“And you get to stand there behind the bar and what? Watch her bring in some other dude and pour their drinks while they flirt and go home and fuck—maybe fall in love?”

It took every ounce of Tucker’s will not to grind his teeth at the thought. The flirting and the fucking and the falling in love. Della had been adamant she wasn’t interested in the latter, but if she did, he would be so fucking happy for her his face would ache from all the smiling.

“Yep.”

“Okay, right…well. Let’s see how that goes, shall we?” Drew picked up his beer and drained it, passing the bottle to Tucker, indicating he’d have one more.

Tucker grabbed another bottle of Bud, grateful for something to think about other than life after Della had moved on from their arrangement. He set it in front of Drew. “I don’t need to tell you to keep this under your hat, right? This isn’t something Arlo needs to know.”

“Hell, man, no way am I sticking my head inside that particular lion’s mouth. But if you think Eadie’s going to keep quiet about it, then you’ve forgotten how it works around here. Sooner or later, Arlo is going to find out, and that’s going to be…well—” He took a slug of his beer. “Not good for you.”

“He’s going to be pissed, isn’t he?”

“Yup.”

“Like poison my black-eyed peas, wrap me in a tarp, shove me in the trunk, and take me out to the lake pissed?”

“Possibly,” Drew agreed with an unnerving calmness.

“Well, that’s too bad.” Tucker opened a second beer for himself. He didn’t actually think Arlo would murder him, but the fact he was a piece—a critical piece—in this jigsaw between him and Della was a giant pain in the ass. “Arlo needs to adjust to Della having her own life.”

“Arlo’s not going to go all Earl on your ass because you’re with Della.”

Tucker cocked an eyebrow. “Ah…have you met Arlo?”

Drew grinned, obviously unperturbed about the high likelihood of Tucker’s early death. “Okay, sure, there’ll probably be a bit of macho bro-code bullshit. But that’s all crap, and he knows it. You’re the perfect man for Della. You’re a good guy with a good job who’s well-regarded in the community. Well, not by Mrs. Hutchens, obviously, but that’s understandable. You like and respect Della and want to do right by her, and once Arlo removes his head from his ass, he’ll be able to acknowledge that, too. What he won’t be able to get past is you two carrying on behind his back. It’s the secrecy that’ll piss him off more than anything.”