And just like that, Owen wanted to punch his face. He took a step back and began to fix his pants. “Oh, fuck you, you bastard.” He grabbed a roll of paper towels to clean up, glad to see that he’d caught most of the evidence of their dalliance in his hand.
“Aw, don’t be like that, O,” Chad said, not moving to pull up his pants. He leaned against the wall, softened cock hanging out of the fly of his jeans. He still looked effortlessly hot. Which pissed Owen off even more.
“Quit calling me that.”
“I feel like I earned the right to call you a nickname since your hand was down my pants.”
This had been a mistake, as Owen had known it would be. But like an idiot, he’d done it anyway. And now all he wanted to do was get the fuck out of here and the fuck away from Chad and that goddamn smirk he wanted to kiss off his lips. “You’re an idiot. I can’t believe I did this. This…” He waved a hand around. “Screwing in a fucking bookstore closet with”—he gestured to Chad—“someone like you.”
An expression Owen couldn’t read flitted across Chad’s face before it returned to his cocky smirk. “Oh, right, someone like me. The criminal who crosses center lines. I kick puppies, too.”
Owen grabbed for the door, but Chad stopped him and leaned forward. “Just a warning—you might want to look in the mirror. Because you sure as hell look fucked out.”
“Fuck you,” Owen spat.
Chad shrugged. “Maybe some other time.”
Owen growled and flung the door open, stalking through the bookstore with his head down. When he reached his car and threw himself behind the steering wheel, he remembered he never had gotten his fucking book.
Chapter Four
The beeping was like needles stabbing his eardrums.
Chad shoved his head under his pillow and frantically waved his arm around, searching for the sound that made him want to chop off his head.
He knocked some shit from his bedside table on the floor until he found the source.
His cell phone.
He growled and shifted his head out from under his pillow so he could squint at the screen.
Austin.
Why the fuck was his sister’s guy calling him?
Chad glanced at the time—nine in the morning. Way too fucking early to answer a phone call when he’d worked last night until midnight and then spent the next two hours getting shit-faced.
The beeping stopped, then started up again ten seconds later. Chad was about to decline the second call when a shiver of fear stopped him. What if something had happened to Marley?
So he pressed the answer button and managed to find his ear through his mop of tangled hair. “’Lo?”
“Hello, Chad.”
He braced himself on his elbows and rubbed his eyes with his free hand. “Is Mars okay?”
A pause. “Why wouldn’t Marley be okay?”
“You’re calling me at the fucking butt crack of dawn, that’s why.”
Austin gave a long-suffering sigh. “Dawn was three hours ago.”
“Whatever,” he mumbled. “Everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine. Marley is having a girls’ day with Chloe and Sydney. I need you to meet me at the Willow Diner at eleven fifteen.”
Chad blinked at the wall.
“Are you there?”
“Eleven fifteen in the morning?”
Another sigh. “Yes,” Austin said drily.
“I’m sorry, but why? I mean, if you want some bonding time, maybe we can set a date a little further in advance—”
“I don’t ‘bond.’ I need to speak with you, so can you be at the diner by eleven fifteen?”
This guy was seriously too much. But he made Marley happy, so Chad dealt with it. “Yeah, sure. Do I have to shower?”
Silence.
“Uh, okay, I’ll take that as a yes,” Chad muttered.
“I appreciate your dedication to hygiene while in public.”
Chad rolled his eyes. “They better have pie, and you better be buying it.”
Austin hung up without answering him.
Chad dropped his phone onto his sheets and then smashed his face into his pillow.
Last night was a little vague. He remembered grabbing Ace’s ass, though, so he’d have to apologize for that later. But after a week of beating himself up over what happened with Owen, he’d needed to let off some steam.
He’d gone home alone, though. Which wasn’t unusual. Despite all his flirting, he rarely went home with anyone. He was a tease, as Marley often said.
Even though Owen probably thought Chad seduced unsuspecting bookstore customers on the regular, that was the first time he’d ever done something even close.
But he’d lost it around that guy. Owen had this magnetic presence, this shield that made Chad want to claw and scratch until he saw beneath it. He hadn’t been able to get the image out of his mind of Owen in the throes of his orgasm. He’d been beautiful, with his head thrown back, glasses askew and hair out of place. That pale throat marked from Chad’s teeth and lips.