(
upstairs, a little earlier )
Damn, he loves Beth. Of all the things he never expected to find, two of them are right here in this place. The first thing is the end of the universe.
The second is someone he loves. He figured so wrongly that he was done with all that romance shit a long long time ago. He never wanted to open himself up to it again because... well, his last experience with it sucked so bad. But is he ever fucking glad he did.
Beth in his arms, they move to a very private booth at the far corner of the bar. He's only sat in this one one time before, when he didn't want to be disturbed. It's nice and quiet here and hell, if anyone disturbs them he'll just glare.
Or shoot.
Tonight's just for him and his woman. It's summer, it's the year-and-three-quarters anniversary of Beth showing up (or close enough), and as far as he's concerned, there's only one thing on his menu. And she's sitting right here with him.
"Yo, Slim. Want me to move the table back so Junior doesn't get squished in there?"
Yeah, it's simple: he loves her.
A hell of a lot.