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Charlie just shrugged. “Online cam girl?”
I puffed out a laugh. “I’m not chatting with a girl, I’m chatting with a guy.”
Charlie stared at me like I’d just divulged that I was giving him a billion dollars. Jax turned to look at me, a mixture of surprise and deep curiosity on his face. Jax was a straight guy, too, but much younger than me—I got the impression that maybe he, too, had a curious streak in him.
“Nice, man,” Jax finally said, nodding slowly. “Very nice.”
“Holy. Fucking. Fuck,” Charlie said, a slow smile spreading over his face. “Fuck yes. Oh my God.You?You, going for a guy? God, my gaydar is pretty great, but I never thought in a billion years that you, of all people, would go for a guy.”
I furrowed my brow at him. “What’s that supposed to mean? I’m not exactly a homophobe. I’ve sort of, kind of, found some guys attractive before. Maybe. For a second. I just always had far more women interested in me, and it was always really easy—”
Charlie erupted into giggles. “I get it, I get it. You were a ladies man in your youth, and we all know it. I mean, come on, you got a girl pregnant really young.”
I snorted. “Sure did.”
Charlie was still looking at me with wonder in his eyes. “You’ve just always been this sort of…dadfigure, and—”
I lifted an eyebrow. “So you’re trying to say I’m boring without saying I’m boring?” I challenged him. “You think I only eat vanilla ice cream, only have vanilla sex, I go to bed at nine o’clock and watch reruns ofMurder She Wroteuntil I wake up in the morning and have my oatmeal?”
Jax was laughing to himself behind the bar as he went off to help a few other customers.
“Hey, vanilla ice cream is really good, first of all,” Charlie said. “And no. Of course I don’t think you’re boring. I just never knew you’d go outside your usual comfort zone, that’s all. I’m glad to hear you’re trying new things, even at your age.”
“At my age?” I protested. “What am I, a hundred years old?”
“Oh, shush,” Charlie said. He raised his beer glass, clinking it to mine. “This is fucking awesome.”
I took a swig of my beer. “That is actually part of the problem, though. I feel colossally old when it comes to this rapidfire texting with photos and videos and God forbid, videochatting. I don’t know how to keep up. I can’t match the pace.”
“God, that sounds hot,” Charlie said. “Can I see them?”
“Hell, no.”
He waved a hand. “Fine, fine. Privacy is important, and all that.”
I felt my own cheeks getting a little hot, imagining showing Charlie the ludicrously explicit photos Kace had been sending me. I never would, of course, because there was no way in hell I was telling my workers that I was involved with Kace inanyrespect.
“I’m just out of my depth,” I said.
“Well, I can show you how to get the best angles on your photos, if you want,” Charlie offered. “First of all, you want to use thebackcamera on your phone, because it’s better quality.”
At that point, the evening devolved into a training session. When Jax got a little more free time, he came back over and had even more phone camera tips than Charlie did. The two of them got excited teaching me all of the different strategies to get the hottest photos.
We were huddled over the bar, practicing taking photos of a banana clutched in my fist, when I heard a quiet hush come over the rest of the brewery.
My heart kicked in my chest when I turned to the front door and saw that therealKace had just walked through the front doors.
I dropped the banana I’d been holding on the bar. Charlie was a lost cause, going dreamy-eyed as soon as he saw Kace.
“God,” Charlie murmured. “Athletes really are impressive.”
I caught Jax’s gaze lingering a little on Charlie, like he’d enjoyed hearing him say it.
The TV crew walked in behind Kace as he beelined for Rush, who was at the far end of the bar. Kace checked with Rush to make sure it was okay to have the camera crew tonight, and it seemed like Rush gave him the go-ahead.
Within a minute, Kace was flooded with admirers. Last time he’d come to the brewery, things had been a lot more relaxed, but tonight people seemed to get a whole lot bolder with him. Immediately, there was a crowd circling his area, waiting to get selfies with him. Various people tried to catch him in conversation.
I sat sipping my beer calmly at the other end of the bar. Kace hadn’t even looked my way, as far as I could tell, and he probably didn’t even know I was down here.
