2. Jensen
2
JENSEN
As I speed down the street, I lean to the left on my bike to take the turn. My head swivels back and forth until I spot the gentleman’s club at the end of the road. I pull into the parking lot, turn off my motorcycle, and snatch the helmet off my head. I’m fashionably late, but I did it on purpose. My plan was to come in late when I knew for sure everyone else would already be here. That way, I can slip into the booth unnoticed and disappear into the crowd.
I didn’t even want to be here, but you don’t say no to your boss. Especially when it’s their bachelor party and they’ve rented out the entire space. Hell, I didn’t know people actually did that. But I’m not surprised. David likes to flaunt his money around. And damn, if I had as much as he did, I would probably do the same.
I lean against my bike, rubbing my hand through my thick beard. I’ve never been to a gay club before, so I’m not sure what to expect. Will there be naked men sauntering all around? All I can imagine is what I’ve seen at the other strip clubs I’ve been to where it was women dancing on the stage. I lock my helmet onto my motorcycle and then make my way to the entrance.
There’s a huge, muscular man standing at the door holding a clipboard. He’s taller than me, wearing a tight black shirt with a backward cap sitting on his head. After giving him my name, he gestures for me to go in with a grunt. Entering the club is like stepping into another world. The place is gorgeous. It’s sleek with black and gold tones and looks high-class. It doesn’t look like those seedy strip clubs, but more so, a place that you can tell costs money. There’s a stage up at the front and there’s a guy currently dancing to some country song. I give him a quick glance before directing my attention to the rest of the club.
A bar that takes up the entire length of the wall catches my eye across the room. I stride over there first, deciding to order a drink before I find my seat. I can already see David and his friends up next to the stage, tossing back shots and laughing up a storm. Signaling the bartender, I take a spot on the stool, waiting for it to be my turn. I order a beer and water, not wanting to have more than one drink tonight.
Once I have both in hand, I walk toward David before deciding at the last second to sit in a booth farther in the back. I’m not buddy-buddy with David’s friends, so I don’t want to sit with them, but I want to be visible in case he looks around to see who showed up. I’m hoping he’ll see my face quickly so that I can sneak out sooner than later. Not being a big fan of clubs, I’m already feeling the urge to go home and get cozy on the couch, even though I’m here.
My eyes drift over the club again, this time taking it in more clearly. It seems there isn’t an empty seat left; the place is completely full. While I’m not surprised David has such a large friend group, seeing so many people here to celebrate him is still pretty incredible. I glance over at the party table, raising my beer in the air, when David finally notices me. He waves excitedly and I stand up, walking over to him.
“Isn’t this place great?” he yells over the music, gesturing around the room.
“It’s not bad,” I respond, moving closer so that I don’t have to scream. “Happy bachelor party type thing, David! It’s going to be a hell of a time.”
“Hell yeah, it will. Mark is meeting me here after he has his own party. I don’t know why he decided to have an entire dinner when he could have been here the whole time, but I digress. I really appreciate you coming. Honestly, I wasn’t sure you would.”
Yeah, me either.
“Thanks for inviting me, man. I’m going to head back to my seat and enjoy the show.”
“Hell yeah!” he shouts, returning toward the stage.
I stroll to the booth I was in earlier and slide in. Places like these are not my scene. I’d much rather take my bike out for a ride at sunset or sit under a blanket on the couch watching a comfort show on TV. Maybe pull out my notebook and sketch.
Leaning back against the cool fabric, I bring the beer up to my lips, taking another sip. I’ll give myself a few more minutes before calling it a night and heading home. The music blaring through the speakers changes and the lights dim to almost pitch black before illuminating the platform again.
The legs spread wide against the back of the chair instantly catch my eye. The person sitting down is facing away from the stage and I can’t help but stare. Damn, I wish I was flexible like that. I may be in shape, but I’ve never been able to get my body to move like that. His back is lean but muscular, and while I’m completely straight, I can acknowledge the obvious. I’m into working out and keeping in shape, so I’m always comparing my physique to others, and I can appreciate when men have nice bodies.
The man on the chair stands up, and my eyes track him as he moves across the stage. He’s still facing away from the crowd, so we can only see his back and ass peeking out the bottom of a short leather skirt. While I’ve never been to a gay strip club, I’ve been to a few where there are female dancers, and it seems to be the same. No touching the performers, tip them once they’re finished, and the more you tip, the more attention you get.
The man on stage does some type of body roll, sticking his ass in the air, and my eyes widen. Wow, he can really move. I wonder if all the men here are professional dancers. Glancing around the room, I see he’s gathered the attention of everyone in the area, so of course he’s gained mine as well. Although, there’s a tightness in my stomach I can’t explain.
I grab my glass of water and take a sip. The song drastically changes, and I chuckle when ‘ Grind with Me ’ by Pretty Ricky comes blaring through the speaker. Damn, what a throwback. I’m too busy lip-syncing to the music to realize that the man onstage has turned around to face us. I take another gulp of my drink, nearly choking when my eyes land on the dancer on stage again.
Holy shit, that looks like Lennox.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen my best friend’s younger brother, but the man on stage in the black leather skirt showing off a jockstrap is a spitting image of him. I lean forward in my seat, hoping I can get a better view of the person up front. It couldn’t possibly be Lennox. The last I heard, he was going to school full time. The man glides over toward my area of the room and holy shit—it is Lennox. There’s no denying it.
I’ve been best friends with Nick since I was eleven years old. Lennox was a constant presence in my childhood, so I’d recognize his face anywhere. Not wanting him to see me, I shove my body back into the booth, sliding down in my seat. I turn my hat around, so the bill is in front of my face and I pull it down. I watch in awe as Lennox commands the stage, dancing while making eye contact with the other men in the room.
He walks back over to his chair, dragging it away from the pole at center stage. Lennox jumps onto the bar, hanging upside down just as the song reaches its chorus. My jaw drops as he slides down the pole, one of his legs holding him steady. My head turns on a swivel as though my best friend is going to jump out and catch me watching his baby brother. But hell, I’ve never seen Lennox like this before. It’s like a completely different person is standing in front of me.
The song finishes, and Lennox walks around the crowd, collecting his tips and talking to the customers. He reaches the table with David and his friends, chatting them up for a few minutes before making his way to the next group of men. When he heads over my way, I busy myself with my drink, making sure I keep my head down, so he doesn’t see me. He walks by me, not noticing I’m hiding in the booth’s corner.
Once he leaves the area, I decide to call it a night and head back home. But fuck, what did I just see?
I’m relaxing on my couch watching TV when my doorbell goes off. Two seconds after the doorbell sounds, there’s a snick as the key goes into the lock and the door is being pushed wide open.
“Hey man, you started without me?” Nick pouts as he walks into my living room, twirling his keychain around his finger.
Nick’s been my best friend for years, so it only made sense to give one another a key to each other’s place. There’s no one I trust more than him.
“The game started twenty minutes ago. Of course, I started without you,” I joke.
“Work ran late; had a last-minute walk-in,” Nick replies, sitting down on the couch across from my chair. My living room isn’t the biggest, but I’m able to fit a full-size sofa and a recliner in the room. There’s a dark oak coffee table in front of the couch and we’re sitting across from my big screen TV, plus a small chair I keep hidden in the corner under a mess of blankets.
“Any weird requests today?” I ask, glancing between the TV and Nick. Nick owns his own tattoo shop and usually has the wildest stories to tell me. The horrendous things that some people want permanently on their skin are wild. Every tattoo I’ve gotten has some type of meaning, or I’ve put tons of thoughts into it.
“I tattooed a kangaroo on an ass today. It wasn’t the most bizarre thing, but it was definitely the most bizarre thing I saw today.” He lifts his legs up onto the coffee table, getting comfortable.
“There’s no fucking way I could do that.” I shudder at the thought of having to touch random people’s asses.
“Eh, it gets easier. Plus, those are the big-money ones.” He takes a gulp of his beer before looking back at me. “How was David’s party last night? Sorry I couldn’t make it.”
Sputtering the beer in my mouth, I cough hard before swallowing it down. “Uh, it was all right.” Do I bring up the fact that I saw Lennox there? Fuck, not only was he there, he was one of the dancers. And with how overprotective Nick is, I don’t think he knows his baby brother is a stripper there. “For my first time at a gay club, I enjoyed it. It was very…nice,” I ramble on, trying to force myself to stop.
“Enjoy it, did ya?” He snickers and my heart beats faster.
“You know what I meant. It wasn’t the worst, but I didn’t stay long. Enough for David to see my face and then I dipped out.”
“Never been to a gay club before. I remember Lennox used to go to them all the time. Kept trying to get me to tag along, but I always said no. What use would I have at a gay club?” He looks away toward the TV and I use this as my chance to bring up Lennox since he opened the door.
“How is Lennox, by the way? I haven’t seen him in a while.”
“Uh, he’s doing good, probably. He’s been busy with nursing school, so I know it takes up a lot of his time. Oh, and he broke up with his boyfriend.”
“Again?” I ask. “Fuck, he has the worst luck with guys.”
“Don’t I know it.” He scrubs his hands down his face, exhaling loudly. “I always feel like an ass, but everyone he introduces me to is never good enough for him. And they always prove it when, a few months later, Lennox shows up on my doorstep, teary-eyed and snot-nosed from crying. I love my brother, I do, but fuck, he has the absolute worst taste in men.”
He really does. I’ve known him since he was seven and from his first boyfriend on, it was just disaster after disaster.
“Where’s he working since he’s doing nursing school?” Yes, I’m completely fishing, but I want to know if Nick knows where Lennox really works.
“He’s still working at the coffee shop.” Nick turns and looks at me quizzically, taking a sip of his beer. “Why?”
“Huh. That’s cool. And was just wondering.” I chug some more of my beer, turning away. I’ve never really asked about Lennox, so this is weird for me.
“Is everything okay?” Nick asks.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t it be? Shit, I’m hungry. I’m going to get some pizza. What do you want?”
Nick tells me what he wants, and I use the app on my phone to order. I avoid eye contact with him the entire time, not only because I probably seemed weird asking him questions about Lennox. But more so because I haven’t been able to get Lennox out of my mind since last night. Him or his leather skirt. Which is completely crazy because I’m straight.
Nick stays for a few more hours, where we watch the game, and then play a round of Mario Party before calling it a night. After locking up the front door, I quickly change into a pair of sweatpants, then head to my desk, pulling out my notebook and charcoal pencils. I take out my phone and put on a playlist, knowing I could get lost in drawing for a while. While the music plays, I sift through my tools, debating on which one I want to use. I don’t even know what I’m going to draw. My plan is to start with a swipe and see where it takes me. Closing my eyes, I take a breath, grab a pencil, and start sketching. Once I have a basic outline done, I begin with the more detailed parts of the drawing before slowly making my way on to shading. When I shade my drawings, it’s always my favorite part. Taking a few lines and making into something unique and incredible is a feeling I’ve had since the first time I picked up a pencil.
I’ve been drawing as a hobby for as long as I can remember. One Christmas, I woke up to an art set under the tree. Since the moment I first started drawing, I’ve loved it. Creating things from scratch. Putting my vision from my mind out on paper. When I was younger, I had dreams of doing something with my drawings, but I never saw myself as good enough. Or the occasional scoffs I would get from my parents when I said I wanted to be an artist, only to be told that artists didn’t make a ton of money. Coming from a family where one was a lawyer, and the other a dentist, all they cared about was making sure I grew up to make money.
I don’t make millions working in tech, but I make enough to get by. Enough that I could afford to buy a house all on my own. But money doesn’t make me happy—drawing does.
Engrossed in the music, my fingers run back and forth across the paper using different shades of charcoal. I take a break only to grab a bottle of water before I’m back in front of the paper, my pencil flying across it, moving a million miles a minute. I don’t pick up my hand to double-check my drawing, I just keep going. After making a few final touches, I pull the paper away from my eyes to look at what I drew.
Staring back at me are a set of gorgeous eyes. Eyes that I recognize as Lennox’s. Lennox has been on my mind almost every other minute of the day. And now it appears my subconscious has latched onto him as well. What is it about him that’s so different from anyone else? I always thought I was a straight man, or maybe that’s because I’ve never entertained the idea of being with another man. But for some reason, Lennox intrigues me. Shaking my head, I laugh. It’s probably just because I’ve seen him differently. Seeing him up on the stage is different than seeing the same kid I knew growing up.
I stare at the drawing a few seconds longer, before closing the book and putting it away for the night.