Shame had me nodding at him, and I fought it away as it crept through me to curl in my stomach. “I thought we weren’t going to bring up the past again.”
Creed let out a growl. “Stow it. You know if you’re not in control you could hurt someone. Bad.”
All at once I wasn’t amused. I sat forward and jabbed a finger in his direction. “That was once. Nearly twenty fucking years ago.”
Creed nudged his knees against the coffee table, and I was glad it was between us because I wanted to fucking smack him. “Once was enough, don’t you think? You could have gone to prison. Hell, you probablyshouldhave.”
“You weren’t exactly innocent yourself.”
He grimaced and dropped his head. “Didn’t say I was.”
Merit leaned over and ran his hand from Creed’s shoulder to his wrist, but let go when he received a withering glance. “Creedence, you’re too high-strung.”
“Fuck you, Mer. You never take this seriously. Not for yourself, not for Casey. I’m the only one who has taken quantifiable steps to change myself.”
Merit huffed. “This holier than thou bullshit is exactly why we broke up. One time in the last year I’ve—”
“Peter? Remember him?” Creed scowled between me and Merit. “After what happened to him, because of us, he was in the hospital. From what I heard later, he could barely walk for a year afterward.” Creed practically vibrated as he grasped the arms of his chair and sucked in a deep breath.
Merit shrugged. “Peter got better. I think.” A devious grin stretched across his face that chilled me, even though I knew he wasn’t a terrible guy when you got right down to things. “It wasn’t like Peter didn’t deserve it. He fucked with everyone else and finally got a slice of shit cake. He had it coming.”
“Can you two stop? Please? I know I blew it today. I know all the reasons I should learn to cool down without lashing out. I know it’s unhealthy.” I widened my eyes at Creed.
“Don’t quote me to myself, you kiss ass.” For his part in this conversation, Creed seemed ready to leave for home, staring over my shoulder toward the stairs that would take him to the first floor. He tapped his fingers on his knees. “Since you refuse to utilize my highly sought after professional advice, how will you fix this, Casey?”
I sighed and felt tired. “I just won’t get mad at stupid shit.”
Merit chuckled out a strained laugh. “Let’s not worry so much. We’re out having a good time and nothing bad happened.” He leaned over to rub a hand over my knee in a friendly way, almost like he was waxing a bowling ball. Merit had always been a touchy-feely guy with his friends, but I winced on the inside because he’d stopped being that way with Creed after they broke up. I could practically feel the anger crackling off Creed as he watched Merit put his hand on me.
“Yeah,” I mumbled, “what Mer said.”
Creed slumped back in his chair.
To my left there was a tiny clearing of a throat, and I turned to find the man who was normally at the host station on the first floor. I had no idea what his name was, but he had a cheap gray suit and thirty years on me—with a blond comb-over that kept me staring like it was a cobra about to strike. I was mesmerized so long that he narrowed his eyes on me. I felt like a jackass.
“Yes?” I smiled in apology.
“Sirs, I beg your pardons, but there’s a man downstairs”—his nose wrinkled—“who claims to know you, Mr. Uhlig.”
I checked my watch. It wasn’t much past eight yet. “Blue in his hair? Lip piercing? Cute?”
The host looked pained as he smiled. “Yes, of course, sir. Your son?”
I winced. Surely I didn’t look that old. “My date.”
“Apologies.” The man bowed his head, maybe to hide his amusement. Fuck my life, even the staff thought I was stupid.
“It’s fine,” I said, but maybe I sounded mad or something because he took a fast step back and hustled off. “Angel’s early.” I brushed away my irritation with the conversation we’d been having, especially since the three of us had had some version of it every few months for the past two decades because of something outlandish one of us had done.
“You asked him to come here?” Merit tried to cover his laugh with a cough but failed. “The boy who works in your office.” He glanced around and lifted his eyebrows at me, and that pissed me off.
“Why not?”
Creed slowly shook his head at Merit. “You’re such an asshole. This was a nice choice for a date, especially with someone you don’t know well.” He reached over and tugged on a strand of Merit’s hair, as if warning him to behave.
“You used to love me being a dick.” Merit winked at him like a fuck and drifted his hand down to give himself a fast, indecent squeeze before he snickered again.
“I grew a brain,” Creed said coldly, and I knew that tone. They would be fighting for real soon. “For your sake, I hope you know what you’re doing,” he shot at me. “Try to remind yourself that youlikeAngel and don’t want to chase him away.”
