Page 23 of Last Night Was Fun

Pedro had aimed them toward the ballpark. Halfway there, he drunkenly looped his arm around Emmy’s shoulders and attempted to whisper but really just loudly slurred into her ear. “Listen, Jameson. Do us all a solid and beat Olson for this promotion, mmkay?”

Emmy, surprised both that he was dangling off her like they were best friends and that he was apparently rooting for her, turned her head toward him. “What?”

“I mean, I like the guy, but—” He glanced over his shoulder to where Gabe walked behind them. “He getseverything, you know what I mean?”

Emmy snorted a laugh. “Torres, I am the last person on earth you have to tell that to.”

“Okay, fair. I just mean it would be nice to see someone else get achance for once. And if that someone can’t beme, then I would rather it be you. You’re pretty badass, you know?”

Emmy almost tripped. In shock and because his unsteady weight swiveling against her was like trying to hold up a drunk telephone pole. She cast him a flat frown. “Whoareyou?”

Pedro chortled a belly laugh that made Emmy laugh too. “I am your very drunk co-worker who is being way too honest right now. And since I’ve started, might as well keep going and tell you that you intimidate me.”

She arched a surprised brow at him.

Pedro glanced over his shoulder again and then stage-whispered into her ear. “And don’t tell him I told you this, but I think you intimidate Olson too. That’s why he can be such an asshole to you sometimes. GabeRuthless, amirite?”

There was too much alcohol in her system for Emmy to fully unpack what Pedro had said to her; she’d have to revisit it later, but one part stuck out and pushed a niggling question to the front of her mind.

“Did he really get Mikey Walker fired?”

Pedro took a sobering breath. His voice came back serious. “Listen, I only know whatIknow, but back when it happened, they were branching off the R&A department to be its own thing. Walker and Olson had interned together, and they were both up for a full-time role. And then one day, Olson had a meeting with Alice and the director, and the next day, Walker was gone. For good.”

“Shit,” Emmy muttered, her fear of Gabe’s ruthlessness only amplified by all the drinks.

“Shit, indeed,” Pedro said. “I think under that Captain America exterior beats a cold heart. But I guess that’s kinda necessary if you want to win all the time.”

Emmy glanced over the shoulder Pedro wasn’t dangling off and saw Gabe a few paces behind them tapping at his phone again. Hisphone’s light carved up his face into dramatic shadows that made him look even more menacing.

She turned back to face forward. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to put an end to that winning streak, won’t I?”

Pedro threw his head back and cackled a loud laugh. “That’s the spirit. Use that fire to take him down.”

Emmy smiled to herself and vowed she would.

When they eventually stopped walking, it was way past Emmy’s bedtime, and they were nowhere closer to her bed that she desperately wanted to collapse into.

“Uh, why are we at the park?” Gabe asked exactly what she was thinking.

Silas lingered behind them with a female companion they’d somehow picked up over the course of the night. She had pink hair, a dozen earrings, and combat boots and was, by all standards, smoking hot.

“Hello,” Emmy said to her with a friendly wave.

She silently waved back with a smile.

Pedro cleared his throat with a dramatic flourish and held out his arms. “We are here, dear friends and colleagues, because I have a surprise for you.” He checked his smartwatch and then turned around to look at the set of handle-less doors behind him that only opened from the inside. He’d led them to a maintenance entrance at the ballpark. The stadium lights were off, the crowd had dissipated. They were basically in a creepy back alley that would have set Emmy’s nerves on edge if she wasn’t with a group of people.

“What is it, postgame trash duty?” Gabe said with a chuckle.

Emmy could tell by the sway in his shoulders and the crooked grin on his lips he was drunk.

“No,” Pedro said sourly. “We are not picking up trash. Someone in Facilities Management owes me a favor, and I decided to cash in on it.” Pedro shimmied his shoulders and gave them a wicked grin.

Emmy gasped at the same time Gabe chuckled a warm belly laugh.

“No way!” he said excitedly.

A similar excitement thrummed through Emmy. Facilities Management meant keys to the ballpark, and keys to the ballpark meant access to places they were supposed to have permission to go.