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Liam winced. “Oh God, tell me you did not bore the hot chick with a history lesson. She was just trying to get in your pants, mate.”
Jeremiah leveled him with a stare. “That’s not all there is to a woman.”
Liam waved his fork in a maybe so, maybe not gesture. “That woman, it’s debatable. The shirt she was wearing barely deserves the title. It was more like an extravagant bikini. And she was all but climbing your leg like a dog in heat while you were boring her with obscure English history.”
Isobel’s bagel popped. She took it and scraped a thin layer of cream cheese over it, then sat down at the table between Nicholas and Jeremiah. Reece and Liam were across the table from them.
Jeremiah was all out glaring now. “She gave me her number.”
Liam laughed. “Of course she did.” Liam leaned back in his chair, his hands behind his head. “The women in this town are all hard up and we’re fresh dick.” Then he winced and looked Isobel’s way. “No offense.”
She laughed and held her hands up. “None taken. Please, do continue with this fascinating argument. I feel it’s my duty to all womankind to hear you out.”
“Well, take a woman like your redhead. There are only so many options in a town this size. She starts out fucking high school boys. She’s what, twenty-two? Twenty-three? If she went to college, she might have gotten a taste for some good sex. Still, for whatever reason, she ended up back here. Or maybe she never went to college and has been here the whole time. Either way, all that sad high school dick is starting to get mighty old by now.”
He grinned wide and held his arms out. “Then we traipse in to town. A bunch of handsome bastards with our shiny new cocks. It's like when the carnival comes through town. They all want to take a ride.”
“And yet you went home all alone.” Jeremiah tapped his chin, pretending to be puzzled. “Shocking with such foolproof logic like that.”
Liam waved his hand dismissively. “I wasn’t putting any energy into it last night. I was just out to get ossified.”
“Ossi-what?” Reece asked.
Liam looked around the table, and seeing everyone’s bland expression, he clarified. “Ossified. Ya know—pissed. Smashed. Shit-faced. Twisted. Banjo’d.”
“Banjo’d?” Isobel laughed. “Oh my God, that’s my new favorite word for getting drunk.”
Liam just grinned. “See, the accent gets ‘em every time. If I’d wanted to get me hole last night, it wouldn’t a been a problem.”
“Get your hole?” Isobel choked, doubling over.
“Some of us are trying to eat a nice meal here,” Nicholas said, glaring over at Liam.
“Hey, I’m just giving my public what they demand,” Liam said.
Nicholas finished his toast and stood up. “Well what you ought to be doing is eating. The Dodgers Yankees game starts at 4:00.”
Liam rolled his eyes. “Whatever will I do if I miss the first quarter of a bunch of fat-arsed men standing around waiting for a ball to be thrown at them.”
Nicholas was not amused. “They’re innings. And I’d like to see you say that to Clayton Kershaw’s face while he pitches a ninety-five mile per hour fastball at you.”
“Why would I do that,” Liam pushed his chair back and stood, grinning a disingenuous smile, “when I could spend the day living the glamorous life style shoveling horse shit?”
“Oh right,” Reece said after he finished chugging the rest of his orange juice. “It’s compost day.”
“One thing I never thought about when I dreamed of working a horse ranch,” Liam shook his head, cringing, “was just how much actual shite was involved.”
Isobel’s nose scrunched too. She’d learned from the last ‘compost day’ that whoever was on compost duty ended smelling like, well, shit. How could they not, after hours spent in the compost shed raking the stuff that was in the early stages to aerate it? The second part was better—they got to use the four wheelers to take the finished compost and spread it over the fields as fertilizer.
“Just another reason I was so glad to get the manny job,” Reece grinned. “Ya’ll have fun with that today. I’m gonna have a quick drive down to Colorado to stock up on my… herbal remedies.”
Isobel shook her head at him. Xavier and Mel apparently didn’t mind him lighting up a blunt every now and then as long as he did it out of the house and after the kids were in bed.
“That’s not legal here yet, is it?” she asked.
“No. It’s not.” Jeremiah’s voice was flat as he stared at his brother. “You know if you get stopped with that shit on you, you could spend up to a year in jail.”
“Relax, man. You’re so freakin’ stressed out all the time. When I get back, I can bake you some cookies that will totally chill you the fuck out,” Reece’s voice got all soft. The little shop I go to that’s right over the border has the best hybrid called Blue Dream and it will change your life man, I’m telling you—”
