“Private game Friday, if you’re up for it,” he said.
“I might be,” he replied, “but I might have plans too.”
“You?” he said, with a sneer.
Something about Yale had been pissing him off a little more every time. “I do have relationships,” he said. “Don’t you?”
“Not in a while,” Yale said grudgingly. “But I might need a place to crash for a couple nights.”
“Why is that?”
“Some odd smell in my bloody apartment building,” he said. “Management is asking us to vacate for a few days.”
“What will they do, fumigate?” And what happened to the mansion? But Simon didn’t want to ask. Yale had poor money management skills. Always had. And he should never gamble. That combination was deadly.
“Maybe,” he said. “I don’t know.”
“Time to go on a cruise then,” Simon said, not interested in offering his friend a room. Not when it was possible that Kate would be back.
“Fine,” he said. “I wasn’t asking for a place to stay, you know.”
“I hear you, and that’s a good thing because I’m full up at the moment.”
“I doubt it,” he said. “You’ve got all that money.”
“What does money have to do with it?” Simon asked curiously.
“Just that you can go anywhere you want to,” Yale said.
“I could,” he said. “The bottom line is that I don’t need to.”
“But you made enough money on the last weekend cruise to take you to a hotel for quite a while too.”
“Maybe so,” he said. “I don’t think I made as much as you seem to think.”
“Maybe not,” he said. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll work it out, whatever.”
“Where’s the game at?”
“Same as last time,” he said abruptly.
“Ah,” he said mentally, certain it was one he wouldn’t attend.
“What? You not giving anybody a chance to earn their money back again?” he asked. “I’m sorry I missed that game, although I’ve lost plenty over the last year.”
“I hardly got anything off you,” Simon said in a mild tone.
“Sure didn’t feel that way at the time.”
Simon noted an edge to Yale’s voice. “Look. If you’ve got a problem, just come on out and say it.”
“You cheated.”
“Youcheated,” Simon snapped, biting back his true response.
There was a sigh on the other end. “How did you know?”
“The signs and tells were all there,” he said. “Besides, you’ve always been cheating. Whether it’s at the casino, on the cruises, or in a club,” he said. “But you’re losing your grip on it.”