Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
I noticed Linc, Camden—and fucking Sawyer Burke—clustered together by the bar, where Jude was mixing their drinks.
Sawyer, with a beer in his hand, was clearly positioned toward the stage so he could watch me perform.
A rush of excitement pulsed right through me, making the high from my performance all the more exhilarating. Had he seen the whole number? And why did I wish so much that he had?
“Well, well, look who came tonight,” I said as I approached him and his crew.
“I was a little surprised,” Sawyer said, “that I wasn’t notified about this gig until my brother sent me a text to let me know it was happening.”
“I didn’t want you to feel like you had to come to support me when you said you’d be working.”
“You guys were hanging out?” Linc asked, glancing between us. “Like just the two of you?”
Sawyer’s eyes widened as he shot me a panicked look, as though he was worried we’d just outed ourselves.
“Oh, yeah. Just getting together to talk,” I said as a quick save.
It was an awkward moment, and truthfully, one of the reasons I hadn’t invited Sawyer to begin with. It wasn’t just that he’d said he was busy with work—I didn’t want him to feel any pressure to be around me with his friends.
We were just getting to know each other. I liked him, and the chemistry was insane, but we were in that weird place where there wasn’t really a word for what we were doing.
Being friends, yes.
Having a hell of a lot of fun, yes.
But whatever did or didn’t come of it, that didn’t really matter so much to me as much as knowing I’d get to hang with him again.
Well, and get to fuck around some more like we had that night when he’d nearly made my eyes pop out of my head when I’d come.
Because damn…
“That’s good to hear,” Linc said. “Honestly, for a while there, we all were taking bets on when you two were going to duke it out.”
We hadn’t duked it out, per se…but definitely rubbed it out…
“I like your dress,” Sawyer said with a smile before taking a sip of his beer.
“Oh, this old thing?” I asked, doing a twirl and posing.
“You want a shot?” Jude asked from behind the bar.
“What are you doing still in a shirt?” I asked him. “You know you get better tips with it off.”
“You gotta build into it. Doesn’t mean as much if it’s always off,” he said, like a man who knew exactly what he was talking about.
“Look at that,” Camden said. “My man Jude’s a bartending pro. Practically a go-go dancer.”
“Only in your dreams, Cam,” Jude said with a smile and a wink.
Camden grinned. “Sounds like a pretty good dream to me.”
They shared a laugh, and the rest of us exchanged glances like we couldn’t understand how those two weren’t already fucking.
“Here, I’ll make you a shot before you go back on,” Jude told me.
“No, no. It’s almost time for me to go back up. But except for Jude, maybe the rest of you guys in the back can come join the rest of the crowd, rather than hiding out by the bar?”
“We were just trying to console poor Linc,” Sawyer said.
“Aw, boo missing his motocross racer?” I teased.
“Whatevs. I’m fine,” Linc said, and Camden and Sawyer shot him suspicious glares. “Okay, maybe a little,” he confessed. “It’s March, though, so there’s only about a month left of Supercross season.”
We all shared a laugh before I heard my cue that would lead me into “Lover Boy” from Dirty Dancing.
“Oh shit, that’s me. See you guys in a bit.” I winked at Sawyer, who smiled back.
God, and he’d come to see me in drag tonight? This guy was too fucking cool.
I grabbed a nearby stool and hurried back to the stage, talking to the audience with the mic in one hand, carrying the stool with the other. After placing the stool in the middle of the stage, I assessed the crowd. Some of the gang had joined the audience, which was perfect since I needed a volunteer for this.
I noticed Sawyer hanging at the bar with some of the guys—a shame, since I would have loved to invite him up. Although, I didn’t really know how he’d feel about that. Hell, I didn’t even know if he’d want his friends to know what we were up to. Everything we’d done up to that point had been on our own, definitely not around his crew. And after the look he gave me at the bar, it seemed like that wouldn’t make him feel any more at ease. However, I also wasn’t interested in trying to stir any jealousy that Sawyer might have, particularly knowing his issues with Julian, so…a sacrifice had to be made.
“Elliott, I love you so much, but I’m sorry,” I said as I took him by the arms.