“You should have made that more clear. Don’t tell a Marine to smack you around unless you mean it. It was your dumbass plan, not mine. You wanted to get a reaction out of Lila and you did. So quit your bitching. No pain, no gain.”

“The main thing is did it work?” Jesse asks from across the room. “I saw her jump up and start screaming at Tom. I thought for a minute there she was going run out on the court and beat somebody up. I wasn’t sure who she would go after first. Tom for bad refereeing or Toby for elbowing you. Trish said she tried to calm her down and couldn’t.”

“It worked out okay,” I say casually.

“What exactly does that mean?” Toby asks. “Did she let you fuck her or not?”

“That’s none of your damn business.”

Rocco plops down in a chair on the other side of the table, gives me a long look, and then takes a swig of whiskey out of a bottle.

“I believe it is our business,” he says. “Weren’t you the one who tried to get us to bet against you a week ago? We’re not letting you off that easy. Did you fuck her or not?”

I feel like an asshole for making the bet in the first place. Thank God Lila doesn’t know about it.

“I would’ve won the bet, so it’s a good thing that nobody bet against me,” I finally admit. “Good for you that is, bad for me. Or actually it was good for me, so things worked out all the way around.”

Rocco leans back and roars with laughter.

“You sly son of a bitch. I knew it! You banged her right after the basketball game, didn’t you? Man, she was looking hot to trot. I bet she was one sweet piece of pussy.”

“Knock it off, asshole,” I blurt out.

“Knock it off?” He gives me a curious look. “You always tell us every juicy detail of your sexual adventures. Even when we yell at you to shut the fuck up and cover our ears because we can’t stand to hear any more. And now you say nothing? Spill the details. Was her cunt nice and tight? What about her breasts? They look firm and real. Were they real?”

It’s all I can do to restrain myself from reaching across the table and grabbing Rocco by the throat. Flint is watching us intently from across the room.

“Oh shit!” he suddenly says, walking toward us. “We’re all fucked. Sam likes her. That’s why he’s not giving up the details. He likes this girl who is trying to send us all to prison. Damn it, Sam!”

“What?” The men all yell at the same time.

“No way,” Toby says. “Tell us it isn’t so, bro. Since when do you give a shit about any girl?”