Page 2 of Unrequited Sloth

“Yeah. Can I close out my tab?”

“That was a quick date.”

“What makes you think it was a . . . Jason?”

Langdon chuckled but said nothing to drop his brother in it. Jason wasn’t his biological brother, but they were part of such a tight-knit friendship group they were closer that most real siblings. To add another layer, Jason was not just Gabriel’s friend, but his boss. They had been peers, but then Jason had moved company and hired Gabriel and their friend Dexter for his own team.

“Are you going to tell him I left after five minutes?” asked Gabriel.

Langdon didn’t say a word as he took the payment. Gabriel looked back over to where his date was sitting, and thankfully he’d gone.

“I guess tomorrow at work will be fun, then. Thanks, Langdon.”

Langdon just smiled and shook his head. There was no doubt Jason was going to know all about his disastrous date before morning.

“What happened?” asked Jason.

“Just didn’t work out,” said Gabriel.

They were in the staff kitchen, but it was eight o’clock in the morning, so hardly anyone was around. Dexter had joined them, of course. He’d said he was going to work from home, so Jason must have told him what had happened.

“How would you know that in five minutes?” Jason pressed.

“You know, I’m sure there’s a law that Langdon’s breaching by telling you my private business.”

“Langdon didn’t have a say in the matter.”

Dexter laughed, as did Gabriel. It was a fair point. Jason might be five feet seven, but he was skilled at getting his own way. He had his partner, Patrick, wrapped around his little finger. They’d moved in together a few months ago. Dexter was planning to buy somewhere with his boyfriend, Simon, who was their former boss. Yes, that had been messy.

“Well?” asked Jason, with a stern look on his face.

Gabriel was half a foot taller than Jason, but still found him intimidating when he had his “boss” face on.

“He had certain . . . expectations that I wasn’t going to meet.”

“Got it,” said Jason, with a concerned expression. “You’re still doing the other dates this week, aren’t you?”

“You know, this is not a conversation I should be having with my boss.”

“Don’t be silly. Did I tell you Patrick bought this new toy? You need to charge it up for a few hours, but once you get the settings right –”

“Please don’t finish that sentence,” said Gabriel, looking around to check they were still alone. “Yes, I’m going on the other dates, so let’s drop the matter.”

“Have you spoken to Bobby yet?” asked Dexter.

Gabriel glared at him. “I’ll see him at Sunday lunch. There’s no reason to speak to him before then.”

“What’s this?” asked Jason.

Dexter filled him in on Bobby asking for a private meeting. They chatted about it as if Gabriel wasn’t there, surmising that it probably had something to do with the wedding. He was irritated, so he went to walk away, but Dexter grabbed his arm.

“Where are you going?”

“To work. You know that thing we get paid for?”

“Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve got a nine o’clock, so I’m gonna prep.”