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“We just got started grilling him about his escapades,” Harlan said. “You made it here just in time.”
“The only grilling going on tonight is going to be in the back kitchen of this brewery,” I said, waving a hand. “I already told these guys, I’m respecting Jax’s privacy, fake relationship or not.”
“I’m happy for you,” Harlan said, and his look was nothing but genuine. “You are definitely going to break that boy’s heart, of course. But I am happy for you both, you know, getting out of your comfort zones.”
I furrowed my brow. “I’m going to break his heart? You all need to get your heads checked.”
“Definitely,” Sawyer said, taking the free seat next to mine. “I only had to see you guys together for about ten seconds to realize that.”
“I hope you all know that you are absolutely nuts. Try the other way around. Jax is going to break my heart, because that happens to me in every relationship I’m in.”
“Fake relationship,” Shawn corrected me. For a split second, I hadn’t even realized I’d slipped up.
For fuck’s sake, it was getting annoying to have to keep track of what was real and what wasn’t. Did it really matter, in moments like these? For once, I wasn’t coming to my friends at the bar with dating horror stories—the type of stories I had gotten all too used to telling over the last couple of years. I didn’t feel like a one-man pity party, constantly venting about my love life or begging for advice.
It was fun to get to talk to them about someone who I actually liked. Someone who liked me back, too.
“All I’m saying is, go easy on the guy,” Harlan told me. “You’re the first guy he’s ever done anything with, and you have a lot of power. No matter what happens.”
I fiddled with the edge of a coaster, lost in thought as Harlan and Sawyer got into a conversation reminiscing about Red Pinecone Farm and Shawn and Nathan discussed an issue from one of today’s meetings.
Over the past couple of weeks, I’d been so busy worrying about protecting my own heart that I hadn’t even considered that I had any “power” over Jax at all. In my mind, he had all the power—he couldn’t get his heart broken if there was no possibility of him being attracted to men at all.
But Jax had blown that idea out of the water last night. He’d made no effort to hide his desire. Hell, he may as well have been on a busy street corner with a megaphone, shouting that he wanted me.
It made my cock perk up a little now just thinking about it. Fuck, I hadn’t seen such raw desperation like that in a long time. It was the sexiest thing I’d witnessed in months, if not years.
But the idea that I’d be able to break his heart, let alone affect it in any way, still seemed laughable.
I was the one who got my heart broken.
Every time. Without fail.
My phone buzzed in my pocket and I slid it out, expecting the usual spam email notification. When I saw that it was a text from Jax, my heart jumped, despite myself.
>>Jax: If you think I forgot what I owe you, you’re wrong.
The corner of my mouth tugged into a smile. It was rare to have someone so persistent about returning a blow job—a lot of people were just happy to receive one, but Jax was as conscientious as ever, even when he was talking about sucking dick.
And bless his heart for that, truly.
>>Charlie: Haven’t forgotten anything about last night, I promise you.
>>Jax: When can I see you again?
>>Charlie: Thursday night? Meet and greet event for the Fixer Brothers show. It’s going to be a boring, schmoozy little cocktail party in the lobby of our office.
>>Jax: You had me at “boring.”
>>Charlie: Would be a whole lot less boring with you there.
>>Jax: I’ll make it happen. I have at least one fancy outfit.
>>Charlie: We can walk around and look pretty. Meet network executives before the show premiere. Listen to all their name-dropping stories about celebrities.
>>Jax: I’d love to be your plus-one.
My heart did a little flip in my chest.
God, this was all I’d ever wanted. Someone who liked the idea of going somewhere with me. Someone who could make everything more fun.
>>Charlie: I used to hunt for hookups at these kinds of parties.
>>Jax: So that means you’re definitely going to hook up with me afterward?
>>Charlie: Guess we’ll find out.
8
JAX
“Jax,” Nathan said, waving at me as I entered the front door of the Fixer Brothers offices on Thursday afternoon, almost bumping into a worker carrying a long folding table across the room. “You’re early.”
I pulled off my fleece jacket. My cheeks were still tingling from being out in the cold wind, even though I’d only walked from my car to the front door of the office.
