Desired (Wanted 6)

“Long day for you too?” I asked.

“Nah, just issues at home, that’s all.”

“Your hot sister you won’t let us near giving you hell?” Josh asked.

“Fuck you, Hayes. You ever come within three feet of my sister, Ellie, and I’ll crack your skull open and eat your brains.”

Josh and I both snarled our lips.

“Goddamn. You give new meaning to the words protective brother,” Josh finally said with a laugh.

I’d only ever seen Ellie from a distance. Jeff had put one picture of her out once when we’d first moved in together. I made one comment about how cute she was, and that was it. No more pictures of Ellie. No meeting Ellie, no being home when she stopped by the house. She was off-limits. Ellie did, however, glance up at me from the front porch of her mom’s house a few weeks back. The only thing I could remember were her eyes. Her blue eyes haunted me for a few days after that.

I shook my head to erase the memory and pulled out my phone. I sniffed the air and frowned. Taking in a few more sniffs, I asked, “What in the hell is that smell?”

Josh followed and jerked his head back. “Smells like dog shit.”

Jeff lifted one foot and then the other. “Ah, damn it. I must have stepped in it.”

He got up from the table and headed outside.

“Where’s he going? Leaving?” Patty asked as she set down our drinks.

“Stepped in dog shit again.”

She rolled her eyes. “He want his usual, ya think?”

“Yeah, I’m sure he does,” Josh answered.

Jeff’s beer was waiting for him when he walked back in. He must have walked to his truck and changed into his sneakers because the awful smell was gone.

“Dude, as long as you’ve been volunteering at the shelter, when will you learn not to step in shit?” I asked as Jeff sat.

Jeff had been volunteering at the Town Lake Animal Shelter for a while now. I hadn’t ever really known him to love dogs, and I had a feeling there was a girl behind it, but I never pushed it and asked.

“I took four dogs for a walk on the trail. Do you know how many women that attracts? I have a harder time trying to control them than I do the dogs!”

Josh and I both laughed.

“What is it with women lately? One lady actually grabbed my ass before she took off running again. One tried to give me her number to take her dog for a walk, and another asked me if I took care of pussies . . . as in pussycats!” Jeff frowned. “At least I think that’s what she was talking about. Hell, I’m not even sure anymore.”

We lost it laughing again.

Josh shook his head. “Trust me, dude. She wasn’t talking about her cat!”

Patty came back over to get our order. Once she walked away, I let out a sigh and said, “I’d rather have some hot jogger hit on me than a bunch of moms.”

“At it again, are they?” Jeff asked with a wide smile.

I shook my head. “They talk like I’m not within earshot. I don’t get it. One asked me if I would please start wearing baseball pants to practice . . . with her husband standing right there! Of course his nose was buried in his phone, and he didn’t hear a damn thing she said.”

“Are any of them good-looking?” Josh asked after taking a bite of his burger.

I half shrugged. “Yeah, some are pretty hot actually.”

“They’re lonely; clearly their husbands don’t give a shit about them . . . Flirt back with them, but don’t fuck ’em,” Josh stated.