Page 11 of I Hate You More

Thethan, in this instance, was a vague wave of Spencer’s hand in her direction. Ruby interpreted it as she was sure it was intended—which was to say, the total summation of her exterior parts, everything she was and, in the eyes of the world, all she’d ever be.

The last of her self-restraint, never her greatest asset in the first place, gave way. Okay, so she might not have done much with her lifeyet, but this old dog had a few tricks left in her.

“For your information, beauty pageants are about a lot more thanthis.” She made a similar gesture over herself. “They’re hard work, incredibly competitive, and neither of you would last five minutes on one of those stages. It takes more stamina and drive than you can imagine—years of training, rigorous travel schedules, tens of thousands of dollars, and that’s just at the amateur level. The women who compete professionally would crush you—literally. If they didn’t tear you to pieces verbally within five minutes, they could put you between their rock-hard thighs and squeeze until you begged for release.”

Spencer’s mouth fell slightly open, but she wasn’t done yet. It was one thing for Caleb to look at her and assume she was a piece of meat to be picked up; it was quite another for Spencer to look at her and assume she was a piece of meat to be pickedapart. Both brothers were deeply, categorically wrong, but only one of them was insulting the very essence of her being.

“Now. In case either of you has forgotten, I’m here as a paying client.” She nodded at Caleb. “I have a dog in need of training and a check in my purse for your full fee. Are you prepared to start acting like a professional pageant coach, or am I going to have to find someone else to take your place? Because I can tell you right now that I know what a pageant coach should be able to do. And you, my friend, are not living up to expectation.”

Caleb’s response was a deep, rumbling laugh. “Oh, this is going to be good,” he said with a shake of his head and a grin at his brother. “We’re only ten minutes in, and it’s already the most fun I’ve had in months.”

* * *

There were serious disadvantages to sharing a house with a man who took up as much space—physically and metaphorically—as Caleb. Caleb was messy. Caleb was loud. He blended frozen margaritas at two o’clock in the morning and snored on the couch louder than any human being had a right to. He never did his laundry and was happy to go days without taking a shower. It was like living with a man-sized toddler deep in the throes of his terrible twos.

Then again, it wasn’t always so bad.

“Wait… I’m confused. You mean you literally can’t cross over this line?” Ruby stood in the middle of the living room, her legs straddling the duct tape that divided Spencer’s one-bedroom home in half. It had taken quite a bit of argument and mediation before they’d been able to agree on a division of assets, but the result was an equitable one. Outside, Caleb had the garage and driveway, while Spencer had to make do with the back deck and a small space to park his truck. Inside, Caleb was sole possessor of the kitchen and most of the living room, but Spencer had access to his bedroom and the bathroom.

As far as Spencer was concerned, he had the better bargain—life without a bathroom and regular access to the washer and dryer was inhuman. From the way Ruby’s nose wrinkled as she took in the sight of Caleb’s dirty clothes strewn about, most of which were hanging from various pieces of furniture, Spencer assumed she agreed.

“You do this on purpose? Every single day?” She glanced back and forth between them. Spencer would have gnawed off his own arm rather than admit it, but she looked really good in scrubs. She also looked as tired as he felt, her hair in a loose ponytail and her eyeliner starting to smudge. Caleb might have spent the better part of his day playing video games on the couch, but he and Ruby had both worked full shifts like the functional adults they were.

It went a long way in making him regret that earlier remark about her being a doctor. He hadn’t meant to sound so judgmental, but it was too late to back down now. Besides, he wasn’t sure he wanted to. Things were better this way.

If that woman hadanyidea what kind of power she had, this dog show would be over before it began. Ships had been launched for a face like that. Entire kingdoms lost. Add in the fact that she was a doctor with a laugh like honey and a tongue like a sword, and Spencer didn’t stand a chance.

And if the expression on his brother’s face was anything to go by, neither did he.

“Well, I don’t know that I’d say I live this way onpurpose, but yes.” For once in his life, Caleb seemed ashamed of his lifestyle. He started sweeping up his clothes and shoving them into the black plastic bag in one corner that served as his dresser and laundry hamper all in one. “Sorry it’s such a mess. Spencer has all the closet space.”

Considering that Caleb had the kitchen cupboards and the coat closet, this wasn’t even a little bit true, but Spencer wasn’t going to squabble. He was going to go to his room and leave these two to their business. He might have allowed Caleb to pick up Ruby as a client, but that was where all affiliations stopped. The dog training had nothing to do with him. He was just Caleb’s roommate, an unfortunate bystander, a—

“What happens if one of you crosses over?” Ruby turned in a circle, her movements slow and deliberate. “Do you immediately implode or something?”

“Ask Spencer,” Caleb said. “He was in the middle of his payment when you pulled up. Speaking of, I think you still owe me about thirty push-ups.”

Against his better judgment, Spencer allowed himself to be pulled into the conversation. If he left Caleb to tell the story unchecked, there was a good chance Ruby would dislike him even more than she already did.

Which, to be fair, was his own fault, but what else could he do? Instead of accepting Ruby’s payment and getting to work like a normal human being, Caleb had insisted that the dogs needed half an hour alone in the backyard to get to know each other—and then invited her in for a drink. Spencer had enough of a handle on himself to accept Ruby as a client of Caleb’s, to catch the occasional glimpse of them putting Wheezy through his paces in the backyard, but he could not, would not,darenot be drawn into more than that.

He wasn’t going to be part of some twisted triangle involving his brother. He already knew how that story would end.

“Our system is basically a monetary one,” Spencer explained. “Anyone who crosses over the line has to pay the other one off, kind of like putting money in a swear jar. Except we have the option to do physical tasks instead of payouts.”

“Physical tasks? You mean like push-ups? That’s what you were doing out there? Payout push-ups?”

Spencer felt himself starting to grow hot around the ears. When put into words like that—or at all—it sounded ridiculous, but they had to have some kind of system in place. Otherwise, his brother would take over everything.

The house, the yard, hisdog. For as long as Spencer could remember, everything he loved eventually found its way into Caleb’s hands. When he’d spent a year as an exchange student living abroad, Caleb had shown up with a backpack and a forged passport to accompany him. When he’d announced his intention of starting a dog show, Caleb had taken up professional dog-show training.

And he wasn’t even going tothinkabout what happened when Caleb had been arrested for running an online gambling website and used his one phone call to beg Spencer to bail him out. The evidence of that was clear.

“I know how it looks, but it’s not what you think,” Spencer said.

“Well, don’t let me stop you.” Ruby made a gesture toward Spencer’s feet. He was standing in his half of living room, which was more of a walkway than an actual living space, but there was plenty of room for an impromptu workout. “If you have a debt of honor outstanding, I think you should pay it.”

“Yeah, Spencer,” Caleb chimed in. “You should always pay your debts.”