Part 11 (1/2)
This only made them crack up harder.
Eddie got himself together first. ”Gotta go,” he said and headed for the alley. Trash day was his favorite day of the week because he loved nothing more than to go dumpster diving for treasures.
Twice now, the entire building-all fond of Eddie and protective of him as well, had implemented a system where everyone bagged up anything that might be of interest to him separately so that he didn't have to go searching.
And then they discovered that Eddie was dumping out all the bags into the dumpster regardless.
Turns out, Eddie liked the thrill of the find.
”You smell like a skunk,” Archer said to Eddie.
Eddie blinked. ”Is that right? Well, I'm sure we have skunks around here somewhere.”
”You think?” Archer asked casually. ”Because I'm thinking it smells like weed.”
”Huh,” Eddie said. ”Good thing you're not a cop these days, huh?”
Oh boy, Finn thought. Even Old Man Eddie knew better than to remind Archer of his cop days, which in turn would remind him why he wasn't one anymore.
Archer's eyes went flat. ”You growing?”
”Only exactly what I'm allowed,” Eddie said and pulled out a laminated card on a ribbon from beneath his s.h.i.+rt.
”You selling?” Archer asked.
”Sir, no sir,” Eddie responded, adding a smarta.s.s salute.
Finn and Spence both grimaced. ”Man,” Spence said. ”What have we told you? Archer has zero sense of humor.”
Eddie grinned. For reasons that Finn had never figured out, Eddie liked to f.u.c.k with Archer.
Archer gave a slight head shake, like he was talking himself out of making Eddie disappear. ”You know the rec center on Union?” he finally asked.
Eddie nodded. ”Past the p.o.r.n shop but before the COME TO JESUS sign?”
”Yeah,” Archer said. ”They're having a free meal tonight. Pot roast and potatoes.”
”I love pot roast and potatoes,” Eddie said.
”You want a ride, come by my office at six,” Archer told him.
Eddie grinned at him. ”See, I knew you liked me. Though not as much as Finn. Finn gave me five bucks.” Eddie looked hopefully at Archer.
Well versed in this game, Archer snorted. ”I'll pay you ten if you tell me why lover boy here's limping like he was rode hard and put away wet. I know you know more than you're telling.”
”You think he got his k.n.o.b polished,” Eddie said.
Archer flashed another grin. ”Yeah.”
Finn flipped Archer off, which only made Archer's grin widen.
”I don't know everything,” Eddie said. ”But I guess I do know some things.”
”Such as?” Archer asked.
Eddie held out his hand.
Archer rolled his eyes, fished through his pockets and came up with the promised ten.
”Okay,” Eddie said. ”I know he went inside Trouble's apartment with her, but only stayed a few minutes. He came back out in this condition. It wasn't long enough for him to get laid . . .” He slid Finn a sideways look. ”At least I hope it wasn't. You ain't a quick trigger, are you, boy?”
Spence about busted a gut and handed Eddie another ten. ”Totally worth every penny.”
Finn shook his head and walked away from those a.s.sholes, and he wasn't going back to the pub either. He needed a few hours horizontal on his bed-where he would absolutely not think about how he'd rather be getting his k.n.o.b polished.
Nineties Karaoke Night cheered Finn up considerably. First Archer bet the gang that Spence couldn't rap ”Baby Got Back.”
Spence rapped ”Baby Got Back.” Perfectly. He was in a suit too, evidently fresh from some business meeting.
The ladies went nuts.
In penance, Archer had to sing ”I'm Too s.e.xy” by Right Said Fred.
s.h.i.+rtless.
The crowd went wild. But even better was what happened when the girls showed up. They walked in together, Elle, Willa, Haley . . . and Pru, all dressed in vintage nineties.
It was a cornucopia of hotness but Finn's gaze went straight to Pru. His heart about stopped. She wore a tight, short, high-waisted denim miniskirt that showed off her mile-long legs to mouth-watering perfection, a cropped white tee with an equally cropped leather jacket that kept giving sneak, tantalizing peeks of smooth, flat belly, and some serious platforms that told him Elle had been in charge. Her hair had been teased to within an inch of its life and she appeared to be wearing glitter as makeup.
Everyone had fun ordering nineties-style c.o.c.ktails, so he made Pru a special one-a Chocolate Mock-tini. She raved over it so much that everyone else wanted one as well, and it became the night's special.
Eventually the ladies all got up to sing ”Kiss” by Prince and brought down the house. Not because they were good. But because they were so bad.
Pru had been right. She couldn't sing. Couldn't dance either. Or keep rhythm. Not that this stopped her or the glitter floating around her in a cloud everywhere she moved.
Finn loved every second of it.
That was until she dragged his a.s.s up on stage and made him do a duet with her. ”The Boy Is Mine.”
He was pretty sure not a single one of the guys would ever let him forget it either.
Sean bailed shortly after that, a woman on his arm, a smile on his face. Finn was happy for him, but when the night ended and the girls went to leave, he realized he was screwed because he didn't have the option of taking Pru home.
Even if that was only up two flights of stairs.
He had to stay until closing, add up the till, make sure everything got closed and locked up.