Free Four (Their Dead Lives,1) by Zack Scott

follow him because Scot and Kale were at the bar.  
    Might as well. Shrugging, she left Kelsey with the others and went to join Jerry, Kale and that idiotic asshole.  
    Scot’s eyes were locked across the bar on Kale, who silently poured them drinks. Though she desired to avoid Scot, the tension flowing between him and Kale was deliciously intoxicating.  
    With one elbow on the bar, Jerry’s belly was peeking out from under his shirt as he poked at Scot. “So you’re Kelsey’s ex?”  
    “Who are you?”  
    “Most call me Jerry. You get to call me Jermaine. Bump it.” He held out a loosely-formed fist.  
    Scot glanced at Sadie. “Is he for real?”  
    Sadie nodded silently. He doesn’t deserve my voice.
    “ All right,” Scot said and he bumped Jerry’s fist.  
    Kale leaned forward. “Hello, Sadie. Nice to see you again.” He turned to Jerry. “Pleasure to meet you, Jer.”  
    Jerry shook Kale’s hand. “You’re Korean, right? I adore the East.”  
    “Yeah — well, born and raised American.”  
    “Cool beans. I adore the West.”
    Kale laughed in Sadie’s direction. “He’s funny.”  
    “Why am I funny?” Jerry took an obnoxiously loud slurp of his orange juice.
    “Look, Jerry,” started Scot.
    “Jermaine!” Jerry stomped his feet.  
    “Fuck me sorry sideways,” snapped Scot. “Can’t wait to speak with you later, but Kale and I here, we have some important shit to work out.”  
    “Hey, wait.” Kale stretched across the bar. “They can listen. It’ll be good, maybe even therapeutic.”  
    “I really don’t want—” Scot tried but failed to convince Kale otherwise.
    “Oh, I love story time!” Jerry clapped.  
    “This is a good one. It’s full of love, betrayal, and all that good shit.” Kale slid a devilish grin in Scot’s direction. “What my pal and I here were discussing was this: he decided to bang my girlfriend.”
    “She wasn’t really your girl—”  
    “Silence, Scot. Jesus!” Jerry commanded haughtily.
    Kale laughed. Even Sadie smiled. The others in the bar looked at them.  
    Scot’s face burned red. “This is horse shit,” he muttered.  
    Succulently satisfying.
    Jerry turned back to Kale, resting his chin on his fists, giving him his full attention. “Please continue.”  
    “Thank you, Jer. Anyway, he betrays our friendship, sleeps with my girl, and leaves Kelsey. No reason. Just left.”  
    “Well, that’s rude,” pouted Jerry.  
    “You don’t have the full story,” Scot interrupted, finished his drink and slid his glass to Kale for another. Kale caught it, frowned, but poured.  
    “What’s the full story?” Sadie couldn’t help but ask, knowing Scot was full of shit.  
    “Ugh.” Scot rubbed his face. “Fine. You want to do this here? With them? Fine. I found out my bestest bud, Kale here slept with Kelsey. So yeah, I left without saying anything. I left and screwed his girl. We’re all to blame.”  
    Kale said, “You’re shitting me, right?”  
    “I saw your texts. I had the proof. You took the love of my life from me, you sack of shit.”  
    Incredulous, Kale shook his head. “Oh, Scot. Oh silly, stupid Scot. Just drink.” He slid the full glass back to the idiot, spilling some of the liquor.  
    “What do you mean, Kale?”  
    Sadie grabbed Jerry’s arm, tried to pull him away. “Time to go back to Kelsey.”  
    “No, I wanna listen.”  
    Not wanting to hear anything else out of Scot’s mouth, Sadie turned her back and left. There can be many POVs on one situation. And Scot’s POV is nothing but bullshit. When Scot had vanished from Kelsey’s life two years earlier, Sadie had needed to comfort Kelsey for months. He’d broken her friend’s heart, so she didn’t care what else had happened. He’s just making excuses.  
    She walked over to the table where Jeff, Howard, and Angela were sitting. She remembered Jeff from high school; he’d been much plumper then. He’s quite attractive now.