Page 60 of Not On Your Life

Everyone can hear him.

“The devil killed my spidey guy!” he wails.

I’m so getting fired. Again.

Chapter 19

Connor

First puke, now egg yolk. I’m starting to think I’m a glutton for punishment at that gym. Maddie would probably say it serves me right. I’m ready to call it quits on the whole thing, anyway. My trial is almost up and Maddie won’t talk while working. I should have predicted that. She’s serious and focused when she’s supposed to be. I need to switch tactics.

I push through the front door of the house, careful not to get egg yolk on anything. But it’s pretty much dry now.

“What happened to you?”

I freeze. That’s not a voice I enjoy hearing.

I lift my head slowly to confirm my sister’s fiancé is here. “Justin?” I glance around the empty house. “Where’s Millie?”

Justin opens the fridge and takes out one ofmyCokes. “She’s getting her suit on. We’re gonna go for a dip.”

“I think there might be a dead bird in the pool,” I say. If not, I’ll gladly go find one.

“We only need the hot tub.” He pumps his eyebrows.

I clench my jaw. “Why don’t you guys go out instead?” He knows I hate him. I’ve made it more than clear for the last two years. But as annoying as he is, he isn’t stupid. “Millie has always wanted to go swing dancing. Or bird watching.” Okay, the second one was a lie. But anything to get him to leave, preferably without my sister.

“Ah, man. You know we are homebodies.” He pats my shoulder, and I bristle.

Millie is far from a homebody. She lives for parties and thrives in social situations. Another reason she shouldn’t marry this idiot. He doesn’t appreciate the simplest things about her.

Justin shoos the puppies off the couch before plopping down on the spot they just vacated. I hope they left him a present. But he kicks his feet up on the coffee table and cracks the Coke.

“Sure, make yourself at home then,” I mutter. I grab a ball off the ground and toss it to the pups who stumble over each other in their excitement to get to it.

“That’s the plan,” Justin says. “After Millie and I get married, this will be my home. We will have to kick you out, bro. No offense, but I sleep in the nude.”

I scoff at his confidence. He doesn’t live in the real world if he thinks he can afford a house like this working the same job he has since he was a freshman in high school.

“What is it you do for a living again, Justin? Sunbathe?”

“I’m a lifeguard. I savelives.”

“Really?” I scratch my chin. “Saved anyone in the last, I don’t know, decade?”

“Yes, actually. Mrs. Morrison fell off her walker last week, and I saved her. She had a broken hip after hitting the cement.” He smiles, practically tooting his own horn.

My lips curl into a grin. “So…she felloutsidethe pool?”

His pout reminds me of a child’s tantrum. “I still saved her.”

“If you’d actually saved her, she wouldn’t have fallen and broken her hip.”

“Well, I can’t predict the future now, can I?”

I chuckle. “You’d be worth keeping around if you could.”

“Oh, and you’re Mr. Perfect?”