Page 8 of Mr. Brightside

“My place, whenever you’re done here. Just text me when you’re on your way.”

I don’t give him time to respond. To question this. To reject the idea. I rap my knuckles on the bar, smile, and head for the kitchen.

This is going to work. Thishasto work.

Chapter 4

Cory

Myhandisshaking—literally,visibly shaking—as I punch in my table’s order at the POS computer in the back. Lia creeps up on me and immediately knows something is wrong.

“Cory—what the hell?”

She bumps her hip into mine, and because I’m so unsteady, she displaces me in front of the screen.

“Give me that,” she grumbles, snatching my pad out of my hand and entering the order for me.

I close my eyes and blow out a breath. I thought my nerves would ease up as my shift went on, but if anything, I’m getting myself more and more worked up as it gets closer to the end of the night. I’ve felt like this for the last three hours. Ever since he invited me over.

Thankfully, Lia thinks I’m still freaking out about school.

And I am. At least in my logical, sensible, reasonable mind.

But the real reason I’m a shaking, anxious mess is because the man I’ve been crushing on for years just invited me over after work.

Jake Whitely wants me to come over to his place tonight. How did he put it? To help each other out? If I hadn’t been sitting down when he said it, I swear my knees would have given out.

I’m not usually such a simp for rich white boys who pride themselves on noncommittal behavior and a total lack of emotional intelligence.

But fuck.

It’s Jake.

This isn’t even my first rodeo with him. We hooked up a few years ago, right before Tori and Rhett got back together. But then I found out he’d been fooling around with Lia, too, and that she was hoping for a whole lot more than Jake was willing to give.

That was it for me. My friendship with Lia was more important than satisfying my lust for Hampton’s most notorious bisexual bachelor. She didn’t even ask me to cool down with him—I dropped him on my own. Then I spent several months licking my wounds when I realized he didn’t care.

But a lot has changed over the last two years. I’m different. He’s different, too. Jake isn’t as rowdy or wild as he used to be now that he’s the manager of The Oak.

Lia’s in a totally different place nowadays, too. She’s kinda sorta doing this long-distance thing with her fuck buddy in Pennsylvania. She doesn’t talk about it unless she’s drunk, and I never push her to share. But I’m sure hooking up with Jake is the furthest thing from her mind.

That works for me. Because right now, Jake is literally the only thing on my mind.

I should be worrying about school, freaking out about how I’m going to pay the tuition that’s technically already past due. I should be livid that the department revoked my assistantship, especially after all the work I’ve done for them over the last few years. Or calculating tuition costs to see how many classes I can afford this semester and how that affects my practicum assignment and plans for graduation.

But I’m not.

Me. Cory Vargo. Worrier extraordinaire. For the first time in a long time, my mind isn’t fretting with indecision.

I can’t explain it. It’s like he’s taken over every thought inside my head. I can’t even remember my orders without writing them down, as proven by the three drink orders I’ve messed up so far this shift.

Embarrassingly, the only thought in my head ishim.

The way his eyes bored into my soul when he leaned across that bar. The way his teeth rolled over his bottom lip when he suggested I come over tonight, almost like he was nervous to ask. The way his scent consumed me with its equally sweet and spicy notes. Vanilla and musk and perfectly Jake. His mere presence dominated every neuron in my brain.

Maybe a casual hookup is just what I need to take my mind off things for a few days. There’s nothing I can do about school anyway. Every other GA position is long gone, and there’s no way I can pay for the course load I intended to take. I need to regroup. I need a backup plan. But first I need to blow off some steam.

“Earth to Cory,” Lia says as she snaps her fingers in front of my face.