Page 104 of The Bartender Special

Much to Benny’s already steady-at-sky-level surprise.

“I’ll give it to you there, sweet cheeks,” Jack had said while slipping his legs under the sheets. “That might not have been the whole show, but that number kind of wiped me out. Let me close my eyes for a bit and then I’ll get out of your hair.”

The way he was so casual about both covering each other’s stomachs minutes beforehand convinced Benny to also play it casual.

“Whatever works for you,” he’d said lamely.

He might have overcompensated.

Whatever worked for Jack, though, ended up being a man who was made of Velcro. Benny had already decided sleep was the last thing he could manage when a lightly snoring Jack had rolled over and grabbed onto him. With only the thin material of their underwear between them, Jack had molded around Benny’s back like a memory foam mattress.

Benny hadn’t known what to do with himself after that.

Instead, he’d focused on Jack’s arm that had him pinned against his chest until, finally, he’d fallen asleep in the worry.

When he’d woken up that morning, the arm wasn’t there anymore.

Neither was Jack.

He was gone and hadn’t left a note, a text, or even an alert through Callum that he’d been spotted leaving through the front door.

Or the window.

Benny had been a little salty about it then, and now he was even more so.

No word after sex was bad but somehow no word after their sunburn-fueled tandem show and snuggle session after?

Well, for whatever reason, each hour that went by without a word from the bartender just felt like avoidance.

And Benny knew that because…that’s exactly what he was doing.

“You alive in there?” Ethan’s voice made him start.

Benny was.

Alive and confused.

That should be the tagline of his potential future book—if he could find the right ending to the whole Guy story. Even with everything that had happened, which had already given him more than enough content to fill several chapters.

Benny sighed.

“I’m here,” he finally said. “Just trying to de-feather my body at the moment. And my life.”

He heard Ethan chuckle.

“I’ll let you handle the body part of that process, but how about I treat us to lunch? It’s been a while since you’ve been in town this long and you can use me as a sounding board about your life choices. Though you can’t get mad if my advice ends up sucking. Considering you’ve been keeping pretty big secrets lately, it’s only fair that I get to bag on them if I so do see fit. Deal?”

Benny narrowed his eyes.

Another feather had somehow found its way to the floor.

“Fine,” he relented. “I’ll accept constructive criticism. But only since you’re paying.”

“Why do you think I offered?”

Benny bought the tight and saggy merman tights, left the feather top behind, and tried to ignore the feeling of pending embarrassment by wholeheartedly focusing on free food. So much so that when a sign let them know about a bar and grille coming up on the right, he actually did a little jump in the passenger’s seat.

“Oh my God.”