them up and placed them on top of my manuals for when Miller arrived.
I stood from my chair and reached for the large bag that held our game supplies. Looping the strap over my shoulder, I slid the stack of books from the desk, returned to the living room, and placed everything on the dining room table. I made several trips back and forth as I grabbed monster miniatures, our party’s boxes of supplies, and even more stuff.
I was busy setting up the table when I heard my front door open. I didn’t have to look to know who it was. There was only one person on the planet who would walk into my apartment unannounced.
“D&D tonight?” Foster asked as he strolled toward me. “Did you manage to replace Jack?”
I leaned my hip against the table and smiled as I watched him cross the room. “I think so. Lee’s bringing a friend. He said he’s a little shy but cool. Foster, what are you wearing?”
“What?” Foster pouted as he propped his hands on his hips. “Don’t you like them?”
He turned around and cocked his hips as he lifted the hem of his shirt to show off his ass in his new, black leather pants.
I smirked. “You look like a wannabe member of a motorcycle gang.”
Foster spun back around to face me as he dropped his shirt. “But a sexy one, right?”
He probably thought he’d said that in a teasing manner, but I’d known Foster for so long that I knew the hint of vulnerability I’d heard in his tone was real. And lately, there was only one man that could make Foster feel vulnerable.
“Don’t,” Foster said as he lifted his hand and pointed a finger at me in warning.
I lifted my hands in surrender. “I didn’t say anything,” I replied, knowing my face was doing all my talking for me.
“Shut up!”
“I didn’t say anything!” I repeated, trying to keep the smile off my face, but a flustered Foster was so easy to mess with. And I wouldn’t have been a good friend if I had let the opportunity to tease him slip away. Foster loved nothing better than picking at a person but was shit at taking it himself.
“You don’t have to say anything,” he said through gritted teeth. “I can hear your judgment from over here. This is a judgment-free zone,” he said as he used his hands to encompass the room. “And you are being judgy.”
“You should just ask him out.”
Foster groaned as he slapped his hands to his face and then dragged them down dramatically.
I thought it was cute that Foster had a little crush on the bartender at the jazz club next door. Foster didn’t usually do crushes. He was more upfront with the men he wanted to date, or fuck, or scene with, or all three. That he was mooning over some guy was strange in and of itself, that Foster still hadn’t approached him was incomprehensible. I’d seen the guy once or twice in passing, and while he was attractive in a farmer’s son kind of way with his cowboy boots, jeans, and pressed, white shirts, I didn’t see the appeal. Then again, I was a little partial to someone more, well, little.
“I mean, you never know. Maybe he’d like a little slap and tickle. I bet you could give that cowboy a real ride for his money.”
I laughed as Foster silently glared at me and then flipped me off.
“Hey, where are you going?” I asked as Foster spun around and stalked back toward the door.
“Somewhere away from you!”
“Was it something I said?”
Fucking with Foster was truly a pleasure in life, and the opportunity so rarely presented itself.
I took the sound of my door slamming as his answer.
I was still laughing when Lee arrived a few minutes later. I knew it was him by the excited, rapid tempo of his knock. “Come in,” I called out. “The door’s open.”
I was unrolling the gridded mat across the table when I heard them enter the apartment. I looked over to greet my guests and noticed a worried expression on Lee’s face. “What’s wrong?”
Lee lifted his hand and pointed his thumb behind him toward the door. “We passed Foster coming up the stairs. He just grunted when I said hello. What crawled up his butt and died?”
I laughed at the apt description and returned to setting up the table. “I was messing with him earlier. I don’t think he appreciated it.”