Chapter 1 #2
I paused at the intersection at the end of the street to blast the air-conditioning, though my heated skin had little to do with the weather.
Spring was my favorite time of year in Georgia.
The mid-April sun was warm, even flirting with hot on some days, but the humidity had yet to grip the city by the short and curlies.
Anticipation was what rode me hard and made me sweat, just like I hoped Ray would after we got the preliminaries out of the way.
He’d suggested we meet in public to make sure I felt safe, which I appreciated, but I didn’t want to stay there long.
I had big ideas prompted by the few photos he’d uploaded to the Randy app.
The images showcased a gorgeous man with brown hair, a neatly trimmed goatee-mustache combo, and the most beautiful blue eyes I’d ever seen.
Not light, not dark, but a medium blue that made me think of vintage blue jeans.
His irises had captivated me so much that I’d immediately paused my perusal to look up the shades of denim to find one that matched.
Lobelia. And then I’d returned to his photos and forced myself to notice something else about the man, since fixating on his eye color wasn’t something you did with a random hookup.
It was better to focus on the parts of Ray that mattered most, but he didn’t include those photos.
Not even a shot of himself in tight underwear that showed off a hint of his cum gutters.
Hell, Ray wore a simple black tank top and a pair of jeans in a boring shade of blue in every photo.
But he was still the hottest guy I’d ever seen, and I nearly sprained my finger when I swiped to match him.
The way he filled out his tank top and jeans should be criminal.
Ray’s body was impressively large, likely everywhere, and what skin he’d revealed featured lots of sexy tattoos.
I hadn’t known ink was my kink until I couldn’t stop staring at the work of art he’d made of his body.
I wanted to take my time to study each piece, but that wasn’t what either of us agreed to, so I vowed to be cool once I got him naked.
Christ, was I really going to go through with this?
Meet a total stranger and present my ass to him like it was no big deal?
Hell-fucking-yes, I was.
Vibrating with excitement, I took a deep breath to calm down before lightly pressing the accelerator again.
I zipped through the intersection and forced myself to concentrate on the short drive from my parents’ house in Kirkwood to the trendy uptown section of Columbus.
Ray had suggested we meet at the Uptown Tap, a trendy new bar near the Chattahoochee RiverWalk.
Even though it wasn’t a date, Ray had been sure to remind me, he thought it would be a good way to break the ice.
Ray gave me the impression he was a little rusty with hookups, which suited me fine since I’d never had one.
My first-timer status became painfully obvious in the first message I sent after we matched, asking, So, how does this work?
Ray’s response had been swift and blunt. Don’t know. I think we meet somewhere and fuck.
We then traded some messages about where and when to meet, always reiterating that it wasn’t a date, and that we wouldn’t hook up more than once.
The entire exchange had seemed like a lot of drawn-out work to me.
Random hookups by definition implied something that happened quickly and without a lot of planning, but Ray and I had taken three weeks to work out the logistics.
Was he married and looking for some action?
Did he travel for work? Was he a fish out of water like me?
Couldn’t be. I’d seen his picture. There was no way in hell people weren’t launching themselves at him everywhere he went.
I nearly jumped the curb when I thought about his thick thighs and that delicious bulge at his crotch.
Oh, the things I wanted Ray to do to me.
It was at that unfortunate moment that my brain replayed the snippet from my mom’s audiobook, and I imagined presenting my ass to Ray, who would growl, “That’s right, baby. Take it. Take all of me like a good little—”
Slut. I’d be a total slut for Ray.
A police siren sounded behind me, and I checked the rearview mirror.
Sure enough, a cruiser was directly behind me with its red and blue lights flashing.
Fuck. Me. A glance at the clock told me I had ten minutes until I was supposed to meet Ray.
How long would a traffic stop take? Should I message Ray and let him know I was running behind?
I reached for my phone but thought better of it.
Would the officer walk up to my window and think I’d been texting and driving?
It was better to be late for my hookup than end up with a steeper fine.
A knock sounded on my window, and I turned my head to smile at the officer. The scowl on her face said this encounter wouldn’t be fast or cheap.
Fuck a duck.
The Uptown Tap was in full swing when I walked in. I scanned the crowd but didn’t find anyone matching Ray’s photos or an empty table. A hostess approached the podium and greeted me with warm eyes and a friendly smile.
“Meeting someone?” she asked.
“Um, yeah, but I don’t see him yet.”
Hell, I was only seven minutes late. Surely, Ray hadn’t given up already and left. Damn it. I should’ve messaged him while I was waiting for the officer to run my license.
“It’s practically standing room only in here. I’m Hannah, by the way.”
“Atticus,” I replied.
“As in Finch?”
I suppressed both a groan and surprise that she knew the reference, since To Kill a Mockingbird topped the list of books people wanted to ban in schools, much to my mother’s chagrin.
And it was never fun for me to share the same name as a fictional character that some people revered and others loathed.
Luckily, I had a hundred and one nicknames that usually spared me from having this conversation. Too bad I hadn’t used one of them.
Smiling, I said, “My mom is an English lit teacher who loves the classics. I have an older sister named Tess.”
“Ah, Durbeyfield.”
“Wow. I can’t believe you know the reference.” Hannah was probably a few years younger than me, and I didn’t know many college-aged people who could name Atticus Finch, let alone Tess Durbeyfield.
“I’m majoring in English lit too, but I want to be a writer instead of a teacher,” Hannah said.
“I should get you to sign something for me so I’ll have it when you become famous.”
Hannah smiled brightly and shook her head. “As if.”
A small group in the far-right corner of the bar slid from a booth and headed our way. “Can I have their table?” The spot had the perfect view of the entrance, and I could sit and drink something cool while I waited for Ray to arrive.
“Sure,” Hannah said. “Let me go wipe it down really quick.”
I checked my phone to see if there was a new notification from the Randy app, but there wasn’t.
Wait. Had I turned on the notifications for the app?
I thought I had, but maybe I’d accidentally turned them off?
I tapped the unassuming R icon and pulled up the message thread I’d had with Ray.
Nothing new from him, so maybe he was just running late too.
But I couldn’t ignore the tingling sensation in my scalp, a Spidey sense that my evening might not turn out the way I’d hoped.
Wait. That was it? I was just going to give up?
I typed out a quick message, letting Ray know I’d arrived and grabbed a table for us.
Then I sent a follow-up message letting him know where our table was.
And then I reached out again to let him know that Hannah, the hostess and future best-selling author, knew where to find me.
What was wrong with me? That was two, maybe three messages too many, and why would Ray care about Hannah’s career ambitions?
But once I started, I couldn’t seem to stop myself. I typed, looking forward to seeing you.
Jesus. Desperate much? Yes! Yes, I was. But if I were Ray, I’d tuck tail and run.
Closing out of the app, I tucked my phone away in time to see Hannah waving me back to the table.
I took a deep breath and willed my nerves away.
This was a big—huge—step for me after a devastating breakup that upended my world, and I was just nervous.
Everything would be okay. Ten minutes later, I repeated the little mantra when Ray still hadn’t shown up or responded to my messages.
I reread every word we’d exchanged to make sure I had the date and time correct, then did an internet search to see if there were any other bars with similar names.
There weren’t. I was where we’d agreed to be when we were supposed to meet.
I waited another thirty minutes before forcing myself to accept reality.
Ray wasn’t coming.
The truth echoed in my brain, and disappointment flooded my system.
Then I somehow heard the soft chime over the pounding of my bruised heart and the din of rowdy conversations all around me.
I had a new notification. I knew what it was, or rather who it was, just as I knew what the message would say.
But I checked the screen anyway. Yep. There was a new message waiting for me in the Randy app.
Disappointment twisted my gut as I read the words Ray had written.
Sorry. Had an emergency at work and won’t be able to make it.
Ray hadn’t suggested we meet at a different time, so I didn’t either. In fact, I didn’t respond to him at all. I held up my hand to flag a server, then placed an order for smoked brisket nachos. Might as well get some pleasure out of the night.