picked it up and scowled at the screen. Then he laughed and turned it so I could see it.
At the bottom of a page of texts, most of which were unanswered Hey, call me, drinks?, and other such prods for Tom’s attention, was a new message:
Never mind. Have a nice life.
I chuckled. “See? Problem solved.”
“Yes.” Tom put the phone down. “But you owe me a hundred bucks now.”
“What?”
He shrugged unrepentantly. “You wagered a hundred bucks that the phone would stay quiet.”
I glared at him.
He mirrored the toothy grin I’d given him a moment ago.
“Ugh. Fine.” I dug out my wallet, pulled out five twenties, and tossed them on his desk. “But at least he’s out of your hair now.”
“Thank God.” Tom collected the money.
“And speaking of out of your hair…” I got up. “Will’s probably going to be home soon. I’d better roll.”
“Yeah. I’m right behind you.”
“Have a good night, man.”
“I will, thanks.” He paused. “Hey, Aaron?”
I turned around.
Tom’s smile was sincere this time. “Thanks. For listening and for getting rid of him.” Then it turned to a grin as he held up the cash between two fingers. “And for the hundred bucks.”
I just laughed and headed out of the office.
On the way home, I was still amused by the exchange with Greg, but I worried about Tom. He was a good guy. He’d been a great friend for a long time, and I couldn’t have asked for a better business partner. The fact that he had no qualms about telling me when I needed to get my head out of my ass? I loved that about him.
I just wished he could see what I saw—that there were good men out there, but he kept getting involved with the assholes. Because Jesus fucking Christ, Tom deserved better than Greg.
When I got home, Will’s car was in the garage. I was kind of surprised I didn’t see Kelly’s Camry parked outside, but considering they’d been doing a lot of heavy lifting at the house today, he might’ve needed a night to relax. I couldn’t blame him.
I went inside and put my briefcase and jacket in their usual places. I was halfway through making Will a cup of coffee before it occurred to me that he might not even be in his office. It was such a routine thing, I hadn’t even thought about the fact that his routine had been different today.
Footsteps came into the kitchen, and I glanced over my shoulder as some heat crept into my cheeks. “Hey. I was, uh, just making your coffee.” I glanced down at the steaming mug in front of me. “Did you… Did you still want…”
“Thank you, baby.” He slid his hands over my hips and kissed the side of my neck. “You know I’ll never say no to a cup of coffee.”
I relaxed a bit. He had a point. And it wasn’t like he’d punish me for following the usual routine when he hadn’t told me to do otherwise. Clearly I needed some coffee myself because my brain was all over the place.
Cup in hand, I turned around, and he took it with a smile.
“Thank you.” He cradled it in his hands to let it cool. “You didn’t work too hard today, did you?”
“Nah. Aside from dealing with Tom and his problems with men.”
“Oh God.” Will groaned. “Don’t tell me he met another dickhead.”
“He met another dickhead.” I rolled my eyes. “The fucker wouldn’t stop calling him, either.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep.” I chuckled. “I got rid of him.”
Will’s eyebrows rose. “What did you do?”
I shrugged, trying to look innocent. “Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Nothing.”
He inclined his head a little.
I chuckled. “Okay, I called him, pretended to be an ATF agent, and told him that we needed to interview him because he’d been relentlessly calling a high-level drug dealer we’d been surveilling.”
Will laughed. Bringing his coffee to his lips, he asked, “And Tom let you?”
“Well, I mean, he face-palmed a bit, but even he agrees it got the job done.”
Will chuckled and took a cautious sip. “One of these days, we just need to set him up on a blind date with someone we’ve already vetted.”
“I know, right?”
We exchanged grimaces. Tom was closer to me than he was to Will, but we both cared about the guy, and it really was tough for either of us to keep watching him struggle so hard just to find someone who wasn’t a complete asshole. I mean, that was a pretty low bar, but somehow it was too high for every man Tom