Page 74 of The Suit

His jaw twitched aggressively. “Yes. I do.”

The next Dodgers’ batter came out, which is when Penn finally took interest in his surroundings. As with every single game, Penn arrived to see the players warm up before first bat. Along with the row of executive seating we were standing - not sitting – in, where he liked to get as close to the diamond as possible because‘Raferty, we need to feel the atmosphere, we need to be able to smell the sweat...’Penn also owned one of the private suites, which was where we had a table laid out with snacks and beers, all being enjoyed by the rest of the gang, something he only just noticed.

“Hey, where is everyone?” he huffed indignantly like he was personally taking offense to them not wanting to smell the sweat just yet, which he was. “I can’t believe they missed that!”

“They’ll have seen it. Murray and Kit are waiting for the others.”

Beulah turned to me. “What others?”

“Drew and Felix, some friends of ours we know through Murray’s brothers-in-law. They run a foundation for amputee athletes, which I helped them set up. They always come to the Dodgers’ games becauseDrew is Jupiter’s brother-in-law. Their wives are coming tonight too. You’ll like them, they’re a lot of fun.”

I didn’t give her the opportunity to object; instead, I pulled her back into me and kissed her cheek. Not that I had any problem with PDA, but I wasn’t sure how well that would be received. Even though the past couple of days had been intense, we hadn’t had any discussion about what would happen tomorrow, when we went back to work.

Or the day after tomorrow.

And I fully intended to have a day after tomorrow and one after that too. I had no clue when she was heading home to Chicago, but I wasn’t about to give this up before then; I just needed to find the right moment to tell her.

There was also a question somewhere in the back of my head about how we could figure it out long distance, but it was reallyreallyfar back, and I didn’t want to acknowledge it. What’s more, as I was going to win this case there was also a real possibility she wouldn’t speak to me after it, something that didn’t sit well at all; odd, considering ten days ago it would have filled me with so much joy I could have floated.

“There they are.”

Penn and I turned to where Beulah was pointing, to see Murray and Kit walking down the stairs carrying several beers, followed by the rest of our group; Drew and Felix, their wives Molly and Emerson, plus Payton, Kit’s best friend who I hadn’t realized was coming, nor had seen since Penn and I had taken her out a few weeks ago and had to carry her home. Though in fairness, that was because Penn had been feeding her tequila shots all night.

Introductions were made as they reached us, beers and snacks were handed around, and Beulah was once more pulled into a hug by people she’d never met before. I didn’t fail to notice that she stiffened less and less each time.

“Hey, man, how are you doing?” I got yanked into a hug of my own, first by Drew then Felix, before they stood in front of me wearing matching grins which meant more than they were simply enquiring after my welfare.

“What?”

“Heard you got a girl.” Drew punched me in the arm, “Congrats, man.”

I grinned as I sipped my beer. “Murray’s got a big, shit-stirring mouth.”

“Yeah,” grinned back Felix, “we’re all aware. But come on, tell us the details.”

I glanced over to Beulah who was now deep in conversation with the girls at the end of the row where all five of them had moved. “No.”

With absolutely no subtlety, Drew turned to look over his shoulder toward Beulah and nodded. “That her? You look good together, man.”

I shook my head. “It’s nothing. We were at school together and we’re on the same case. That’s all.”

Even as I was saying the words my gut twisted; the blatant lie turning my saliva so bitter I needed a swig of beer to wash it down.

Both Felix’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re so full of shit. It’s written all over your face.”

“Yeah well, that’s all you’re going to get.” I grabbed some popcorn from the tub he was holding and threw it in my mouth, “Anyway, what’s news with you? How’s fatherhood? Is this the first mommy and daddy outing?”

He broke out in the same smile I saw on Murray whenever anyone mentioned Bell. In fact, it was the same one all dads had. Felix and Molly had become new parents to a baby boy, Elijah, last month, so Murray had been hanging out with Felix more than usual while they bonded over lack of sleep and general parenting shit like that.

“Yeah,” he subconsciously rubbed his chest, “feels weird being away from him, but it’s good to get out of the house, especially for Mol. And we have the whole summer off.”

“That’s good, you look exhausted,” I kept my face as straight as I could, but it was hard seeing as his dropped indignantly.

“Fuck off.”

I slapped him playfully on the cheek. “Nah, I’m kidding. Congrats, man. It’s good to see you.”

The three of us turned toward the field as another cheer erupted from the crowd - the Dodgers had scored a second home run. The stadium was nearly full now, with the game properly underway. Our seats had a little more room in them than most, but given our entire party was taking up a row and all of us were standing up, I pulled the guys out of the way to sit before we got yelled at from the rows behind whose view we were blocking.

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