with your bullshit. We all know you wanna take Eric the fuck out for touching your mom.”
He scoffs. “I walked in on Eric fucking my mom just last weekend.” Like he needs it, he tips his beer back again and chugs. “I backed the fuck up, left, and never mentioned it. What they do in their bedroom on their own time ain’t none of my concern.”
“You’re sick,” Ben glowers. “How do you not take an axe to the back of his head over that? How can you stand having that shit in your brain?”
“Well… I mean… sounded like she was enjoying herself.”
“Argh! Stop.” Ben shoots to his feet and dumps Evie on the table. “Stop it! Gross.” He storms out of the room, and sends Deck into a frenzy as he chases him into the kitchen. “You need help, Mac Blair! You’re a fuckin’ freak. Aw, Eve… You made us a cake?”
“Uh huh! Bring it in here. And forks too.” Then she looks to me. “Tony is taller than that other one.”
“Toby?” I drawl.
“Yeah! Toby. Oh, Toby and Tony. I see a trend.” She flashes a large grin that makes my lips twitch. “Anyway, he seems nice, not weird, and totally has manners. He fights well.”
I lift a brow.
“Not, like, Stacked Deck tournament well,” she amends. “But decent.”
“Would you beat him in a fight?” I ask.
“Yes.”
She answers so easily, so quickly, that I lose my scowl, and my lips turn up into a full grin.
“Would I beat him in a fight?”
“No.”
“Yes,” Bean interjects. “He’s a sweetheart. And he sure loves his mommy. But maybe she let him breastfeed a little too long, because he still sucks.”
“Burn,” Mac chuckles. “Dude is a pansy.”
“But he’s nice!” Evie insists.
The second Ben walks back into the room with a tall cake covered in a rich chocolate icing, she jumps up and snatches it away and takes a fork. She sets it down in front of her, digs the fork in, and comes back out with a large chunk that she shoves in with a grunt. “Damn, that’s good. I’ve been waiting all day for this.”
“Get the hell off it.” Bean pushes to her feet and takes the cake from Evie’s greedy hold. Accepting the plates and knife Ben brought in, she slices it up and hands pieces out like this is her home and she’s in charge of hosting guests. Evie is her cousin, this is Evie’s home, but she still slides a plate to me and grins. “Eat around the teeth marks. Evie doesn’t have cooties…” she frowns. “Pretty sure.”
“I don’t.” Evie swallows down her heaping mouthful. “We test every year for Stacked Deck.”
“Still…” Bean smiles for me. “Ignore the bit she licked. She forgot her damn manners somewhere around her sixth shot.”
“But Tony is cute, though, right?” Evie licks her fork and brings Ben’s gaze to her movement. He’s a slave to her every accidental sexual implication. “He’s tall, and we like those. He smiles a lot, and we like smiley people.”
“How’s his credit score?”
She pauses with a severe frown. “How the eff am I supposed to know that shit?” But then she shrugs. “I’ll ask him next time I see him. So you’re gonna go to dinner with him?”
“No, I’m not. And this cake is awesome.”
“Heard you got a new neighbor.” Mac smiles around his fork. “I heard the drama from like five different directions.”
“What drama?” Evie’s eyes – glassy from too much alcohol – slide from me to Mac. “What drama? What neighbor?”
“I don’t like my business being discussed all over town, Mac Blair.” I eat my cake and toss the last of my cards down, since no one is playing. “Don’t talk about me.”
“Chuck moved into her building.” He completely ignores my request, and turns to Evie and Ben. “I heard about it from Kane. Then Chuck himself. Then Eric, because of Checkmate.”
“That’s only three sources,” I insert.
“Ugh! So I exaggerated. Why do you have to call me out like that?”
“What was the drama?” Evie repeats impatiently. “Why is there drama?” She turns to Mac. “Chuck from the garage? He’s cute, huh?”
Ben growls. “Why is everyone cute, Eve? Why the fuck are you snooping on every other dude in town?”
“Because I’ve been shopping for Nora, duh. I’m trying to find her a man that is cool enough to sit with us on poker night.”
“Sit with us?” he scowls. “Why do we have to invite him? What if he’s an idiot?”
“Who? Chuck?”
“No! Whatever dude she wants to keep around. Nobody