That hot little finale had driven her crazy. We hadn’t actually planned it; flooding her warm channel and hot mouth simultaneously, from behind and in front. But when it happened, we knew right away it was the pinnacle of connectivity that three people could ever possibly have.
My daydream was broken again by Carter’s worried face. He couldn’t even meet my gaze as he slid a pair of glasses into the sink and frowned.
“I’ve got some bad news and some worse news,” sighed Carter. “Which do you want first?”
“Does it matter?”
“Probably not.”
“Then just hit me with it.”
My friend leaned forward, dropping his elbows on the bar. I’d seen him worried before, but this was a whole different level.
“Our lawyers called. We lost the appeal.”
A slow, sick feeling crept into the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t believe it.
“Fuck.”
“Yeah,” Carter nodded solemnly.
“So what happens now?”
“I don’t know, actually,” he shrugged. “Even worse, our lawyers don’t know. The rezoning board wouldn’t listen to a single thing they said.” Carter shook his head and growled. “I’m sure they’re already in those fuckers’ pockets.”
That last theory wasn’t just a possibility, it was all but certain. When the first letters came declaring that The Refuge was improperly zoned, we figured the place had to be grandfathered in. It was simply a matter of getting a variance, nothing more.
But then Harborstone showed up, offering to buy The Refuge outright. They didn’t want the bar, of course, they wanted the land. Turns out they’d already bought up most of the surrounding blocks, and were looking to develop the property into luxury townhouses. Or so they said.
In reality, who knew what kind of housing would go up once the old neighborhood had been bought and paid for. But the idea of watching The Refuge get torn down and paved over had made Carter’s blood boil.
“Soo… what doyouthink the next move should be?” I asked my friend carefully.
“Fuck if I know.” He poured himself a beer and dropped it onto a coaster beside mine. “We’ve already thrown so much money at it, I don’t know if it’s worth continuing this fight.”
He was right of course, but I couldn’t tell him that. It was a conclusion he needed to arrive at himself.
“Please tell me that’s the worse news,” I offered.
Carter shook his head. My shoulders slumped.
Ah, shit.
“Now that our rezoning attempts have failed,” he went on, “they cut their original offer in half. Less than half, actually.”
“Fuck their offer!” I snarled into my beer.
“Yes, but—”
“You don’t want to sell this place anyway, do you?”
“No, I don’t. I’ve put so much of my life into it.” He paused to look around before lowering his voice. “But I also can’t imagine walking away with nothing.”
I glanced around with him, following his gaze. I’m sure we were both thinking the same thing.
“We’re not exactly at fire marshal capacity here, either,” Carter whispered glumly. “Speaking of which, apparently we have a meeting with him next week.”
I squinted. “Why?”
