Page 13 of You've Got Male (Rom-Com Reboot)

“Why the fuckwon’t the new albums show up?” I growled, jabbing at my mouse as if that would help.

“Language!” Briar exclaimed. “My innocent ears are being violated.”

I cast a glare over my shoulder. “If Fox steals all our customers, we need to make sales online, only it won’t fucking— Hey!”

Briar pushed me out of the way and began navigating menus. “You didn’t update the category when you put the inventory in.”

I huffed. “I did that.”

Briar navigated to a separate inventory menu than the one I’d used, hit edit on a product, and sure enough, it was missing the category. “You have to do it here.”

“Why the…I swear to fuck I’m tech literate.”

She laughed. “This is so dumbed down for users it’s more confusing.”

I squinted at her, unsure if I was being insulted. The website management system infuriated me, though, so I stood and waved her into my seat. “Please fix it, oh wise one.”

The store phone rang, and I picked it up, grateful for a distraction.

“Black Hole Records. This is Austin speak—”

“You’ve been dodging my calls.”

I cringed as my best friend’s voice came through the line. Aside from a text reassuring him I hadn’t killed Chase, I’d been avoiding this conversation.

“Sorry, man. Been busy.”

“Really?” Zach said. “So, then, you were worried about Fox Entertainment for nothing?”

“Um…”

“I mean, it might explain why Chase Fox was meeting you for a coffee date. Except that I thought you dated women?”

I groaned. “That’s kind of hard to explain.”

His tone softened. “So, there is something to explain?”

“I’m…not ready to talk about it, but I promise you, Chase Fox is not anything except my business rival.”

“Hmm. Okay.” He didn’t sound convinced, but he also didn’t push it. “I really just wanted to make sure you were okay. You know I’m here when you’re ready to talk.”

“I do, thanks.”

“So is business really going well?”

“No.” I sighed. “It sucks balls this week. Everyone is flocking to the new shiny store across the street.”

“Sorry, man. Maybe it’ll pick up once the newness wears off?”

“Maybe.”

“Well, my break is nearly finished. I should get back to work.”

“Sure, see you at movie night.”

The doorbell chimed a few minutes later, signaling my first customer of the day.

I mustered up a smile. “Hey, there. Can I help you find anything?

“Well, I don’t know.” The customer was an older guy with salt-and-pepper hair and silver stubble. “The guy over at Fox told me about your store.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, their vinyl selection is kind of limited.” He tucked his hands into his pockets. “I’m an old blues guy. You don’t find those in newer stores.”

I chuckled. “No, you don’t. I have a few good albums. My selection isn’t large, but it’s quality.”

His eyes brightened. “Yeah?”

“Yeah, I’ll show you what I’ve got.” I led the way to the bins on the far wall. “I have Buster Brown. Not mint, but a nice player copy.”

“Now you’re speaking my language. Looks like it was worth the trip over to let my wife spoil the grandkids with gaming nonsense.”

I laughed. “Glad to hear it.”

“I’m Gerry.” He held out a hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“Austin,” I said, then nodded toward my desk. “The computer slave is Briar. We’ve got a website, so if you don’t get back this way, you can also check out our offerings there. We’re trying to add more of our used inventory every day.”

Gerry flipped through the rack, pausing on a Tousan album. “This looks interesting.”

“Yeah, it’s a great album of Louisiana rhythm and blues.”

He turned it to read the back then nodded and tucked it under his arm alongside Buster Brown. Score. Together, those would bring me more than a hundred bucks of almost pure profit. I’d acquired both as part of a large collection, so I’d paid pennies on the dollar for the records’ value.

I left Gerry to his shopping and rounded the counter.

“Your boyfriend is looking out for you,” Briar said without turning from the computer screen.

“Chase Fox is not my boyfriend.”

She snickered. “But he loves you!”

“Unlist Buster Brown and Tousan from the website. Gerry is gonna buy them.”

“Thanks to the Fox across the street.”

“That’s enough out of you,” I muttered, the back of my neck growing hot.

If Briar knew how up-close and personal I’d gotten with Chase Fox, she’d never let up on the teasing.

Gerry found three more records and checked out with a total that broke three hundred dollars, saving the day from being a total loss.

The following day was slow too, and the next one only moderately better. A trickle of customers continued to find their way to my store, thanks to Chase, but I couldn’t expect Fox castoffs to support me.

On Saturday afternoon, just as I was about to close up, Chase stepped through the door with his adorable niece in tow.

“Run out of customers to send me?” I asked.

“No, just doing some shopping with the munchkin.” He tugged the little girl’s pigtail, making her giggle. “How has business been?”

“About like I expected.”

He winced. “I thought maybe with the referrals…”

“It helped,” I said grudgingly. “I got a few new customers who’d probably have never checked out the store.”

“But?”

I shrugged. “Business is slow. Everyone’s focused on the shiny new Fox store.”

Chase’s niece, oblivious to my concerns, bounced on her toes. “It’s a really cool store. Have you seen it? It has just about everything you could want!”

Chase winced. “Not everything.”

“Close enough,” I grumbled.

Lacy approached my glass display at the front of the store. “It doesn’t have cool stickers like these though.”

Chase’s expression turned thoughtful. I pointed a finger at him. “Don’t you dare.”

“What did I do?”

“I can read your expression. You’re wondering if you should add a line of stickers.”

He smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, it’s just how my mind works. I study customer behavior, and Lacy was giving me ideas.”

I glared.

He raised his hands. “Ideas I won’t be implementing.”

I sighed. “Oh, go ahead. It’s not like a few stickers are going to save me.”

Chase crouched down to say something quiet to Lacy, and she nodded with a serious expression. A moment later, she skipped over to my display of posters and began looking through them.

“Austin, I know you’re worried.” He held my gaze. “But I’m not going to let you lose this store.”

“Let me? You’re probably going to be the cause.”

“No,” he said firmly. “I refuse.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but I couldn’t find the words. His gaze was intense.

“I know sending customers your way here and there is small potatoes. But if we put a true cross-promotion marketing campaign to work, maybe we’ll both get something out of it.”

“What can I possibly offer to Fox?”

“Are you kidding? You and Rosita and the other little indies around here give this neighborhood character. You bring a life to it that a chain store like Fox never could. Together, we could revive this area, turn it into a place people want to visit. That’s good for all of us.”

“That’s not exactly how big box stores operate, though, is it?”

Chase smiled charmingly. “Fox isn’t your typical big box store. For one thing, we’ve had our own struggles. For another…” He let his gaze sweep over me and bit his bottom lip. “Change isn’t always bad, Austin. Maybe we could both embrace something new. Together.”

Heat swept through me, memories unfurling of other new things I’d done with Chase. Seductive memories that were supposed to remain hidden, just one sweaty night of bliss that could be left in the past.

“I’m taking Lacy back to her mom in a few minutes. How about I pick up some takeout? We can brainstorm some of these plans for the neighborhood I brought up last week?”

I hesitated. It would make more sense to set up a meeting with Tristan and his marketing team. They were experts in the field.

“Please?” Chase added. “I know this week hasn’t been great, but when the fanfare dies down, things will normalize. We can co-exist, Austin. Maybe more than co-exist.”

“What would be more than that?”

“We could be wildly successful together.”

I barked a laugh. “You don’t give up easily, do you?”

His eyes brightened. “Never.”

I groaned and ran a hand through my hair. “Fine. You can come over, but just for food and strategy. Nothing else.”

“Absolutely.” He nodded, lips curving. “I’ll pick up Thai food.”

“Now you’re just trying to get in my pants again.”

“Is it working?”

“For some panang curry?” I joked. “Maybe.”