Page 35 of Show Me 1

“Maybe I was talking about your dangling accessory parts. Don’t get smug.” I thwapped him on the shoulder.

“Okay, great, so when are we going to the club?”

“We?” I sputtered.

“Well yeah, I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. So this time you get to wingman for me.”

12

Jesse

“Well, isn’t he taking to it like a duck to water,” my friend Tazla shouted over the thumping base at Hype.

I could only stare. Sam was generally easygoing, but I’d expected some sort of initial tentativeness upon his first introduction to one of the gayest of gay clubs in town. But by the time we spilled from the long hallway into the ballroom, Sam already had glitter on his cheeks courtesy of a cute little twink bopping around with sticks of the stuff.

An hour in? He was bouncing in the middle of the dance floor to a juiced-up remix of The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” like he’d been born with confetti in his veins.

I shook my head in wonder. “He’s a unique one.”

“Ahotone.” Tazla tossed back a shot. “Think he’d flex his sexuality for a night with me?”

I nudged him with a laugh. “No. Stop.”

Tazla waggled his brows and flashed me a lascivious grin. “Coming back out?”

“In a minute.” I held up my water, and Tazla headed toward the dance floor with a dramatic eye roll.

I found Sam again, a smile hooking my lips as he threw a hand in the air and did some sort of Chippendale-style hip swivel. I’d noticed that though he seemed at ease, he wasn’t dancing with anyone per se, and it wasn’t for lack of people trying. The second we’d hit the dance floor, he’d been mobbed like the second coming of David Bowie, but anyone grinding up on him didn’t last for more than a few seconds before he bounced away.

Mark smacked into me with a sloppy grin and followed my gaze to Sam. “This is hilarious. You dared him to come?”

I returned Chet’s wave as he leaned over the bar top to order drinks. “Nah. I think he just didn’t want to be at home by himself tonight. He asked to tag along,” I lied.

Mark arched a brow. “Interesting.”

In a perfect world, Sam and I would’ve come alone, but Mark had asked my plans earlier and when I’d told him he’d gotten all excited and invited himself and Chet along, too. Tazla was almost always here Wednesday nights anyway, so my best-laid plans of keeping it low-key between me and Sam had exploded. Sam had taken that perfectly in stride, too.

I tore my eyes from his bebopping form and nudged Mark. “Did you think any more about Cam moving in?”

Mark shot a look over his shoulder at Chet and then shrugged. “A little, yeah. What do you think?”

“It’s an extra hundred bucks a month in all of our pockets, and I don’t have a problem with him. He seems cool. But I don’t know him as well as you and Sam.”

“Know who?” Chet handed Mark a tall glass.

“Cam.”

“Oh.”

Mark set his glass down and eyed Chet. “Oh? See, what does that mean? Cam moving in would make you jealous?”

“This sounds like a convo I don’t want to be a part of.” I finished off my water, but Mark nudged me with a laugh.

“No, stay, we’re just…uh…exercising communication skills.”

“It means I was thinking about it.” Chet blew out a breath. “Fuck, I do feel bad for him, honestly. He seems really…solitary, don’t you think?” Chet edged closer to Mark and ran a finger along his collarbone, and thankfully, when I darted a look elsewhere, I spied Sam moving toward us.

I held out a bottle of water for him, and he guzzled half before swiping his mouth. “Thanks. I’m burning up. The music is great here, though. I mean, a little gay, but good.” He gave me a jokey wink. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so bumped and grinded in my life.”