Page 96 of College Town

Lawson’s jacket is a beat-up brown leather bomber, so he leaves it in his backseat when he locks up his car, and walks over in just his suit. The way Tommy’s gaze travels over him, the way he bites his lip in a brief gesture quickly smoothed, does not suck one bit. It makes him stand a little straighter, and push his shoulders back a little farther. They’re broad, they’re strong, Tommy likes them – why not work them a little to his advantage?

“How’d I do?” Lawson spreads his arms and does a little turn. “Did I manage okay without your glam squad to make me up?”

Tommy studies him a long, silent moment, then turns and opens the rear car door.

Lawson sighs to himself, thinking he’s being ignored.

But Tommy comes back out a moment later holding a length of dark fabric. He shakes it out to reveal a coat like his own, but much longer. “Here. It’s gonna be cold tonight.”

Lawson expects to take it, but Tommy holds it open in the universal sign ofI’m going to put this on you, so Lawson turns, backs into him, and ducks his hands into the sleeves.

He suspects Tommy has to get up on his tiptoes to get the collar snugged up against the back of his neck, and then stays that way a moment, fingers smoothing, tucking the tag, tidying the hair at his nape.

Lawson swallows against a dry throat.

“So,” he says when Tommy’s touch recedes and he turns back around. “Where are we going?”

“Estelle’s.” Tommy motions him into the backseat ahead of him.

“Really?” Lawson asks as he clambers in. “You’re a boring date, Kitty Cat.”

“Ugh, do not.” Tommy slides in and slams his door. “And it’s not a date.” If that’s not a sour twist to his mouth, disappointment that it’s not a date, Lawson’s going to pretend it is. “It’s a business meeting.”

“With…?”

“Gino Giacoletti.”

Lawon’s stomach lurches as the Navigator rolls forward. “But I thought he was like the big boss? That he wouldn’t come out here?”

“He wouldn’t, and he didn’t. This is a glorified Zoom call.” Tommy makes a face. “But it’s a chance to schmooze some of the local clients.”

“Local clients? Like those dumbass stoners I sold to today?”

Tommy shoots him an unreadable glance across the backseat. “No.”

~*~

Instead of a private dining room in back, the hostess shows them to a narrow staircase tucked down the hallway where the restrooms are, and hands them off to a woman dressed in plain black with severe lipstick who doesn’t look like she’s employed by the restaurant. Tommy doesn’t speak, so Lawson doesn’t either, following along in his wake and affecting his best red carpet walk – fitting, given the runner up the stairs is a plush, blood-red velvet.

At the top of the stairs, they enter a wide open space made dark by low, wood, coffered ceilings. There are several long dining tables, sparsely populated, and billiard tables – click of balls, drift of cigar smoke – and small end tables ringed by leather armchairs. It’s a lounge of the old-fashioned variety, complete with its own bar.

The woman excuses herself with a nod and a sweep of her arm that invites them to join…whatever’s going on here.

Lawon leans forward to whisper in Tommy’s ear: “Holy shit, Hef, I didn’t know we were going to a gentlemen’s club.”

Tommy elbows him with deadly precision and says, without moving his lips, “Don’t break character.”

Noah and Frank are at the bar, and the latter motions for them with an impatient jerk of his head.

A sharp-eyed, bearded man wearing a turtleneck under his suit jacket stops them halfway there. “Tom,” he says, loudly, and shoves his hand out in an accosting way.

Tommy has no choice but to stop and shake, though his cool expression says he’s not happy to be detained. “Walter. Good to see you.”

Walter’s brows lift expectantly. “Did you get my email?”

“My secretary mentioned it,” Tommy says. “I told her to forward it along, but I’m afraid I’m behind on my correspondence.”

Walter nods, disappointed in a way that probably gets other men hopping to. Not Tommy, though. “I was just speaking with Frank. I want to make some changes next month. Downsize my usual order.”

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