Chapter 09: Two Guys, One GirlLike I said, the first time I met Tom was over at the local pub, The Snug, just down the road from the offibsp; It retty cool pce, as far as these corporate hangouts go, with that imported real authentic pub feel--low ceilings and dim lighting and a dart board and all--which was impressive, sihe pce arently less than a year old. They had a fine range on tap and a few very expensive, very choice malts behind the bar.

  Well, this ohursday night, just a few weeks after I’d started w at Indigo Tech, I went there after w te. I figured I’d grab a pint or four before heading home. Jimmy was w the bar; Jimmy was a right bastard but a hell of a talker. I’d just grabbed a pint of something imported and expensive and was sing the busy crowd when I saw Julia Beaumont. Julia Beaumont and her long bck hair. I’d sure like to climb her beautiful mountains—I’m a funny guy, huh?

  Like I said before, Julia was this total bitch w the offibsp; I’d already chatted her up a couple of times at work and she’d givehe smile and stare in response. Yeah, she walked by my office more often than she had to, wiggliight-skirted ass, and any time she brought me stuff she’d lean way over and give me an eyeful.

  (I’ve developed a strange sympathy for her now: wearing those sexy fuck-me heels of hers everyday must’ve been murder.)

  I feel a bit sad for her now, thinking about it. She never figured out that dressing like a wet dream and ag like a slut wasn’t going to get her anywhere in the pany. It was just going to get her used by pricks like me. And yeah, we were both o the city, o this professional life, and both of us only into the first couple of weeks at a new job, aill trying to adjust to being, well, normal—it wasn’t my job to sort out her life. Fuck, I was only twenty-five and Julia, twenty-two. Seems ages ago, now. In a way I guess it is.

  She was sitting alone, looking bored a, and she made eye tact with me as she slowly finished off a G&T. I mean, fuck, the way she had her lips ed around that straw, the way she pulled on it, it ractically an open invitation. I figured, what the fuck? a and joined her.

  “Jimmy?” I tapped the ter aured at her drink and ordered another. I sauntered over to her table. “Mind if I sit?” I asked, and didn’t wait for an answer. That’s the worst thing you do to a chick--give them a ce to think, give them a choi what happens. Pce like this, girl like Julia, you just tell them what’s going to happen. It’s what she wants, when you get down to it. The only problem, I found out a mier when her date returned from the toilet, was that she wasn’t alone.

  Normally that’d be an awkward situation, you know? Two guys, one girl, musg in on a date, all that shit--but somehow it wasn’t. I could see straight away that the guy didn’t really care. Thing I couldn’t suss out straight ahether it ure fiden his part, which I was cool with; or if he arrogantly just didn’t see me as a threat, which I most certainly wasn’t cool with. It wouldn’t take me long to figure out where this guy was ing from.

  “David Saunders,” I introduced myself.

  “Thomas Hunter,” he answered. We shook hands. He had a strong and challenging grip. You tell a lot about a man from his handshake. Tom held it for a sed lohan necessary a my eyes with a hard stare. His eyes were a startling blue, the kind that girls really dig. He gave a tight smile. “Why don’t you join us?” he said, as if I hadn’t already grabbed a seat. “You’re the new guy, right? Over in Davies’ division.”

  Like he gave a shit. The only thing he wanted right then was Julia and that wet little spot betweehighs. I decided then and there that I did as well. But what both of us wanted, even more than this sad, clueless bitch sittiween us was to take each other down a notch.

  He was a good-looking guy, big and imposing, t over me—I re standing, I only came up to his . He had the kind of tough, square jaw that had probably taken a punch or two. Pretty quickly he dropped into the versation the fact he pyed football in college, figured out early enough he wasn’t going to got educated--but kept in shape. I respected that; too many of those jock assholes turn to fat ohe game’s over. They heir discipline enforced from outside; real discipline es from within and this guy had it. He dressed smart, oozed fidence; yeah, the fucker was a real tender. Beating him to the y was going to be sweet.

  We drank and chatted and worked the bitd each other over until the pub kicked us out. Tom went home alone. I went home with Julia.