Saturday Snark

Okay, this is the first time I'm trying this, so I hope it goes well, but Troy Steele (aka Oren Keller) of Settling the Score begged me to join Marie Sexton's Saturday Snark blog hop. Here's Troy's unfortunate (and unsuccessful) attempt to thwart his PA in her bid for him to shed a few pounds

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"Hmmm..." Erica moaned, tasting her salad, "arugula." Her eyes, blue today, swept from the head of the table to the end, taking in the difference between Troy and Joey's meals. They narrowed at Troy's. "Why do you get Italian and he gets a protein smoothie?" The temperature in the room dropped a good ten degrees from the chill in her voice alone. He'd loved his grandmother dearly, both admiring and fearing the way she'd ruled her home. She couldn't hold a candle to Erica.

"He's on a diet; I'm not." Troy stated the obvious, on the defensive.

                                                                                        

"Why aren't you?" Erica retorted, icy tones turning to acid.

Troy fought the urge to hug his plate. "Because his character is on one," he wavered, adding a glare he meant to be intimidating. How useless. Bearing the alpha-male name of Troy didn't mean he stood a snowball's chance in hell of living up to it. Oren Keller was, and always would be, a beta-male. Erica, alpha-female extraordinaire, was fully aware of that fact and not above exploiting it.

The demurely lowered lashes and pretty pout probably turned straight men to putty. Troy wasn't fooled for an instant. Like most dangerous creatures, the one sitting at his table appeared deceptively benign. "Isn't it you who told me the best way to capture an event is to experience it for yourself?" she purred.

Damn. He hated having his own words used against him. A battle of wills engaged. He deliberately raised a sizable forkful of pasta to his lips, chewing with gusto.

Joey sat quietly sipping his protein shake, attention bouncing from one antagonist to the other, reminding Troy of a spectator at Wimbledon. If it were him, he'd be running by now. "I don't see why I have to endure... I mean, experience a diet. I'm sure Joey will explain intimately what it feels like," Troy answered weakly. "Won't you, Joey?"