“Fuck you.”
I leaned my elbows into my knees. “It means you’re a lucky bastard. Above us right now, thousands of unhappy assholes are leaving their miserable jobs and going to the bar instead of home.”
Kline raised his eyebrows.
“By choice. They’d much rather be there than go home, but you, my friend, are one of the wise ones.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“You’re fine with going to the bar instead of home?”
“I rarely go to the bar anymore.”
“Not my point at all, and you know it.”
I shrugged with nonchalance and tried not to let my thoughts run away. “I want what you have.”
He smiled. I pushed.
“You think Georgie would be into me?”
His smile turned into a scowl.
“Kidding,” I said through a laugh. I almost told him I’d just gotten off the phone with his wife, but that would have raised at least one flag.
It wasn’t like I didn’t talk to her, but I didn’t tell him about it every time I did.
“How’s it feel to be a year older, Grandpa?”
He laughed. “You’re older than I am.”
“Yes, but I’ve aged better. Don’t take it personally. I credit most of my looks to a rigid diet of Oreos, Nutella, and Trix. Plus, you know…”
“I know?” he questioned.
“Don’t be embarrassed. You can’t help it.”
He lifted his brows and waited. The man had legendary patience, so of course, I caved.
“It’s not your fault your growth was stunted.”
“Jesus,” Kline breathed out before a laugh. “The only thing embarrassing is you.”
I lifted my shoulders to my ears. “I can live with that.”
“Come on, Thumbelina, shower faster!” I yelled through the closed door of my guest room.
Since Kline didn’t live in the city anymore, he had to use my pad as his locker room post-practice. Now that I was clean and had dropped off Phil with the sitter, I figured he’d had plenty of time.
The door swung open immediately, and I bobbed and weaved as Kline’s fist punched the air an inch in front of my stomach.
“Oh, good,” I stated calmly. “I thought you were going to take forever, and we don’t have time. Places to be and all that.”
He tried to hide his cringe. I did an equally poor job of hiding my laugh.
Since I’d run into Kline, I’d decided to forgo the tattoo shop and just head straight to practice with him. Frankie didn’t mind, but really, it didn’t matter if he did. My shares of ownership outweighed his. But it also did matter because I wasn’t an asshole. Not most of the time, anyway.
“Sorry, buddy. The faster we go out, the faster I’ll have you home to your brood. But for now, you’re stuck with me.”
“Which is obviously the worst-case scenario,” he muttered in jest. “I’ll have to suffer through it. Where are we headed?”
“Monarch Bar,” I answered succinctly. “Thelma and Louise are already there.”
His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Thelma and Louise?”
“Oh,” I said with pretense and a waggle of my eyebrows. “Twins. I can’t remember their actual names.”
He looked ready to interrupt, so I bowled right over him. “And they’re both for me.”
“What about Cassie?” he asked as we walked down the hall to the living room.
“What about her?” I replied with a hidden smirk.
“Her stuff is here, in your apartment, and you’re meeting women?”
One of whom was her. “Yeah, she won’t mind,” I lied.
I wasn’t quite sure how serious she was about our relationship—if she was as serious as I was—but I knew she was serious about being the only woman. I liked my balls, thank you very much. They weren’t exactly the best-looking guys in the place, but they made sure I had a good time when it counted.
My phone vibrated in my pocket as I shoved Kline out the door and locked it behind me. His face was in full mope mode.
“Come on,” I encouraged. “Once we’re on the subway, you can text your little wife until we get there. Where is she again?”
“Working,” he said with a sigh.
“Boy, Wes knows how to crack the whip.”
“It’s not him. I already confronted him about it. She’s just fucking determined to do a good job.”
“Well, I’d say that’s a pretty good quality, right?” I asked as we stepped out onto the sidewalk in front of my building. My fingers itched to dig in my pocket for my phone knowing I had an unread text, but it was only a quick walk to the corner and we’d be on the train where I’d have a better chance of keeping it hidden from Kline’s astute eyes.
“Of course, it’s a good thing. There’s a reason I’m always trying to hire her back.”
“I thought it was horniness.”