Page 60 of Freshman

Tia giggled, hugging Alfie to her.

“He’s a good-looking guy,” Alfie said, gesturing to Darrel, trying to get Max to focus on someone else, but it didn’t work.

“He is,” Max agreed. “But I’ve kind of set my sights on someone else.”

“That’s you, by the way,” Tia said, bopping Alfie on the nose.

“What happened to the shy guy I met all those months ago?” Alfie asked.

Max smiled. “He got some experience and some confidence, and here he is…”

Darrel set their glasses down on the bar one by one. The others, including Sarah, came off the dance floor and headed over.

“I need a leak,” Alfie said, untangling Tia’s arms from his neck. He held her out towards Sarah, who readily accepted and took Tia into her arms.

Max took a step, looking as if he was about to follow Alfie, but a firm hand to his chest stopped him. “I mean it,” Alfie said. “I’m going for a leak.”

“I could come too.”

“Do you need to go?”

“No.” Max snorted. “But I might be able to push one out.”

Alfie rolled his eyes. “I’ll be back in five.”

He pushed through all the bodies with his gaze fixed on the neon sign pointing the way to the toilets. Max, thankfully, didn’t follow Alfie inside, and he took a minute to breathe without his shadow for the night.

He didn’t understand it. Nate was forward and suggestive, and it turned Alfie on, but when Max acted the same way, it left him feeling uncomfortable.

Alfie did his business, washed his hands, then savoured the few minutes he held them out under the dryer.

When he stepped back into the corridor, he took a deep breath, ready to face Max again, but he stiffened at the feel of eyes on him and turned in the opposite direction. A man leaned against the wall a few metres from him. He had his phone in his hand but abandoned whatever he’d been doing to look at Alfie.

He was older than most of the men inside Glam if his receding hairline and wrinkled brow were anything to go by. He had dark hair and a dark beard, and his eyes were dark too as they took in Alfie.

The way the man looked at him was the same way Nate first had, like he was stripping away Alfie’s clothes. Alfie shivered but didn’t take a step in the dancefloor’s direction. He stayed where he was, letting himself be made bare. The man read that as a positive and pocketed his phone into his blue jeans.

He strolled over, still looking Alfie up and down like he was something tempting.

“Hello,” he said, and his voice was low.

It wasn’t the same as Nate’s, but it had a manly quality to it, deep and lingering. He wasn’t Nate, but Alfie’s breathing began to quicken like he was.

“Hi,” Alfie mumbled, staring at the man’s chest. He wore a white shirt with the top few buttons open to reveal a glimpse of chest hair. His aftershave was something dark and cloggy, and it got Alfie’s heart working double time.

“You having a good night?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Alfie admitted.

Tia was having a blast, that was the most important thing, but so far, he’d been trying to fend off Max’s advances without making a show of it and upsetting the birthday group.

“Come,” the man said, touching his hand to Alfie’s waist. His palm was warm, firm as he squeezed. “I need a smoke…”

He removed the hand and walked in the direction of the door to the smoking area, glancing back to make sure Alfie was following. The Nate in his head told him not to, but it only made him more determined to go with the stranger.

The back door led to the smoking area, which was being watched over by a furious-looking bouncer to make sure no one snuck into Glam through the back street.

“I’m Liam.”

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