8. Aaron
EIGHT
AARON
The Tavern was full when Aaron walked in.
Even for a Saturday night, it seemed louder than normal.
But he was hoping that would make it easier to find someone who will help him forget just how horrible he was for one night.
The Love Hunters app just wasn’t working out for him.
He’d talked to a few other women in the last couple days, but nothing felt right.
Besides, he wanted to meet someone in person, not question whether he was being catfished with each potential match.
Except, walking in here now, seeing so many people… it was more overwhelming than he’d anticipated.
Which meant he was going with Plan B.
Alcohol.
A drunken hookup it was.
It went with the mood anyway.
Heading to the bar, he nodded at Wyatt when he glanced in his direction. His friend wandered over, and Aaron asked for a shot of tequila and a beer. Wyatt chuckled as he poured both. “Starting off strong before your friends get here?”
“No friends tonight.” He’d wanted to try this without an audience making him feel self-conscious. But also, he didn’t want to bother anyone. Lars’s words kept repeating in his head. For the past two days, he just kept hearing how awful he was, how selfish.
If Lars thought Aaron always made things about himself, he assumed the others did too.
Wyatt’s brow furrowed as he passed over the drinks. “Everything okay?”
Aaron took the shot first. “Perfect.”
Wyatt hesitated but then nodded, motioning that he needed to keep working. “Well, if you need anything, let me know.”
“Mmm, wait.” He gulped down some beer, holding up a finger. “One more shot.”
“Liquid courage?”
Aaron shrugged a shoulder. “More like, wanting to make bad decisions, because why not?”
Wyatt poured the shot but didn’t release it yet. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“I’m sure I don’t want to spend tonight wallowing by myself.”
With a visible sigh, Wyatt nodded again. “I’m starting you a tab. If you need a ride later, let me know.”
“Hopefully I don’t,” Aaron said, waggling his eyebrows, forcing himself to appear like he was just here for fun.
Wyatt rolled his eyes then walked away with a smirk, but Aaron saw a glimpse of concern beneath his own mask. The man knew how to hide as well as Aaron did, it seemed.
Aaron threw back the shot, grimacing at the burn. He grabbed his beer and turned to face the room. So many smiling people, chatting and laughing with their friends. The bar was packed, he was surrounded, but he hadn’t felt this lonely in a long time. Maybe this was a bad idea.
Turning back around, he downed half his beer. He was debating just paying and walking home—it wasn’t that far—when someone stepped up beside him.
“Waiting for a date?” a deep voice asked.
Aaron angled toward the stranger, but his response died on his tongue.
The guy looked close to his age, maybe a little older, and he had the darkest brown eyes Aaron had ever seen.
Paired with his nearly black hair and the tight t-shirt showing off his muscular arms, he was the definition of tall, dark, and handsome.
Aaron swallowed, forcing himself to shake his head. “Nope.”
The corner of the man’s mouth twitched up on one side. “Drowning your sorrows?” he asked, giving a pointed glance at the empty shot glass and partial beer remaining.
“Something like that.” He was trying to drown out the feeling that he’d ruined everything.
Just like he always did, apparently. First with his brother and Charlie.
Vi still hated him because of that, and the truth was he missed the hell out of his obnoxious friend.
She’d been a part of his life since he was an infant, and now…
Now, she barely tolerated him.
And he’d probably wrecked his friendship with the one person he trusted enough to go to after the fallout. He honestly didn’t know what he would do if he and Lars weren’t friends anymore. The thought of losing him, Mel, and the girls made him want to sink into a hole and never come out.
Aaron kind of hated himself right now. He hated that he hadn’t been able to see what he was doing to Lars, that he was taking advantage of his friend.
He hated that he’d become this miserable person who only focused on himself.
And he was tired of feeling this way.
Waving down Wyatt, he ordered two more shots. Wyatt looked curiously from Aaron to the man beside him. As he passed the glasses over, the stranger said, “I don’t really drink tequila.”
“Good,” Aaron hissed after taking one. He grabbed the other. “These are both for me.” Taking the second shot, he followed it with more beer and faced the guy who watched him with an amused grin. “What about you? Waiting for a date?”
The man slowly shook his head. “Nope,” he mirrored Aaron’s earlier tone. “Was hoping to find one though…”
Aaron’s pulse quickened. Apart from the Charlie situation in high school, he was a pretty open book. There was only one other secret he held. Looking the guy up and down, he realized maybe he didn’t have to try so hard to find a bad decision tonight. Maybe it found him instead.
Downing the rest of his beer, he set the glass down and said, “Excuse me. Gotta find the bathroom.”
He walked away, his heart hammering in his chest. Already feeling a bit of a buzz, he tried not to overthink this.
He went into the men’s bathroom and slipped into the first stall.
Leaning against the cinderblock wall on one side of the small space, he waited.
He waited so long he thought perhaps he’d been wrong.
But a couple minutes later, footsteps approached and someone tapped twice on the door.
With a deep breath, Aaron opened it to find the hot stranger on the other side. Aaron nodded—more to himself than anything—and that seemed to be all the encouragement the guy needed. He pushed Aaron back, shutting and locking the door behind him, and kissed him hard.
Aaron was a solid six feet, yet this man seemed to tower over him.
He pressed Aaron up against the wall, his hands framing Aaron’s face as his tongue begged for entrance.
Aaron parted his lips, deepening the kiss as he reached for the man’s belt.
All the while, he couldn’t stop freaking out…
in a good way. It was thrilling. He hadn’t done this in nearly a decade, since before he asked out Charlie.
And back then, it had mainly just been experimenting with friends.
Or rather, one friend.
But he didn’t want to think about that right now. All he wanted was to taste this man, to feel someone else take control for even a few minutes. Aaron managed to unbutton… shit, he didn’t even know the guy’s name.
Whatever, he thought to himself as he finished unbuttoning the stranger’s pants and pulled down the zipper.
“Are you sure?” the guy whispered, kissing his way along Aaron’s jaw.
Aaron nodded and reached into the man’s jeans to grab his hardening length. The music from the bar could be heard in here, and he hoped it would be enough to cover their sounds, but he knew he needed to stay quiet. Still, the thought of doing this in public only made it that much more exciting.
Maybe this was what he needed—more adventure, more danger. Something different. He was already so much more turned on than he was the other night with what’s her face. Leaning away, he gently pushed the man back enough to meet his gaze.
For a long beat, they just stared at each other.
And then, Aaron sank to his knees.