Page 16 of For the Cameras
Chase nodded at him. “Maybe I’ll stop by later. This is Adam, by the way, and I’m going to be doing trivia with him tonight. Adam, this is my friend Frankie.”
“Hi, there,” Frankie said, giving me a quick glance as one of his friends pulled him away toward the bar. “Never thought I’d see you doing trivia, Chase. Look at you go. See you later, I hope.”
“I’ll see you around,” Chase said. “Have fun.”
“Don’t be a stranger,” the guy said, giving Chase a wave as he walked away.
Right as Frankie was walking by, a group of women passed by and two of them stopped to chat with Chase, too. Another guy waved at him as he entered the bar, and over the course of thenext five minutes, I realized I was sitting across from one of the most popular guys around town.
He kindly introduced me to everyone that came over, but each time, the focus was all on him.
Peoplereallyliked Chase.
And he was equally nice to everyone, even if he had to politely decline multiple requests from people who were trying to drag him off to the bar or out to other clubs down in Denver.
After the people had filtered through, he turned back to me and smiled, an apology already in his eyes.
“Sorry. Didn’t expect it would be so packed in here tonight.”
“It’s okay,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m happy to just hang back and observe. I’m better at that than I am at talking, anyway. Are you sure you don’t want to go join your friends?”
Chase looked at me like I was nuts. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be right now than doing trivia with you. We’re going to rock it, Adam.”
That made me feel warm and fuzzy, despite myself. Even if he might be taking alittlebit of pity on me because I was alone, it still made me feel special. And it had been a long time since I’d felt that.
I reached to take off my jacket and Chase looked over, pausing for a moment and staring out at me.
“What’s up?”
“Wait. Is that—are we—”
I looked between the two of us and realized why he was gawking.
“We’re wearing the same shirt,” I said.
“I just got this shirt. I really, really like it,” he told me.
“I just got it, too,” I said. “At the ranch market on the end of Spruce Street?”
He nodded, his eyes lighting up. “Softest cotton I’ve ever felt. Damn, we look good as twins, don’t we?”
“You look better in it than I do.”
“Shucks,” he said in a joking way. “I really am so glad you’re here, Adam. I had just given up my search of trying to find someone to fuck when I saw you.”
I ignored the heat that flared through me hearing Chase talk about that.
I ran my fingertips over a knot in the wooden table. “No one here you want to bring home?”
He looked at me for a moment, a teasing glance in his eyes. “Well, I could takeyouhome.”
I swallowed hard, feeling my cock perk up despite the fact that it hadnoright to. He couldn’t possibly mean that, right?
“Me?” I managed to say.
“Just so you could tutor me in math, of course,” Chase said with a wink.
Right. Okay. So he had been joking.