Page 16 of Prickly Pair
“Are you okay?” I blurted out.
Austin reeled back like I’d stung him. “What?”
“You look exhausted.”
His throat worked and he looked away from me, his cheeks turning even redder. “Fuck off, Nick.”
I frowned. Usually he was a better sparring partner than this. A “fuck off” didn’t really count as us arguing. Not that I wanted to argue. I just expected more after so long, and especially since he clearly wanted Evie for himself too.
“Have all these years turned you soft?” I asked him.
“Fuckoff.”
I wasn’t above dueling him for her. I wasn’t above sharing either—I just knew Austin would probably never be okay with that.
Would be a lot more fun if he was, though. Dick.
The door burst open and two women stepped inside. One had dark brown hair with blue streaks, and the other had bright pink hair like a rose. And very cool tattoos.
The one with pink hair came to the counter and slammed her hands down.
“Where is she? Where is Evie?” she demanded. Her eyes flickered to the carrier on top of the counter. “Oh my god, is that a cat?”
“That’s Lucky,” I said proudly.
“June,” Austin sighed, his demeanor instantly softening. “Matthew took her to the hospital.”
“What the fuck even happened?” the other woman growled. “Is this your fault?”
“What? No. Why in the hell would this be my fault?”
She narrowed her eyes on him. “I don’t know. You tell me.”
“Jesus fucking christ,” Austin sighed. “No, Avery, this isn’t my fault.”
Avery.I remembered her now. Austin’s younger sister. She didn’t have blue hair back then. And I vaguely remembered Junetoo, who definitely had bright hair back in the day, just not this shade of pink.
“The rack in the oven got stuck,” I piped in. “Evie tried to pull it out and caught it with her arm. She was burned, but the sexy and kind doctor took care of her, unlike this guy, who has consistently stressed all of us out by being a dick.”
“Fuck off,” Austin snarled at me. “I haven’t been a dick.”
“You pissed off like three customers.”
“I did not,” he protested. “I did not. The cat did. You’re a liar, per usual.”
“Lucky has sold more than you have simply by being a cat.”
Avery and June glanced at each other, then back at me. “How do you know Evie?” Avery asked. “Or did you just jump in to help?”
“I know her,” I said. “We went on a date a while back.”
June’s head immediately tilted, her eyes darting to Avery.Uh oh. Those two had a secret language, that much was clear. And suddenly, I was very much not sure I’d said the right thing.
“He’s the asshole who bought Old Tom’s property,” Austin said.
“Oh.” Avery made a noise, looking at June again. “Hmm. Interesting.”
June narrowed her eyes with a slow nod. “Okay. Yeah. Well, uh, you guys can go. Avery and I will get everything cleaned up and shut down. I know you have stuff to do, Austin.”
