“What?”
“I don’t see any of your so-calledcoolfriends here.” Alistair turned around, scanning the crowd. “Hmm, unless perhaps I missed them?”
“What are you talking about?” Noah scoffed.
“The people you once saw fit to socialize with are not here, but that young man is. Loyalty is priceless, dear Noah.”
“But he’s so lame!”
“So?” Alistair scratched his beard. “No one is so rich as to turn away a friend… especially when you don’t have any.”
Fuming, Noah tried to drown his anger with the last slurp of his watered-down drink. He wanted to argue, but Alistair was right—at least about not having any friends.
Landon still sucked.
“I bet you just have loads of fuckin’ friends,” Noah drawled.
“I do, in fact. Including the people who work for me.”
“You’refriendswith Junior?”
Alistair chuckled. “He’s an unusual young man, yes, but he has many talents.”
Noah wondered what those talents were, and he was surprised when he was pricked by a stab of envy. “Talents? Ortalents?”
“I do not sleep with anyone who works for me,” Alistair said. “That would be extremely unprofessional.”
“But if he didn’t work for you?” Noah didn’t know why he was pushing this, but his stomach was hurting.
“No,” was Alistair’s simple reply.
“Okay, good.”
“Erasmus, though…” Alistair pursed his lips thoughtfully.
“Oh, come on!” Noah glared. “The nutcase who never blinks?”
“I’m kidding.” Alistair grinned wide. “Oh, hmm, is that a hint of jealousy I detect?”
“No,” Noah lied. His stomach was getting more sloshy, his head was light, and now he wanted to know why Alistair had given Erasmus that stupid matching gun.
“We must work on your self-esteem.” Alistair finished his drink and pushed it aside. “I may have some ideas we can try after dinner.”
“Dinner? But what about the party?”
“The party is not going anywhere. If you intend to keep drinking, however, you really should have something in your stomach.”
Landon and Junior returned, and Junior was holding a liquor bottle and a two-liter bottle of soda. Landon looked nearly as ill as Noah felt.
“What happened?” Alistair asked as if he already knew what the answer was going to be.
“The bartender didn’t wanna part with this here liquor.” Junior proudly put the bottles on the table. “I was able to fuckin’ persuade him.”
“He has a gun,” Landon hissed to Noah, his eyes wide. “Did you know he has a gun?”
“And half a brain cell to go with it,” Noah mumbled under his breath.
“I trust everything is all right, Junior?” Alistair opened up the bottles, refilling his and Noah’s empty glasses. “I’d hate for you to upset the staff.”
