“How’s she doing?” Callie asked.
“She said her head’s spinning and she’s decided that we should have four more kids.”
Grease made a show of looking at his bare wrist like it had a watch on it. “Yeah, it’s Molly-wasted-o’clock.”
“I swear to God, the next person who gives her booze is getting waterboarded,” Will said with a huff.
“Weren’t you the one supplying the—” Hawk’s words cut off as Tommy slapped his hand over her mouth.
“Let’s not poke the Moose, huh?” he said, kissing the side of her head with a loud smacking noise. “He’s already not getting laid tonight. No need to add insult to injury.”
“Real nice, asshole,” Will muttered, reaching over to steal his little sister’s beer.
“Hey,” Rose whined.
“I know you all want to finish the story,” Amy said above the bickering. “But I’m worn out. How about we finish this tomorrow?”
There was some good-natured grumbling as my pop helped Amy to her feet, but no one seriously complained. Secretly, I was relieved that we were taking a break. I wanted to hear what happened next, but I knew that if Vera’s story was anything like the stories of the women around the table, it wasn’t going to get any easier. Even though I knew that Slider and Vera ended up together, I still needed a bit of a breather before I heard any more about their complicated courtship.
“Don’t forget to take your pills tonight,” I murmured as I hugged my pop goodnight.
“Such a worrier,” he teased, kissing my cheek. “I’ll take my pills like a good lad.”
“I’ll be really pissed if you wake up dead tomorrow because you don’t take this shit seriously,” I replied, feeling really raw all of a sudden.
“I’ll make sure he takes them,” Amy said soothingly.
“You’re not any better,” I replied. “Blood pressure medicine can’t be replaced by holistic bullshit and essential oils.”
“And that’s our cue to hit the hay,” Dragon said, throwing his arm over my shoulders. “Sleep good, you two.”
Remorse hit before we’d even reached Dragon’s room. I shouldn’t have said anything. No matter how much I hated that my pop and Amy were so cavalier about taking care of themselves, they were still adults and I’d acted like a bitch.
“Hope you got that attitude under control,” Dragon said as he shut us into his room. “Cause I’m not dealin’ with that shit tonight.”
“I’ll have all the attitude I want,” I replied, scoffing. “You might be president in this clubhouse, but I can still walk my ass home.”
“I’d like to see you try,” he said, sitting on the edge of the bed. He laughed as he pulled off his boots. “Hell, might be fun to chase ya. Go on, I’ll give you a thirty second head start.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I grumbled, pulling my sweater over my head and tossing it into the laundry bag we used whenever we stayed overnight. “I’m too tired.”
“You need to cut your dad some slack,” he said as he got undressed. “You know his memory ain’t like it used to be.”
“He can’t remember to take his medicine, but he had no problem remembering a story he’d heard second hand years ago,” I said under my breath.
“You’re jealous,” Dragon said.
“About what?” I asked, rolling my eyes. “That’s ridiculous.”
“I think I can tell what you look like when you’re jealous,” he replied, stepping in behind me to unclasp my bra. “Guess Amy’s lucky you didn’t knock her ass out.”
“Oh, shut it,” I said, letting the bra drop. “That happened once.”
“It made an impression,” he said, teasingly.
“I’m not jealous.” Shaking my head I walked toward the bathroom.
“Amy was Vera’s best friend,” he called as I started brushing my teeth. “Makes sense she’d tell her about how she met Slider.”
I sighed as I walked back to the doorway between the rooms. “And she couldn’t tell me?” I asked around my toothbrush. “That’s bullshit.”
“The girls know a hell of a lot more about us than Trix,” he said, rationally. Too rationally, the ass.
“Amy wasn’t even around for thirty years,” I said, wiping at my chin as toothpaste dribbled out of my mouth.
“Doesn’t matter,” Dragon said as I stomped back to the sink. “You know that.”
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” I said as I flicked the light off.
“I need to get in there,” he said, his voice laced with amusement, which just irritated me more.
“Fine,” I bitched, smacking at the light switch.
“I coulda turned it back on myself,” he murmured as he slid past me, his lips twitching.
I ignored him as I gathered his clothes off the floor and tossed them in the laundry. Even after all the years we’d lived together, the man still didn’t pick up his laundry. I considered it an even trade, since he did fix shit around the house and kept my car running, but I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as I turned his socks right side out.