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NATHAN
I was fucked from the moment he’d walked into the offices.
I thought it would have gone away. I thought that after a few days of not seeing him, my colossal, out-of-left-field attraction to Kace would have dissipated, some fleeting thing that would go away.
It wasn’t gone. It was about ten times worse. He’d come into the office sucking on that damn popsicle and all-around just beinghimself, which was apparently kryptonite for me, in my midlife-crisis hotbed of sexual curiosity. When he teased me before coming into the brewery, I’d almost considered rushing into a bathroom stall just to jerk myself off and get rid of the aching erection he’d given me.
But I’d kept my cool. Relatively.
Now it was an hour later, and Kace was in full Kace Tomlin mode. Which was completely unfair, considering that his only “mode” was just beinghimself, whereas my “modes” were some random assortment of dad things, business things, or apparently, filth.
Kace had already made Jade Brewery like a second home. I didn’t know if all famous people had the same effect on people, or if Kace was just somehow blessed with a charm that the rest of us mortals could only dream about, but somewhere between my first and second beer of the night, the whole brewery had become best friends with Kace. He’d also invited his TV crew in, and everyone had jumped at the chance to sign the release forms and potentially appear on TV, one day.
In fact, the only thing Kace wasn’t paying attention to was… me.
He hadn’t even looked my way since we’d gotten into the bar. I couldn’t tell if he was being flirty with me outside the brewery before we’d gone in, but I’d wondered if he was going to keep doing it once we got inside. Maybe I’d evenhopedthat he’d keep doing it.
But now there was nothing. Zilch. Nada.
My eyes kept wandering over toward him, wondering when he’d look at me again. I was craving his attention again, no matter how stupid that made me feel.
“God, I remember being 22,” Shawn said to me, wistfully looking over at Kace, who was at the bar. “He’s like the Energizer Bunny.” Shawn and I were sitting at a booth across from the bar, getting started on our second tray of nachos for the night. Shawn blew a kiss to Rush, who was behind the bar as usual.
I was still getting used to my brother dating my lifelong best friend. They’d recently fallen head over heels, and I was practicing not rolling my eyes every time they were all lovey-dovey.
“No kidding,” I replied, glancing at Kace again. “He told me he has no off button, and I’m starting to realize how true that is.”
Kace was currently leaning against the long wood bartop, facing a small crowd of people that had amassed around him. The lights were low in the brewery, but Kace was beneath a pendant lamp, his face illuminated like he had found a natural spotlight. He was telling a story about a visit to the DMV and somehow not one word of it was boring. Half of the people in the brewery had known who Kace was from football, and the other half who didn’t watch sports were just as enthralled.
Rush had even let him put his own playlist on over the bar speakers, and I’d never seen Rush let anyone control the music before. A Beatles song came on after a while, and I clutched my hand to my heart.
“He’s 22 and he likes The Beatles,” I told my brother. “There is still hope for the younger generation.”
“Shit, if he has The Beatles on his playlist, you’re going to be his friend for life,” Shawn said, kicking back on the opposite side of the booth.
“If someone hates them, we just couldn’t be friends,” I agreed. “Or they’d have to wear earplugs anytime I played music.”
The crowd of people around Kace roared with laughter from across the room, and I glanced over, watching Kace animatedly telling some story.
“How does he do it?” Shawn said wistfully.
“Well, he clearly likes attention,” I said.
Understatement of the century. When I’d given him just a little attention while he was jerking off, it had made him come in about sixty seconds flat.
I massaged my temples, trying to will myself to stop thinking about what had happened the other night. Why was it burned into my brain like a movie on repeat?
Charlie came back to the booth, sliding in next to Shawn after Kace finished another story. I’d never seen Charlie so dumbstruck before. Ever since he’d finally ditched his awful, toxic ex-boyfriend, he’d been nothing but glum and depressed. But tonight he was relaxed.
“Haven’t seen you smile this much since you got that killer deal on slate stones,” I told Charlie.
“It’s so cool that he’s here. I can’t believe we’re going to be on TV, too. Bets on how long before Jim sees me on TV and he wants me back again?”
“Hey,” Shawn said, pointing at Charlie. “First rule is?”
“First rule is we don’t talk about Jim,” Charlie said, waving a hand through the air. “I don’t care about him anymore anyway, guys. He’s in the past. I deserve better. It’s just like Kace said on his Instagram post yesterday—nobody determines your value but you.”
“That was a good one,” I admitted, taking a sip of my beer.
