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“You mean after all that, nothing happened?!”
Jared looks at Chad with a slightly gaping mouth.
Jensen smirks, “All talk.” He picks up his coffee and takes a sip. They are meeting up for breakfast. Jared insisted on making sure that Chad is fine and showed up on his doorstep with coffee and muffins and Jensen grumpily in tow. They’d entered and looked around as if expecting to find Christian still around. Yeah, well, not so much.
Chad sneers slightly at Jensen. He never did like him. Not really. Sure, he sees what Jared sees in him. Because, well, gorgeous. But he’s not nice. Not like Jared is. And he’d hate for that snide attitude to rub off.
To his credit, Jared smacks Jensen slightly in admonishment before turning back to Chad. “Hey, it’s cool. It was a crazy night. I mean, Jesus, someone punched you!”
Chad fingers his sore cheek, tongue poking around slightly along the inside. “Yeah.”
Jared raises a questioning eyebrow. “But when we left, you and the cowboy looked pretty cozy.”
Licking his lips Chad could still feel that press against his own. “It … started that way, I guess.”
Christian had returned with new drinks and they’d sat and sipped. Chad was still reeling. A goddamn bar fight for heaven’s sake. That had never happened to him before. Not that he is a saint, or never gotten in trouble. He’s had more than his share of stupidity all through college and well, up to now. But never like that.
He’d been having the best night, having finally taken a chance and approached Christian. He couldn’t not notice how the hot guy was eyeing him. And to his surprise they’d clicked immediately. Then Christian excused himself for the men’s room. That’s when it happened, the tall jerk in leather pants pushing into Chad’s personal space and getting handsy. Chad told him to stop, but the asshole thought Chad was joking. It went from annoying to disturbing to scary. And it didn’t matter that they were surrounded by people because in that instant he felt absolutely alone as the unwelcome hand groped his upper thigh.
The feeling of being violated returns and Chad shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath to steady himself.
Jared’s hand on his shoulder makes him jump.
“Whoa. You okay, man?” Jared is staring down at him in concern. Even Jensen looks worried. Chad shakes the bad memories away and thinks only about Christian.
“He kept calling me ‘kid.’ I thought he was teasing. I mean he was … but … “
“Who did? The guy that you liked?”
Chad nods. There had been a lot of teasing. Flirting. Chad loves to flirt. Not everyone does. And not many are good at it. Christian was amazing. Gave as good as he got. And it was fun. Until that douchebag decided to come on too strong and the evening turned into a bad Lifetime movie. That guy’s touch felt wrong. Not just because he was a drunken moron but because Chad already felt like he was with Christian even though they’d just met.
“Did you get his number?” Jensen asks.
“We exchanged numbers. But … “
“But nothing,” Jared chimes in. “Call him. Dude was like your knight in shining armor.” He looks at Jensen. “You’d do that for me, right?”
Jensen laughs. “If anyone was dumb enough to attack you, Sasquatch, then yeah, I’d be all over them.”
Chad bristles. “I’m not a damsel in distress.” But then he remembers the shocking pain of the fist connecting with his cheek. He takes a deep breath. “Still, I’m glad he helped me out.”
“Was the right thing to do,” Jensen says. Chad looks between his friends and thinks that Jensen would come to Jared’s aid no matter what was going on. It’s how he is. It’s why Chad can’t completely dislike him.
The look Jared gives his boyfriend shows Jared gets it, too. Chad ignores their shared moment and thinks back to the night before. Christian was the best looking guy Chad had seen in ages. Maybe ever. Deep blue eyes that would make the Pacific jealous. Long, shiny hair begging to be touched. And a sharp mouth that Chad wanted to occupy for hours. All contained in a tight, compact package. He stirs as the heat flares from memory.
“What happened after we left?” Jared asks.
“Not much. He iced my cheek. Got me a new drink.” Kissed me.
His friends wait, clearly expecting more.
Chad continues at their then what faces. “I thought he’d invite me back to his place or whatever. I mean, we were sort of skirting it, you know.”
Christian had implied that he allowed himself to be called Chris in bed, and Chad kind of fixated on the idea. They’d been joking in that direction. Hell, that soft first kiss grew until Chad found his lips tingling, tongues tangling roughly until he couldn’t breathe but didn’t care. Christian tasted of scotch, and the buffalo wings they’d shared, and something earthy and wide open like he imagined Christian’s home state of Oklahoma to be.
The murmur of, “Let’s get out of here,” had set his blood on fire and Chad followed along blindly.
Outside, he was pushed against the brick wall and the sheer strength of the shorter man’s muscled arms kept him pinned. He found himself holding on, pulling Christian closer, wanting to feel every delicious inch pressed up against him.
Until Chad inadvertently groaned. And not in a good way.
He’d taken a couple of punches to the ribs in the fight before Christian had been able to pull the other man off. Chad had been too amped on adrenaline to even realize those bruises until Christian pressed against them.
Christian had pulled away in a flash, mouth twisting in an immediate frown. “That dude hurt you?” He touched Chad’s torso gingerly. Before Chad could deny it or brush the other man’s hands away, his tee-shirt was lifted up and slightly callused fingers were feathering over a purple-red spot. “Sonova—“
“It’s okay. It doesn’t—“
His eyes locked with Christian’s and again Chad felt that sense of immersion. It had been happening all night. Since he first spotted the gorgeous man staring at him from across the bar. But now … he couldn’t begin to define what he saw in their blue depth. Just that he definitely wanted that gaze directed at him from now on.
Without realizing, he blinked and then Christian had his phone open. “You should ice that. I just called you a cab.”
Chad stared dumbly. Unsure what had just happened. “But I thought—“
“You’re hurt.” Christian pointed up to Chad’s cheek and then down to his torso. “Let it heal.”
Disappointment flooded him like a backed-up sink and Chad blinked hard to hide it. He leaned in to kiss Christian again. Except it ended up more like a hug. He mumbled, “I’m so glad you were there.”
The hug back felt like being surrounded in warm sauce. Sweet and safe. He pressed back against moist, full lips. Kissing Christian was already addictive. “Mmm. Chris … “
Chad felt a chuckle against his chin. “Eh. Not yet, kid.” He got a last soft kiss. “Go home and nurse those wounds.”
Christian must have deciphered the look on Chad’s face, because he abruptly asked for Chad’s phone.
Chad nodded dumbly and handed it over. It took him a moment to react to Christian’s phone being placed in his hand, but then he quickly typed in his own phone number and both phones were returned to the proper owner.
Showing unease for the first time that night, Christian asked, “Guess the question is, what happens now, eh?”
“That’s not the question,” Chad responded, “Since now I’m going home.”
The cocky glint returned to Christian’s eyes as he bit back a grin. “No? So what is the question?”
“What happens tomorrow?”
Chad stops his retelling there and sees both Jared and Jensen smiling at him. “So what did you say?”
Chad hesitates but then he can’t help himself and answers with a gleam, “Call me and find out.”
Jensen rolls his eyes and Jared twitches with glee. Chad knows that parting shot was very much in concert with the teasing they’d kept going all evening. Yet …
Jared picks up immediately on Chad’s unease. “Something about him you didn’t like?”
That almost makes Chad laugh. That was so not the problem. “He’s … well, you saw. And I’m … “
“A great guy.”
Chad smiles because Jared’s support is one of those constants in Chad’s life. It’s Jensen, however, that surprises him. “He’s gonna call you.”
He looks into bright green eyes and wonders if Jensen is just trying out being nice the way someone might don a new cologne. Jensen rolls his eyes. “Jeeze, weren’t you there last night?”
Sure he was. And he gets that something sizzled between them. It’s just … “I’m a kindergarten teacher.”
Jared’s eyes grow warm. “Yeah. You are.”
Before Chad can protest further his cell rings. Both his friends look at each other smugly before moving away to afford Chad some privacy.
His heart leaps when he spots the ID. “Hello.”
“Hi, kid.”
He takes a deep breath. “It’s tomorrow.”
“All day.”
The smile sets on his lips and the last of his worries fade away. Everything recedes but the sexy voice in his ear. “So, Chris,” the name is breathed out. “Are we there yet?”
The laugh is instantaneous. “You really are a brat.” There’s a beat. “Did you check your phone?”
Chad is confused a moment. Answers with a “Huh?”
“Mighta put more than just my phone number.”
“Yeah? You added your sign, too. Leo, right?”
Christian ignores him. “You eat steak?”
“I love meat,” Chad can practically hear Christian’s eye roll. He giggles.
“Eight o’clock, schoolteacher.”
“What makes you think I’ll come?” Too easy but it was a fun set up.
Christian doesn’t disappoint. “Oh. I think that’s just about guaranteed.”
Chad’s mouth goes dry. “See you later, Chris.”
There’s a snort. “Not yet, kid.” The call is dropped.
Chad runs his fingers over the info that Christian added last night and smiles wide at the address. He slips his phone away and looks up to see Jared and Jensen grinning at him. Jared speaks first. “Date tonight?”
“Yep. He’s cooking for me. Or grilling. Or something.”
Jensen makes an over-the-top disgusted look. “God, could your face get any sappier right now?”
Jared turns on him. “Shut up. It’s great. It’s gonna be epic, man. Like us.”
“We’re epic?” Jared sticks his tongue out at Jensen and Jensen moves to bite it.
Chad watches their playing while mulling Jared’s words. Epic. Yeah. He really likes the sound of that. Then he pictures Christian’s face upon hearing that description and bursts out laughing.
fin