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"Natalie wouldn’t kno to be anything but self-serving A lot of conversations with her end like that When you’re no longer useful to her, she just walks away"

"Her You know the type What she said about her ex, Howard, says it all That was gold digger code for, we’re not dating, but I give him a blow job every time he pays my bills Howard is almost sixty years old, by the way"

"Yuck," I said, watching the bo Jared and Dean "She has to still be in her twenties"

"She is And that’s not even the worst of it The whole story is just awful She was Tristan’s high school sweetheart"

That made my heart twist painfully in my chest

"The fact that he won’t date, that he only hooks up, is at least partially because of that twat," Frankie said

That word made the side of my mouth kick up in spite of the way her statement made me feel "Twatalie made hihed "Oh, I like you Yes, she did Or at least, I bla Hohen she still had Tristan’s ring on her finger"

I went frouts with that one sentence I couldn’t have said which ed to Tristan, or the fact that she’d cheated on him

"That twat," I said softly

"Exactly," Frankie agreed

We reached the front of the line, and a very friendly bartender got aritas, and an entire tray of tequila shots for Frankie

I eyed up the shots dubiously "Please tell ed "For us I don’t like to drink alone How hard do you think it will be to get Jared away frolanced over at the twoquietly to each other "They don’t look like they want to be disturbed"

"Well, then, let’s start without him He’ll find us when he’s done"

We hopped into a shallow corner of the pool, setting the drinks on the edge

She talked riht Does he know that you’re here with his brother?"

"He doesn’t"

"Be careful about that I know you aren’t dating, but it feels…messy to e between the Jared, but I’ve decided tonight that it’s not happening It just feels wrong I don’t want to come between them, and I don’t want to lead Jared on"

"Have you told Jared that? He see crush"

"I told him It ard, but he was very nice about it"

"He’s the nicest guy in the world, but I worry about him"

That surprisedto "Why?"

"I worry about both of the Vega brothers, but I especially worry about Jared He’s just too open to anything, you know? He doesn’t sees and alcohol Neither of them do, but Tristan at least sticksJared hasn’t tried, and at so"

"Does Tristan know?"

Frankie sighed, looking like a worried e "He knows He’ll be the first to say it’s nor joints with your et perspective about it"

I grimaced "I went to dinner at her house, and saw sos, and I know they’re grown-ups now, but that raised so, I love that woman to death, but that’s just messed up, and it isn’t even the half of it"

"Dean handed Jared a baggie of so the second he showed up," I told her,the pool

"See now, that’s the shit that worries ht to what’s good for hiie of weed"

We dropped the subject as Jared joined us in the pool, and Frankie went over every piece of ink she’d done on his skin, which was considerable

"Maently when she pointed out a tattoo for his mom that he’d done on his chest

It was an anchor with the word ht it said a lot that he’d chosen an anchor to represent hisfar different than what he thought it did Lucy had trainedyour body with the fact that soot

"Absolutely Until the day I die, I’ll be a mama’s boy She’s my best friend"

In spite of my reservations, a little ‘a’ escaped rown man

"Tristan is a mama’s boy, too, but not as bad as this one," Frankie toldover the scaled dragon she’d done

My brow furrowed as I studied the intricate dragon It was golden, and so elaborate that I had to study it carefully to catch all of the details It was a lot like one she’d done on Tristan’s shoulder, but Jared’s dragon had one extra quirk thata joint, or a cigarette?" I asked, my tone wry

"Guess," Jared said playfully

"Well half of it is in the water," I complained

"Here" He hopped out of the pool, perching on the edge so I had a better view

Idragon "I can’t believe you put a dragon s a joint on his sto, when I saw for certain what it was