He wants to keep doing this.
“What’s so funny?” he asked. “You’re grinning.”
“Nothing. Just fantasizing about all the fun trouble we might get up to.”
We snuggled for a little while, and then he got a text on his phone. “That’s my friend. I think I need to go.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Oh yeah, it’s not an emergency,” he said while pulling on his pants. “It’s an old Army buddy. His wife’s pregnant and he needs to get out of the house. He’s kind of freaking out about becoming a father. We’ve been going out to a bar once or twice a week to talk it over. He’ll be agreatdad when the baby comes, but he’s full of doubt.”
“The best parents are ones who are self-aware about their ability, so it sounds like he’ll do great,” I said.
“Want me to come back over after?” Jace asked. “We could fool around, watch a movie, then fool around some more. I haven’t gotten enough of you tonight.”
I glanced at my watch. It was after seven.
“Shit,” I said, hopping out of bed. “I’m late for something myself.”
“It’d better not be a Tinder date,” Jace teased.
“Nothing like that. I kind of have my own Friday ritual.” I pressed my body against his and gave him a long kiss. “And yes, I’d love it if you came back later.”
“Text me when you’re home,” Jace said, narrowing his eyes at me.
“What?” I asked.
“Just thinking about how I want to bend you over and tease your ass a little,” he said with a sly smirk.
My entire body shivered with excitement. “Savethatenergy for later, and we’ll see what happens.”
23
Lila
As I took an Uber to Brock’s bar, I reflected on howhealthythings were with Jace. At least, if you ignored the forbidden nature of our relationship. He was open to trying new things with me and showed no judgement. He left his ego at the door and didn’t take offense where none was intended. Very few guys would have outright suggested inviting another man to join our sinful fun.
And he respected my Friday tradition of going to the bar and enjoying an end-of-the-week drink. He knew it was important to me and didn’t give it a second thought.
But part of me knew it was more than just the routine taking me to the bar. I wanted to see Brock, and Ididn’twant to have him tease me about missing our routine later.
The bar was nearly silent when I walked inside, which was strange since it should have been the busiest time of night. There were only a handful of people nursing their drinks, and a few others were putting on their coats and leaving.
“Kind of dead in here, isn’t it?” I said when I reached the bar.
Brock had been frowning, but a warm smile appeared when he saw me. He was wearing the usual bartender uniform: atight black T-shirt and jeans, with a drying towel slung over one shoulder.
“Our hot water is out,” he explained. “Which means we have to close early. It’s a health code thing, or so I’m told.”
“Oh, damn. No hot water means there’s no way to properly wash and sanitize dishware. I was an Applebee’s waitress in college. We got a code violation for that once.”
“Yeah, sorry,” he said. “I think everyone’s headed to McCallister’s Bar across the street, or The Green Room two blocks closer to campus.”
Disappointment flooded into me. That’s when I realized I didn’t care about the drink, or the routine, or putting a dent in the stack of exams that needed to be graded in my bag.
First and foremost, I had come here to seehim.
“I’ll try the latter. McCallister’s always smells like stale beer. See you next Friday, I guess.”
