How to Marry Your Frenemy - London Casey Page 0,50
five times into the hand that I had been holding.
I laughed.
She really was something else.
Vince treated Eddie and I to lunch.
That was his excuse to drink in the early afternoon and flirt with the bartender who seemed to be missing most of the top of her shirt.
Not that I minded the view at all.
Although there were a few times I tried to picture Callie in that same shirt.
“Careful staring,” Eddie said to me. “You’re married.”
“Looking is fine,” I said. “And you don’t know what Callie is into. She might even like if I touched…”
Eddie exhaled a breath. “You’re going to give me a heart attack.”
“Speaking of which,” Vince said. “I really want to look into Connelly.”
Eddie and I looked at each other for a second.
“Vince,” Eddie said. “You know who I am…”
“You’re a pussy,” Vince said. He grabbed the back of Eddie’s neck. “But I love you.”
“Connelly is too risky,” I said. “No fucking way.”
“Where’s your free spirit, nephew?” Vince asked. “Where’s the guy who got married on a whim?”
He winked at me.
“Listen to Eddie’s numbers,” I said. “They’re not going to come close to turning anything that resembles a profit for ten years.”
“If they can survive that long,” Eddie said.
“They need money,” Vince said. “I have money.” He looked at the bartender. “Hear that, honey? I have money.”
“That’s good,” she said.
“Listen, honey,” Vince said. “Were you ugly as a kid?”
“Christ, Vince,” I said. I looked at the bartender. “Sorry.”
“It’s an honest question,” Vince said. “I’ll be fair. Look at me. I’m as ugly as sin. Right? I’m not afraid of it.”
“Okay then,” the bartender said. “I was… let’s just say I had braces. Until I was twenty. And I really didn’t blossom for a while. And even then, I had a little bit of… surgical assistance…”
“Ah, right,” Vince said. “So you were ugly, your chest was flat as a freshly paved road, and you decided to invest in yourself.”
“You don’t have to listen to this,” I said.
“Relax, nephew,” Vince said. “Just talk to me, honey.”
“You’re right,” she said. “I invested in myself and I feel much better.”
“This is uncomfortable,” Eddie said.
Vince winked at the bartender and she walked away.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I asked Vince.
“I’m making a point,” he said. “Connelly. I want it. I don’t give a shit about the risk. Make it happen.”
That was the end of the conversation.
Poor Eddie was sweating bullets from being in the uncomfortable spot with the bartender all the while trying to mentally figure out numbers to make Vince happy.
As we were getting ready to leave, the bartender tracked me down.
“Thanks for sticking up for me,” she said. “I really didn’t mind. But that guy is a creep.”
“Yeah he is,” I said. “And I’m sure you were just as pretty without the surgical assistance.”
“Maybe you can play around and tell me…”
I lifted my left hand and showed off my wedding band.
“Oh, fuck,” the bartender said. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
I exited the fancy restaurant-slash-bar to the sound of horns beeping and Vince chatting Eddie’s ear off about his vision.
I looked at the wedding ring again and shook my head.
Callie was cock blocking me even when she wasn’t around.
I walked down the hallway and heard Misha and Callie talking.
“I just need to pick one,” Callie said. “You can tell me what to do, right?”