So he politely put in the order for his drinks and stood there, smiling at her like a loon while she tried to kill him with purple-contact-lens laser eyes.
So far, the night wasn’t too bad. They were busy, and Chad had been occupied with the bachelorette party. The brother of the bride was there, and he was gay, and all the women thought it was hilarious when Chad served him. The guy was cute and kinda loud and a real lush, so between him and his other customers, Chad was working the floor. And the tips he was getting made the tips at Blue Moon look like pennies. Maybe he should borrow the briefs for work there, too.
The last female dancer of the night had just left the stage, and music was playing as the evening transitioned to testosterone entertainment. Chad liked boobs. And women. And he could objectively say that the previous dancer was smoking hot. But he didn’t want boobs right now. He wanted a dick. Wrapped in a bow tie. Attached to a guy named Owen.
He didn’t flirt around and avoid commitment because he wasn’t straight. He did it because he hadn’t met anyone he wanted to commit to.
It was really that simple.
Until now.
He leaned against the wall in the corner of the room and blew out a breath with a wry chuckle. Owen was the reason he was so unsettled tonight. Since Chad had been on his own, he’d worked hard to have the freedom to do what he wanted, and to now feel this responsibility to someone else was unsettling.
But he did feel responsibility, and it was because Owen was the first person he could actually see himself committing to.
The big C word.
Commitment.
He closed his eyes and groaned. It was inconvenient to figure out he was ready for an actual, real adult relationship while he was standing in a strip club in a pair of skintight briefs.
But then, Chad never did anything at the right time. Owen probably had it scheduled in his planner. To do: Commit today.
He snorted. God, he wanted this night to be over so he was that much closer to seeing Owen again. He missed the way Owen looked at him and made him feel. How they could play around like teenagers one minute and then fuck like men another.
So Chad took the tray of shots from Candy with a smile and made his way to the bachelorette party. That was why he was doing this job, for a better future, to be a better person for himself and for Owen.
The brother of the bride, whose name he still couldn’t understand because of the slurring, accepted the shots with a lopsided grin and a wink. He slipped a twenty in Chad’s hand for a tip, and Chad blew him a kiss.
The guy blushed. Adorable.
Chad was paging through the tips he kept in a case on his tray when Ace walked up to him. “Hey, how’s it going?”
Chad shrugged. “Good, I think. Making killer tips.”
“Told you. And, uh, hey, want to make more?”
Chad raised an eyebrow.
Ace held out his hands. “You can say no, okay, so don’t get worked up, but one of the guys called out. So if you want to take his place on the stage…” Ace’s voice trailed off.
Chad blinked. “You’re asking me to dance.”
“No, I’m offering,” Ace said.
“Why don’t you do it?”
“I’ll do it the first shift. You can take the second.”
“What if I don’t?”
“I’ll just go twice.”
Chad bit his lip. “Are you okay with that?”
“More money for me, man. I was just offering to help you out.”
“Um…”
“You don’t have to tell me now.” Ace glanced at his watch. “In an hour or so.”
Chad nodded. “Okay. I’ll let you know.”
There was a fine line here. He could justify serving drinks, but dancing on stage? Everything he did tonight he was tallying up in his head, because he was going to come clean to Owen. As soon as possible. Delivering drinks? Not so bad. Actually dancing on stage? That might cause some issues.
Damn it, this whole commitment thing was already complicating his life. Because his heart was doing the choosing. Not his head.
Chad watched Ace as he delivered drinks to a table at the far side of the club—where two men and a woman sat. The way one of the men moved his hands made Chad pause.
He squinted in the dim light, thinking surely that couldn’t be right but… Chad’s whole body froze. Yep. That was Owen. Sitting there. With a woman on one side and a man who was kinda handsy on the other.
What the fuck?
Owen was supposed to be at a dinner meeting, not at a strip club, looking tipsy, with a guy who was staring at him like Owen was his last meal.
Yes, their town wasn’t very big. There were two or three other strip clubs that were kinda seedy. This one, as far as he knew, was ultra exclusive. But he’d still never expected Owen to show up here. Not in a million years.