attention from me to Freya, who’s glowering up at him. “It’s a compliment. I just meant that since you’re a woman, you might have some advice!”
Freya slowly pulls the pin from her mouth. “I’m holding a needle and thread here, Maclay.” She narrows her eyes at him. “And I’m a very skilled seamstress, so I’m quite certain that if you decide to talk about my breasts like that again, I could artfully stitch you in a place you’d never want to be stitched.”
Mac’s face contorts in fear. “Noted. Sorry about that.”
She exhales and turns her focus to me. “Look, I don’t know Allie that well, or you for that matter, but two years is plenty of time to get over a breakup. Even the worst breakup of all time.”
“So that must mean there’s something that is causing her to stop the momentum between us,” I reply with a huff. “Because it’s clear she likes me. Every time I’m near her, she looks like she wants to devour my face, which I wouldn’t mind.”
Mac leers over at me with a look of solidarity while Freya’s nose wrinkles. She clears her throat and replies, “I don’t know what she wants to do to your face, but if you want to know what the real problem is, ask her when she’s at ease and relaxed. Maybe over a glass of wine. The truth always comes out of me whenever a tiny bit of alcohol is involved, whether it’s served in a kitten coffee mug or not.”
She begins fussing with Mac’s shirt again but then turns to point a finger at me. “Just don’t take advantage of her when she’s drinking. That would make you a bigger pig than this sorry lad, and I promise you that I can get a hold of something much bigger than a needle and thread to make you pay.”
I lift my hands up in surrender and turn in my chair to contemplate her surprising advice. In order to be around Allie when she’s drinking, we’d have to be in a social setting where she feels comfortable. Probably with her family. And odds are I’m not going to be invited to any Harris family gatherings anytime soon. I exhale heavily over the fact that figuring out Allie Harris is proving to be more difficult than figuring out her cousin Tanner.
