Page 43 of Dark

I snorted, which earned me a glare from Brody. Because apparently body shaming for dogs was a thing now, too.

I held up my hands. “Talk to his dealer.”

Cal flipped me off. The malnourished eighty-pound canine in question flopped down beside his chair, tail sweeping oak leaves this way and that.

From the day he brought Major home from the shelter in an old grapefruit box, Brody got it in his head The Great Snowy Menace had the makings of a K9 officer dog. Don’t get me wrong. I’d watched Major let little kids yank his ears in the checkout line at PetCity without batting a paw. He was ready at the door with his leash to follow my brother on his runs every day whether it was a hundred degrees out or sleeting. I would have pet-sat for him any day over West’s spoiled-ass guinea pigs who chattered and gave you side-eye if you didn’t bring them the right vegetables. Because, first world problems. But about the only job they were going to have Major doing down at the station was swiffering the floors.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

WillKillforThinMints: You’re a dork

And a picture of the post-it I’d stuck in her pocket, two black wolves with a basket of chocolate muffins between them.

WillKillforThinMints: And I’m getting this as a tramp stamp

Me: Then I’ll just start laughing every time you…

WillKillforThinMints: Be very careful how you finish that sentence

Me: ...bend over to clean out the grinders

WillKillforThinMints: And you know I totally check out your ass every time you pull espresso

Me: You have a dirty mind

Me: and stop trying to give me wood

Over at the grill, Dallas tossed the tongs like a conductor holding a baton, the smell of homemade sausage wafting towards us.

“How’s the restaurant?” I said to his back.

The patio went so quiet you would have thought I just ripped one in church. Dallas slammed the grill, turning to face me. He and Brody favored Ben the most, both tall, blue-eyed and fair, but where Brody buzzed his hair short every Saturday night like clockwork, Dallas returned from his four-year stint in Canada with a man bun that would have rivaled David Beckham’s and hadn’t looked back since.

“We pretending now you give a shit about anything I do?”

At Cal’s feet, Major cocked his ears.

“What crawled up your ass and died?”

Brody pitched his bottle cap at the trash barrel and missed. “Ladies, do we have to do this today?”

“Food’s ready anyway.” Grabbing a fresh beer, Dallas stalked into the house.

Brody cleared his throat. “You need to lay off.”

“The hell? All I said was—"

“I get it. But he’s pissed about the whole Lacey thing.”

“They were never even together. It was one freaking night back in high school.”

Cal scrubbed a hand over his beard. “It’s complicated for him when it comes to her—”

“—which you damn well should have thought about before sticking your dick in the middle of things,” Brody finished.

“All I asked was how the restaurant is doing.”

“And what I’m saying is don’t start shit.”