Read Online Evan Arden 02 Otherwise Occupied by Shay Savage - Free Book Online
Authors: Shay Savage
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his, but just different enough not to appear suspicious. This guy knew security, and I couldn’t be that obvious. Even wearing his team’s jersey on a day when they weren’t playing was a little risky.
“Damn straight!” Jim replied. “ I’m Jim Conner – mind if I join you?”
“Marshall Miller,” I said as I shook his hand. “ You staying here at the hotel?”
“Yeah, I’ll be heading out in the morning. I work security, and my boss is staying here.”
“That’s cool,” I replied. “I hear the rooms here are really nice.”
“You aren’t a guest?”
“Nah,” I said. I wiped the back of my arm across my mouth. “I just like the bar. Other sports bars around have kind of a crappy crowd, you know?”
“I do,” he agreed.
I made a point of scooting my chair a bit so he could sit down without going all homophobic on me or anything. Sports guys could get kind of uptight sometimes, and I didn’t want something that simple to blow my chances. We talked about the team’s performance over the season and their chances for the Super Bowl and then went on to politics.
I argued with h im about one of the viewpoints expressed on the nightly newscast. I took it just to the precipice of pissing him off and then dropped back down. We eyed each other cautiously for a moment before touching our drinks together once more in a truce sort of toast.
It was all about as perfect as it could be until he insisted on shots. I probably should have known better – really wasn’t much of a drinker. I’d have a drink or two, yes, but that was usually it. Being out of control wasn’t my favorite feeling, but sometimes the job called on you to do shit you didn’t want to do.
“Did you play? ” I asked Jim as I tipped back the third.
“Nah,” he said. “I love the game, but I was never good enough to play more than JV. You?”
“In college, yeah,” I said with a frat-boy grin. “Tight end freshman and sophomore years and then screwed up my knee. There went my scholarship. I couldn’t keep up with everything after surgery, and I never was the same again.”
“That sucks, man,” Jim said. As some sort of celebration-slash-condolences he bought the next shot, which we both downed too quickly to count, so we had another.
“I always thought I’d play for the Raiders someday,” I mused. “I guess since that didn’t happen…well…you know. Life and shit.”
“I do know that,” Jim agreed.
I didn’t really think he had any idea what he was agreeing with, but it didn’t really matter. We did another shot, and my head was getting a little fuzzy. I didn’t drink often, and it was hitting me a little harder than I expected.
“I got laid off a week ago,” I told him. “I was a mall cop, if you can believe it. It was kind of a crappy job – mostly chasing teenaged shoplifters – but it paid the bills.”
“Have you been looking for something else?” Jim asked.
“Looking, sure,” I responded. I waved down the bartender for two more shots since it was my turn to buy them. “Finding is a whole other thing. I like the security stuff, though.”
We did a couple more shots, talked more football shit, and bitched about the economy until the hotel bartende r finally tossed us out. Jim and I shook hands, and he wished me the best of luck. I jotted my cell number down on the back of one of the cardboard coasters used at the bar and asked him to call me if he heard of any work.
Once Jim was out of sight, I pushed my way through the revolving doors and hailed down a cab to take my drunk ass home. I hadn’t actually planned on drinking as much as I did – I didn’t like the out of control feeling of intoxication – but it seemed to have served its purpose as far as “bonding” with Jim was concerned.
I stumbled into my apartment and nearly fell over Odin twice as I attached his leash and took him out the back door. My head
“Damn straight!” Jim replied. “ I’m Jim Conner – mind if I join you?”
“Marshall Miller,” I said as I shook his hand. “ You staying here at the hotel?”
“Yeah, I’ll be heading out in the morning. I work security, and my boss is staying here.”
“That’s cool,” I replied. “I hear the rooms here are really nice.”
“You aren’t a guest?”
“Nah,” I said. I wiped the back of my arm across my mouth. “I just like the bar. Other sports bars around have kind of a crappy crowd, you know?”
“I do,” he agreed.
I made a point of scooting my chair a bit so he could sit down without going all homophobic on me or anything. Sports guys could get kind of uptight sometimes, and I didn’t want something that simple to blow my chances. We talked about the team’s performance over the season and their chances for the Super Bowl and then went on to politics.
I argued with h im about one of the viewpoints expressed on the nightly newscast. I took it just to the precipice of pissing him off and then dropped back down. We eyed each other cautiously for a moment before touching our drinks together once more in a truce sort of toast.
It was all about as perfect as it could be until he insisted on shots. I probably should have known better – really wasn’t much of a drinker. I’d have a drink or two, yes, but that was usually it. Being out of control wasn’t my favorite feeling, but sometimes the job called on you to do shit you didn’t want to do.
“Did you play? ” I asked Jim as I tipped back the third.
“Nah,” he said. “I love the game, but I was never good enough to play more than JV. You?”
“In college, yeah,” I said with a frat-boy grin. “Tight end freshman and sophomore years and then screwed up my knee. There went my scholarship. I couldn’t keep up with everything after surgery, and I never was the same again.”
“That sucks, man,” Jim said. As some sort of celebration-slash-condolences he bought the next shot, which we both downed too quickly to count, so we had another.
“I always thought I’d play for the Raiders someday,” I mused. “I guess since that didn’t happen…well…you know. Life and shit.”
“I do know that,” Jim agreed.
I didn’t really think he had any idea what he was agreeing with, but it didn’t really matter. We did another shot, and my head was getting a little fuzzy. I didn’t drink often, and it was hitting me a little harder than I expected.
“I got laid off a week ago,” I told him. “I was a mall cop, if you can believe it. It was kind of a crappy job – mostly chasing teenaged shoplifters – but it paid the bills.”
“Have you been looking for something else?” Jim asked.
“Looking, sure,” I responded. I waved down the bartender for two more shots since it was my turn to buy them. “Finding is a whole other thing. I like the security stuff, though.”
We did a couple more shots, talked more football shit, and bitched about the economy until the hotel bartende r finally tossed us out. Jim and I shook hands, and he wished me the best of luck. I jotted my cell number down on the back of one of the cardboard coasters used at the bar and asked him to call me if he heard of any work.
Once Jim was out of sight, I pushed my way through the revolving doors and hailed down a cab to take my drunk ass home. I hadn’t actually planned on drinking as much as I did – I didn’t like the out of control feeling of intoxication – but it seemed to have served its purpose as far as “bonding” with Jim was concerned.
I stumbled into my apartment and nearly fell over Odin twice as I attached his leash and took him out the back door. My head
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