take him,’ Leanne went on. ‘I couldn’t. I’m only a hundred and twenty pounds.’
Tina snorted. Leanne shot her a face-melting glare. Tina’s smile dropped quickly, replaced with contrition. Once Leanne was sure Tina knew her place, she turned back to the guys. ‘So, you up for it?’ she whispered, flicking a look to Pete. He was still talking. ‘Because it’s now or never.’
Before Greg could open his mouth to tell her to piss off, Sam asked him quietly, ‘What do you reckon?’
‘You’re not considering this, are you?’ Greg whispered incredulously. ‘We’ll die.’
‘We might not,’ Sam said weakly. ‘And she’s right. We’re both bigger than him.’
‘Are we faster than a bullet, though? No. So shut up.’
‘Come on, Greg. We could do it,’ Sam said, warming to the idea more with every passing second.
Ashley had to shut this down quickly. ‘Sam. You’ll get shot if you do it, I can promise you. You will bleed out on this very floor.’ She gestured at the dirty, scuffed linoleum. ‘You’ll be lying there, blood pouring out of your body, and your last thought will be, “Why didn’t I listen to my friend?”
‘Boyfriend,’ Greg corrected, though he didn’t look happy to have the title.
‘Oh. Sorry,’ Ashley said, re-evaluating the pair. It actually made a lot of sense when you considered their dynamic. All that bickering. ‘Then you’ll be asking yourself why you didn’t listen to your partner.’
‘Whoa, I only said boyfriend. Don’t upgrade us to partners,’ Greg said quickly.
Sam looked at Greg, hurt. ‘You don’t think I’m husband material?’
Greg rolled his eyes. ‘Jesus, is it really the time for that talk?’
Sam folded his arms and slunk down in his chair. ‘If that’s how it is, maybe I don’t have anything to lose by tackling Pete. Maybe you’d be glad to see me shot. Save you the trouble of breaking up with me,’ Sam sulked.
Greg sighed. ‘Oh my god, Sam, please… I love you, OK? So don’t be a prick.’
Sam didn’t say anything for a second. Leanne chanced her arm again. ‘If you were my boyfriend, I’d feel lucky. You’re clearly ripped, and you’re crazy handsome.’
Sam eyed her, chewing the inside of his mouth for a moment. ‘I’ve changed my mind. I’m not rushing him.’
Greg sighed, relieved. ‘Thank fuck for that.’
‘What? Why?’ Leanne asked.
‘You should have stuck to complimenting his biceps,’ Gina said with a small chuckle.
‘Yeah,’ Ashley said, picking up where Gina left off. ‘Next time you’re trying to appeal to someone’s ego to get them to risk their bloody life for you, probably a silly idea to move up to outright flirting with a gay guy. Overplayed your hand.’
Gina raised an eyebrow. ‘I reckon she was hoping he was bisexual.’
‘He’s really not,’ Greg told her.
Leanne was livid. ‘Fuck off, all of you!’
Sam shook his head. ‘I can’t believe I nearly went with your dumbass plan. Thank god you tried to shag me, or I might have done it!’
Leanne huffed. ‘Coward,’ she hissed at Sam.
‘I don’t care if you think I’m a wimp,’ Sam said. ‘You’re not a very nice person. You’d have let me die.’
Greg beamed him, eyes shining. ‘Oh my god. I think that was personal growth.’
Sam was confused. ‘Eh? Growth? Do you mean my lats? Because I’ve been working on them.’
Greg kissed him on the cheek. ‘Sure. Your lats.’
The coup was defused, Ashley was relieved to see. Though she thought they shouldn’t take their eye off Leanne too soon. She was a rogue element.
Ashley felt someone gently take her hand under the table. Gina. She squeezed it back, though she didn’t look at her.
The phone abruptly banged down across the room, and everyone turned to stare at Pete, or rather his back. He wasn’t moving, and Ashley couldn’t read him at all. But then he straightened and turned around with a smile. He slapped his hands together. ‘Right, I need a fucking beer. I never did finish that last one.’ He went to the bar. ‘Who’s joining me?’
Ashley looked around at everyone, trying to shoot an instruction through her eyes. If he thinks we’re his buddies, he’ll be much happier. Everyone seemed to catch her drift, and Gina was the first to say. ‘You know I’ll have one.’ ‘I’ll have a beer, thank you,’ Ashley said. ‘Mm, yeah. I’d go for one,’ Sam said. ‘Me too,’ Greg added. ‘I suppose it might be nice,’ Tina said. Leanne was the last to respond. ‘Yeah. Fine.’
Soon enough, everyone gathered around the bar while Pete played barman. As Ashley was handed her drink, she tried