Page 111 of Common Goal
“Nope.”
“What the hell is wrong with your boss?” Maria asked. “Why doesn’t he want his bar to be good?”
“I don’t know,” Kyle said. “He’s a nice enough guy, but his heart hasn’t been in the place for a long time.”
“I wish he’d at least consider new tables,” Kip said. “Almost all of them wobble now, and they’re kind of permanently sticky.”
“He could at least refinish them,” Kyle agreed.
“I wish you were in charge,” Kip said. “You have great ideas for that place.”
Kyle flushed a bit at Kip’s praise. Secretly, he’d like nothing more than to be in charge of the Kingfisher. “Yeah, well. I guess it’s popular enough the way it is.”
“Only because people keep going there hoping to catch a glimpse of Scott,” Maria said, standing up. “I’m hitting the bathroom and then getting more beer. Anyone need one?”
“Sure,” Kip said.
“May as well,” Kyle agreed.
After Maria was gone, Kip nudged Kyle and said, “Eric is there almost as much as Scott is now. Forsomereason.”
“What are you implying?”
“That there’s something going on with you two.”
Kyle frowned. “We’re friends. Remember how you said we should be friends? Well, now we are.”
“Just friends?” Kip asked. “Because I’ve noticed the way he looks at you...”
The truth was, Kyle really did want to talk about this with someone, and this seemed like an invitation. “Okay. So I’ve been kind of...helping him out with the whole dating men thing. At first it was just talking. Like, we went to a gay bar together, just to get a drink.”
“I thought Eric doesn’t drink,” Kip interrupted.
“He drinksliquids.We talked, and it was nice. And then we sort of...kissed.”
Kip punched his arm. “I wasright!”
“He kissedme! I swear. Like, I kissed his cheek, but then he totally went for it.”
“Holy shit. Then what happened?”
“Nothing. We kissed. And then I offered to help him with any other...firsts.”
“What did he say?” Kip asked eagerly.
“Nothing at first. We went our separate ways. Then a few days later, he invited me to his place for dinner. And...we had educational sex after.”
“Educational sex?”
“Extremelyhoteducational sex. And then we did it a few more times.”
“My mind is blown here,” Kip said. “So are you two a thing, then?”
“No,” Kyle said quickly. “Definitely not. We agreed to stop having sex and just be friends. So that’s what we are.” He did not like the way Kip was grinning at him. “What?”
“You are so into him.”
“Irrelevant.”
