Page 20 of For the Cameras

“So I’m different,” he said, batting his eyes and doing a cute little dance while sitting down. “I do take that as a compliment.”

“Well, yes, you’re different,” I told him. “You’re clearly a good talker. But you also showed interest in me. A lot of people don’t do that. They seem to avoid me, almost.”

“Because a lot of people are probably intimidated by you,” he said. “You should know that, Mr. Genius Mathematician.”

“The thought of anyone being intimidated bymeis like a German Shepherd being intimidated by a kitten. Ashykitten, with no claws.”

“Trust me, you come off much more like a tiger than a kitten,” Chase said, giving me a look that made heat flood through my whole body. “I’m going to go grab another drink, do you want anything?”

“I’ll take another of the summer ale,” I said. “Thank you.”

I watched Chase as he walked over to the bar, and I let my eyes linger on his ass, which looked far too good in the jeans he was wearing.

While Chase waited in line at the bar, chatting with all sorts of his friends, I slid out my phone and thumbed over to the OnlyShots app. I’d uploaded a video right before I summoned the courage to come out here to the brewery, and I wanted to see if it had gotten any response. I got a little excited when I saw a comment from one of my more consistent viewers.

ChillyIcyBlue: You only get better. My favorite video yet.

I had no idea who he was, but he always commented with sweet things. His profile had no photo, but it said he was male and thirty years old.

There were a few other comments, but they were the more generic types—a few eggplant emojis, a kissy face emoji, and a comment that just said “i wuld suk that,”which was a nice sentiment even with its cave-man style spelling.

I needed to kill time, so I did something rare: I tapped on ChillyIcyBlue’s comment and started to write out a reply, letting myself get carried away.

For all I knew, ChillyIcyBlue could be a totally unattractive creep who I’d never get along with in real life.

But I liked to think we’d get along.

I sent off the reply, feeling some fleeting moment of connection to a complete virtual stranger.

AdamDix: You’re the sweetest, ChillyIcyBlue. Appreciate the continued support… and you know I’ll keep coming for you.

7

CHASE

“Hey, Chase,” Charlie called to me from across Adam’s living room, holding a sledgehammer in his hand. “Keep an eye on the front door for me, would you? Jax is going to come by and drop off my protein shake. Left it at home like a doofus.”

I squinted out through the front window into the morning sun, almost offended by the assault on my senses. “Ugh. Sunlight. Not good.”

“Entered your vampire phase already at age thirty?” Charlie joked.

“I’ve entered stage two of my hangover,” I said, rubbing at my temple.

“What are the hangover stages?” Charlie asked. “When I used to drink it was all just one big, long, bad stage.”

“Stage one was me waking up and thinking I made a mistake,” I said. “Stage two is now, where the sunlight makes me want to abandon humanity and crawl in a dark cave. Stage three will be when the rest of the crew gets here and everyone starts telling me I look tired.”

“You do look tired, but the blue streak always adds alittlebit of chaotic brightness to your look,” Charlie said as he looked me over. “You went too hard last night?”

“Trivia night,” I told him. “I was sucking down those strawberry-sunshine-whatever drinks thatyourboyfriend made for me. I know you don’t drink, but I’m telling you, Jax pours heavy on the liquor.”

I’d had one too many of the delicious pink cocktails last night as I sat across the table from Adam, forcing myself not to be overly flirty with him. Forcing myself not to blurt out very specific things that my brain kept focusing on, like how much I loved the way he gripped his cock in his OnlyShots videos. I’d successfully made it through the night without revealing that I knew he was Adam Dix, and we’d done pretty well in trivia.

All in all, it was an innocent night. Practically saintly, for my standards. The only touch we’d exchanged was a high-five at the end of the night, which did turn me on more than I’d like to admit.

Adam had gone home right after trivia ended, and I’d taken the quick drunk walk back to my apartment to pass out and wake up earlier than hell this morning for demolition.

Now I was paying the price for last night’s liquor.