Chapter Fourteen
Nate
“I don’t know, Lacey,” I mutter.
“Come on,” Lacey pouts. “Please…”
It sucks that I can’t claim a stomach ache or even diarrhea to get out of things because my roommate would know I was lying, and that would only make things worse.
“You need this, Nate,” she says, flashing her warm honey eyes at me. “We need this.” She hooks her arm in mine, and flashes her gaze up at me, pouting like a little kid, and I wish I could say no, but…
She’s right, I do need a night out. I haven’t been out since that night I went to Shadows & Sin, not because I didn’t want to go back, but because I just haven’t had time between my shifts at the funhouse and working on getting things in order for construction to start next week.
I’ve met Lacey’s co-workers once or twice, and they seem pretty nice, I guess, but I still feel like the fourth wheel because I don’t know them that well, and I feel like I don’t have much to talk about with them.
Nor do I have any weird emergency stories to share, which is what they all want to talk about it seems.
I could maybe call AJ—at least that’s what I keep reminding myself, but I can’t seem to find a good enough excuse to call him.
I know it’s dumb, but I feel like I need some sort of excuse to talk to the guy so he doesn’t think I’m a total basket case.
Which, he probably already does, because slipping in his bathroom and painting his walls with my cum probably cemented that, let’s be honest, and then I freaked out on him when he wouldn’t answer me and slammed him up against his truck and—
No, no. Don’t go down that road, Nate. You know what happens.
Maybe Lacey’s right. Maybe I do need to get out and let loose a little. Reed’s Bar isn’t a sex club. It’s a local Irish pub where all the first responders like to go for happy hour.
Totally different vibe, and probably way more my speed. At least that’s what I tell myself as Lacey pouts again, and I let out a low sigh, knowing it’s probably best to admit defeat.
I sigh in relentless defeat. “Fine.”
Lacey squeals and throws her arms around me, nearly crushing me.
“We’re going to have so much fun!” she says, and I can’t deny the way my stomach turns with anxiety.
“Your turn,” Lacey says as she takes a sip of her wine.
“Come on, Nate! You got this!” Rachel, one of the other paramedics and Lacey’s “work wife”, hollers from behind me.
I take a deep breath and do my best to aim at the corner pocket, but as usual, I miss.
Lacey moans in defeat as Rachel curses, and her husband, Charlie, cheers victoriously.
“We are unstoppable, baby!” he says as Lacey pats my back.
“It’s okay, better luck next time?”
“Not likely,” I grumble, as I set the pool stick down and grab the beer I’ve been nursing all evening. The bar is in full swing, and it’s pretty packed for a Thursday night.
“You guys ready for another round?” Charlie asks as he starts to rack up the balls for another game.
“Actually, I think Nate has this round,” Rachel chimes in. Shit, I guess it is my turn.
I nod in understanding and make sure I get everyone’s order correct before I drain my beer and head to the bar. I hadn’t planned on staying this long, but Lacey is having fun, and I guess I sort of am, too. Even if I am losing every game of pool.
When I get to the bar, I order our round and check out my surroundings while I wait.
That’s when I see him. At the end of the bar, sitting next to a guy who looks just as, if not bigger than he is, with dark hair.
AJ raises his beer to his lips as the guy beside him leans into his space. It’s obvious they know each other, and while it’s none of my fucking business, I can’t help but watch him.
With as busy as this place is, he probably doesn’t see me.
I could change that. Easily.
All it would take is for me to walk over there. Which should be easy, given the circumstances. But for some reason, I can’t.
Thankfully, the bartender drops the round off, and I don’t hesitate to pay and head back over to the corner Lacey and her co-workers have sequestered to drop off everyone’s drinks.
It’s nearing seven when everyone is heading out, but I can’t find it in me to leave without talking to AJ.
“You sure you’re ok?” Lacey asks.
Rachel leans on her shoulder.
“I’m fine, just… enjoying the music,” I say, nodding to the live band in the corner that’s been playing for the last hour.
“Besides, I can’t get any closer to home,” I joke because it’s true. Reed’s is literally one block from the apartment, which is why Lacey and her co-workers like to hang out there, being as it’s walking distance for them since the hospital and their apartments are close by.
“Okay,” she says carefully. “Well, if you change your mind…”
I give her a smile and nod. “Don’t worry about me,” I say as I lean in and give her a kiss on the cheek. “Go have fun.”
Lacey twists her lips as if she wants to say something, but lets it go. She hugs me, longer than is probably polite, but it’s not flirtatious or even romantic. It’s warm and comforting, and strangely it makes me feel a little more confident.
“Stay out of trouble,” she teases.
“Yes, ma’am’” I say as she waves me off, following her friends out the door. I stare at the bar, double-checking to make sure he’s still there, which he is.
But it looks like the seat next to him is unoccupied, so his friend must have left. So I take a long drag of my beer and take a deep breath before I let it out and count to six.
Like AJ does.
And then I take one step forward. Then another. And another, until I make it to the stool, just as someone tries to take it, but I slyly slip past them, and into the seat.
The whole way over here, I debated what to say. Hi. Hello. Fancy meeting you here. Who was that fucking guy talking to you?
But when AJ turns to face me, his eyes widen in shock.
“Nate? The hell are you doing here?”
I take a pull of my beer before I answer him, if only to get my bearings.
“Sucking very badly,” I nearly choke on my drink. AJ smacks me on the back and I think this was a bad idea. “At pool, I mean.”
AJ lets out a laugh.
“Ah, so you don’t have a good handle on the balls, then?”
My blood heats and it’s like the nerves disappear, because when AJ smirks at me, I can’t help but feel like a fire inside of me has lit.
“Fuck you, AJ.”
AJ’s eyes glitter underneath the amber lights, shadowed by something as mischievous as it is dangerous. And sexy.
“Come on,” he says as he moves off the stool, smoother than he should. I can’t tell if he’s drunk or just really good at hiding it. Maybe both.
“Where are you going?” I ask, nearly sprinting to keep up with him.
He doesn’t answer me.
“AJ!”
I catch his smile, and my stomach does a little flip as he turns to look at me. Under the light of the bar, I can see him in his entirety. His heathered tee, ripped jeans, and thick sneakers. He looks…
Hot.
So fucking hot.
“Solids or stripes?” he asks. Though the way he asks is less of a question and more of a command. At least, that’s what it feels like.
I lean against the side of the pool table, noting how the people move for him. Without word, without question.
Which only makes him that much hotter.
“Solids,” I say carefully as he chalks his stick.
I watch as his fingers move swiftly, and when he’s done, he caresses the stick before lining up his shot.
My heart beats so loud I think the whole bar can hear it, and I wait for what feels like hours as he slowly maneuvers the stick between his knuckles. Back and forth.
Back and forth.
I can’t take my eyes off of him, off of the intent gaze on his face.
And then he strikes.
The balls clack loudly as they ricochet across the felt, and I watch as he knocks not one, but two stripes into the cups.
“Clearly you don’t suck,” I gripe as I grab my pool stick, and do the same. I chalk it and move to set up my shot, but I know I don’t look nearly as good as he did doing this.
The last thing I want is to look like an absolute loser in front of AJ, but I also want to keep this moment—rare as it is—going as long as I can. Besides, I’ve embarrassed myself way worse in front of the man at this point, so what’s a little more iron on the fire?
“Stop,” he says, shaking his hand at me.
I stand up.
“Huh?”
AJ comes to stand beside me, and then smacks me in the stomach, nearly knocking the wind out of me, then smacks my back, just above my ass, which makes my entire body stiffen.
He moves behind me, kicks at my ankles to wedge them apart, and then presses against the small of my back so that I bend forward.
I can’t breathe, my heart is racing, and my blood is pooling straight to my cock.
Holy fuck!
“First, you need a solid foundation,” he says, his voice low, dark.
He taps my thigh.
“Lean forward, put your ass out.”
Heat floods my cheeks, and my cock twitches in my damn pants, and there is a sense of embarrassment, but also… arousal and…
This need I can’t explain to do exactly as he says.
But I’m also acutely aware that we are in public—in a crowded bar, nonetheless—and everyone can see us.
Can see me.
AJ’s lips graze the shell of my ear. “Ass out.”
He smacks my hip, and I do as he says, my entire body hot like a flame.
“Good boy,” he purrs in my ear.
He slides his arms over mine, positioning the stick in between my knuckles with one hand and then pushes back on my chest, squaring my shoulders with the other, and the motion puts my ass right against him.
Against his fucking dick.
His hard fucking dick. My breath catches in my throat, and I feel dizzy, and I know it’s not from the two beers I stretched out over this evening.
“Which ball do you want to hit?”
I close my eyes and try to regain my composure, because I know telling him “yours” is a bad idea.
Clearly.
“Y-you pick,” I say, my voice flustered and strained because fucking hell, I can feel him against my ass and it’s making me hard right now and the reality is both thrilling and terrifying.
“No,” he says, his voice low as he whispers in my ear.
“Don’t think about it, just pick one.”