“Just once, I’dlike to show up at a party and not have to do anythin’,” I grumbled, rearranging my grip on the keg I was carrying.“Oh, Bas, you’re here. Have a beer and take a load off.”
“You’re such a whiner,” my best friend Titus grunted.
“Says the guy who needed a fuckin’ hand truck,” I shot back with a grin.
“Hey man, you wanna fuck up your back, it’s on you. I wanna be able to toss my woman around the way she likes until I’m in the ground.”
“Don’t talk about my sweet Noel that way,” I chided. “You fuckin’ caveman. That woman is a saint.”
“Preachin’ to the choir,” he said with a laugh. “She took the kids to my mom’s over an hour ago. You think she hung around to visit or she’s sittin’ in her car somewhere enjoyin’ the quiet?”
“She probably put the back seats down and is nappin’ in their driveway.”
Titus chuckled. “I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“She’s cool with havin’ the party here?” I asked, putting the keg down on the back porch. “It’s not really her scene.”
“Yeah, she’s good.” He nodded. “I think she’s excited to have a night without the kids. I mean”—he shot me a look—“she’d rather have me to herself, but she doesn’t mind havin’ people over.”
“I’ll crash on the couch, get up early in the mornin’, and get shit cleaned up so she doesn’t do it.”
“I’m sleepin’ in,” Titus replied with a sly grin. “But I’ll send her over to Mom’s while we get the house dialed in. She changed the sheets in all the bedrooms in case anyone stays over, so you can just crash upstairs.”
“I’m fine on the couch.”
“That’s what I told her, but you know how she is. Speakin’ of couches, how’s your new apartment workin’ out?”
“I bought a fuckin’ bed.”
“About time.”
“With a frame,” I clarified. “Not mattresses on the floor. Real shit.”
“You should’ve takenyourbed,” Titus griped. “I told you to take your bed when you moved out.”
“Mermaid wanted it.”
“You don’t have to give my oldesteverythingshe wants.”
“Wrong.”
“She didn’t need a damn king-size bed. She’s not even four feet tall.”
“I didn’t say she needed it,” I argued as I followed him inside. “I said she wanted it.”
“And now I’m gonna have to get rid of it when she decides it’s too big and she wants more space in her room.”
“That’s your problem, not mine,” I countered, grabbing a soda out of the fridge.
I missed this place. I’d lived there with Titus for years, even staying after Noel and the girls moved in and they expanded their family, but I’d finally decided that enough was enough a few months before. My new apartment wasn’t anything fancy—more of a townhouse, with builder-grade appliances and flooring and shit—but it was in the price range I wanted to spend and it was only twenty minutes from the club. I figured I’d get a house eventually, but I wasn’t in a hurry. I’d been single most of my adult life, and I didn’t need a whole lot of space. Might as wellsave up and get some property instead of finding some cookie-cutter place in town.
“Myla and Cian said they’ll be here early,” Titus said, dropping onto a kitchen stool. “She’s bringin’ food. When’s Lou gonna get here?”
“I’m not her keeper,” I replied, leaning against the counter.
Titus just stared at me.
“She said she’d pick up some fruit and veggie trays after work, so probably sometime in the next half hour.”
