Page 80 of The Bartender Special

And Jack bet Benny was about to stress about it.

He didn't like that.

No. Not one bit.

But he couldn’t stop the round.

“I wouldn't be excited about any of those truths,” Carol decided after a moment. “But I hope the shaved eyebrow one is the lie.”

Ruby agreed with her.

Marcus took a different approach.

“I'm going with getting locked in the bathroom and then busting down the door. I don't remember a story like that floating around town and I feel like someone would have talked about it.”

Felicity was waiting to answer. Benny must have known it. He answered with an air of defeat around his guess.

“I'm going with the eyebrow shaving. Seems like something more people would have heard about had it happened.”

He cut his gaze to Felicity and circumvented Jack's altogether.

Felicity was all smiles.

“No one ever threw a fork at you for heckling. Stanley threw a butter knife at you, and honestly, you deserved it.”

Jack had to nod.

“Wait, wait, wait.” Marcus waved his hands through the air. “You shaved someone's eyebrow at the bar?”

Felicity laughed.

“I told him not to do that too but, by God, he did it anyway!”

“In my defense, it was Dixon,” Jack had to clarify. “And, again in my defense, it was only after he stuck wax hair removal strips to my legs while I was sleeping. The only way to get them off was to yank them off. After that, I was swimmer smooth and hurting for some revenge.”

Everyone laughed, including Carol.

The humor didn’t last.

It was Benny's turn to play now.

And, with one look down at the dark-haired man, Jack knew he was one breath away from jumping ship.

* * *

It was a simple game with simple rules.

Two truths and a lie.

Easy peasy, lemon squeasy.

Benny felt like he was staring down the barrel of his first public speaking exam from college. All eyes were on him.

And he was naked.

His palms turned slick, flutters filled his chest, he noted all the exits—which was a body of water and not at all helpful—and before he opened his mouth to speak, he actively prayed his voice didn't wobble.

“And try to use something that you didn't post on the internet,” Carol said, pouncing first.