Tommy chuckles at his own statement before taking his leave.

I walk up the stairs to my balcony and find JD on a call.

“Fuck! Another one?” he curses into his phone. “What do you expect me to do about it? Shit! We’ll just have to take it as a loss.”

JD kicks the coffee table after hanging up.

“Baijiu?” I offer.

“Shit, yeah,” JD responds.

I wave to one of my servers.

JD flops down on a lounge chair and, throwing his head back, rubs his eyes.

“Amy coming tonight?” I ask.

“Later. She has to work tonight at the restaurant. Says she’s missed too many shifts lately.”

I consider seeing if Bridget would come with her friend, but I want Bridget to get her work done so she has no excuses for not going to Phuket.

JD pulls out his cigarette case.

“You know the rules,” I tell him.

“It’s just one smoke.”

“I don’t want to get busted on some small shit.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Like how they got Al Capone on taxes.”

“I’ve got marijuana if you want that.”

“Hell, yeah.”

After the server delivers the baijiu, I tell her to get JD some weed.

JD downs a shot of baijiu, then another.

“You pound too much of that with the weed, you’re not going to be able to get it up for Amy,” I warn.

“Yeah, yeah. You getting any tonight? You want Amy to bring Bridget with her?”

“I don’t need to pound pussy every single night.”

“If you can, why not?”

“Bridget has to finish a paper for class.”

“You’re lucky; you can just walk over to the other side of your club to get booty.”

It’s true. I could. But I’m more interested in finding out how Bridget gets on with the wand.

A mutual friend, Alejandro, comes up to the balcony to jaw with us and smoke some pot. Amy arrives about the time the two of them are too stoned to hold a real conversation. JD offers her a joint, which she accepts.

“Aren’t you going to say anything about my outfit?” Amy asks. “I just got it today.”

With his eyes glazed over, JD looks over her strappy top and leopard-print skirt. “Hella sexy. Right, Alejandro?”

Alejandro nods. “Name’s Alejandro. What’s yours, chica?”

“Amy.”

He jerks his head toward JD. “You’re not with that loser, are you?”

She giggles. “Actually, I am.”

“Sorry to hear that.” Alejandro rolls his head to me. “You got anyone for tonight?”

I shake my head.

“You can have me,” Alejandro jokes.

“Sure, but I only pitch,” I reply.

He pours himself a shot of baijiu. “Ah, you’re no fun.”

Being a cheap date, Amy doesn’t take long to get high. Knowing that Marshall or someone else from the security team will keep an eye on JD, I head upstairs to my residence and video call Bridget.

“How’s the paper coming?” I ask after casting the video call onto the flat-screen TV above the fireplace. I sit down on the sofa.