Walk (Gentry Boys) Read Online Free PDF Page B

keep it company. 
    It was only many hours later, as I sat on my couch performing a very bad self-manicure, that I broke down and wept. 

CHAPTER FOUR
    STONE
     
    “Why the fuck are you always up so early?” Bash grumbled as he slid onto a stool beside me at the breakfast bar. 
    “Habit,” I shrugged and reached over to pour him a cup of coffee. “Cell doors always opened promptly at six a.m.” 
    “And then what?” he asked curiously.  “They clap their hands and shout ‘Rise and shine’, offering you a hand towel on your way to the bathroom?”
    “Not exactly.” 
    There was really no way to explain to a man who’d never been locked up what it meant to hear the door of your cell unlock.  That sound meant you could enjoy the very limited freedom of moving about the prison unit.  It wasn’t much, but it was something. 
    Bash didn’t seem interested in more of an explanation though.  He sipped coffee and stared at his phone.  We were still getting used to each other after a few weeks as roommates. Bash had been Chase’s student about three years back and they’d kept in touch.  Once when he was half drunk he’d muttered something about owing Chase a few favors and I got the feeling Chase had helped him get out of some trouble at some point.  Anyway, he’d lost a roommate about the same time Chase and Deck were hunting for a place for me to stay.  If Deck had to sweeten the deal to get Bash to agree to live with an ex-con stranger, then nobody had said so out loud.  Bash’s brother-in-law owned the party rental place and was always on the lookout for a strong back.  It wasn’t bad work; mostly setting up equipment and then waiting around for the party to be over so it could all be taken down. 
    “What time are we on today?” I asked him as I set down the book I’d been reading and pulled a dented frying pan out of the cabinet.
    “Gotta be at the warehouse with the truck by noon.  Venue is a wedding at a south Chandler golf resort and we need to have the ceremony site and the reception hall done by four.” 
    “Got it,” I said, grabbing a carton from the fridge.  “You want some eggs?”
    “Hell yeah.” 
    Bash thought it was funny that I spent so much time at the stove.  Actually, before a few weeks ago I’d never so much as boiled water, but since I’d been out I found that preparing my own food gave me a weird sense of pleasure.  Bash was happy to cooperate by eating whatever I fixed. 
    “I fucked our neighbor last night,” he gleefully told me a few minutes later as he dove into a plate of scrambled eggs. 
    “What neighbor?  The one next door you’ve hooked up with before?”
    “Nah, hell with her.  This one just moved into the south building.  Purple hair that might be usually brown.  I forget her name.  It’s a weird one, like Pegasus or Allusion.”
    “Well, good for you.” 
    “Yeah,” Bash chuckled. “She was a wild one.  Except she got eight shades of pissed off when I took off as soon as we were done.  Fuck it though.  She wants a morning after she can go chase one of those sensitive ponytail college boys.  A man’s got to get some sleep.” 
    When I laughed Bash pointed an accusing fork my way.  “You, on the other hand, get too much sleep, Gentry.” 
    I rolled my eyes.  “Make up your damn mind.  When you walked in here you complained that I’m awake too early.” 
    “You know what I mean.  Go out and get a few hours of fun, dude.  You read, you brood, you work and then you read some more.” 
    “I like my word porn.” 
    Bash picked up the book I’d left on the counter and squinted at it.  “Lots of fucking going on in the pages of Dickens?”
    “Tons,” I deadpanned.  “Those Victorians really knew their way around tits and ass.” 
    “Hmph.” Bash set the book down. “You know, this is a college town, Stone.  There’s plenty of real life tits and ass just hanging out, waiting to be used in a more practical