Completing the Pass by Jeanette Murray Read Free Book Online Page B

do either of you listen?”
    â€œNo,” they said together again.
    â€œBecause I’m fucking married, asshole,” Derrick added.
    â€œWhatever. So I mention the bar, and she thanks me, and I say something like, ‘Maybe I’ll see you there.’ And do you know what she says to me?”
    â€œBreathless with anticipation,” Josh told him, deciding against the third slice. Watching a little sauce dribble down Derrick’s chin had been the kicker.
    â€œShe says, ‘Oh, well, that sounds nice but I think you’re a little too old for me.’” Tony looked disgusted as he picked up the red plastic cup and took a sip of his draft beer. “Come on! I’m not even thirty!”
    â€œGetting closer every day,” Josh reminded him, mostly to watch his friend’s face pale a little.
    â€œEvil,” Tony said, flicking a mushroom at him.
    â€œAngie’s pregnant,” Derrick said lightly.
    Both men stopped and stared at their friend, eyes wide. “What?” Josh asked.
    â€œMy wife,” he said, as if they needed the reminder, taking another bite of pizza. He chewed a few times, then repeated, “Angie’s pregnant.”
    â€œOn purpose?” Tony asked. Josh kicked his shin under the table. “What? It seemed like a legit question.”
    â€œIt wasn’t,” Josh said with a silent warning look. To Derrick, “Congrats, man. You’re gonna be a daddy.”
    Derrick’s face split into a wide grin. “Yup. Seven or eight or however many months she has left to go and I can call myself Dad.”
    â€œDaddy Derrick should find out how long a human is pregnant before he can call himself Daddy,” Tony suggested, eyes wandering along until they locked onto a coed’s short shorts as she walked by.
    Josh kicked him again, just for fun.
    â€œYou have any chance of playing this year?” Tony asked, sneering a little in retaliation for the kicks. “Or are you just riding the bench again?”
    â€œHe makes more sitting on his ass for one game than you do all year busting yours at the store,” Derrick reminded their friend.
    â€œAnd lives in a freaking one-bedroom economy apartment, perpetually alone, like a monk. Waste.” Tony sighed and took another sip. “Seriously, though. It would be a lot more fun going out with you if females actually knew who you were.”
    â€œLots of females know who I am,” Josh shot back. “Your mom, for example. She called me the other day and—”
    Tony kicked him back under the table.
    â€œHey, I’m just hoping the Bobcats make it to the Bowl this year. And Owens is the guy to do it.” Derrick smiled as he started to reach for his sixth slice, then drew his hand back. “Better not.”
    â€œYou could call your gut a sympathy belly and Angie would probably love it,” Tony suggested.
    Derrick looked dubious, then decided to go for it anyway and grabbed the last slice.
    â€œI don’t know about any of that,” Josh said, silently asking for forgiveness on the lie. He’d never been
in the know
before this season, and so any other time his friends begged for details, he’d been able to say with a straight face, “I don’t know.” Now . . .
    â€œHey, didn’t we go to school with that girl?”
    Josh took a sip of his sweet tea and looked around in response to Derrick’s question. “I don’t know . . . where?”
    â€œThere, by the counter, picking up the order. Katie?”
    â€œCarri,” Tony corrected, leaning out of the booth a little. “She was pretty hot back in high school.”
    â€œCarrington Gray,” Josh added, taking a quick glance himself. There was Carri, looking more casual than she had the last two times he’d seen her, wearing cutoffs and a tank top, with sandals on her feet and her hair wrapped in a cloth headband.
    As he watched,