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Chapter nine

Henry

Early October

Ihadn’t seen Tristan in almost a week, and normally, that wouldn’t have meant anything. Truthfully, it probably still didn’t. But the last time I saw him, I felt like our flirting game was top-notch. Well, his was. I tried to keep up, but a few times, I’d turned away to cringe at myself. In those moments, I felt every one of my forty-nine years.

To distract myself—and to catch up with my best friend—I’d had dinner with Jack and his boyfriend, Julian, last Saturday night. The man was a riot and had me cracking up most of the meal, but the look of unmistakable love on Jack’s face told me all I needed to know. Julian was the one for him. There was no doubt in my mind.

The next day, Jack had texted to inform me that Julian had given me his stamp of approval; apparently, he thought I was a “straight shooter” or some shit. I was happy for my friend. Jack had a lot to offer someone, and he deserved someone amazing. And I was confident he’d found him.

Tonight was the club’s biweekly Kink Night, one of my favorite nights of the week. The people who attended were usually accepting and a ton of fun, and I looked forward to being around people like myself again.

On nights such as these, I let a little more of my true self out to play. I hadn’t admitted to anyone aside from Jack that I was a Daddy Dom, but I tended to dress the part when these nights came around and let people speculate about what it could mean . . . or not. Wasn’t like I was the center of the universe—on occasion, I had to check my privilege. People probably weren’t even looking at me.

Tonight, I was serving drinks and bussing tables in brown leather pants, brown leather boots, and a matching harness I’d just bought. Since I was fully staffed behind the bar, I’d opted to go shirtless for the first time like several of the other patrons. I had a white T-shirt I could throw on if I needed to help serve drinks later on.

It was still early, so I pulled the T-shirt on temporarily—for sanitary reasons, of course—and helped the kitchen by carting a tray of clean glass tumblers to the bar, unloading them quickly and stashing them beneath the counter.

With nothing to distract my mind, I couldn’t help my thoughts from fixating on Tristan and how much I hoped he’d come tonight. Over the past few weeks, I’d been trying to get close to him, discovering what he liked and disliked, what made him tick. I felt like he’d opened up to me, probably—definitely—flirted a little, but I had yet to discover if he was actually interested in me.

Hopefully, I’d get that chance tonight.

Turned out, I had to wait an hour and a half before my dream guy strolled into my bar. And shit—the white fishnet sleeveless shirt and silky, fitted black shorts that hugged that perfect ass and put his creamy thighs on display had me adjusting myself before I stepped out from behind the bar.

With a confidence I was currently faking, I yanked my T-shirt over my head in one motion, tucking it into my back pocket while striding up to Tris as he stepped down the stairs and onto the main floor. I yelled near his ear to be heard over the music. “Hey, Tris, good to see you!”

He turned to me, and his eyes instantly sparkled in the flashing lights surrounding the dance floor. He grinned and launched himself toward me, wrapping me in the biggest bear hug I’d ever had the pleasure of receiving.

My heart nearly stopped at his abruptness, but I recovered quickly, squeezing him back, even lifting him off the ground. We’d barely even touched before now, just a hand graze here and there, but with so much skin exposed on both of us, this felt more intimate than most of the hugs I’d ever had.

Jesus, he felt amazing.

I set him back on his feet, reluctantly releasing him so I didn’t create more of a scene. He started laughing, which set me off as well. “Henry, oh my god! I’m sorry—I was just so excited to see you.”

I chuckled, leaning in so he could hear me. “I will never turn down a hug from Tristan Applegate.”

Tristan tucked his curly hair behind his ear, and . . . was he blushing? Fuck, that was cute. “Well, good, I’m glad.”

I thought he may have said something else, but it was lost to the whooping on the dance floor when the music changed. I leaned in closer, my heart pounding. “You wanna get a drink?”

Despite the noise surrounding us, I could see from the fire in his eyes that he’d heard what I hadn’t said and understood my underlying meaning. This was definitely a guy asking out another guy, and as much as I’d been trying to play it cool, I couldn’t help myself anymore. I needed Tristan to be mine.

He stared at me a little longer than he probably needed to, assessing me. I locked eyes with him, my gaze steady. He wouldn’t find any prevarication here.

After a moment, he nodded. “Lead the way, Henry.”

An involuntary shiver trickled down my spine at the tone of his voice that inexplicably cut through the noise, but I shook it off and led him up to the counter. I flagged down Ryden, my most promising new hire, then ordered a beer for me and confirmed with Tristan before requesting his usual mai tai.

The dark-haired bartender was quick to make us up exceptional drinks—his mai tai rivaled mine—and served them with a friendly smile. Maybe he was playing it up since he knew he was serving his boss, but I appreciated the effort. After a slew of incompetent former employees, a great one would be a refreshing change.

I tipped my head toward an empty booth off to the side, away from the most crowded part of the dance floor. It was my favorite seat in the place, one where we would be able to carry on a conversation without much interruption. Plus, with the high-backed booths, we probably wouldn’t be seen by most of the patrons, but we could still see the stage, if at an odd angle.

Tristan led the way, sliding into the half-circle bench seat and dragging his drink and napkin coaster along with him on the table. I slid in after him, enjoying the closeness. Until he said he needed space, I was going to stay near him.

He was a magnet, and I couldn’t resist his pull.

“So how have you been?”