Bad Company by K.A. Mitchell Read Free Book Online Page A

another two bottles of Smirnoff Ice before Eli found him to deliver another lecture.
    By the time Eli did find him, Nate was so smashed he had to transfer his grip from the edge of the bar to Eli’s shoulder to stay on his feet.
    “What the fuck is wrong with you, Nate? I mean, now I get why you’ve been such a bitch at work with this shit hanging over your head, but now you’ve got this amazing guy who gave up everything for you, and you’re acting like a total fucking asshole.”
    “Oh yeah. He’s amazing. I’m an asshole. Closest I’m getting to one for another fucking month anyway.” Nate knew it was a stupid joke, but he laughed anyway.
    “What?” Eli started to drag him out of The Arena.
    “Nothing. Where’d your little doppelganger go?”
    “I don’t know. I’ve been looking for you.”
    “Go on. Get laid. At least one of us should.”
    “Did you guys get into a fight or something?”
    “No. Just.” Outside he took a breath of air misted with spring rain and straightened up. “Forget about me. Go back in.”
    “I’m not leaving you here like this for some bashers to find.” Eli shoved Nate up against the bricks of the alley, holding him with one arm while digging through Nate’s pockets. “Fuck me.”
    “You were really a good time, Eli, but I’ve got a lot on my…dick, right now.” Nate laughed again, turning his face into the rain which was coming down harder.
    “And you thought I was immature. Nate, I can’t get you home like this. Do you have money enough for a cab on you?”
    Nate shoved his hips forward. “S’all yours.”
    Eli reached in and grabbed Nate’s wallet. “You are so going to owe me for this. You’d better not fuck things up with Kellan either.” Eli dragged Nate out of the alley toward Eager Street.
    The only consolation Nate could figure was that when he dropped into bed next to a sleeping Kellan Brooks— please let him be sleeping —Nate would be too drunk to suffer another round of blue balls.

Chapter Seven
    A baby cried and jerked Kellan out of a sound sleep.
    But there couldn’t be a baby. He wasn’t ready for a baby. And no matter how much Delia had talked about waiting, he knew she had the kids’ names picked out and got this dreamy look when she saw a kid in a stroller on the street.
    He lay there, heart pounding as he remembered where he was. Nate’s place. He turned his head to look at the human lump next to him on the equally lumpy fold-out sofa bed.
    Eli had poured Nate through the front door at about twelve thirty with a “It’s not my fault” and a “He’s all yours.”
    Kellan had spent enough nights on his knees in front of the porcelain god to know what the sudden grimace on Nate’s face meant. Two hard shoves got him into the bathroom in time.
    Kellan wet a towel and threw it at him, and Nate dragged himself onto the bed a few minutes later.
    But there was still a baby crying. Not like in another apartment, but closer to Kellan’s ear. He sat up and looked out of the window next to Nate. A streak of something lighter than the black caught his eye, and Kellan rolled out of bed and walked around to the window.
    He’d left it open about three inches because the apartment was stuffy and Nate reeked. Somehow Quan Yin had managed to wriggle through the space and out onto the fire escape. The window had slid shut, she was crying, and it was raining again.
    Kellan rolled onto the floor and held the sill up while he waved her in. “C’mon, sweetie.”
    She mewled again from her spot under the broad leaf of some plant sitting on one corner.
    “C’mon, girl. You’re only going to get wetter.”
    She huddled down and glared at him like he was responsible for the weather, the condition of her owner and the fact that she was out there getting wet in the first place. The last two might be his fault, but Kellan wasn’t taking the blame for the weather. That was just Baltimore in April.
    He shoved the lump on the bed. The only thing that