I need to get him out of here before he does something or says something he’ll regret later.
“Then why don’t you fucking sue his ass?” Harrold asks.
Robbie shakes his head. “You got money for a fucking lawyer back there, Harry?”
I sigh, trying to pull him away from the bar, but he isn’t budging.
“Fuck no. What do I look like, a bank?”
Robbie flips him off, and I pull him up again.
“Exactly,” Robbie snaps. “Neither do I, on account Veil Technologies fired my ass for abreach of contract.”
I’ve heard this story a dozen times, and it never gets easier. I pinch the spot between my eyes, feeling a migraine coming on.
“Sounds like ayouproblem,” Harry says as I pull Robbie up, and he falls into my arms easily.
“Maybe you should blackmail him instead,” one of the guys at the end of the bar says with a laugh. “Works for all those other guys.”
Harrold scoffs. “With what? His impeccable personality?” He shakes his head.
I roll my eyes as they laugh.
Robbie stands straighter.
“Wait…”
Robbie leans against me, looking up at me with glazed dark eyes.
“Don’t listen to them,” I tell him. “They’re drunk.”
Robbie’s gaze roves over my face, drifting to my mouth. I half-worry he’s going to kiss me because he’s drunk, and when he gets drunk, he gets sloppy and handsy and rough. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like it—I like things a little rough sometimes, but not out in the open like this…
He doesn’t kiss me, though, and I’m thankful when he follows me as I move us away from the bar. I wave to Harrold.
“Thanks, Harry,” I say as he waves back.
“Take care, Oliver.”
I manage to get us both outside and into my car without too much hassle. Robbie falls into the passenger seat like a boneless chicken.
I start the car, and it sputters, trying to kick over.
“No, no, not now…” I groan. I try again. And again. I bang my head on the steering wheel. “Fucking piece of shit.”
I’d planned on getting a new used car before the end of the year, but I hadn’t planned on having to use the money I’d saved to live off of until I found another job. So the piece of shit stays until I can find something else and replenish what I used.
I try one more time, and it kicks over. I breathe a sigh of relief, pulling out of the parking lot.
“It could work, I think,” Robbie says quietly.
“Huh?”
I focus on the road, though there’s not much traffic.
“The blackmail,” he says.
I roll my eyes again. “I told you, those guys are idiots. Drunk idiots. They don’t know what they’re talking about.”
