I followed the voice to what was clearly a man in drag, wearing a blonde wig and a tight white dress, posing like a mannequin. Someone must’ve hit a Play button because music filled the air, and it only took me a moment to recognize the beginning of the ’80s classic “It’s Raining Men.”
“Oh my God, Carter,” Keegan said, unable to stifle another laugh as the drag queen began lip-syncing to the lyrics and gesturing to a door behind her, where four men stepped out in matching black, glittery vests, open in the front to reveal their admittedly impressive bodies.
The small room filled with laughter as the vested men started an incredibly poorly choreographed dance and the drag performer hurried in front of them to continue her act, delivering the lyrics to Keegan.
And now I definitely knew the deepest shade of red his face could turn…and just how big that smile could get.
11
Keegan
I’d seen Carter in drag before at a charity recently, but I couldn’t believe he’d gone to this length to put on this number for me.
I recognized his lineup of backup dancers—Linc, Ash, and Zed—all doing a similar number to the one they’d performed at the charity. But the addition of Sawyer to the mix was about as hilarious as could be. While the other guys were obviously getting a laugh out of the number at my expense, Sawyer kept to the back and minimized the amount of moves he had to display.
Zed grabbed a chair and encouraged me into it before Ash offered me a lap dance, and I could see Beau and Jace getting a good laugh about it.
“Welcome to the club, buddy,” Ash said with a wink as he continued Magic Miking on me before Zed, who worked at the fire station with my bro, insisted on a turn and worked his ass all up on my lap.
Linc’s boyfriend, Rush, hurried toward me, a stack of cash in his hand. As he started making it rain one-dollar bills around Ash, Linc said, “Come on, Ash. Show us those moves!”
“Keep it PG!” Nance shouted.
“Yeah, keep it PG for Nance, guys,” Jace joked.
As Rush continued divvying out dollar bills, I found myself having a hard time breathing through the laughter, especially as I watched Carter practically tearing Sawyer’s vest off him.
When the number came to an end, everyone applauded before they started chanting, “Keegan! Keegan! Keegan!”
And dammit, I was starting to fucking cry just from how goddamn incredible everyone had been to put this on for me.
“Nice number,” Owen told Carter as soon as it was over.
“And fab dress,” I added.
“Thanks, the outfit is just something I threw together. But the event, all the credit goes to Nance and Serena.”
“So you’re the schemers,” I said, glaring at them.
“I asked if we could have a party,” Serena said in her defense. She stood beside Nance, Jace, and Dax in the group that had gathered, full of friends and close family acquaintances, which made it that much more significant. I also had to admit there was something special about having the Saturgays in attendance, like I was officially being inducted into the Fever Falls Hall of Gays.
“We didn’t want to do it if you were uncomfortable,” Nance added. “Since you said okay to have a party, she just misled you about how exactly we would be having this party. And we made sure your prince would be here to celebrate with us.”
“That was why you were so insistent about knowing when my prince was getting into town,” I realized. “Seriously, though. This was awesome, you guys. And I appreciate the thought that went into it. Honestly, Carter, you still need to work on the choreography for that number, but…”
All the guys, including Carter, cracked up.
“It was really sweet, thank you.”
“Aw…group hug,” Jace said, and everybody swarmed Owen and me, enveloping us in a hug.
The whole event made me wonder what I’d been so worried about when Owen had told me about the pics of us winding up all over the Internet. Not that anyone I knew would be weird or a dick about it, but I couldn’t have expected this.
“Thanks again, Carter,” I told him. He was personal assistant to my bro’s boyfriend, Dax, and the more serious Jace and Dax had become, the more time Carter found himself spending in town. And since Dax had recently announced he was moving into Jace’s place and managing his PR clients from here, Carter had begun finding his own place in Fever Falls.
“Sorry, but we didn’t have much time to prepare,” Carter went on. “Sawyer, you did better than I figured.”
I was surprised he’d even agreed to do it. Every time I’d seen Sawyer around, he was quiet. Not sure I would’ve called him shy. He wasn’t the most talkative guy, but he always spoke up when he had something to say.
