Fuck, I needed to get the hell away from him.
“Yeah, good to see you.” I blurted out too quickly, looking to Troian as the perfect scapegoat scenario came roaring into my head. Anything to avoid the growing something metastasizing in my gut. “Well, we should get going if I’m going to continue showing my brother around.”
I could see in my peripheral that Troian was about to object, but I sent him a quick side eye and he shut the hell up, the realization that he was definitely going to expect an explanation in return for his silence.
Noticing the glance between us, Qwill just laughed it off and gave me a final nod. “No worries. Welcome to Piper.” He said toTroian, who, thankfully, just gave him a curt shake of his head in response. Qwill burned a stare into my temple until I was forced to peer into his golden eyes again. “I’ll see you around, Thayer.”
Oh god, the fact that he’d said my real name in from of Troian meant I had hella explaining to do and I wanted nothing more than to crawl into my bed and hide from the world.
“Nice seeing you, Qwill.”
Grabbing Troian’s hand, I quickened our exit and pummeled down the path. But not before Troian said, “Will you slow down? He’s out of earshot for fuck’s sake.” And the sound of chuckling trailed after us on the breeze of our abrupt leave.
Chapter 7
Dodgingmy brother’s questions for the rest of the evening was no easy feat, but I managed to do so by using that it was work related and I wanted a true day off for the rest of the day. Luckily, Troian wasn’t eager to push the boundaries of our still mending relationship to ask me more questions about Qwill.
Being honest with myself, I was having my own questions about Qwill. Mainly why the fuck was my body bending the straight line of my sexuality and thinking Qwill was aesthetically pleasing. That belly burn feeling wasn’t lost on me despite ignoring the shit out of it. I knew what it meant.
I thought Qwill was hot as fuck.
This was confusing, on multiple levels. I had never, in all my years, thought another guy was hot. Now all of the sudden, without warning or preamble, I was finding male Orbs desirable? As much as I wanted to pawn this newfound sensation on the fact that I hadn’t had sex in several months now, I couldn’t quite shake that belly burn. Even worse, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to.
So for the time being, I was going to let it lie. Not ignore it, exactly, but barring anymore run-ins with Qwill or his friends, Ifigured I was safe. Maybe I could test the waters being back at work and see if any other male Orbs tripped my trigger. You know, just to see if it was a one off kind of thing. If I found another Orb attractive, then clearly it was just something in my body registering that I needed to get off and that was that. However, I was a little more than worried of the alternative: that it was just Qwill.
Because I had no idea what it would mean.
Was I gay now? Was I bi? I still thought women were attractive, so was I just, I don’t know, Qwill-sexual? It was really messing with my head. So by the time I walked into work the following evening, I was trying the best I could to quiet the part of my mind that wanted closure on what the hell was going on with me.
Something about working always fogged my mind in a good way. I was able to dance and sort of lose myself. That’s what I needed tonight more than anything.
It was a regular night, so I was all queued up to do the Cowboy Connor routine. It went well, per usual, and I was able to distract my mind into doing a great job. I ended up going all out, gyrating my hips in a way I normally didn’t during the climax of the final chorus, which really got the crowd going.
Yet again, I started feeling more in my body again once I was walking off stage.
And my heart did a palpitating flip when Evangeline came up to me backstage.
“You’ve got a private request in suite three again.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re joking.”
Evangeline looked back at me like I had suddenly gained three heads. “I never joke about money.”
“I thought we were going to talk about this. I don’t want to do private sessions, Evie.”
“They’ve already paid, like last time.” She nodded, crossing her arms. “But I don’t understand why you don’t want to do theprivate sessions. You get a massive cut of them, and the tips are usually bigger than during traditional routines. What am I not understanding here?”
Her tone wasn’t rigid or cold, just genuinely curious. I knew Evangeline was a good boss, and an even better businesswoman. I had to truly think about her words. Before my first private session, the one with Qwill, I think the real reason I was opposed to doing it was because I didn’t necessarily want a group of guys gawking at me, which I guess was rich considering I didn’t mind it too much when I was on stage. Something about the intimate setting made me take pause, but really, what the hell was I afraid of?
“I guess…we can talk about me doing private sessions. But maybe only scheduled ones, if that makes sense. Is there a way to tell whoever is requesting that it has to be the week after? Maybe make it sound like I’m already booked just so I have time to prepare for it and everything?”
Her green eyes lit up as her lips curved, satisfied. “That’s actually…awonderfulidea. I think this is a great compromise. Consider it done.”
I smiled back. “Thanks, Evie. I’ll go change and head to suite three.”
“Thanks,Connor.”
I hastily made my way back to the locker room for a quick change, wondering who the hell was requesting me this time. As I pulled on a pair of bright grass green trunks and pasties to match, I entertained the thought that it was Qwill, inspired by the green of my outfit, reminding me of his scales. A smirk made its presence known on my face as I was leaving the locker room. I really couldn’t deny it anymore. There was something about Qwill that I couldn’t get off my mind. I made a mental note to talk to him about it, whether that meant I would be randomly showing up back at the marsh on the hiking trail I’d shown Troian or not.
