Page 55 of Off Plan

I’d cried a little, after Victoria left. Then I’d gotten mad about it. Then I’d decided to takeactionabout it. Then I’d tried not to think about it at all. But until this minute, I hadn’tlaughedabout it, and now that I had, I felt something loosen inside me that I’d been holding really tight.

“The worst part was,” I said, wiping my eyes, “I saw the whole thing happen right in front of me, like a slow-motion train wreck. Victoria and I were… okay. Happy enough, I thought. And then that guy walked into our apartment to take pictures and—” I shook my head. “That was that. It was like both of them lit up. My friend Toby says stuff like that just happens sometimes. Some kind of biochemical reaction.”

“Ferrymones,” Fenn said in a hushed voice.

I snorted. “You think Gunner was taking the supplement? You think Dale has any more he could give me?”

“I don’t think you need it,” Fenn said. I couldn’t see him clearly in the twilight, but his voice was soft and my lips opened in surprise.

Fenn cleared his throat. “Alright, one more truth. We’re almost out of beer, and I’m almost out of words.”

“So I should make it count, hmm? You said you got into trouble…”

“God,” Fenn groaned, throwing himself back down on the blanket. “Sopredictable.”

“You hate my questions when they’re predictable, you hate them when they’re unpredictable. It’salmostas though you’re impossible to please.”

“I can be pleased.” He threw the words down like a challenge, and I nearly shivered.

“Answer.”

Fenn sighed and pushed up on an elbow, those blue, blue eyes half-amused and half-exasperated in a way that did funny things to my stomach. “I have a geology degree. I mentioned that.”

I nodded.

“I got it specifically because my stepfather’s old Army buddy owed him a favor and offered to hook me up. And because I was a hick kid in a hick town and I thought it’d be great. I’d be able to travel the world.”

He was silent for a minute.

“And you didn’t?” I prompted.

“Well. I got as far as Texas. It was an okay job. Good money in hydrocarbon exploration. Lots of upward mobility. The boss liked me fine and took me under his wing. Took me to his house for Sunday barbecues with the family. I figured that was that, right? That was gonna be my life. Then I met a guy. A—how’d you put it earlier?—a nice guy from a rich family?”

“And you’re not over him,” I said, quoting Fenn from earlier.

One half of his mouth twisted up. “I’m overhim. It’s justembarrassing.”

I grinned and flopped back down on the blanket. “If you tell me there was a photographer involved—”

“Ah, no. According to the employee records, I picked a fight with four guys because I was drunk and bored. I made lewd remarks to them. Sexually harassed them. So they had to defend themselves against my advances—”

“Against all four of them,” I said, no longer amused. “You must have beenreallybored.”

“—and I lost my job.”

“And your nice guy?”

“Turned out to not be very nice. Or—” He shrugged. “—very mine.” He cleared his throat before I could ask another follow-on question. “Okay, your turn. You pickdare.”

“Do I?” I rolled my eyes. “I’m not getting naked. I’m not getting wet. I do not dance. I will not sing. I can’t do gymnastics without hurting myself. Those are my hard limits. And if you get me sandy, you can expect that I will pay you back when it’s your turn.”

Fenn’s eyes narrowed and his lips pursed. “You’re zero fun.”

“Prettier girls than you have confirmed this. I’m also incapable of passion, FYI, and possibly fundamentally broken thanks to my childhood.” I laughed, but stopped when I caught Fenn looking at me funny. “What?”

“Nothing, just…” He hesitated. “That’s someone trying to put the blame on you for something they did. You’re a pain in the ass, and I mean thatsincerely. But you’reneverboring or passionless. Okay?”

I nodded, and then I swallowed… or I tried to, anyway.