Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
He fished his wallet from his back pocket and thumbed through the cash. The bartender laid the tab out for him to see. “Ducky has an account here.”
“I’ll pay,” he answered distractedly, looking down at the small total circled at the bottom, which was much less than he’d expected. Two burgers, fries, drinks, and darts had cost him less than thirty dollars. This place just got better and better.
“You’re awfully nice-looking,” Betty said, drawing Chad’s attention. She was absently wiping across the bar top with a terry cloth towel, still eyeing him as he laid forty dollars on the ticket.
“Are you trying to increase your tip?” he teased.
He laid a few more dollar bills down, fully aware he was leaving a forty percent tip. Not because of her words or that he was a great tipper, but he truly appreciated her friendliness.
Stepping closer, she grinned. “Yeah, worked too.” She swiped the money away before he could change his mind. “I see the way you’re looking at him.”
“Oh yeah? How’s that?” he asked, tucking his wallet back inside his pants pocket.
“Like you want to pay his way.” Since her sarcastic personality had rarely given him a break all evening, her answer surprised him. Warmth creeped up his neck as he lost eye contact, ducking his head, wishing he hadn’t been so transparent.
“Is it obvious?”
“Oh yeah,” one of the waitresses said as she came to stand next to him at the bar. “You look at Ducky like he’s a piece of steak. I get it. He sure changed his appearance since he and I went out.”
That confession caught Chad’s full attention. He glanced over at her, getting a closer look. She was tall, taller than Ducky, and lanky. Her gauged earlobes and many piercings accentuated her goth vibe. Her eyes were outlined in deep black liner. He bet she and Ducky shared the same taste in metal music.
“When did you date?” Chad asked.
Before she had a chance to answer, he heard Ducky say from his other side, “I have an account here. It’s covered. You don’t have to pay.”
“He already paid and tips better than you,” Betty said with a cackle. “I’ll take his money over yours every time.”
Ducky’s hands flew into the air in an I-give-up gesture. He turned for the front door. “Now you’re making me look bad, Reeves. Can’t believe it’s me at the awards, over-tipping my people to show you have deeper pockets…” Ducky couldn’t hold the line of his words for the laughter that erupted behind him. “I gotta hit the sack. Let’s go.”
Here he was, destined to always follow Ducky wherever he led.
.
CHAPTER 10
“I’m glad to see he’s smiling again,” Dallas said loudly as he entered their shared office space.
He pretended not to hear, speedily typing notes into the StreamTrainer proprietary software. A program he created from scratch and fine-tuned every day for the past two years. His gaze moved to his second monitor, scanning the screen, watching the activity from their social users. Their moderators were good at their jobs, promoting their community standards throughout the entire platform. His fingers flew over the keyboard, knowing all the command prompts by heart to pull his calendar up and adding a reminder to let them know what a good job they were doing.
“He’s back to what he really wants to do,” Skye added. The quirk of the corner of Ducky’s lip showed he’d heard her. “You can change a man, lead him to the promised land, but can’t make him bite.”
“I feel like you mixed several unrelated metaphors to form that sentence,” Ducky said, never breaking from work.
“I signed Texas Health Resources this morning. They’ll go into effect in ninety days. They have twenty-four thousand employees, estimating about seven thousand units will be sold through their benefits package,” Dallas said, placing his key fob and cell phone on his desk. A file folder followed, then a squeak sounded when Dallas took his chair.
“Type up the specifics as soon as you can so we can get them in the system. I’ll review the charges and implementation when I get back,” Ducky said distractedly over his shoulder.
When he spoke, the beep in his ear drew his gaze down to the open chat box in the corner of the screen. He gave an almost silent laugh when Chad posted a picture of his heavy ski coat, suggesting it as an appropriate wardrobe choice for their sun and sand vacation, on which they were leaving tomorrow.
That message came after Ducky explained he hadn’t even considered clothing options for the trip. Outside of his workout gear, he didn’t have anything suitable to wear except the shorts and T-shirts he’d owned forever. He was going to have to do a Target run when he left tonight to gather what he needed to pack for the flight tomorrow.