Owen had been there maybe once. “And do you like it?”
“It’s okay. I like making drinks. My coworker is straight but hot.” Chad winked at Owen, who snorted. Chad rose slowly to his feet and tugged on his boxer briefs. “You want something to drink? Eat? I think I have some chips and salsa. I have to check the expiration date, though.”
“You’re such a great host.”
Chad laughed as he made his way into the kitchen. “Yeah, but do most hosts blow you? I don’t think so.”
Owen didn’t argue with that. He pulled on his boxers and jeans and after retrieving his glasses from the couch, began a perusal of Chad’s apartment. There was a large bookshelf in the corner filled with graphic novels and comic books. The bottom shelf was full of thick-spined manuals about graphic design. Owen knelt down and cocked his head at a familiar title. Quark for Dummies. He pulled it out and looked at the cover. It was the same book that had been on the wrong shelf at the bookstore when he’d met Chad. Owen tilted his head, listening to Chad putter around his kitchen, singing to himself. Was that book misplaced because of Chad? And if so, why would he not have told Owen? He didn’t want to think too much about Chad’s ambitions, but his bookcase didn’t lie. He slid the book back in its place and rose to his feet.
The apartment was cluttered and a little messy. There was a stack of magazines along the wall and random receipts on an end table by the couch. In the corner was a desk with a laptop, along with odds and ends. A dirty bowl and spoon sat near the keyboard along with a couple of video game action figures.
The laptop was open, and the screen saver was a picture Owen had never seen before. A centaur. The man’s torso was defined by thick muscles, the horse’s legs bulging with veins. The man had blue eyes and long blond hair with some sort of jeweled headband. It was gorgeous.
Who was Chad? Who was this guy who smirked and liked graphic design and changed jobs like he changed his pants?
And why did Owen care?
Owen took another glance into the kitchen and then stepped closer to the laptop.
Chapter Six
Chad juggled the container of chips and the bowl of salsa as he left the kitchen. He didn’t quite know how to do this, how to talk to Owen now. First of all, his hookups were usually not done in his home. Second of all, he hadn’t actually had a hookup that went this far for a while. Despite popular opinion.
But he could do this, right? Offer Owen some snacks then send him on his little turtle way until they could do a repeat?
He glanced up, about to make a joke about Owen’s Toyota, when he noticed the guy over by his desk, staring at the screen-saver graphic Chad had drawn and hand hovering ominously over the mouse.
Which was bad, very bad, because like an idiot who’d never thought Owen would be in his apartment, Dapper Dick was his background. And Owen would take one look at that bow-tied superhero and flip his nut.
“What’re you doing?” Chad asked, his voice cutting through the silence of the living room.
Owen jerked up and took a step away from the desk. He looked like he’d been caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to do. He shoved his hands into his pockets and hunched his shoulders in, making his slender frame even thinner. “Sorry, just looking at your screen saver here. What’s that from?”
After shoving a magazine to the floor, Chad dropped the chips and salsa on a table beside the couch. “Oh, uh, I don’t remember. I think Marley put that screen saver up.” Lie. Such a lie.
Owen frowned at it. “Really? I’ll have to ask her.”
No! Abort! “Oh, I doubt she’d remember. It’s been up for a while. Years, probably.”
“Really? Because that’s a fairly new laptop. Came out a couple of months ago.”
Jesus, this guy. “Is this CSI? What the fuck? Can you just sit down like a normal person and eat some fucking chips, for the love of God?”
Owen threw up his hands and then sat down on the couch beside Owen in what could only be described as a huff. “Excuse me for asking questions. I was just curious. It’s a cool character and excellent art, so I was wondering if it was in a video game I haven’t heard of.”
Chad dipped his chip in the salsa and didn’t look up, sure that his cheeks were flushed at the unintentional praise of his work. Excellent art. It was narcissistic as fuck, but hey, he could use the boost. “Yeah, you think it’s good?”
Owen looked at it as he crunched a chip. “Yeah, great detail and shading. The expression on the guy is clear. There’s a kind of tough ambience.”
Tough ambience. Wow. “Sure, that’s, uh, a great way to describe it.”