Page 21 of The Price of Forever

“So, let’s begin. Do you only wear button downs, or is this just your preference?”

He didn’t look amused, which satisfied me.

“So I take it you’ve never heard of sweatpants,” I pushed.

He sniffed, keeping his gaze on the sidewalk in front of us.

“There’s some gray ones you should try out, especially if you go the Root Bear route. Women tip extra for shit like that. Just thought you might like that little piece of unsolicited advice.”

No response.

“You’re not giving me a lot of info here. Oh, here’s another question I just thought of. Have you ever tried smiling?”

He bit his bottom lip, as if squashing a laugh. Gotcha. I poked him in the ribs.

“That was a good one, I know. Not quite as good as the Dad joke you led with, but we can’t all be as skilled as you.”

“Skill comes with time. With age. I wouldn’t expect you to know.”

I blinked back my surprise. It was gems like these I loved to unearth within him. “Are you calling me young and naïve?”

“You said it, not me.”

“Let me guess what your name stands for—the decade of the year you were born.”

This time, a laugh huffed out of him. I could tell he’d been fighting it.

“It’s okay, I won’t tell anyone that you’re halfway to the coffin already. Your gym routine will probably give you a few extra years of life.”

“Jesus, I’m in my thirties, Jordan, it’s not like I’m not on my deathbed.”

Score. I’d finagled one piece of information out of him. I should have been happy with that. But I wanted more.

“You’ll probably last a little longer than average, actually, given the fact that you might be part robot.”

He smirked. “What gives it away?”

“You just seem like the type of guy who wouldn’t be able to identify all the bicycles in a random set of images.”

“I’m very skilled at identifying bicycles,” he replied, utterly unaffected by my wit.

“That’s exactly what a robot would say.”

We continued like this for the duration of our walk to the subway station, and then as we took the train back to Chinatown. For split seconds, we felt like friends. In other moments, I felt like this was our first date. But he always made sure to bring it back to client/hired hulk status.

When we wound our way from the subway station up onto the ground level of my neighborhood, re-entering the September night air, I slowed.

“What are you doing?” He looked over his shoulder at me, a few paces ahead.

“Can you…not follow me all the way back to my building?”

He cocked his head like he didn’t understand my request. “It’s two blocks away.”

“I know. I just…don’t like goodbyes.” I shrugged. “It would be easier if you disappeared into the night.”

That infuriating smirk curled at his lips. “Is that what you’re used to?”

I laughed. “Brutal. And yeah. Maybe I am.”

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