House Of Payne: Scout by Stacy Gail Read Free Book Online Page A

zip-up hoodie was form-fitting and showed off a spritely body that would have done a ballerina proud. “I did make him promise to keep his hands to himself while Mama Coco’s around. If he’s good, he’ll be rewarded later.”
    “And if he’s not?”
    “I’ll kick him to the curb faster than you can say buh-bye.”
    “Thought as much.” Unsurprised, Scout slid cookie after cookie onto a cooling rack. That was classic Sass. From the time Scout had met her in what wound up being their last foster home—the home of Coco and Sergio “Bolo” Panuzzi—that was how Sass rolled. She was the epitome of  love-‘em-and-leave-‘em, with a restlessness in her eyes that gave the impression that even when she wasn’t moving, she still somehow had one foot out the door.
    “The relationship’s going flat anyway, so we’ll be going our separate ways soon.” She lifted a disinterested shoulder and broke off another piece of cookie. “But I’ve decided to keep him around long enough to get through the party. Do you think that’s bad?”
    “Honey, he’s going to get fed prime rib and champagne, and have one last chance to grope you in your spank-me pants on the dance floor. He should send you a thank-you card.”
    “Good point. What about you? Who’s your plus-one this year now that Payne’s got himself a lady?”
    “Nobody.”
    Sass waited a beat. “Haha. Very funny, babe.”
    “I’m serious.”
    “You can’t be. I mean… that has to be a joke.”
    “Nope.” Scout glanced over at the other woman, only to find Sass’s eyes rounded in horror. “What the hell, Sass? Why are you looking at me like I just cussed out Mother Teresa?”
    “Holy shit, you are serious. Okay, don’t panic. I know plenty of guys, let me set you up—”
    “It’s not the end of the world to go stag to an event.” She turned and hung up the mitts next to the oven. “I’ve been so busy planning this bash that I didn’t have time to think about scrounging up a date.”
    “If this is about Payne getting a new squeeze—”
    “Oh my God, you did not just say that.” Scout turned to stare at her. “Where the hell did that come from?”
    “Well, you guys have been together almost from the time I’ve known you.”
    “Not like that .” Then she reconsidered. “Okay, we were really awkward fuck-buddies around the time his mom died and I felt bad for him, and he was in a weird place. But seriously, no . Just no.” The very thought brought on a full-blown ick-face, because Payne was like family. They got along great, just as long as she didn’t have to put up with his impulsive, not-completely-rooted-in-reality artistic side twenty-four hours a day. He was the grand visionary while she was the grounded pragmatist, and that was why their relationship worked. She didn’t have an artistic bone in her body, no doubt because she preferred to look at the world through the eyes of a hardcore realist. Dreams were what happened when she was asleep. Everything else became reality because she chased it down and beat the crap out of it until the goal was achieved.
    The way she saw it, that was the only way to live.
    Sass gave her a worried look. “I can’t believe you’re actually going to do it. You’re really going to go stag to the party this year.”
    “So what? It’s no big deal.”
    “Girl, have you forgotten how Mama Coco and Papa Bolo are? Whenever one of us shows up without a significant other, they freak out like it’s their fault you haven’t happily paired off like you’re one of the Ark animals. They take it as a personal rejection of the Panuzzi family lifestyle.”
    Realization washed over Scout in a slow, icy wave of horror. “Oh. Fuck.”
    Sass rolled her eyes upward. “Finally, she sees the light.”
    “I can’t believe I forgot about that.”
    “How could you possibly forget about that nuclear-family garbage they’re so convinced is the thing that’ll make all of us strays happy? Everyone knows we’ve