Page 7 of Controlled Burn
“Mind your own business, asshole.”
I chuckled and shrugged, still maintaining eye contact with the boy. “You know, Sebastian, I don’t think I will. What’s your name?”
“Cameron.” His voice was barely above a whisper.
“Well, Cameron, you just go on back to your friends now. Sebastian and I need to have a little chat.”
Sebastian twisted around to glare at me, and that gave Cameron the opportunity he needed to slip out of his grip. He moved just far enough so Sebastian couldn’t touch him.
“Actually, I think it’s time for me to go home,” he said before scurrying back toward the front.
“I don’t have a damn thing to say to you,” Sebastian growled.
“Good, cause that means you can keep your mouth shut while I talk. Anyone could see that boy wasn’t interested in what you were offering, and any Daddy worth the title knows that no means no. You need to get your shit together.”
“Whatever,” he grumbled. “You need to mind your own business, asshole.”
He turned and stalked down the hall. I went into the bathroom and peed quickly, then hurried to the front to make sure Cameron was safe. I didn’t see him anywhere, but Sebastian was back at the bar with another drink.
I stopped by the bar and motioned for Jesse, the bartender and co-owner of the club, to come over.
“What’s up, Keith?”
“I just put an end to Sebastian making unwelcome advances on a boy down the hallway. He said he was headed home, and I don’t see him, but can you keep an eye on Sebastian?”
Jesse let out a sigh. “Stupid asshole. I’ll keep an eye out. I’ve already had a talk with him about his behavior. If he keeps it up, I’m gonna have to kick him out permanently.”
“I’m afraid it’ll come to that. He doesn’t seem inclined to behave. I’m heading out now. You have a good night.”
Caleb
“You could always try a dating app.” Ezra opened the screen of his phone and turned it towards me. “This is the one I’ve been using.”
“Yeah, I’ll pass. With my luck, I’d choose some normal-looking guy that’ll put my body in his freezer and then report me as missing.”
“You listen to way too many true crime podcasts, Caleb,” our friend Joey said, taking a drink of his coffee. “Pretty much everyone uses dating apps nowadays. You should really give it a try.”
We were spending a lazy Sunday at Connections, the coffee shop in our neighborhood, and like always, somehow the conversation had turned to dating.
“I don’t know. It seems pretty risky to me.”
Ezra laughed. “Well, it can’t be any worse than that guy the lady from the library set you up with.”
I groaned and rolled my eyes. “Edwin.”
Mrs. Rosenkrantz and I’d had so many wonderful conversations about books, and she’d been so excited when she found out I was gay that I didn’t hesitate when she suggested I go out for dinner with her nephew. Turns out, sweet little old ladies who love to read cozy mysteries can indeed have jerks for nephews. He’d spent the entire date complaining about the service, the food, the temperature, and just about anything he could think of.
“Come on,” Ezra said. “Just give it a try. This app is different. You agree to meet up for lunch and there’s no expectation that anyone’s going home with anyone. Let’s set you up an account.” He made grabby-hands motions toward my phone.
“It’s just lunch?” I asked to confirm.
He nodded his head firmly. “Just lunch.”
“Okay, that doesn’t sound too bad.”
“Awesome!” A smile spread across his face as he took my phone and started creating my profile.
Ezra and I had been friends in elementary school before my mom and I moved away to San Antonio when I was ten, and he was the first person I got in touch with after I moved back to Vesper three years ago. So he knew me well enough that he didn’t have to ask many questions to fill out the part about me, but when it came time to move on to the part about my potential date, he paused.