Sandbridge Box Set

Chapter 13-1

Chapter 13

Scooter crawled out of bed, hating sunlight, vodka, gravity, and his life. In that order. He ached like someone had thrown him down the stairs. He stretched and groaned, categorizing his aches and pains. Made his way into his bathroom and scrubbed old vodka off his teeth. Dry swallowed some Advil. Pulled on his jeans and went to get his coffee, already cheerfully percolating in the other room like it was any other day. (Bless the timer function. Also, bless whoever had planned ahead enough to get it set up, because Scooter was pretty sure it hadn’t been him.)

The living room was a wreck, bits of wrapping paper and glitter everywhere. The wrapping paper was easily dealt with. He was going to kill Elaine for the glitter. Or make her come up and vacuum his place. Or both. There was some leftover tiramisu still in Jason’s crystal bowl, which Scooter decided could be breakfast. By the time he put his fork in the sink, Scooter was mostly human.

He started to pour Andy’s coffee, then thought better of it. As sore as Scooter was, Andy was probably dying. He wasn’t used to Memorial Day and he’d been rather tipsy and falling asleep on his feet toward the end of the party. Scooter had nearly carried him across the walkway to his apartment. Andy had been clingy and handsy as Scooter had helped peel him out of his sweat-stained tee and take off his shoes and socks.

Scooter winced as he remembered how long he had hesitated, hands over Andy’s belt, before tipping Andy gently into the bed.

Fuck. Scooter had been too drunk and Andy had been too tired for them to do anything. And it would have been wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. Still, Scooter had spent more time than was probably healthy or sane just watching Andy sleep, one arm thrown over his head, the other tucked against his chest.

But Andy could probably use a bit of a sleep-in this morning. Jeff had mastered the art of letting Trick out to walk in the morning without actually waking up—everyone knew whose dog he was, and he’d always circled back home when he was done. Andy hadn’t quite figured it out, though.

Scooter considered the door to the apartment. Andy had dropped off in moments; it was unlikely that he’d gotten up later to do up the chain. Decided, Scooter crossed the walkway and opened the door a few inches, just enough for Trick to slip out when Scooter called softly.

He grabbed an empty grocery bag from the coffee can he left on the back step and followed Trick out to the beach. The sun glittered on the waves and the gulls were already circling overhead. Looked like it was going to be a great day.

Melissa was the only other employee who managed to get in early; Scooter put her to work sweeping the porch and making sure the dining area was set up. Melissa had a “main” job up in Virginia Beach where she worked as a cocktail waitress at one of the hotel bars, but she was a single mom and needed all the extra work he could give her. While she did that, Scooter tidied up the kitchen and then dragged his exhausted ass into the office to start on the inventory; he needed to place his orders for this week by the end of the day, and the long weekend had definitely put a bigger than usual dent in the pantry and freezer.

The rest of the morning passed in a dim buzz of activity. Trick stayed in the office, occasionally perking his ears or thumping his tail against the floor. Scooter worked on the purchase list. D’ante stopped in with his hand out for the cash Scooter owed him. Jason came in and stood in the doorway for a while to chat before getting to work on the lunch prep. Kat followed Jason in to show off her ring, a black and white pearl set in a yin/yang sort of twist. It turned out Jason actually had gotten it for her weeks ago, but had proposed on the spur of the moment while he didn’t have it with him. i***t.

And then, just after lunch, Jason tapped on the doorframe again and actually waited until Scooter looked up.

“He’s here,” Jason said, jerking a thumb out toward the dining room, mouth set in a grim line. “Wants to see you.”

Fuck.