Page 61 of The Step Don't

We don’t doubt it, so we say goodbye to our precious fur baby before heading out.

We take my car to the hibachi restaurant, where the host seats us at a table with two other couples. We get our usual—Colin, steak, chicken, and shrimp; just chicken for me. As the server grills, he singles out Colin to catch some of the meat and veggies in his mouth. Heaims to get Colin to miss a few times, but the guy clearly doesn’t know my brother, and unsurprisingly, Colin pulls off some Hail Marys. Once the performance comes to an end, we enjoy our meals, catching up about our day, before Colin heads to the restroom. When he returns, he plops down in his seat, relaxing back the way he does when he’s full.

“I warned you to make room for ice cream.”

Colin glares at me. “You really think I’m not gonna be able to take down a couple of scoops? Please. I’m gonna be stealing some of yours when you’re only halfway through.”

That sounds about right.

The host stops by our table and passes out checks; he sets one down in front of me with my debit card sticking out. I slipped it to the host while Colin was in the restroom.

My stepbro glares at me. “Oh, really?” he asks, placing his hand on his chest. “You know I was gonna pay for this.”

“Nope. I’m treating my stepbro tonight.”

“You sneak,” Colin says, his brow creasing. “You’ve been planning that. Someone’s been committing Step Don’ts again.”

“I think you’ll find that the amendment to Section 1.3 of the Official Step Don’t Policy states that exceptions include surprises like birthdays and special events.”

There is no such official document, but we did agree on these things initially when we made our rules because as much as we don’t love secrets, we both love surprises.

He’s still glaring at me.

“Besides,” I add. “I was able to cash in some of those tokens from Manzturbate, so my followers are sort of paying for tonight.”

“Your followers? I didn’t realize I was dating a celebrity.”

I laugh. “It didn’t cover the bill, but I figured it’d be funny if our first date was sponsored partly by the money we made the time I showed you the app.”

The playfulness in his expression shifts to something more sincere, and he does a double take. “Yeah, I like that.”

Mentioning the live streams brings to mind the bathhouse. Getting other people to watch us. It’s something that’s been buzzing in the background since Colin brought it up. But there’s something else there too.

“I’ve been thinking about that thing you mentioned. A lot.”

“Yeah?” Colin asks.

“I do wonder…what if we went and did something like that, but no one wanted to watch? I had the same thought about the app, and that was never an issue, but it crosses my mind.”

Colin studies my expression. “I can’t imagine anyonenot wanting to watch what you do.”

I laugh, and I’m fucking blushing again.

“What you looked like when you were streaming or when Dax was there…it’s like you’re performing. Like you were born to do this. It’s captivating, and it’ll be just as captivating when you get around even more people. And now that I know what you’re worrying about, all I can say is, I can’t wait to prove that little nasty voice in your head wrong and let my little perv show everyone who’s boss.”

My cheeks are still warm now that he’s settled my nerves but stimulated my interest even more.

“Thank you for dinner, Ash.”

As he takes a kiss, his words really sink in, quieting that annoying voice in my head. And when he pulls away, he says, “But ice cream’s on me.”

“I mean, future dinners and ice cream, since I’m just an intern. I’d have to make a lot more videos to afford to wine and dine you.”

“Well, you’d better get to work.”

We share another kiss, then grab our things and head on to the ice cream shop.

“Which do you think tonight?” I ask as the person in line ahead of us finishes up with the clerk. Nearly every time we come here, I get hung up on fudge chunks or peanut-butter cups or both, and we have a bit of a game of Colin guessing which I’ve decided on.

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