“Adam,” I say, during a lull in customers.
He looks up from wiping down tables. “Yeah?”
“What was it like?” The question comes out before I can stop it. “The first time you fed Hex?”
Adam goes bright red. And I mean bright red. An impressive tomato impersonation. His ears are scarlet. His neck is flushed. He looks like he might actually combust from embarrassment.
It’s kind of sweet. My friend is such a prude.
Not like me. I’ve never had any moral objection to casual activities. Sex is just sex. Bodies doing what bodies do. Nothing to get worked up about.
So why is the idea of feeding Dis throwing me into such a tizzy?
“I, um,” Adam stammers. He’s focused very intently on the table he’s already cleaned. “It was. Very. I mean, it was really. Um.”
I wait. This is fascinating. I’ve never seen Adam this flustered.
“Mind blowing,” he finally manages. Then immediately looks like he regrets saying it. “But why are you asking?”
I shrug, aiming for casual. “Just nosy. And pervy.”
Adam laughs. The tension breaks and he shakes his head at me with that fond exasperation I know so well.
I love how lovely my friend is. How genuinely good. Even when he’s mortified, he still looks at me like I’m worth caring about.
Like I matter.
“Are you seeing anyone?” Adam asks, his tone shifting to something more careful. Concerned.
I sigh. “No.”
His expression does that thing where it gets all worried and protective. “Oh. Did you change your mind about downloading Grindr?”
I shake my head. Adam is so innocent sometimes. So genuinely naive about certain things despite being in a relationship with an ancient shadow being.
“Grindr isn’t for dating, my friend,” I say gently.
Adam blinks. “It’s not?”
“No.”
“But I thought it was an app for meeting people?”
“It is. Just not for dating.”
He still looks confused. I can see him trying to puzzle it out. Then his eyes widen slightly as understanding dawns.
“Oh,” he says. Then again, quieter, “Oh.”
Before he can ask any follow-up questions that I absolutely do not want to answer, the door chimes and a group of customers comes in.
We’re busy for the next hour. I make drinks on autopilot while my mind churns.
Grindr. The thought keeps circling back.
“Felix?”
I blink. Adam is looking at me with concern.
