Page 98 of The Suit

We gingerly turned around as footsteps sounded out down the corridor leading to the den, Murray appearing from the shadows, looking as fresh as an ice-cold beer down to the fact that when the three of us had parted ways last night, he’d actually gone to bed - unlike Penn and me. A massive grin spread across his face as he assessed the scene.

“Jesus, I’ve arrived just in time. You two look like you’re in dire need of a rescue operation.”

My eyebrow rose at his not-so-subtle undertone that I had a problem requiring a solution, something which was incorrect. “I don’t. I just need some coffee. Penn, however, may need a time machine.”

“I have coffee and breakfast in the kitchen. Come on.” He gestured to us to follow as he walked off. We were off the couch and behind him as quickly as two thirty-one-year-old men with life debilitating hangovers could be.

True to his word, the kitchen table was laid out with coffee, bagels from our favorite shop on the Upper East Side, crispy bacon, cream cheese, eggs and smoked salmon.

“Are you expecting a small village as well?” Penn asked as he hugged Murray, who pulled a face, likely because Penn and I smelled like a distillery. “No, but we have some problems to solve, seeing as we didn’t get to them last night.”

Penn reached across for a slice of bacon as he sat down. “What exactlydidwe get to last night?”

“Not a whole lot more than reaching the bottom of the bottle, but the pair of you were egging each other on all night, so I’m assuming there’s some damage control needed for this morning.”

I shut down another image of Beulah, tears pouring down her cheeks while I towered over her. I’d been so close to kissing her one last time, tasting the softness of her tongue and committing it to memory. But it would only taste of betrayal.

I just couldn’t remember it ever being so bitter.

“No damage control needed my end. Penn will fill you in on his…”

I watched Penn take his phone, pull up the offending email, then slide it over the table to Murray. Murray’s jaw gradually dropped further and further until it was practically touching the floor.

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah,” was all Penn replied, because there really wasn’t anything else to say.

“What are you going to do?”

Penn shrugged, looking wholly disinterested. Instead, he loaded up a bagel with as much as he could; so much that the bagel top was not going to stay on when he let go. “Not much I can do. I’ll get called into Grandpa’s office this week; he’ll probably make me sweat it out for a while. But I’ve thought about it, and I stand by everything I said.”

“You only remembered you sent it ten minutes ago!”

“Yes, and for the last ten minutes I’ve been thinking about it.” He took a massive bite of his bagel, swallowing most of it whole when he realized it was too big to speak through. “I’ve been groomed to take over that company. I never wanted to work there, I never wanted to ‘fill dad’s shoes’,” he air quoted with one greasy finger. “I wanted to work in baseball. I wanted to take law and be Commissioner one day, but I wasn’t allowed. And now they’ve wasted the last twenty years of my life because my sister is a fucking snake. So while I may not have executed it as professionally as I could have, I still stand by it.”

Murray looked at him and was about to say something when Penn opened his mouth again.

“Oh, and I meant what I said about women. I’m off the market.” He slashed the air with his free hand.

“For how long?”

“Until I’ve figured out what I’m going to do with my life. I don’t want any distractions.”

I peered at him over my coffee, only to notice Murray doing the same to me. “What?”

“Do you stand by what you said too?”

“What was that exactly?”

“That you didn’t care how long it took you, but you were going to reign hell and make Beulah pay, and that you hated her more than you’d ever done.”

I scratched through my beard, contemplating. I vaguely remembered promising I would destroy her, fueled by a barrel of whiskey; but in the barely sober, cold light of day, I felt flat. Indifferent. There was no fire of vengeance burning inside me, just a dull ache located somewhere under my ribcage.

And I wanted it gone.

“Not exactly, but I’m as done as Pennington is. She’ll leave New York and I can get on with my life. I’ve wasted the last two weeks on her, and I’m not wasting a second longer.”

I reached over and began piling up my own bagel. The sooner I ate, the sooner the feeling of emptiness would disappear. Because that’s what it was - hangover munchies.

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