"Pretty sure she has a say in that," Harry chimed in.
"Yeah, yeah, if she says yes or whatever," Logan dismissed. He took a small sip of his whiskey. "So, James says you guys are having celebratory drinks. What are we all celebrating?"
"The end of a big project. Two office blocks out in the Yannis Center. We finished a while back, but I haven't gotten round to taking these losers out."
They all chuckled and raised their glasses to me. They were good boys: hard workers and eager learners. I wouldn't be half as successful as I was today if I hadn't found such a good bunch of loyal guys. We all got along well. No egos or time wasters. One good thing about staying in the area was that small towns tended to produce reliable, salt-of-the-earth, honest, hard-working folks.
"Well, good on you all." Logan raised his drink at us and took another sip. "I couldn't do what you all do. Manual labor." He shuddered as if we told him we cleaned shit with our hands for a living.
"Yeah, you'd have to give up your weekly manicure," James laughed.
Logan smirked and held up his, apparently, manicured hands. "Sorry, no offense," he started in that way where we all knew he definitely was about to offend. "I'm not the creative sort, and I hate being outdoors. I was also top of my class, you see, so it would be a crime to waste away years of higher education when I know I could use my book smarts for the greater good."
There was an awkward lull as we all glanced at each other incredulously. James shot me an apologetic grimace as if to say:"Sorry, I told you he was a douche."
Luckily for Logan, I spoke full asshole.
"Huh. Funny." I pretended to be interested in the foam caked to my glass.
"I went to college for Business Economics, you see, but I hate being stuck indoors. I've always been good with my hands and knew I always wanted to own my own business, so after working on a few major developments in New York and being a foreman on a few, I moved out here and started my own company."
I fixed him with an icy stare that had him reddening. "And I hired a great fucking crew."
I pointed at James, who had a shit-eating grin on his face. "Your cousin being one of them. Do you know he's one of a few on my team who can read a blueprint like it was a kid's book? There's no doubt in my mind that he'll be running shit in a few years."
I downed my Guinness as Logan stared open-mouthed at me. I regarded him with a sardonic smile. "James tells me you're a lawyer. Are you a partner?"
His mouth snapped shut, and he adjusted his tie as the red on his face deepened. "Uh, no. Not ...yet. Working on it."
He cleared his throat and downed the contents of his drink as the rest of the table covered their snickers behind their beer glasses.
"Here you guys go." More drinks were placed on our table, breaking up the heavy tension. Oblivious to the earlier hostility, the attentive bartender busied herself by going around the table collecting used glasses.
"Thank you."
Her eyes crinkled as she winked at me. "I'll be back with your fries."
"Ah!" Harry clicked his fingers at me. "I know why you're not interested in her. You're still seeing your mystery phone girl," he proudly announced.
I almost choked on my drink. "What?" I sputtered.
"Remember when I caught you sexting on your phone in your office?"
I was going to wipe that smug smile off his face.
"I wasnotsexting," I gritted out. "And you're wrong. I wasn't chatting to anyone special." The lie felt like lead in my mouth.
"Then what are you waiting for? She's gagging for it."
"Not sure if I'm in the mood."Just fucking drop it,I wanted to say.
"Then at least grab her number for later."
I took a deep breath to stop myself from lashing out. If I wanted to grab her number, then I would have. If I wanted to crook my finger at her and have her blow me under this table, then I would have. I just wasn't in the fucking mood. Hadn't been in fucking weeks.
"Jesus, if you're not gonna, then I will." Logan sat up and straightened his tie, his early fau pas forgotten. "It's been a while for me."
"What about that hot brunette you were hooking up with?" James quizzed.
