Page 80 of Perfect Night
“Fine. I accept your ludicrous two grand a day, but I will work for you for a full ten days. If this takes me three days, you find me other stuff to do, and by stuff, I mean proper work, not you being you.”
Gregory considered him for a second with a frown.
“We have a deal, Mr Davidson.”
Charlie burst out laughing, with Gregory joining him. Next stop was Langdon.
Charlie felt strange going into Madame Hoes cabaret bar and club at lunchtime. It was deathly quiet, and Charlie wondered why they opened so early. There were two guys behind the bar stocking up. Charlie recognised a cute twink, who had been here for years but never seemed to age. The other was a new guy who was giving red-headed lumberjack fantasy. He had a beard and a bit of a belly. Charlie thought he was hot, though the guy wasn’t twinky or jacked, the usual criteria for working here. But he was all for diversity.
“Charlie, what are you doing here?”
He swung round to see Langdon carrying two crates of beer. He was wearing one of the bar T-shirts, which was deliberately a size too small, and his muscular tattooed arms on display. If it wouldn’t have felt like incest, Charlie would have gone there years ago.
“I need your help with something.”
“Eric, can you grab this?”
Sexy Lumberjack rushed round and took the crates.
“Thanks,” said Langdon.
“Any time, boss,” Eric replied with a wink.
That was interesting. Was he the bi guy from work who Langdon had a crush on? It had to be with the way Langdon was blushing.
“Are you able to take a break to help me with something?”
“What’s wrong? Why are you back from New York early?”
“I can’t get into that now. Look –”
“Where’s Sebastian?”
“Not important right now. I just need someone with me when I go on a visit.”
“Where’s Sebastian?”
“Langdon, will you just listen? We can talk about Sebastian later.”
Langdon nodded, so Charlie explained his plan. Thankfully, there was no hesitation. He went upstairs to speak to his boss about taking an early break. Charlie knew there wouldn’t be a problem. It was Langdon who ran this place, and he rarely asked for a favour. After a few minutes, he was back, pulling his jacket on.
“Where are you going?” asked Eric, looking concerned.
“Just need to do something. I’ll only be gone an hour.”
“You going with him?” he asked, gesturing at Charlie.
It was hard not to laugh. Did Eric see Charlie as some sort of threat?
“Langdon’s one of my best friends. I need his muscle for something.”
From the look on Eric’s face, Charlie had said the wrong thing.
“He’s more than just muscle, you know.”
“I’m well aware of that,” Charlie snapped back. “Shall we go, Langdon?”
Langdon was dazed, but smiled and nodded. Charlie couldn’t wait to share this little interaction with Jason.
