Page 32 of Agency

“No shots,” Andrew said at the exact same time as me.

“Exactly!” We both jumped down out of the SUV. “You’re learning, young padawan.” I came around the front and joined him, then we both made our way into the Bothersome Beaver.

“Two beers, Elise,” I said as we stepped up to the counter, and the older woman working behind the bar. “Busy night?” I asked as I looked around the near empty tavern. Andrew and I had been coming in on Morgan’s recommendation since just a few days after landing in town for our security gig, and we didn’t see much reason to change things. After all, the drink prices were decent, the heat worked, and there were a couple pool tables in the back. We’d been in often enough that by now we actually knew some of the staff.

“Sure, look at it.” Elise snorted as she uncapped two beers and put them down in front of us. “Busy enough that I’m even happy to see your ugly mugs.”

“Now that’s the winning attitude I come to the Beaver for,” I said, snatching one of the beers from the counter and taking a long drink as Andrew grabbed the other.

Elise harrumphed. Or did something close to a harrumph.

“Oh, don’t act like you won’t miss us when we’re gone,” I said. “You’ll be looking around on a weeknight wondering to yourself, ‘Why is it so quiet in here? Why are my nights oh so boring?’ Then you’ll remember. ‘Oh, that’s right,’ you’ll say to the empty Beaver. ‘Those two mysterious gentlemen Andrew and Jericho are gone from my life.”

“‘I should have been nicer to them when I had the chance, and not tried to run them off,’” Andrew continued. “But you’ll have wasted that chance, Elise. Poof. Gone. Evaporated.”

“Oh no,” Elise drawled as she fixed me with a flat look. “Be still my thump-thump-thumping heart. Whatever shall I do?”

Catching the hint of a grin at the corner of her mouth, I smiled around the mouth of my beer bottle. Andrew always had been a charmer to go with his tall, dark, and handsome looks.

“You two really leaving town?” she asked after a moment, that flat look slightly warming.

“Unfortunately,” Andrew said, elbows on the bar as he flashed her a smile. “We’ve been involved in a big business deal, and now our end of things is wrapping up.”

“Well, that’s good, right?”

“Sure,” I said, shrugging. “Shipping off to Philly after this to open a new office. Good ol’ City of Brotherly Love.”

She made a face. As she did, there was a crack of pool balls at our back, one that was loud enough to warrant a glance back over my shoulder. Back to the bar, a slight, vaguely effeminate form clad in jeans and an oversized hoodie was already hunched over the green felt and drawing back their cue.

“And why not leave?” I asked, gesturing to the table with my bottle. “Can’t even keep our table reserved for us.”

“Shame, too,” Andrew said. “Without our buddy here, Jericho might have had a chance to actually win won for once.”

Elise chuckled at that mention of Morgan, even if his name hadn’t been used. She always enjoyed seeing me knocked down a peg or two, and I couldn’t blame her.

“Sorry, you forgot to call ahead. You do know there’s another one, though?”

“Felt’s not as nice,” I said. “One that’s occupied is nearly as nice as you.”

“That so? Well, she’s a hell of a lot nicer than either of you knuckleheads.”

“Who?”

“The girl on your table?”

“Oh?” Andrew asked. “That so?”

“That is so. Probably easier on the eyes than you two, too.”

“Well geeze, Elise,” I said, glancing back to the bartender, “I had no idea you swung that way.”

“I don’t.”

Right then probably would have been the perfect time for the mysterious pool player to turn around and prove her point. But, no, she just kept playing by herself. If she actually was a she, of course, which was something I wasn’t yet entirely convinced of.

“You two going to keep on bothering me?” Elise asked. “Or can I go back to being bored?”

Andrew and I looked to each other, then back to the pool table we’d been hoping to have for the night. Andrew might have just been poking at me and giving me shit, but he wasn’t far off the mark. Competing against Morgan really was a pain in the ass.