I grabbed her arms and pulled her in for a hug.
“We’ll make this work,” I whispered.
“How?”
“I’m not going to say anything,” Lay’s voice said.
Madison broke the hug.
I turned around.
“I mean it,” Lay said. “This is cool. For the both of you. You know? I respect it.”
“Lay,” I said.
“Just hear me out,” Lay said. “Trust me with this. Okay? I’m not going to say a word.”
“I don’t believe you,” Madison said.
“What are you going to do to me?” Lay asked. “Kill me? Hide my body?”
“That’s an option,” Madison said.
“Stop,” I said.
“I’ll get you traded,” Madison said.
“Oh, come on,” Lay said. “I can respect a good fling. A hookup. Whatever this is. Shit, even if you two get married someday, I’ll take this secret to my grave!”
“Okay, enough of that talk,” Madison said.
“Lay, wait a second,” I said. “You don’t even know a thing. You saw Madison putting a shirt-”
“Look at me,” Lay said. “I’m a sexual barometer. The tension between you two is off the charts. You two are fucking each other like rabbits. Don’t even try to twist this around.”
“Give me the pepper spray,” Madison said.
“No,” I said. “Fuck. This is… Lay…”
“Just trust me,” he said, putting his hands together. “Trust me. I’ve got this. We’ve got this. Together. This is our thing now.”
“Don’t you dare,” Madison said.
“Lay,” I said.
“Okay, fine. It’s not our thing. It’s your thing. You two are doing… whatever it is you’re doing. That’s it. I know nothing. Look at me. I get hit in the head a lot, right? What do I really know? I just want to get laid. That’s all I care about.”
I looked at Madison.
She looked at me.
We were both screwed.
There really wasn’t much of an option for us other than to trust Lay.
“Look, let’s make it fun,” Lay said. “How about Madison flashes me.”
“What?” Madison asked.
“You flash me,” Lay said. “That’s kind of like payment for me keeping my mouth shut. Deal?”
Madison wasn’t just ready to hit Lay.
She took a step.
That left me with no choice.
I lifted the pepper spray and sprayed it into Lay’s face.