Page 55 of Pretty Poison
Avery tilted his head to the side. “Why?”
“For bringing the mood down.” Rocky gestured to one of the empty chairs in front of his desk. “Ready to get started?”
“Oh, of course,” Avery said, then hastened to sit down. He removed a laptop from his messenger bag, reminding Rocky that he’d left home without his. “Put me to work.”
Rocky logged on to his computer and accessed the entire agency’s open cases. Avery’s brand-new avatar had an empty task box just begging to be filled. Rocky clicked on the investigations he’d earmarked for Avery, then dragged and dropped them into Avery’s task box. The action only took seconds but left him feeling almost lightheaded with giddiness.
They spent the next ninety minutes going over each case. Avery asked intuitive questions and made detailed notes, not hesitating to ask for clarification if he was unsure. Rocky was thoroughly impressed and grew smugger by the minute since hiring Avery had been his idea.
“I unintentionally skipped breakfast and left my messenger bag at home. I’m going to duck out for a minute to retrieve it and grab a bite to eat on the way. Care to join me? I’ll treat.”
Avery glanced at his watch and grimaced. “I wish I could,” he said, sounding genuinely disappointed. He returned his laptop to his bag and stood up. “Jonah has an important meeting this afternoon, and I need to make sure he’s prepped and ready to go.”
Rocky quirked his brow at the double entendre.
Avery’s face turned bright pink. “You have no room to talk right now.”
Rocky laughed and shrugged. Maybe he should’ve been embarrassed that he’d fallen asleep after jacking off, but shame was the last thing on his mind. He walked with Avery back to reception where he hugged the younger guy before leaving him alone to chat with Trudy about tea. Rocky fell into Jonah’s tea-hating camp, so the words they spoke might as well have been a foreign language.
“I need to run home and pick up my messenger bag,” he told Trudy. “I’m going to grab a bite to eat. Would you like anything?”
“No, but thank you,” she said. “Oh, I talked to Peter this morning. He said Shelly and Skylar should be going home today. I was thinking about having their edible arrangement sent to their house tomorrow. What do you think?”
“Skylar was just born less than twenty-four hours ago,” Rocky said, even though it wasn’t the opinion she’d asked him for. “How can they send her home already? What about Shelly? Couldn’t there be complications?”
“That’s just how it goes,” Trudy said. “Both mom and baby will need to pass some medical milestones first. I know it sounds terrible.”
“Try barbaric,” Rocky said.
“Most women are all too happy to recover at home. There’s no rest to be found in a hospital.”
But that’s where the life-saving equipment was. What if Shelly had internal bleeding they’d somehow missed? Rocky felt pressure building inside his chest. He worked hard to control his breathing and reminded himself that not all new moms ended up like his mother.
“So, are you okay with sending the arrangement to their house tomorrow?” Trudy asked. “I just don’t want to miss them at the hospital today.”
Rocky nodded. “Get them a really nice one.”
“I’d like to contribute,” Avery said.
Trudy patted his arm. “You’re so sweet. I know they’ll appreciate it.”
“I’ll leave you to it,” Rocky said as he headed for the door. “Tell Jonah I said hello.”
“Will do.”
Rocky had to reroute his trip home to avoid a traffic jam due to an accident. “Damn tourists,” he mumbled. The detour took him away from where he wanted to eat, which was Daisy’s, and forced him through a fast-food drive-thru.
A teenage boy’s voice came through the speaker, and he sounded as enthused about being there as Rocky was. “What can we make for you?” The kid’s voice was without any kind of inflection or personality. Rocky wondered if it was one of those robotic recordings.
He rattled off a breakfast combo without looking at the menu. He liked what he liked and rarely tried anything new, which was why a particular taco joint was on his shit list for removing his favorite things and replacing them with new-age bullshit no one asked for or wanted.
“We’re now serving lunch, sir,” the kid said. “That’s why you don’t see any breakfast items on the menu right now.” The punk had so much disdain dripping from his tongue that Rocky hoped he choked on it.
Fucking smartass.Rocky changed his order, then pulled up to the window. He was prepared to verbally blast the kid or at least glare menacingly. The bubbly girl who took his money wasn’t the same person who’d taken the order, so he couldn’t be pissy toward her. Rocky could see the little jerk punching orders into the computer behind her, but he wouldn’t look in his direction. Glaring was off the table, and Rocky wasn’t in the mood to scream like a lunatic or demand to see the manager like some fucking Karen.
What was the male equivalent of a Karen, anyway? Todd. He’d never met one that wasn’t a total douche bag.
“Here you go, sir,” the bubbly gal said. “Have a great day.” The gesture was part of her job, but her bright smile said she meant it.