Page 45 of Joey

And I was being totally serious about how I would be happy for Maisy if she got to live the dream I never did. How horrible for her to lose her mother. What is her life like without parents?

I know what mine was like. And while I did get lucky, it wasn’t the kind of luck Maisy is about to fall into, that’s for sure.

“So that’s why you don’t care about the money?” Wald continues, glancing at me as we wait for the light. “You did one last job?” He chuckles a little at the cliché.

“I guess you could call it that.”

“I am calling it that. What are you calling it?”

I sigh. “It was just over.”

“So… your friends. They were girls? Guys?”

“Guy,” I say.

“Just one guy? That was the extent of your friend pool?”

I take a deep breath, preferring not to talk about the past.

“Did you have a relationship with him?”

“Why are you so nosey? Jesus. I should be asking you these questions.”

“Ask me anything you want. I’m not hiding anything.”

I glance at him out of the corner of my eye. Wald is not as muscular as Huck. Or as lean and chiseled as Joey. But from what I can tell, he’s got a nice body. Broad shoulders. Clean, square jaw. Nice facial features. Green eyes and dark hair.

“Do you sleep with your friends?” I ask.

He chuckles and then the light turns green and we’re turning. “Sometimes.”

Then it’s my turn to laugh. “No girl then? Or guy?”

“Plenty of those,” he says. “Both. But no one specific.”

“What about Joey? Does he have a girl?”

“Right now his only girl is Maisy.” He pauses and glances at me, then returns his eyes to the road and says, “And now you.”

“Please,” I say. “We’re not together. I’m not dumb enough to start believing that kind of shit.”

“He likes you. I can tell. Huck likes you too.”

“And you?”

“Yeah,” he says. “Me too.”

“Is that why you wanted to drive me? To get me alone?”

“You a mind-reader now?”

“Is it true then? You wanted me alone?”

He shrugs. “Keep going straight?” he asks as we approach an intersection.

“Yeah. Keep going.”

“Hey, well. I’d fuck you,” he says. Then he starts grinning.