Chapter 5
5
Ryan
A few of my friends and I decided to hit up Chrome, and I watched while they danced to Lady Gaga’s “Disease.” When the song ended, my friend Miles made his way back to me.
“You don’t feel like dancing tonight?” He took a seat next to me so he too could face the dance floor.
I shrugged. “I might if I find someone I want to dance with.”
“You’ve been picky lately,” he teased.
It had been a while since I’d hooked up with anyone, let alone gone on a date. I would have blamed it on being busy at work, but that had never stopped me before. There really wasn’t a reason for it other than no one had caught my eye lately.
Court did last night.
Although we had only spoken a few words to each other, I’d definitely felt a spark of interest there, at least on my part. And while I’d tried to play it cool with Morgan, I could not deny he was gorgeous. I’d been tempted to allow her to play matchmaker like she’d wanted, but what were the odds a gay guy worked at a strip club? That sounded more like a straight man’s dream job.
“Just haven’t been feeling it,” I admitted. “Maybe my luck will change tonight.”
“How about I get you another drink? Then I’ll try to be your wingman.”
“Deal.” I smiled.
While Miles waited in the long line at the bar, I pulled my phone out of my pocket so it would look like I was doing something other than staring at the dance floor. When I swiped on the screen, I noticed I had a message from Morgan:
You need to come to the party I’m throwing with Faye next weekend on the Cape
I replied back:
Why?
Faye and my sister hosted parties as if it was their full-time jobs. I suppose it came with the territory for Morgan, who was friends with several celebrities and a social media influencer with over 300,000 followers who watched her every move. Sometimes I attended their parties if they were in Boston, but besides the annual Fourth of July celebration, I rarely went to any at the Donnelleys’ beach house on Cape Cod.
She immediately texted:
Because I have a surprise for you
You know I don’t like surprises, so you’re not making a solid case for yourself
Come on. Can’t you do me this one favor?
I barked out a laugh and replied:
I think you owe me a couple of favors
And I’ll pay you back at the party
I don’t know
Fine. Court thinks you’re cute and I told him to come to the party so you two could hang out. Donnie gave him the day off and everything so you pretty much have to come
Didn’t I tell you to stay out of it?
That was before I knew he was into you. I’ll see you next Saturday
I didn’t say I would go
She didn’t respond, and I wasn’t sure if she assumed I would go after what she told me or if she would bother me later.
“Damn, that took forever,” Miles said, placing a bottle of Sam Adams in front of me. “Now, let’s find you someone.”
I stayed at the club for a couple of hours and even danced with a few guys, but I ended up going home alone. Under other circumstances, I might have been disappointed, but instead, I thought about my sister’s texts from earlier and took out my phone.
Fine. I’ll come to your party
On Saturday, I made the hour-and-a-half drive to the Cape. As I pulled up to the massive, gray, two-story house, I thought about all the get-togethers and events hosted here over the years. They were some of my favorite childhood memories, including playing in the ocean for hours and making s’mores around the firepit at night. Of course, lots of things had changed since then; the most notable was the Secret Service agents sprinkled throughout the party serving as a constant reminder of the threats Faye and Fallon faced just because their father was the president. Well, that and because their brother, Finn, was an asshole.
As soon as I walked into the backyard, Morgan sprinted over to me. “About time you showed up.”
“It’s barely seven. Don’t these things usually go until the middle of the night?”
“Yeah, but Court is already here.”
I searched the groups of people mingling on the expansive lawn but didn’t see him. “Where?”
“He and Donnie are playing volleyball with Fallon and Rhett on the beach. I was just going to grab some drinks for them. Want to help me?”
“Sure.”
I followed her to the outdoor kitchen and carried a few beers and bottles of water down the stairs to the shore, where a shirtless Court was tossing the ball in the air to serve. Since I was wearing sunglasses, I took the opportunity to check him out without being obvious about it. After I set the drinks down on a nearby table set up for the party, I continued to stand there and watch the game, unable to tear my gaze from his muscles that flexed as he smacked the ball over the net. It was easy to imagine what it would feel like to run my hands down his toned chest and rippled abs. To glide my tongue down?—
“I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” Fallon gave me a friendly slap on the back.
I’d been so busy fantasizing about the hot as fuck bouncer, I hadn’t realized the game was over.
“Morgan talked me into it.” I flicked my gaze over to Rhett and then back to Fallon. “You guys child-free this weekend?”
It was my understanding Fallon didn’t come to many of Faye and Morgan’s parties because he and Rhett spent any free time they had with Poppy.
“Yeah. Poppy’s with her mom, so we thought it would be fun to sneak away from the city for a couple of nights.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Court and Donnie chatting. I wanted to play it cool and wait a few minutes before approaching the guy I was there to hang out with, but Morgan had zero chill and waved them over.
“Court, you remember my brother, Ryan?”
He grinned. “Hey. Yeah, nice seeing you again.”
“You too.” I smiled awkwardly.
“Ryan.” Donnie shook my hand. “I wanted to thank you for coming to get Morgan the other night.”
“Of course. I wasn’t going to leave her alone after she called me.” Although I wasn’t as mad as I’d been when I picked her up from the club, I couldn’t stop myself from taking a little dig at him.
“Okay,” Morgan interrupted. “We’re going to go join the guys over there.” She pointed to where Fallon’s friends Marco and Luca were getting a bonfire started with Faye. “That way, you two can chat.”
Fallon’s and Rhett’s shoulders shook with laughter, and Donnie playfully rolled his eyes as the three of them walked away with Morgan. Once everyone was out of earshot, I turned back to Court. “Sorry about that. She means well, but she isn’t exactly subtle.”
He laughed. “Don’t worry about it. Like I said the other night, I’ve got a sister too. I know they are good at embarrassing us without even trying.”
“That’s for sure.” I grabbed a beer off the table and offered it to him. “You want one?”
“I have to drive home later, but I’ll take a water.” I handed him a bottle and he twisted off the cap before taking a huge drink. We moved over to the Adirondack chairs set up along the shore and took a seat. “This place is awesome. Do you come down here a lot?”
“Not much anymore, but my family is extremely close with the Donnelleys, so I spent a lot of summers here growing up.”
He nodded. “That’s cool. When Morgan mentioned a party with her friend Faye, I had no idea she was talking about the president’s daughter. Is it weird being friends with the first family?”
I shrugged. “To me, they’re just Uncle Patrick and Aunt Mary, but I do get a little starstruck sometimes when Morgan and Faye host parties with loads of celebrities.”
“You mean this isn’t a normal party for them?”
I chuckled. “Nah, my sister is a social media influencer with a huge following and she’s known for throwing some wild parties. This one is quite tame actually.” I glanced at Morgan who was laughing at something Donnie said. “So, how long have you worked at the Sapphire Lounge?”
“Only a few weeks,” Court replied.
“Oh, really? I would have guessed you’d worked there for a while.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Why?”
“Because Donnie trusted you to watch out for my sister. I figured he must know you fairly well.”
Court took another sip of water. “I’ve worked as a bouncer for years, so maybe I give off a trustworthy vibe.”
“That makes sense. You’d probably have a lot in common with Rhett.”
“Yeah, we were talking about the Secret Service a little bit before the game. It sounds like a pretty cool job.”
“That’s way too high stress for me,” I admitted. “Rhett is practically on duty all the time. I don’t know how he does it. Especially when he’s protecting the guy he loves.”
“I imagine that’s difficult and could blur the lines between business and pleasure.”
I grinned. “Probably, but I heard Fallon put up a huge fight to keep Rhett on his detail and didn’t give a damn about professional boundaries.”
Court nodded. “People say love can make them do some crazy things.”
Before I could respond, Donnie started to shout into his phone.
Court stood. “I should see what’s up.”
I followed him over to the fire pit, disappointed that my conversation with the first guy I’d been interested in for a while had been interrupted.