Page 97 of Sinners Reunion

Kindra points her s’more at me. “If he thinks it’s stupid, you have your answer right there. He isn’t deserving of anything else you have to offer him if he receives that poorly.”

She’s right, and as their encouragement sinks in, I can’t deny it. I might not be the only one falling without a safety net.

“So we’re all in agreement that I should tell him?” I ask, giving them one final opportunity to talk me out of it.

But they don’t. They only double down and say that his reaction to my pact with myself will tell me everything I need to know.

I smile at the semicircle of supportive women who are becoming fast friends. “Thanks. Sorry to bring the mood down. I bet the guys aren’t having deep discussions like this.”

“Who knows?” Quinn says with a shrug. “Maybe all the guys are sitting around discussing the very same thing?”

Yeah. Maybe. Though I highly doubt it.

Perhaps it’s time we joined them. I’m dying to see how King’s plan for Blayne went. With how well things played out for me, I can only hope he had a similar outcome.

Chapter Thirty

King

Aven toes the dry Arizona earth and looks up at the starry sky. “Ach, that is tough. Glad I’m not in your shoes.”

“You’ll have to tread carefully, that’s for sure,” Bennett agrees. “Once you tell a girl something like that, you can’t take it back.”

“But we’re all in agreement that I should tell her?” I look at the men seated around the small grill where Chef turns hot dogs and scratches his belly.

They nod.

“I don’t see what all the fuss is about,” Jim says. “Just explain that her snoring is keeping you up at night, and hand her the nose strips. She doesn’t seem overly sensitive to these things.”

All heads turn toward Jim, but I’m the one who speaks up. “Yes, well, I’m fairly certain all women are sensitive to being told they sound like a buzz saw with every inward breath. This wouldn’t be a problem if I didn’t need sleep. Maybe I should learn to do without.”

Gary raises his finger. “Or you could just stick it out a few more days. The trip is almost over. After the event tomorrow, we’ll head to Nevada for one more stop before we make the last push to California.”

“My god,” Ezra breathes. “In less than a week, I’ll be a married man.”

“And an orphan,” Bennett says with a scoff.

“How is the hunt for Daddy Dearest coming along?” Ezra asks Jim. “We’ve been leaving letters as instructed, but you haven’t given us any update. Has he received our scathing words?”

Oh, they’ve been received.

Jim picks at his nails. “Yes, things are progressing much as expected. How long until those weenies are ready, hmm?”

The change in topic is as obvious as a pimple on the end of Barbara Streisand’s nose, but I’m glad when the boys let it slide. Reading about how much they despise me is one thing, but hearing it from their mouths is something else.

As Chef motions for the men to grab a hot dog, I prepare to enact the plan Josie and I came up with while changing the tire on that blasted sedan. There isn’t much to it, and it may not work, but I can gauge Blayne’s reaction at the very least.

He’ll end up outing himself fully at best.

“Ice Pick, I’ve been doing a bit more digging into your little problem,” I say, loud enough for everyone to hear. “I think I’ve come up with a way to smoke out the fox who’s been in your henhouse.”

“Oh, I don’t have a henhouse,” Ice Pick says as he drops three hot dogs onto his plate. “You must be thinking of someone else.”

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “No, I mean in just a few days, I’ll know who slept with Charity.”

All heads whip toward me. All but one.

“How’d you manage that?” Bennett asks.