Page 15 of The Player Next Door
“Almost had you this time,” Vince said genially. He worked with Logan and the Aidens at Loyalty Investments, and had just gotten back from his paternity leave. Vince used his shirt to mop his face, his dark brown skin shining with perspiration, and tossed Logan his water bottle.
Logan caught it with one hand. It was only May, but already the heat was borderline oppressive. “Next time it’ll be you and me against those two assholes,” Logan suggested. “They won’t stand a chance.”
“Doubt it,” Brooks said, collapsing onto the bench. His blond hair was dripping, and he was breathing hard, skin flushed. He pulled out his phone and held it up for them to see. “Left or right?” he asked, showing them a picture of a leggy blonde.
“Right,” Logan and Aiden said, just as Vince said “Left.”
Vince shrugged. “There’s a million other white girls who look exactly the same.”
“Yeah, well, not all of us are lucky enough to be married to a woman like Nicole,” Logan said, and Vince grinned proudly.
Brooks looked back at his phone. “Right,” he said, more to himself than anyone else.
Aiden flopped onto the small patch of grass behind the bench. He had a terrible sunburn on his face in the outline of sunglasses, giving him the impression of a red-and-white raccoon. “I’m sick of dating apps,” he whined. “Want to go out this weekend?”
“You’re just hoping Logan will chum the waters for you,” Brooks said, still flipping through his phone.
“And? Not my fault women flock to him. I’m just taking the path of least resistance.”
“Like a parasite,” Logan said, draining his water.
“I prefer to think of it as a symbiotic relationship,” Aiden said, arm now draped over his eyes. “Like those birds that live in alligators’ mouths, or whatever.”
“Plovers, and they don’t live in alligators’ mouths. They ride on crocodiles’ backs and sometimes clean their teeth,” Vince explained.
“How do you know that? Do they have biology requirements in MBA programs and I missed it?” Logan asked.
“Nicole and I had a lot of time to watch nature documentaries while she was breastfeeding,” he explained. “PBS is free, you know.”
“Whatever,” Aiden said. “I’m just a baby bird, looking to get laid.”
Logan rolled his eyes. He had spent plenty of Friday nights moving from club to club downtown with the Aidens, usually in search of someone to take home, but the way they were talking about it was annoying him for some reason.
“I’m in,” Brooks said, because of course he was. “Logan?”
Logan made a noncommittal noise. “I don’t know,” he said.
Aiden frowned at him. “What’s got your dick in a vise?”
Vince grimaced and stood. “On that awful image, I have to get home and get dinner going,” he said, picking up his bag. “See you guys later.”
Aiden turned on him the second Vince was gone. “Seriously, you got the clap or something? Because my doctor—”
“I do not have an STI,” Logan interrupted. “I just—I sorta fucked up this weekend.”
“Condom broke,” Brooks said understandingly. “It happens to the best of us.”
“It wasn’t that. I, uh, well, Roth sorta chewed me out in her office the other day about how my clients don’t really stick around, and she kept bringing up mymaturity.”
“So, you banged her,” Brooks said. “I get it, she’s kinda hot for an old lady.”
“Jesus. Fucking. Christ,” Logan said, Sam’s words running through his head.The Aidens can be utter cavemen, especially the not-Aiden one.He would probably regret telling them this, but Sam would tear him a new one and he was looking for at least a tiny bit of sympathy. “I didn’t sleep with my boss. I slept with her niece,” he said, and regretted it the second the words came out of his mouth.
Both Aidens cracked up and Brooks even tried to high-five him, clearly not grasping the severity of the situation. “No, it’s bad,” he tried to explain over their wheezing laughter. “Roth came by the next morning and caught me there.”
That was the wrong detail to add, because they just laughed harder. Aiden even had tears streaming down his face. Logan wished Vince was still there to be the voice of reason, but as his dad would say, if wishes were fishes, or whatever. Logan never really understood that one.
Brooks calmed down first. “Okay, aside from being fucking hilarious, what’s the problem? So she knows you fucked her niece; it’s not like she can fire you for that.”