Didier scoffed, waving his hand. “Osei isn’t attracted to anything but his own greatness.”
“I think there’s a lot to Danny that we don’t know.” She remembered seeing the way he’d been with Jules in the hallway outside the office and she sighed. “Love is in the air,” she said out loud, hoping it held true for her too.
Eight
Danny dressed with extra care for dinner with Jules. He’d looked up the address to the restaurant that she’d picked. It looked like it was a neighborhood kind of place that served Italian food. It seemed in between casual and dressy, but he figured she was coming from work so she’d be wearing a suit, which meant he shouldn’t go looking like a thug.
He decided to wear his new suit, the lighter-colored one, and a white dress shirt under it. He’d seen the way she’d looked at him.
He wanted her to look at him like that again.
It was just dinner, he told himself. Tonight, he was getting to know her. He’d take her to dinner, they’d talk and drink, and then he’d put her in a cab to take her home. She had work the next day and he had his first session with Lottie. It probably wasn’t wise to go too late into the night.
Not that “wise” was the first word that came to his mind when he thought of being with Jules.
He figured it’d take a good half hour to get to the restaurant at this time of evening; he had plenty of time, so he took out his cell phone to take a look at his stocks. He’d gone all in with a position that he felt was going to pay off immediately, but he needed to keep an eye on it to get out as soon as it hit its peak.
As he pulled his cell phone out, it rang. Hoping it wasn’t Jules calling to cancel, he looked at the screen.
It was his building manager in London.
That was not good. Thomas only called when there was a problem, and Danny could just imagine what the problem was.
Steeling himself, he swiped to answer the call. “Hello?”
“Mr. Osei, this is Thomas. I’m sorry to disturb you during your vacation, but there is a problem with your penthouse.”
Why was he not surprised. He tried not to imagine the worst. “What’s happened?”
“There have been complaints by the other tenants in the building, for noise and music and partying. They would be more willing to accept this, because Chelsea’s our team, but we aren’t winning.”
Danny winced at the not-so-subtle dig at the fact that he’d been playing like shit lately. In England, football was king, and the moment you started to lose, they were ready to lynch you. “What happened?” he asked again, to cut to the chase.
“Last night, the party was too loud, even after Mrs. Davies went to your door.”
He closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Mrs. Davies went to my door?”
“Yes. She tried to ask for the music to be turned down.”
Fuck. He lived in a ritzy building where most of the units were owned by people with old money. The only reason the homeowners association had approved his sale was because several of people on the board were big Chelsea fans.
He pictured the very proper Mrs. Davies going to his door and encountering the assholes in his flat. God, he hoped it’d been his dad who answered the door—or Kofi. They were at least charming.
Thomas cleared his throat. “Mr. Osei, you remember there is a rule about loud gatherings during the week?”
“I remember.” The building was under a co-op, which he’d always appreciated since he was gone a lot and there were people there to handle anything that might crop up. But given his current situation, it was less than ideal for him.
Thomas sighed. “I’m afraid last night’s party was in violation of the agreement. I’ve overlooked the other times, but—”
“I’ll take care of the fine. Just tell me what it is.” He winced at the amount Thomas named. “I’ll take care of it immediately.”
“Thank you. I also need to inform you that the next time I’ll have to call the police if it happens again.”
That made him break out in a cold sweat, thinking about the piles of drugs all over his place.
Thomas continued. “Mr. Fernsby, from the third floor, wanted to call them last night. I believe he lost some money on your last game.”
Great. He dropped his hand and exhaled. “Obviously you convinced him not to call the police.”