Page 118 of Power Move

“Ugh. You’re whipped, man,” Derrick groaned.

“I’m a responsible adult and you randomly showed up at my house. Eva lives here, too,” I protested.

“Fine.”

I stepped into the butler’s pantry off the kitchen to call Eva. My goal was to have herdenymy request so I could give Derrick an honest no. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to spend time with my baby brother. It was just that I was about to be forty and runningaround to bars with him seemed like a lot. After all, that’s how Eva and I ended up in this mess.

“Yes?” Eva answered.

“So, my little brother randomly showed up. It’s apparently an ambush bachelor party. They want me to go out with them?—”

“Go,” Eva said. “We have an issue. Can I sleep on your couch?”

“Baby, come home and sleep,” I sighed. “Don’t sleep on my couch.”

“I can’t,” she said. “Go spend time with him. You can take care of me tomorrow.”

“Oh… okay,” I stammered. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Well, I love you.”

“See you on the flipside,” she sighed.

I hung up and approached the guys again.

“Well, I suppose I’m off the leash.”

“Fuck yeah!” Derrick declared. “Let’s get fucked up!”

I didnotplan to get “fucked up”. I intended to be an adult and babysit—as Eva and I had that fateful night. However, after two drinks, I realized I was completely out horsed by my brother’s squadron. These guys drank like Brits on a university Fresher’s Week—but with much better stamina. That is how we ended up in a bit of a predicament.

“Next place! Next place!” Derrick announced like an excited caveman. “Bus! Now!”

“Where?” I groaned, already winded.

It was midnight and I had been up since six.

Somehow, we ended up renting a party bus. Derrick made a big show of putting it on his credit card—as if that was something special. My brother was odd. I suspected he just wanted to show off for his friends. The lights disoriented meuntil I realized where we were. Somehow, the bus was on the Skyway.

“Where the fuck are we going?” I asked.

“The titty bar!” One of the guys loudly announced. “In Indiana.”

Indiana’s strip clubs had fewer rules than ours. If you wanted to enjoy yourself, you drove across the border. I was in no mood to go to a strip club and suspected it would anger Eva. But, what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her, right?

“I didn’t sign up for this,” I protested. “You saidclubs.”

“It is a stripclub,” Bark said. “It hasclubin the name.”

“Not what I was thinking, but sure,” I groaned.

“Heiswhipped!” Derrick cackled. “Boy, you are fucking broken. Where is the Davey I know?”

“He grew up in the past two years since we last did this,” I sighed.

“What? Do tits offend her? Women just put up with this shit, man. You’ll be in the doghouse for awhile. Flipper, tell him it’s going to be okay.”