“Oh, yeah.” Spencer nodded. “Chase too. They’re the best.”
“But you’re here alone.” More unexpectedly neutral input from Ryder. Maybe he’d started a meditation practice. Or, like, therapy.
Spencer sighed. “I know. Sucks.” He paused, hit by unexpected brilliance. “Hey! You two wanna playMario Kart? I’m, like,sogood. You’ll be eating my dust.”
Ryder let out a low groan. “Fuck. Don’t get him started.”
But Ash was already stepping forward, amber eyes flashing. “You think you can beatme? You’re fucking dreaming. I’ve been toasting Noah since I could lift a controller.”
Spencer bounced on his toes. Oh hell yes. He’d caught a fucking fish here. They were going to hang, weren’t they?
Spencer had always gotten a little thrill when Ash and Ryder joined the crew. Ash was a funny fucking spitfire, and his shadow was welcome eye candy, no matter how much he seemed to hate Spencer. But any time together had always been in a group, with Noah and Chase and whoever else. Spencer didn’t really get many opportunities for one-on-one with these two. Or one-on-two, as it were.
Now he gave an exaggerated sneer. “That’s ’cause Noah’s got big, clumsy thumbs.” Spencer pressed a hand to his chest. “I’m svelte, baby. Built for speed.”
“You’re aware you’re not driving the car yourself, right?” Ryder asked in a bored drawl. “It’s a video game.”
Ash locked Spencer in his sights. “Ignore him. He’s got no competitive spirit.”
“So you guys are staying?” Spencer didn’t even try to disguise his hopefulness. Like he’d said—he wasn’t subtle. People either accepted it or they kept their distance accordingly.
His two would-be guests shared a long look. Then Ash shoved past Spencer, Ryder following right behind. “Yeah, we’re staying. Get the game set up.”
Spencer shut the door behind them with a smile.
Hell fucking yes. The house was officially occupied.
1
SPENCER
Five months later
“But how doI get him to notice I’malive?” the beta currently sprawled halfway across Spencer’s bar wailed.
It was the third time she’d asked the question. Or maybe the fourth. Spencer was kind of losing track.
Either way, he definitely should have cut her off before her last drink, but he hadn’t realized how many she’d tossed back before coming into his bar. Well, nothisbar. The bar he bartended at. His employer’s bar.
The point was, the beta had definitely been barhopping prior to her arrival.
But he couldn’t take-backsies what he’d already served her, so for now, Spencer switched her pomegranate cider out with water and leaned on his elbows. “That’s easy,” he told her. “You flirt.”
She frowned at him, swaying slightly on her stool. “But I don’t know how to flirt.”
“That’s easy too. Like, ninety percent of it is just eye contact.” Spencer met the beta’s bleary gaze, lowering his lids halfway and giving her a lazy smile. “Hey,” he crooned. “What brings you out tonight, gorgeous?”
The beta’s frown turned into a slack-jawed stare. She blinked at him. Hiccuped. Blinked again.
Spencer laughed, straightening from the bar and snapping his fingers. “See? Nothin’ to it.”
“Hey.” The beta reached her hand across the bar, trying and failing to grab Spencer’s wrist. “Would you maybe wanna?—”
Spencer’s barback for the night tugged at his sleeve, wordlessly letting him know he had new customers to serve. Whatever the beta wanted to ask Spencer would have to wait. He pointed to her water glass. “Drink that,” he ordered. “The whole thing. Hydrate or die.”
He frowned to himself. That had come out as more of a threat than he’d intended.
Oh well. He shrugged, sidling over to the other end of the bar, where two new customers waited for him.
