“It’s just as well we’re keeping this under the radar. Prosecutors aren’t my favorite people.”
Graham reached out and squeezed his thigh. “Yeah. I’d imagine not.”
“So, mini golf,” Thad said firmly. “Do you know of a place to go?”
There was more they should probably talk about, but Graham took Thad’s change of subject as strong hint he wasn’t in the mood. They’d have more time to talk in the future.
“I don’t, but I have the internet, you old geezer.” Graham waved his phone.
“Hey!” Thad protested but he was laughing. “Don’t call me that.”
They wrestled for the phone and when Graham ended up under Thad on the couch, his body pressed down over him, heavy and warm, as he cupped Graham’s cheek and kissed his mouth … well, things had worked out fine as far as he was concerned.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
About an hour later, they ended up at a place located near the waterfront in South Boston.
Thad hadn’t been aware “upscale” mini golf existed, but apparently it did. The balls even had chips in them and registered shots, so there was no need to manually mark down scores.
Which was just as well, because it was a different system than Thad had ever seen, with a hole-in-one equaling fifty points, two putts equaling forty, and three equaling thirty-five.
Plus, random bonuses.
“Hey, you know, this is a pretty good idea. This would have kept Gavin and I from fighting about cheating, that’s for sure,” he said, bouncing a ball in his hand as they waited for drinks at the bar.
“Drinking?” Graham asked.
Thad laughed. “No. Not atthatage. Gavin was pretty rebellious but not quite that precocious.”
“Gavin?” Graham sounded confused. “I thought you were the one who was always in trouble.”
“Uhh, yeah,” Thad said, suddenly uneasy. He’d forgotten Graham didn’t know the whole story. It didn’t feel right to lie to him, but it didn’t feel right to tell Gavin’s story to one of the guys on his team without his permission either.
But he couldn’t ask Gavin’s permission without explainingwhyand … yeah, this was fucking complicated enough already.
“Well, we both got up to some shit then,” Thad said vaguely, then added, “I meant the ball though. Built in anti-cheating technology.”
A look Thad couldn’t quite interpret crossed Graham’s face, but he nodded. “Makes sense.”
Thankfully, they reached the front of the line at the bar a moment later, and Thad let out a sigh of relief, hoping the subject wouldn’t come up again. Fuck, he hated this.
“What do you want?” Thad asked. Graham had already paid for their golf game. “My treat.”
Graham ordered a spiced pineapple margarita, and Thad ordered a passion fruit lemonade.
“Not in the mood to drink alcohol?” Graham asked with a lift of his eyebrows as they waited for the drinks to be mixed.
“Itisthe middle of a weekday,” Thad pointed out.
“Yeah, fair,” Graham said, wincing. “I really shouldn’t be day drinking either. Especially since I was the one who drove us here.”
Thad shrugged. “You good with me driving your car home?”
“Sure.” Graham dug in his pocket and handed over the keys.
After they got their drinks, they wandered over to the course.
Thad glanced around as they waited their turn. Thankfully, it wasn’t too busy at this hour of the day, and they shouldn’t have to wait long.
