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“Whoa, yield for oncoming traffic.”
“Only if the man with the right of way has good news.”
“Then you’ll be happy to know that this,” Anthony grunted, setting a large box down on the floor, “is the last of it.”
“Thank God,” Pike groaned as he followed behind and set his box down next to Anthony’s, leaning into his hands like he was stretching his back. “This is the final time I get roped into being a free pack mule. There better be pizza and beer in the future when we finish.”
“You’re mistaken about the mule part,” Holly said sweetly. “You’re more of an ass.”
“Aren’t they the same thing?” Anthony mused.
“Nope. A jackass is a male donkey. A mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey but can’t reproduce.”
“Whoa, now!” Pike yelped. “I am not a castrated donkey!”
“I didn’t say cas—” Holly rolled her eyes. “Nevermind.”
Anthony lowered his voice and joked, “I think you meant dumb ass.”
“Merry!” Pike called out toward the back of the store, where Merry emerged from. “Your sister and Tony are being dicks!”
“Why are you hollering for me?” she asked.
“Because I’d think you’d have sympathy for the man with a broken heart.”
“Why would she need to coddle you, Fish?” Noel asked, shooting Holly a wink, and Holly grinned in return. “Didn’t Sally break things off six months ago?”
“I’m about to dump the lot of you,” Pike muttered, stroking his perfectly groomed red beard.
Noel threw her arm around Pike’s shoulders and rubbed her knuckles over his head. “You can’t get rid of me, Fish. I ain’t going nowhere.”
“Call me Fish again and you’ll go right over the edge of a cliff.”
“Hey now, everyone play nice. No murdering each other,” Anthony said, forming a time out sign. “Or if you must purge, don’t tell witnesses the method you’d use. That’s how you get caught.”
“And don’t search for odorless and tasteless poisons,” Holly added. “Dead giveaway.”
“Pun intended. Ayo!” Pike held out his fist, and she bumped it with a grin. While she liked to give Pike a bad time, Nick’s best friends were surrogate older brothers, and she adored them both. She just didn’t tell them that.
“If you’re all done giving each other a rash of crap, I would love to get home to my family,” Merry said, picking her coat up off the counter.
“We’re your family too, sis,” Holly said.
“Yes, but I’ve been around most of you all day and I am done with you,” she said, shrugging into her jacket.
Holly placed her hand over her chest. “Rude.”
“All right, we’re going to get some pizza and raid Nick’s fridge for beer,” Pike said, tugging Holly’s hair as he passed. “Always a pleasure, Holly.”
“I’ll have breakfast for you next time if you get here before noon,” Holly called after him.
“Beer is the breakfast of champions. Just saying.”
“Gross.”
Pike winked at her. “Hair of the dog, baby! Works every time.”
“Later, Hol. Merry,” Anthony said, saluting with the brim of his blue ball cap before he followed Pike out the door.
