No. Val would never make that mistake. She shot a glance over at Morty on the other side of the room and caught his eye. She looked away immediately before he’d do something stupid, like wave at her.
Once she’d performed her act of charity, she made a beeline to Dane’s office but found his door locked. And he was gone.
The kids all scooted around to make room for Dane. He flagged down the waitress and ordered a scotch, neat. Then he told her to put the whole tab on his credit card. At least if he was paying, he could pretend it was a company outing and stop feeling so creepy. Even the boys were practically leering at him.
A couple of them had been in the middle of a conversation when he arrived, and they kept arguing until others swatted at them and pointed toward Dane, as if royalty had arrived. Then in silence, they all stared, waiting for him to perform a circus act.
“So are you all enjoying the internship?” A dozen heads nodded and called out an assortment of agreements. They kept watching him. “And you’re learning from your mentors?”
“Some more than others,” said one of them.
“Ron, right?” He gave the kid a chance to correct him, but he knew he’d gotten it right. “Are you not satisfied with your assignment?” Ugh. He didn’t like to be that prick. But arrogant interns pushed his buttons.
Anthony spoke up. “I think Ron’s trying to say that Selena landed the best situation.”
How humiliating to have misconstrued the intent. But he hated the ass kissing more than the arrogance. “Selena’s a sharp student.”
Ron laughed, too loud. “Selena seems to think there are loopholes in Dodd-Frank. Is that your definition of sharp?”
Dane was actually relieved Ron turned out to be an asshole because it would be a lot more fun this way. “She’s right about that.”
“Oh, please. Dodd-Frank is the greatest piece of regulatory law to be enacted since . . .”
“Since Glass-Steagall?” Dane offered helpfully.
“Well, yeah.”
There were several empty mugs in front of Ron, and Dane realized the kid was running on liquid courage. But still. He couldn’t resist.
“But that law was repealed.” His scotch arrived, and he took a long sip. “Have any of you actually read Dodd-Frank?” Ron looked away. Dane glanced over at Selena. “Tell them.”
She sat up straighter. “Glass-Steagall was only thirty-seven pages long, but Dodd-Frank is so complicated, the only people who really know what’s in it are lawyers. And it keeps growing.”
Before she could get going, Ron said, “You’re not a lawyer. You’re just a programmer, right? Wasn’t your SEC license revoked?”
Dane pretended to adjust his collar. “Tough crowd.” But the kids had probably never seen a live comedian. “First of all, where did you hear I lost my license? That’s simply untrue. Second, programmers have to know the rules of the game as well as any traders. After all, who puts the gatekeeping into the software you use to buy and sell? That software is complicated and always changing with regulations.”
Ron sat down and shut up. Dane looked around to figure out if this was some kind of pitchfork-wielding mob or a case of drunken bravado.
Anthony looked abashed. “Hey, I’m sorry for that. Not that I have any connection to him whatsoever. We were all kind of thrown together, right?” He laughed awkwardly.
“No, problem. Listen, go ahead and order whatever. The bar will take care of it. I’d recommend not getting as drunk as your friend. Tomorrow is still a work day. I’m gonna head out.”
Selena jumped up to follow him and caught his elbow. “I’m sorry. I had no idea they were going to be like that. Whenever they talk about you, it’s like they’re in the presence of a god. I don’t know what got into Ron.”
“He wanted to blood me. I get it. He’s probably top of his class at some pretentious school. Whatever. He’ll feel like an ass tomorrow—and next year if he puts in an application to work here.” Dane grinned at Selena so she would see he was joking. He didn’t need to tell her he’d much preferred Ron’s attacks to her pawing at him. At least he could defend himself against Ron.
“So I was wondering if you could give me a ride home. I don’t have a car here.”
Dane scratched the back of his neck. If Noelle was having him followed, he didn’t want to be seen driving a young intern home. “Let me call you a cab.”
He waited out front with her until the cab arrived and handed the driver enough cash to get her home. Then he found his car and sped out of the parking lot. He went straight home.
When he pulled into his driveway, the cab stopped behind him on the street, and Selena climbed out.
Oh, God, now what?
She spoke to the driver, who drove off, leaving a twenty-something-year-old girl on his doorstep. He looked up and down the street for any signs of witnesses. He waved toward his car. He had to get her back home.
