Page 71 of Felix

He walks out of the room in a bit of a daze, and I smile to myself.

Teddy catches my eye, raising an amused brow. “Guess Kipp was right,” he says, shutting his locker.

“About what?”

His lips twitch. “He bet me the two of you were an item.”

“And you took that bet?”

The twinkle in his eye only grows. “Sure did. The prize was well worth it.”

I cock my head. “Yeah? What did Kipp want for winning?”

Teddy’s smile turns smug. “Let’s just say…it’ll be a toss-up whether his ass or my hand is more sore in the end.”

A laugh jumps out of my mouth, and Teddy winks. Damn, I guess Emil isn’t the only kinky one around here. Although, frankly, I don’t think anyone can compete with Specs.

My dirty little exhibitionist. My boyfriend.

Mine.

“Noel, hey.”

“Hey, Christian,” my friend says, dropping into a seat across from me at the coffee shop we agreed to meet at. He looks rough, his clothes a little rumpled and eyes tired. I frown.

“Everything okay?”

“Long night,” he answers, which only has my concern growing. It’s midafternoon.

“When’s the last time you slept?”

He stops to think about it, which tells me enough. “The night before last? I spent the morning at a hospital.”

I jolt. “Shit. Noel, what happened?”

He groans, scrubbing over his eyes before slumping against the edge of the table. “Max got fired.”

“What?” I ask in alarm. “What does that have to do with being at the hospital?”

“He broke up a fight and ended up with stitches,” Noel answers. Seeing my face, he adds, “He’s fine. It was two stitches right here.” He taps his temple. “No other injuries, and he already got discharged. But shit, Christian, our boss didn’t even care.”

“No, I don’t suppose he did,” I say, my voice hard. Fuck.

“It wasn’t even Max’s fault,” Noel says, almost as if he’s pleading with me to understand. “The customer started it. Max just stepped in to break up the fight. It wasn’t his fault.”

He sounds so dejected, and I reach across the table to squeeze his arm. “You should get out of there, Noel. A club like that should have hired security, but there’s none. The owner doesn’t care about the safety of his employees, only about profits.”

Noel nods. “I know you’re right. And it’s only going to get worse now that you and Max are gone. But what else am I supposed to do?”

“Anything you want.”

“You know the world doesn’t work like that, Christian. I have no skills other than serving drinks.”

“Noel, there are so many other bars or clubs you could work at. Better ones. Or, hey, what about a coffee shop?”

He huffs a laugh, looking around. “It would be kinda nice to work during the day.”

“See?” I say, giving his arm a prod. “You have choices. Just…please consider them.”

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