Airtight

Chapter 4: Friends With Benefits

Benny sat at the bar with me on his ninth glass of bourbon while I was still sipping my second. His speech was slurred as he rambled on about the good old days. It was still early in the night, but Benny was done for the night. As much as I would have loved to get wasted with Benny, I had to meet up with Eden.

After closing out the tab I opened at the bar, Benny complained about how I was ending the night so soon. If I stayed, I knew how it was going to end, us waking up somewhere that we had no idea how we had gotten there. The night would become just a black hole in our memory.

I watched until Benny stumbled into a cab. I walked to my own car and went to meet up with Eden. I could see the neon lights in my car telling me that I was late. Shook my head. Eden should have known better than to set a time for these things.

Or at the very least she should know that I would never make it across town by then. Since it was common for Benny and me to go out for a drink after my court appearances. Breaking the speed limit, I was halfway to La Loi when my phone buzzed. I glanced down to see that it was a text message:

U R Late :'(

Eden's name and message popped up. I took another glance at the clock again, she was right. I was already forty-five minutes behind and still nowhere close to the restaurant.

It was another twenty minutes that passed before I pulled up to the high-class restaurant at the center of downtown. It was one of my favorite places to eat, and since I didn't live too far from downtown, I ate here often. Pulling up to the valet and got out of the car tossing my keys to the same freckled face kids who always park my car.

The host showed me to the table that Eden, and an older man was sitting. I walked over, and Eden stood up. She has always been an attractive girl. Her curly brown hair was to her shoulders. Her hazel eyes showed annoyance in them. I gave her a slight smile.

"Better late than never I suppose," she said kissing me on both cheeks before sitting down again. "This is Richard Brown," she paused grabbing the man's hand, "he's a friend of mine and in a bit of trouble." Richard stuck his hand out for me to shake. I frowned at the hand for a moment, not wanting to touch the strange man, but knowing that it was expected of me.

Taking his sweaty hands in mine, I shook. My body suppressed a shiver as I sat down. I take out my sanitizer and squirt out a small. I rubbed my hands together feverishly to clean off the germs. I smiled as I pat my breast pocket, happy for it as Eden rolled her eyes.

"I took the liberty to order before you came," Eden said and I unbuttoned my jacket as I got comfortable in my chair.

"Well, since you're here as well I'm assuming Eden has told you all about me," I said, using a napkin to wipe the rim of the glass before I sipped my water. Richard looked all business.

I figured he wouldn't want me to beat around the bush with him. The waitress came back over with a bottle of wine pouring each of us a glass before disappearing again.

"Sebastian Cross, Eden isn't the first person in my circle who had mentioned your name. I hear that you can make annoying problems go away." Those were his words, but the way he said it had me on the edge. I looked over him again, trying to see if I could peg him as a cop.

His suit was much too expensive for any cop I've ever met, even one pretending to be a rich man. "My wife wants half of everything I own you know. It would be much better if she were dead before she could bleed me dry."

"That's nice," I said leaning back in my chair and taking a careful sip of wine as I watched this guy. I didn't like him; I could see that already. I didn't trust his demeanor. Most of my clients were self-righteous, self-serving pricks. I grew accustomed to the way they acted, the way they thought. They earned the right to be asses to everyone. I never liked any of them, but Mr. Brown seemed as if he was going to be the most annoying one that I've dealt with in a while.