Page 29 of Dirty Reads

“Suppose so,” Dick said with a nod. He tossed his head toward the door. “C’mon, Jess. We’re leaving.”

“Not gonna stick around and talk?” Drake asked as he approached Dick.

“No. I’ve got to get her to work.”

The remaining cheese went up for offer. “Cheese?”

“No. I don’t want your fucking cheese. Or a hotdog. Or bologna. I want to get the fuck out of here, get her to work, and try and forget cops and gooks.”

I stepped to Dick’s side.

“Did Duc rove you rong time?” Drake asked jokingly.

“Fuck you, Drake. It’s in the kitchen. All of it. I’ll bring the car back as soon as I can.”

“What about the Ferrari?”

Dick shrugged. “Let me think on that for a bit.”

Drake patted my shoulder with his cheese hand. “Jess, I must say, the pleasure was mine.”

“It was nice to meet you,” I said, although he was really gross.

“You want your $500 back?” I asked as we walked toward the garage.

“Did you gamble?”

“Uh huh.”

“If you gambled and you didn’t lose it, you can keep it.”

It probably didn’t seem like much to him, but $1030 was life changing for me.

I shook hands with Drake, but Dick didn’t. After we got in the car I admired him without staring – stealing glances as he drove. He seemed annoyed, and I wondered how the Chinatown delivery went. Obviously not very well, I decided.

Halfway to my car, I broke the silence. “Something wrong?”

He seemed to find the question entertaining, coughing out a laugh before he responded. “Typical day in the life of Dick.”

“Tomorrow’s Friday. When are we going out?”

He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. “How’s your work schedule?”

I thought of the $1030 in my pocket and realized I could actually afford to take off early. “I’m scheduled to work, but I can get off early either night.”

“Let’s do it tomorrow.”

Let’s do it tomorrow. It sounded like a burden. As attracted as I was to him, I didn’t want the date to be an annoyance or something he didn’t think he would enjoy.

“You don’t have to take me out. We can call it even. I shouldn’t have made you agree to it.”

He changed lanes, adjusted the rearview mirror, and stared into it for a minute. “It’s been a fucked up day, Jess. Sorry if I’m not jumping up and fucking down about our date.”

My mouth went dry just a little. The whole thing seemed forced. I wanted him to like me, but my self-pride wouldn’t allow him to treat me like I was an aggravation.

I stared out the side window. “Just forget it.”

“Forget what?”