Page 26 of Rock Bottom

“I want to make beer battered fish and chips, but with a recovering alcoholic in the house, I know better than to bring in the real thing.”

Bowie snorted. “Poor fish. He’s already dead. You don’t have to abuse his corpse, Church.”

I sighed and picked up my tea. It was a nice day out, nice enough that I’d told Oscar it’d be an ideal time to mow the lawn. Not that the cabin had much of a lawn to speak of. There were too many trees. But at least it kept him out of the cabin and away from Dante, who was clearly uneasy about him.

Bowie tucked the list in his back pocket and yanked the red handkerchief from his belt loop to mop the sweat from his forehead. “So how is he really? Heard he was a bit of a diva.”

“Dante prefers to be called a god, not a diva.” I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Not much of a difference, as far as I’m concerned.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Dante? Never seen you get so buddy-buddy with a client.”

“Dante isn’t the formal type,” I said.

Bowie snickered and elbowed me hard enough I almost spilled my tea. “You seen him naked yet?”

I scowled up at Bowie. “That’s an inappropriate question. Besides, his naked pictures are all over the internet, apparently.”

“Apparently? You mean you haven’t seen ‘em?” He put his hands on his hips and paced out to stand in front of me.

I sighed and put my tea aside. “If you have, then why are you asking me?”

“Because I want to know if the picture’s photoshopped. You would too if you’d seen it.”

“You’re a complete degenerate, Bowie.”

“Yeah, a degenerate who jerks off to guys with big dicks. We’ve established this. Now is the picture real or fake?”

I turned away and rubbed the heat creeping into my cheeks. “How would I know?”

His eyes widened, and he gasped. “Are you blushing? Holy shit! I didn’t know that was possible.”

I shook my head. “It’s too much sun on a hot day. That’s all.”

“No way. You’re either sick or you’re fucking him.” He slapped the back of his hand against my forehead. “And that’s no fever.”

I had his arm twisted behind his back and his face pressed against the wall before he knew what hit him. “That’s enough, Bowie. It’s one thing for you to run your mouth about one of us, but I won’t tolerate this sort of juvenile talk concerning one of our clients. Dante’s been through enough. He doesn’t need you spreading vicious rumors.”

“I wasn’t!” He hissed in pain as I applied more pressure and pulled up until he was on his tiptoes. “All right! Fine! Jesus, man. I was just shootin’ the shit. You don’t have to get all uptight about it.”

I let him go, and he slid away, pushing his hat back the way it was.

“I actually think it’d be good for you. About time you found someone to dislodge that stick from your ass.”

I clenched my fists. “Bowie, you’re crossing a line. We have a professional relationship, nothing more.”

“Whatever you say, slick.” He flicked the front of his hat, making it tip back further.

I narrowed my eyes. He’d been taking notes from Xion, and when I saw that little shit again, I was going to make my displeasure about that fact known. Not that he would listen. No one ever listened to what was good for them without a threat to back it up.

The mower cut out, and Oscar let out an annoyed curse. Bowie’s smug grin disappeared as he looked over while Oscar tried to get the mower running again. “So that’s Nina’s replacement?”

“Nina?”

He rolled his head toward me. “You know, the lady who was supposed to clean the house?”

“Ah, right. The memo Boone sent said she was in the hospital. Is it serious?”

Bowie shrugged. “They said it was accidental poisoning. Guess she must’ve mixed the wrong chemicals or something. Anyway, how’s the new guy? He okay?”

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