Page 1 of Marcus in Retrograde
CHASE
THAT. FUCKING. DOG.
Bark!Bark!Bark! All night long.
I liked dogs just fine, but that miserable fleabag just kept barking, all night. I mean, we were on the sixth floor of the building, what the hell was there to bark about? A curtain? A chicken bone? Someone stole his pig’s ear?
I’d buy him the whole hog if he’d justshut upfor one night.
Staring up at the ceiling, I blew out a breath. I had thought that once Grumpy Grampa Able Woolworth had moved out from next door, I’d get some peace in my life.
Nope.
Now I had Growler the Barking Moron next door.
Just like with Able Woolworth, I knew that the landlord wasn’t going to do shit about the dog. He never did shit about anything until we threatened to talk to the building owner or the city about the violations.
Mr. Hernandez, the owner, was awesome, though. We all got together and asked him for new windows last year, and had them in a month. He thanked us because the heating costs went down over the winter.
Right about now, though, I was ready to petition for sound proofing. I had two hours left before I had to get up to go to work, and I was listening to Lassie yipping about Timmy down the well.
This was stupid.
I sat up in the bed and ran a hand down my face. There was no point in this. I was going to have to try and sleep in the living room again for a few nights. If I had to switch the living room and bedroom I was going to be pissed—but not as pissed as I’d be if I couldn’t get my sleep.
Grabbing the blanket and pillow I moved to the couch. Thank God I had made sure the thing was comfortable enough for sleeping when I bought it. I didn’t think it would be me sleeping on it.
The two hours I had left flew by once I’d finally been far enough away from the damn dog to ignore him.
“Hey, Marcus, you look like shit!”
Patsy. I reached my hand out and shot her a middle finger, which immediately got her laughing. I took a sip of the tea in my hand and stumbled to my desk. I dropped into the chair and let out a sigh as I woke up the computer from sleep.
“Trouble sleeping, Chase?”
I tossed a look over my shoulder to my cubemate. Felix sat there, dressed to the nines in all the newest and hottest fashions, sporting nude lip gloss and just a little touch of eyeliner.
“What ever gave you that idea?”
“Because you look like you could carry my groceries home in those bags.”
I fucking hated Felix Germaine. The man was a smarmy asshole who drank thirty dollar bottles of wine and ate at Wayan. I’d bet his lip gloss was from Bergdorf and his socks were silk.
“Piss off, Felix,” I stated. “Where’s your bear?”
He sniffed, and turned back around. “Aaron had to go to his parents this weekend, for family reasons. He’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Good, maybe he’ll screw some of that arrogance out of you,” I snapped.
He gave a distressed little yelp, and looked terribly offended that I would mention [whispering]:sexat his workplace. Whatever.
God, I could’ve used a good lay myself.
Sighing, I took another sip of my tea. I had a pile of work I needed to focus on, and it sucked being a half-awake graphic designer. Things didn’t go as planned when the mouse slid across the screen as I jerked awake again.
“Coming out to get drinks tonight?”
I screamed and jerked so hard in my chair I slammed my knee on the desk. That sent a new string of swear words out of my mouth as I grabbed my now-throbbing joint.
