Page 97 of Judging Duke

“He’s meeting you here, yes?” Did he not listen?

“Yes. Jesus, how many times do I need to tell you? And please, don’t give him the third degree. He’s nervous enough as it is about meeting you.”

“We’re lovely. Why would he worry? What the fuck did you tell him?”

“Nothing. I told him nothing, other than we were meeting a couple of friends for drinks.”

“Is that him?” Ziggy craned his neck, checking out the door every time it opened.

“No, that’s not him. I’ll tell you when I see him.”

“See who? Who are we looking for?” Simon stood behind me with a tray of drinks. “I didn’t know what you drank, so I asked the barman. Seems you’re regulars in here.”

He handed off the drinks to Ziggy and Marc. “You’re not going to hit me, are you? Only last time I saw you, you mentioned something about me coming within spitting distance of Duke.”

Marc took his drink. “You’re good. Any friend of Duke’s is a friend of ours. Likewise with his enemies. Giving you fair warning.”

“I’m glad you have his back.” Simon sat next to me and placed a small kiss on my cheek before whispering ‘hello’.

“I hope you brought your brain with you.” Ziggy had a way with words.

“What do you mean?” Simon looked over at me. “Why do I need my brain?”

“It’s quiz night. Beau and Kwan usually join us, but they couldn’t make it tonight. Kwan is doing a gig or something.”

“Should I know who that is?”

“Do you follow K-pop?” Ziggy asked.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He looked at us all, clearly confused.

“I’ll explain to you later,” I said, patting his hand. “I hope your general knowledge is better than your music prowess.” I wrote our team name on the piece of paper in front of us.

“What are we called?” He stretched his neck to read it.

“The Liverpool Boys,” I said. “We all met up here. Seemed fitting.”

“But isn’t that every man in here?” Simon asked, looking around. Why was he asking so many questions tonight?

“Does he always ask this many questions?” Clearly Ziggy thought so too.

“Not usually, and I have my ways of shutting him up.”

“I don’t want to know,” Marc said. “And no, Ziggy. You don’t want to either.”

“You are no fun. I always want the tea. I heard you were a porn star. You need to give me all the gossip. I have names; I need details, if you get my drift.”

“Does he ever stop?” Simon whispered.

“I heard that, and no, I don’t.” Ziggy sucked on the straw, swirling the melting ice in his glass before picking up another cocktail.

“How many?” I asked Marc, nodding to the glass.

“Too many. We’ve been here a while. It could be an interesting night. He’s unpredictable when he’s had a few.”

Ziggy was unpredictable most of the time, just exaggerated when he was drunk.

“Isn’t that Liam and John over there?” He stood, knocking the table, before striding off across the room to greet another couple of friends.

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