Page 63 of By Rude Strength

“You could just block her number. You know, we have that kind of technology now. You just beep boop and no more.”

“I wish it was that easy…”

“You know how you broke up with Gavin? You can break up with your mom too.”

LA made a face. “Don’t say it like that.”

“I’m just saying! You know I stopped talking to my dad, right? Once he got remarried and—”

“Look, it’s not that easy for me, okay?” LA snapped, his temper flaring. “It’s my fucking mother. What the fuck am I supposed to do, huh? Just break her fuckin’ heart and—”

“Hey, hey.” Brandon held up his hands. “I didn’t mean to piss in your cornflakes. One toxic relationship at a time, right?”

LA flipped Brandon off.

Brandon flipped him off too, smiling.

“Is that normal?” Cass whispered. “I’m pretty sure that means to F off.”

“So.” LA took a deep breath. “Not that I’m totally trying to change the subject or anything, but I did actually bring some of my paintings.”

“Oh fuck yeah! So!” Brandon waved to the gallery. “Well, as you can see, obviously, we display a bunch of stuff from local artists. I rotate it out once a month and we have a little shindig on the first Saturday of each month to spotlight the new artist.”

“Do you charge a commission fee or anything?”

“Nah. It drums up some business and keeps me connected to the community. Make sure you slap some price tags on your stuff too, okay? If anything sells, every penny goes to you.”

“You don’t already have anyone else lined up?”

“Hey.” Brandon shrugged, cracking a little grin. “What are friends for?”

“Thank you, that’s—”

“As long as you bring Cass.”

“What?”

“Bring Cass to the show this weekend.” Brandon smirked. “I wanna meet him.”

Cass squeaked. “Oh! This is going to be exciting!”

“Right.” LA cleared his throat. “I just have to, uh, make sure he’s free or whatever.”

And that he can actually take on a human form.

“Text me, okay?” Brandon smiled.

While they had been chatting, customers had steadily streamed in. The counter was packed, and the line was now going out the door. The cashier appeared slightly panicked and shot Brandon an imploring stare.

“Oh. Right.” Brandon cleared his throat. “Uh, just text me, okay? Let me give you a hand unloading the paintings. We can put them in the back.”

“Yeah, sure.” LA stood with a wince, waiting for the stabbing pain in his back to stop so he could step forward. He smiled when Cass held his hips to steady him, and he turned his head to mouththank you.

Brandon led the way outside, weaving through the crowd and then holding the door open for LA.

“Place is really doing great, huh?” LA headed to his car, glancing back at the line going around the side of the building. “Wow.”

“Yeah.” Brandon grinned. “The secret is to put crack in the coffee.”