Page 130 of Whiskey Wednesdays

Chapter 38

Early that afternoon, I went back to Connor’s house and grabbed some of my things. No one was home, and I wondered if Connor might be dealing with the “Coach Bailey” situation.

Before leaving the house, I put a little purple origami flower on Elodie’s nightstand and an orange fox on Connor’s desk. I also left a note in the kitchen and told them I needed to see about my apartment, but I’d be over tomorrow. I didn’t want Elodie to think I was abandoning her.

Abby and Stella came over to my place that evening, and Abby looked around curiously. “This isn’t as bad as I’ve been led to believe. Titus said you live in a hovel.”

Ahovel? Titus and I were going to have words. “It’s a lot better than it was. They fixed the leak in the ceiling and repainted it. There’s new flooring too.”

Stella wandered around, checking out the small space. Abby studied me. “Your face looks like someone smacked the crapout of you, and your concealer doesn’t quite cover the bruising around your eye.”

I grimaced. “It was a rough weekend. I’m happy to see your bruises are almost gone.”

“We’re quite the pair, aren’t we?” She followed me into the kitchen. “I thought you were living with Connor. What happened?”

“It was temporary while my apartment was out of commission, and Noah was causing trouble. We’re still together, but I want to make sure we’re not going too fast.”

We caught up as we ate dinner.

“How’s it going with Titus?” I asked.

She shrugged, nibbling on her chicken wrap. “Fine. He scared me a little at first, and I think I offended him.”

“Tell him to get over himself. And you have a right to be wary of men. So far all the men in your life have been complete assholes.”

“I’m not like you. He intimidates me, and I’m living in his house. He could kick me out at any time.”

“He’d never kick you out. And trust me, he needs you as much as you need him. Are you ready for the hearing?”

She winced. “We’re working on it.”

“You two are such liars. Abs, if the judge asks you basic questions about him and you can’t answer, you’re both screwed. I’m going to send each of you a set of ‘getting to know you’ questions, and you two need to sit down and answer them together. Andtalkto each other. Can you do that?”

“Yes, Mother.”

I smacked her arm. “That’s pretty damned rude. Your mother can be a raging psychotic bitch.”

Her lip twitched. “You’re right. Sorry.”

My stomach unclenched a little. Her parents had tried to break her, but they hadn’t succeeded. Now I just needed Titus to pull his head out of his ass.

Over the next week, I went to Connor’s house most nights for our usual family dinners, and we went to Martini Monday at Ramone and Jonathan’s house. That Wednesday night, the team met at The Cockpit. They’d agreed to hold a special karaoke night just for our Whiskey Wednesdays team-building party.

Martina worked at The Cockpit now one night a week DJing the karaoke, and somehow she’d talked me into thinking karaoke night with the team was a brilliant idea. I was having serious second thoughts.

Jackson, Wyatt, and a few other teammates were the first to arrive. They looked around and grinned.

Jackson shook his head at me. “You’ve come up with some pretty creative team activity nights, but this one is crazy. Wyatt didn’t believe us when we told him he missed out on Zoo Lights.”

Wyatt smirked. “It may be karaoke night, but a bar is still way better than the fucking zoo. At least there’ll be drunk women here.”

I sighed. “Wyatt, are you always this offensive, or are you making a special effort just for us?”

Rudy walked up with a beer in one hand and a shot of whiskey in the other. “I’m working on my liquid courage so I’ll be ready when my song comes up.”

“You’re going to fucking sing?” Wyatt laughed.

Rudy blinked at him. “Yeah, because I’m not a chickenshit. That probably means you won’t be getting up there.”

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