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last boss to suck it.”
    “He asked me to clean a bathroom.”
    “Right, I forgot, you’re too good for that,” Paul said, shaking his head. “I just don’t think you should be lecturing me about money. You haven’t held down a job for longer than two weeks.”
    “I got some side work tomorrow,” Danny said defensively.
    “Doing what? Beating up druggies for Tony?”
    Danny felt an uncomfortable wave of embarrassment roll over him. He was silently thankful for the gift of olive skin from his mother, because he’d be flushed with shame without it. “They’re assholes, Paul Guy. They’ll be selling drugs to your little Pee Wee kids in a few years. Putting a few dents in them isn’t a crime against the universe.”
    “It is a crime though.”
    “I’m not playing the Danny Boy is a loser game. I hear it enough from my father. I don’t need to hear it from you,” Danny said in irritation. “Where am I taking you?”
    “Can I stay with you?” Paul asked, his head falling back against the seat, his voice becoming heavy with exhaustion. “So fucking hard to study at the dorm. My roommate thrives off chaos, always got the radio blaring, the TV going, it’s just—really annoying.”
    “Tell him to turn the shit off,” Danny said simply. “Or break it while he sleeps.”
    Paul snorted. “Nah, he’s a rich boy. Always got a fat bankroll. He’ll just buy new, louder shit.”
    “Then kick his ass,” Danny sighed, rolling his eyes at his best friend. “If he’s that fucking inconsiderate, you’ll be doing him a favor. You should make it a priority to give a reality check to every obnoxious rich boy you come across. That’s a charity worth the effort.”
    “Danny Boy,” Paul said with a bark of laughter.
    “What?”
    “ You’re an obnoxious rich boy. The worst of the lot.”
    “You gotta have money to be rich, genius,” Danny said bitterly. “My bank account’s in the negative again.”
    “Your dad’s got more money than God.”
    “Yeah, but I’ll be damned if I ask him for anything ,” Danny said, his voice razor sharp and vicious. “That’s what I’m saying, obnoxious rich boys without a reality check turn into obnoxious old men like my father who think the world should kiss their ass. I would literally lick a monkey’s asshole before I’d give him that satisfaction.”
    “Thank you for the visual,” Paul said rather than argue, his eyes closing in exhaustion. “Can I please stay at your place?”
    Danny sighed, hating when Paul stayed at his place because it made him ache for him even more than he already did. Instead of telling him to stop torturing him with what he couldn’t have, he just huffed in defeat, “I don’t give a shit.”
    * * * * *
    Though few would agree, Paul liked Danny’s place. A rundown shack of a house halted in its remodeling due to Danny’s father turning the job of reconstruction over to Danny with the vain hope he would learn some sort of work ethic. Instead it just provided Danny with a free place to stay. If he finished, he would have to move back home with his parents. Which was likely his father’s plan all along. Danny and his father were strangely alike when it came to their ability to fuck with people in order to get what they wanted.
    Paul’s father just told him to get the fuck out. Danny’s used a remodeling job to have the excuse to constantly remind Danny what a fuck-up he was by not finishing it.
    Paul wasn’t certain, but he thought he might have gotten the better deal.
    The house was built over a lake, the wood aged and weathered well beyond its years. Less than a third of the wood flooring was laid down, the original floor having been ripped out by Danny’s father and his crew before the project was turned over to Danny. The windows were bare. There was very little furniture save a kitchen table and an old couch in the living room. Danny’s bedroom held only a mattress on the floor with a TV in the corner.
    Yet for all its