“Thatbastard. He’s the one who suggested that bringing you here would be a gentle step towards reintegrating you with society. He picked up his two coffees, betrayed me, then went straight back up to his condo. You know they’re getting naked and dirty."
The idea of Anders and Omar naked and heavily caffeinated…is not a visual that hurts my feelings.
Shoving my arm, she grumbles. “Eww. You're imagining it."
"I wasn't the one who started with all of the graphic imagery, friend. Grabbing a coffee in peace and then initiating sexy times with the one you love sounds pretty good to me."
She rests her chin on her hand, dejected. "Yeah, it really does.”
"Well, Abigail seems like a cool person…"
“I don't shit where I eat,” she says, rolling her eyes.
My mouth opens in shock and I gesture broadly to the space. "Woman! This is the very definition of shitting where you eat. Or at least drink, and that counts. And besides, the Guardians team is practically a dating service these days."
She snorts. "Yeah, a dating service with a body count."
I freeze up, looking around, convinced everyone’s heard her.
She sees my reaction and rolls her eyes at me. "The closest people are three tables away, and nobody's listening to us. Are you sure that you’re built for a life of crime?"
"No. But I don't know what else to do, and I'm not letting shitheads get away with hurting people. So here I am."
She smiles and pats my arm. "I, for one, am happy you’re here. It’ll be cool to work with you. I mean, I know that your job is more about putting together the ops themselves, but I would really love to work with you to make sure I can take care of all the external logistics. It's kind of my brand."
I finally take a sip of coffee. Damn, this shit is tasty.
"Look, I know this is my first time in here, but you are never again allowed to endanger our access to this nectar of the gods."
She takes a big breath and lets out an even bigger sigh. "Okay,fine. How do you feel about me trolling the Freebirds down the street?"
"Surprisingly, I'm okay with that. Their vibe is like the opposite of a coffee shop barista. I'm pretty sure they require you to pop positive for marijuana before you begin working there, and it’s just as likely they have a minimum tattoo requirement. You fuck somebody from there, there's a good chance they won’t even remember it after."
She punches my arm again. "Rude! Anybody who's ever slept with me totally remembers it."
"Ouch! You're vindictive when you’re pre-caffeinated."
She snorts. “I’ve been in here an hour and this is my third coffee.”
“Food, then.”
She shakes her head. “Sex-starved. And yes, I know that fucking the baristas is stupid, but sometimes it's nice to have easy access to a legal mood lifter."
"Yeah, that's what Grindr is for. Or Tinder, or whatever you complicated pansexuals use.”
“Eh, I’m more of a Hinge girl."
"Congratulations. I'm more of a desperately-in-love-with-my-old-fuck buddy kind of guy."
I’m smiling, but damn that hurt to admit out loud.
"Yeah, I kinda noticed that. What's going on there?"
"Honestly, I don’t know why I brought it up. I really don't want to talk about it right now."
She would be well within her rights to bust my balls, considering that I just gave her love life a whole heap of shit, but an understanding look crosses her face, and she smiles at me.
"No problem. I'm just happy to sit here, drink coffee, and shoot the shit with you."
