Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82250 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82250 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
When the evening is over, Gary and Raymond are talking as I walk with Steven toward the door. He stops me with a hand on my shoulder. “I’m proud of you, son. You and Gary have taken this idea and run with it. I’m excited to see what other work we can do together in the future. Once we’re finished with the fundraiser, let’s have a meeting so we can further discuss working together.”
“Thank you…I…thank you.” I can’t find words other than those. My heart pounds, jumps, as my head spins. That means he wants to work with me, right? It’s not a guarantee, but it sounds pretty fucking close.
I can hardly contain myself as we get into the car and pull away. The second we’re out of sight from the house, I pull off to the side of the road, grab Gary, and yank him into a tight hug. “I think we did it. Thank you, Gary. Thank you. Thank you.” Again, they’re the only words that seem to come to me.
23
Gary
Flirt is packed with hotties. Not just the guys who signed up to take off their clothes. It’s hotties and friends of hotties and friends of friends of hotties. All that social media promotion the volunteers worked on clearly paid off.
Despite the successful turnout, I’m stressed as fuck. While Travis rallies up the participating boys, I scramble around to finalize some last-minute preparations. Putting out fires. The ice machine broke down, so I had to make an emergency run to the nearest QT to pick up enough bags of ice to last the bartenders through the night. And the guy who was supposed to collect donations at the door backed out ten minutes before we needed him, so I had to find a replacement while I manned the booth. As soon as I found a friend who was willing to help out, Miss Laurie Firebomb—AKA my primary care physician, Dr. Martin Crawley, who’ll be hosting the event—accosted me. Evidently, the DJ didn’t have any of the songs she wanted to use in his playlist, so Laurie Firebomb needed me to fetch a CD from her car. As she said to me when I tried to get out of it, “These boots aren’t made for walking!”
After I hand her the CD, I start looking for Travis to make sure he’s gotten to all the guys. I fight my way through the crowd.
Someone grabs my arm and pulls me to the bar.
It’s Hayden, who I haven’t seen since the pool party. He wears his pinned-on #6 badge, indicating his place in the lineup for tonight. Travis and I made the badges a few nights ago, taking occasional breaks for BJs and buttsex.
“You look stressed as fuck,” he says as he adjusts his glasses. He studies my expression.
“Look at you,” I say. “In a little short-sleeved button-up and jeans. Guys are going to lose their shit when you get up there. I’m surprised your man wouldn’t do it.”
“Oh, God no. He’s weird about stuff like this. He’s even uncomfortable about me doing it. Hell, even when I went to the pool party, he was uneasy about me wearing a stupid speedo.”
Funny his boyfriend would be that way. Hayden is the quiet one, and Lance is the loud, fun-loving guy who’s always looking for attention. But when I asked them, it was Hayden whose eyes lit up like this was a great opportunity to unleash the secret exhibitionist within.
“He seemed kind of mad about it earlier,” Hayden continues.
“He’ll be fine,” I say. And I certainly can’t blame Lance for being uneasy about Hayden participating, considering I’m not sure how I feel about Travis removing his clothes in front of everyone. Not that I have a right to be bothered by it. I’m just glad I’ve had enough things to keep me busy that I haven’t really had time to focus on it.
Hayden spins back and calls out, “Derek!”
Derek is just a few guys away from us, wearing his #9 badge as he texts someone on his phone. He has a concerned expression on his face. Like something’s wrong. It reminds me of the conversation I had with Eric about the guy Derek’s supposedly been seeing in secret. I’m a crappy friend. We haven’t hung out much since Travis and this fundraiser started taking up all my free time. Although Derek hasn’t reached out to hang either—likely because he’s been just as busy with his secret relationship.
“Derek!” Hayden calls again. “You want shots?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Derek replies.
Hayden orders three tequila shots from the bartender. Hayden and I drink ours right away.
“Hey, you,” says a voice behind me. I spin around. Travis grins, looking charming as ever in an indigo-colored polo. He runs his hand through his dark brown hair, and I notice it falls right back into place like there isn’t a goddamn thing he can do to make himself appear less attractive.