Page 68 of Baby, It’s Hot Inside

I didn’t want to let Roni go home to take a shower, but I couldn’t very well keep her hostage in the shitty apartment above my shop. I don’t even live there anymore. So we go our separate ways, but it will be temporary.

And the separation allows me to do a special errand I couldn’t have done with Roni. Thankfully most of the people in this town think fondly of me, or at least my sweets, because I was able to convince Mr. Fritz to open his jewelry store for me in exchange for a pound of our Christmas special peppermint candied fudge. It’s his and his wife’s favorite.

Now I’ve got a velvet black box weighing down my front pocket and I’m headed to find my girl. When I knock at her house though, there’s no answer. I try her phone, but she doesn’t answer there either.

So I shoot a quick text to Amber, because those two ladies talk all the time.

ME: Hey, it’s Nash. Do you happen to know where Roni is?

AMBER: Yeah. She’s actually at Gator’s with the rest of us. We’re on the back patio eating crawfish. They had an early batch come in.

ME: Keep her there for me. I’m on my way.

AMBER: Will do.

This is actually kinda perfect. I’m not really one for big romantic gestures, but Roni deserves for me to publicly claim her. She’s the most perfect woman in the world and I want everyone to know how I feel about her. I pat the ring box in my pocket and head to Gator’s, the Cajun restaurant owned by the Guidry family in town. Great people and great food.

But right now, all I care about is finding my kitten.

By the time I get there, the restaurant itself is pretty packed too, so I have to wade through tables of people before I can get to the outside space.

“Oh there he is now. That old guy she claims is her boyfriend,” a voice says from next to me.

I turn and sure enough there’s Pete, and he’s sitting at a table with similarly dressed guys about his age. Fraternity brothers, I’m guessing.

“Come here a minute,” he calls to me, his words slurred, a clear indication that he’s obviously drunk.

“I don’t have anything to say to you. And it sounds like you’ve had enough to drink.”

“You’re not my fucking father, you fat bastard,” he hisses at me.

“Pete,” one of the guys says. But the other two just laugh at his antics.

I brace my fingertips on the table and lean closer. “I don’t know what this obsession is about with my girl, but you need to back the fuck off.”

“Points, my man,” one of the other guys says. “It’s about points.”

“I don’t know what that means,” I say, shaking my head.

“Most universities have competitions like this these days. Some are run through fraternities, like ours, but not all of them,” he continues.

“What kind of competitions?” I ask.

“Chicks and fucking,” Pete says. “Each of them are worth a certain number of points depending on the circumstances.”

I’m going to rip this motherfucker’s throat out with my bare hands. I’m pretty sure I’m snarling at this point.

“A virgin over the age of twenty is like the holy grail,” the other guy says.

“And she’s not even ugly. Even if she’s on the fat side.”

Now I’m going to have to kill all of them.

I lean even closer so I’m right in Pete’s face. “Let me make this very clear to you. I popped her fucking cherry, so she should be worthless to you and your stupid competition now.”

There’s a gasp behind me and I turn to see Roni standing there looking at me, her face pale and full of hurt.

Fuck.