35. Kris
35
KRIS
You know? When I agreed to do this Stripping Santa thing for the Birchwood Christmas Bazaar, I didn’t realize I’d have a whole routine choreographed for me.
Granted, I used to do this some in college, so I know there’s always a level of choreography, but I also love pulling people from the audience and just doing a freestyle type of thing.
And I’ve also never impersonated a Santa and done this either, so this whole thing should be interesting.
I know some of the guys that also got roped in from my college days, I’m going to bet that was all Cora’s doing.
Why she put Jerome in charge of the choreography is beyond me though. The guy could barely finish his own dances back then, and now he’s the one sending me videos of my routine.
I groan, pulling up the video he sent me yesterday and start watching. The entire five minute video, I watch how he breaks it down, they’re all fairly simple moves.
But this isn’t going to work if we aren’t utilizing the crowd also. That’s one of the largest selling points of a chippendale show is getting yourself involved in the crowd.
That’s where the money comes into play.
Granted, by the sounds of it, any of the money received for this show is being donated to the children’s home in Birchwood. Which is pretty fucking cool, honestly.
Worth coming out of retirement for.
Between work, and practicing this, my days are going to be packed. I’ve thrown myself into working out, and work since I came back from my brother’s wedding.
Speaking of, I haven’t talked to him since the wedding.
Pulling up his number, I hit the call icon and put it on speaker on my lap.
“Hello,” he says, sounding like he just woke up.
“Damn, dude. Were you still asleep?” I ask, chuckling.
“Yeah, I don’t go back to work until next week.”
“That must be nice,” I tease, he’s been off since we all left for the wedding. That’s roughly three weeks.
“It was. A week for the wedding, a week for the honeymoon, and a week to settle in back home.” He groans. “But what’s up with you? I haven’t talked to you since the wedding.”
“Same ole same ole,” I tell him. Because it’s the truth. “Nothing at all has changed.”
“Huh.”
I frown. “What do you mean, huh?”
“I just figured you’d be hanging out with Kameron or something. You two looked like you were pretty close when you left the wedding.”
I roll my eyes. I should have fucking known she’d get brought up.
“Nope, that was just two friends for a weekend, remember?” I glance over at Titan, running my hand over his back beside me.
“Yeah, you say that but your actions didn’t really sell it, bud.” He laughs. “You two were two minutes away from setting the place on fire with your sexual tension. It got a little bit better after rehearsal night, but. Damn, bro.”
“Oh, fuck off.”
His loud cackle makes me scowl at the phone.
“Now, tell me what really happened.”
“There’s nothing to tell, Kaleb.”
“You freaked, huh?”
I can hear Ruby in the background. “Oh, no. He freaked?”
“I did not freak.”
“He did. He freaked.”
I throw my head to the ceiling, willing this all to end now.
“Fine, yes. I freaked. I fucked up, and now I’ve lost her for good. I wanted to say how I feel about her, but I panicked because the idea of forever freaked me the fuck out and I seriously fucked up. She hates me and won’t return my calls or text messages. Happy?” I suck a breath into my lungs, feeling the sting from that ache in my chest like always.
There’s complete silence on the other end of the phone. Well, shit.
“Are you still there?” I ask, feeling like an idiot for just running at the mouth the way I did.
“Kris,” Ruby’s soft voice fills the line, “I’m sorry.”
“There’s nothing to feel sorry for,” I tell her. This is all on me.
“It sucks to be heartbroken, Kris.”
I sigh, because that’s exactly what I am. The only difference is I’m the only one that breaks my heart, every fucking time. And I break Kameron’s right along with it.
“But, if you love her, there’s still hope. Go after her, make things right. You have that Christmas Bazaar coming up, right?”
“Right.”
“Then go get her, man,” my brother chimes in. “Don’t wait any longer, take it from me. You’re missing out.”
“Yeah, I need to just tell her. But I can’t get her to take my calls.”
“Figure it out, quit being a pussy.”
“Dude.” I laugh. “I will.”
“Don’t make me intervene, Kris,” Ruby teases, except I know she will. “She has seemed miserable since the wedding, if that helps any.”
Miserable? Kameron?
That both makes me feel like the biggest piece of shit and excited at the same time. That means our weekend meant more to her than just a weekend of friends with benefits too.
“It does, thanks.”
“Anytime, now if you’ll excuse me, I have husbandly duties to take care of today. Bye.” My brother laughs, and ends the call abruptly.
Gross. I didn’t need to know that much.
Pulling up her contact, I move to the message icon, but my finger hovers before I hit the call button and the ringing sounds.
“Hello,” she says, sounding flustered.
“Hey.”
There’s a shuffle, like she’s maneuvering the phone. “Kris?”
What the hell? Did she delete my number?
“Uh, yeah?”
“Sorry, I didn’t look at the caller ID before answering.” Her tone changes slightly, but she’s not as cold as I expected her to be.
“I, uh, wanted to call to, um…” What the hell is wrong with me?
“Listen, Kris,” she pauses. “I’m kind of in the middle of something with Damon. Can I call you back?”
I immediately feel the fire rush through my veins. Hot jealousy. And I fucking hate getting jealous. It’s only ever happened with Kameron.
But since I don’t have any claim to her, I can’t really do much over the phone.
“Yeah, sure.” I hang up.
If she’s already moving on, that means I’ll just have to step my game up and put Damon in his fucking place.
Fucking firefighters.
They don’t have shit on first loves.
At least I hope they don’t.