“I’d watch that movie,” Mai muttered.
“Me too,” Hob said. He winked at me. “But that guy’s not a child. He’s all man.”
I sighed, resigning myself to sharing the story. “He came into the parlor when I was working last Friday. Near the end of the massage, he asked for a happy ending.”
“Did he get one?” Hob asked, cat-green eyes glinting.
“No!”
“I told you we don’t do that,” Mai said. She got a mischievous look on her face as she smacked his ass. “Not for clients, anyway.”
I really didn’t want to go downthatfilthy rabbit hole, so I finished out the story. “I kicked him out, of course, but then he came back the next day to ask me out.” Hob opened his mouth, but before he could ask, I said, “I turned him down.”
“Think he’s stalking you?” Hob took an entirely different track. “I can go threaten to beat him up.”
While it sounded like a joke, I didn’t doubt for a moment that Hob meant it. Mai had always been protective of me, and as soon as the two of them had started dating, he’d immediately taken it up as well.
“He’s not stalking me,” I said. “He’s Scottish. This is a Scottish bar. Not too crazy of a coincidence.”
Or so I kept telling myself
“He’s Scottish?” Mai asked, eyes going wide. “Like, with anaccent? Damn. No wonder you’re blushing all over.”
I sipped my drink and returned to dancing. I didn’t want to talk about it. Because blushing didn’t mean anything more than embarrassment at the memory of him getting an erection while I worked. Except I didn’t share that part of the story. That was something only for me. A secret memory that I might bring out once in a while.
“Youlikehim!” Mai exclaimed, her entire face lighting up as she grabbed my arm. “You actually like a guy, like in an ‘I want to tear your clothes off and ride you into the sunset’ kind of way.”
That was weirdly specific. “Um…”
She threw up her hands. “You’re not asexual after all, are you?”
I blinked at her question. “You thought I was asexual?”
“Well, it just seemed like you didn’t care about getting laid,” Hob cut in. “And we’ve never really heard you talk about sex or dating or friends-with-benefits or whatever.”
Apparently, Mai wasn’t the only one who’d thought it.
“Not that it mattered to us,” she said quickly. “You could be asexual, celibate, polyamorous, pansexual…we love you no matter what.”
“I’m not asexual,” I said before she could go into more sexual preferences and orientations. I didn’t want to have this conversation here. Or ever. “Dating and sex just aren’t the first things on my mind.”
“Go over there and talk to him.” Mai gave me that stubborn look that said she wasn’t going to let this go.
“He’s a creep,” I said. “He wanted a handjob, remember?”
“But he came back to apologize,” Mai pointed out. “Just have a conversation. Maybe he’s not as creepy as you think.”
“If he is, I’ll rescue you,” Hob said.
They both laughed as Hob hooked his arm around Mai’s waist and pulled her tight against his body. They began to sway to the music, their eyes meeting as the rest of the world fell away.
It looked like I was on my own for the rest of the night. I could continue dancing alone, pretending like that’d been my goal the whole time, or I could excuse myself, call for a ride, and have a nice, long soak in the tub back home.
I’d almost made up my mind to go when movement by the bar caught my attention. It was Alec, and he was coming this way.
Dammit.
Eight
