Page 31 of There Once was a Dancer
“That place is a meat market,” Mickey added.
“Look…every guy deserves—”
“A little slap and tickle?” Napoleon interrupted, trying his best to look sympathetic. “Don’t worry, buddy. We’ve aaalll been there.”
“He’s comin’ back, okay?” I picked up my coffee and drank some more to stop myself from sounding like a kid.
“I’m sure ‘e will, cowboy,” Mars said, looking sympathetic. “It’s just ya seem so down and out about it.”
I pointed at him. “This is all your fault.” I swirled a finger around the booth at all the guys. “You told them all about how Cachi and me had only a few hours together before I had to drag my ass back to the shop to clean the BearCats. It’s all your fault.”
“’Ow do ya work that out, mate?” Mars asked, leaning his elbows on the table and resting his chin in his hands as he batted his eyelashes at me. “I can’t ‘elp it if you can’t keep your man. Then again, maybe if he wasn’t ‘alf your age…”
The others started laughing all at once as I felt myself blushing. “He ain’t half my age,” I said indignantly.
“No? Then what is he?” asked Nash.
“Ten years younger,” I said into my coffee cup as I raised it quickly to my mouth. Coffee sloshed up and burned my top lip. I yanked the cup down, hissing. “Shit!”
“Shhh,” Nash said, pointing to an older couple who was giving all of us the stink eye. “You’re going to turn her hair from blue back to red,” he said under his breath.
I chuckled, despite myself. I sighed again as I picked up a glass of ice water and rested it against my lip.
“Seriously, old boy, how’d you manage to pick up such a sweet, young thing only to lose him in sixteen hours?” Alain asked.
“How’d you know he’s a ‘sweet, young thing’?” I made air quotes.
Alain scoffed. “You’ve already said his age and you told Mars he was sweet, therefore I deduced he was rather a sweet, young thing.”
I grinned. “You’d be right. He’s gorgeous. I can’t deny it.”
“Chewy, is it?”
I looked at Patsy. “No, his name is Cachi. He’s Puerto Rican.” I couldn’t help but smile at the Irishman. “Prettiest little thing I ever did see.”
“And apparently ‘is mum is a great cook,” Mars added.
“Wait a second. You had time to save this chap from three thugs, pick him up, meet his dear old mummy, eat her cooking, and spend half the day in bed with him?” Alain drawled. “I must hand it to you, Rex. You move extraordinarily fast.”
“It ain’t like that,” I grumbled. “Apparently, I’m what they call irresistible.”
“Down on the farm, maybe,” Nash said. When I said nothing, he put his arm around my neck and pulled my head down, rubbing his knuckles on the top of my head. I tried to pull away and finally stopped squirming as he grabbed both of my cheeks and looked deeply into my eyes. “I’m only kidding, Rex. You’re a lot better looking than the average farm animal.”
Our server saved his life when she and a bus boy walked up carrying trays heaped high with our breakfasts. I laughed as he let go of me and I straightened up to smooth my hair as they began setting plates on the table. She pulled hot sauce andketchup out of her apron, smiled, and walked away after refilling our drinks.
They laid off the teasing and we tucked into our meals. I’d been starving, barely eating since the day before. I’d rushed out of the house so quickly yesterday afternoon, then worked my ass off in the garage to get to Cachi. When that had been blown all to shit, I hadn’t felt like eating when I got home. This morning, I’d just had time to suck down a cup of coffee, eat a banana, and feed Lola before coming to the office, so I guess I’d been hungrier than I realized.
We all sat back and finished our drinks after polishing off our food. “So, you’re all set on Candy’s plan?” I asked, changing the subject to the Op. I’d much rather talk about anything other than Cachi, but it was really hard not to check my phone to see if he’d called. I’d done little else since waking up this morning. I slid it out of my pocket, keeping it in my lap under the table as I covertly glanced down at it.
“Yeah, and it’s a good one, as long as Castillion does what he’s supposed to do, and shows up at the party,” Mickey replied.
I looked up sharply as I realized that the table had gone quiet again. Everyone was looking in my direction. “What?”
Nash pointed to the phone still in my hands. “You’ve been looking at that phone since we sat down. What’s going on?”
I sighed, tucking the phone back into my jeans. “Waitin’ for a call.” I glanced around to see some of them smirking, others looking sympathetic. “Okay, so Cachi blocked my calls when I missed our date last night due to the fact that I was stuck washin’ the BearCats. There. Are y’all happy?”
“Trust me, buddy, no one wants to see you happy more than us,” Napoleon said. “But we’ve just never seen you like this overa guy before. When you talk about him, it’s like you’ve got stars in your eyes.”
