I Couldn't Pay My Three Landlords, So I Gave Them a Baby novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: Closing Time

Ren's POV

Rudy turned the lock on the front door of the Kolin Room at ten past two on Wednesday night.

He killed the neon in the window.

The last regular had gone home.

Chairs were up on the tables, and the floor smelled of lemon and beer.

The only light left was the cooler glowing red behind the bar.

I had the night off.

I had asked for this.

I had texted Rudy on Tuesday: Both of you. The bar. After close.

He had texted back: YES. I'll lock up early.

Joey was already there, sitting on a stool with his hands between his knees, in a gray T-shirt and jeans, looking at the floor.

I sat down on the bar in front of him.

I swung my legs over the edge, in my short green dress and my boots, and the wood was cool and sticky under my thighs.

"You don't have to be nervous," I said.

"I'm not nervous."

"You're holding your own hands."

Joey looked down, saw that he was, and let them go.

Rudy came around the end of the bar, wiping his palms on a rag.

He stood behind me with his big hands resting on my shoulders.

"He's been rehearsing since Sunday," Rudy said. "He told me in the truck."

"He wants to know what happens if the two of us are, you know, close."

"Rudy," Joey said.

"I'm saying it so you don't have to."

"What happens?" I asked.

"Whatever you want," Rudy said into my ear. "That's what's so annoying about this."

I turned my head and kissed him.

His beard scratched my chin, and his mouth was warm and tasted like the whiskey he'd poured himself an hour ago and not finished.

While I kissed him, Joey's hand settled on my knee.

It slid slowly up my thigh, and over the hem of the dress, and I felt it stop where my leg met my hip.

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