Page 22 of Kissin Irish by Morgan
“Can’t blame Eve if she doesn’t want to sing sandwiched between girls in dirty G-strings or nothing at all. It’s just for one night. Besides, the whores need the night off.”
Payday came back, “Night off? Kingpin just moved the real party to the basement. Shit gets real down there.”
“Speaking of shit, man, you really shit the bed this time,” Hallow said to me.
My bet was the talk of Royal Road since I put Pagan in a real bind. “How so? Not only will Pagan have to throw our fight to appease Kingpin, but he’ll be giving me permission to date his sister.” Something I might not have to worry so much about if Kingpin hadn’t written a rule against it into our bylaws.
“You don’t know Pagan,” Payday said. “Neither of you do. There’s no way in hell he’ll lose that fight now.”
“Yeah, Irish. I’ve not been here too long and know Pagan’s not going to let you anywhere near Cece.”
“Haven’t you heard?” Payday asked him. “He put a little Irish in her already.”
Hallow hit the side of the pool table so hard it about broke. He spit out some of his beer.
Payday drove the point home, “And maybe in more ways than one. Yeah, man. Irish here fucked that girl blind. He fucked that blind girl blind. Caught her unawares in the locker room after last Friday’s fight and gave it to her against the wall. She didn’t see it coming. She didn’t see him coming,” Payday howled, taking easy shots at me.
“Nah, it wasn’t like that. Don’t go gossiping about Cece like that.”
“Whoa, I know that tone. Usually reserved for onlyweeCharlotte,” Payday teased me. “You in love, Irish? They say love is blind.”
“Fuck you, Payday, feck you in your bleeding arse.”
“I’ll leave you with Hallow. You two whupped pussies,” Payday said.
“Hey, what about you and Rachel?” Hallow asked. We all knew he’d been staying most nights in the city with an actress. That’s one reason I’d been staying in his room.
“As of tonight, that’s over. You’ll be sleeping on the couch again, Irish,” Payday said as he left for the basement.
“It’s alright, man. No shame in being in love. And there’s always a room upstairs. My old room” Hallow patted my back.
“I’m not in love. I didn’t fuck Cece, either. Though, I’m planning to.”
“That’s a dangerous goal, brother,” Hallow said with a smirk. “Watch out. Paisley’s coming this way.”
“I’m heading to the gym. Tell her I’m turning in early, willya.”
After a long workout punching the bag, I really did turn in for the night. Pagan had been right about one thing. I shouldn’t be spending my nights drinking if I wanted to beat him. I now knew where he spent his nights, with Jassica, Cece’s nurse. I’d spend mine in the gym only because I couldn’t spend them with Cece. As I laid on Cousin and Payday’s couch, I thought about finding a permanent bed at Royal Road. I’d have to talk to the two men who lived here about it. The club secretaries took care of housing.
Besides, I’d be meeting up with Cece in the morning. No matter what Pagan said, I was still supposed to take over her job here, according to my President’s wishes. I longed to see her again. I didn’t even have her number. She’d said to call her but never gave her digits. My phone buzzed. I perked up, but it was Charlotte calling again. Pressing the red circle, I declined her call. I’d stopped talking to her after our phone call Saturday morning. She’d said she was coming over, but I no longer wanted to see her.
She texted me next. “Is it true about the bet?”
She seemed to know everything going on around here. “Aye,” I texted back.
“Do you think I’m going to give up this easily?”
“You did before.”
The next morning my alarm went off at nine a.m. Fuck. It’d been going off on snooze for an hour. After a shower and freshening up, I headed straight for the club. Sweet Tea polished a glass behind the bar.
“You seen our girl?” I asked her.
“No. Your girl hasn’t shown up and you didn’t do a lick of her work Saturday morning. Opry’s about to give birth to a kitten. The night shift never mops. No one mops on Sunday as it is. These floors already look like twice baked shit. Memphis done slipped this morning during the monthly Kiwanis meeting.”
“She strips during that?”
“Uh huh. Guess what I’m saying is you better grab a mop before you run off looking for ya girl. And don’t forget the dishes. They’re not going to do themselves. I am not ruining my nails.”
