Page 12 of Gin & Sin

I expect him to let me go, but he stays close, gazing into my eyes. He doesn’t say anything for a long moment, then he shakes his head with a smile and finally steps back.

“See you soon, Professor.”

“Bye, Kit.”

I watch him walk outside and wait on the curb for the few minutes it takes for his ride to show up. Once he’s gone, I collapse on the couch, kicking my legs in the air. I did it. I really did it.

And it was amazing.

FIVE

KIT

“Well, well, look at you.”Ridley teases me, bumping my arm with his as I pour myself a soda from the bar. “Back so soon?”

“Yep.” I take a long gulp and refill it. “Anything happen while I was gone?”

“Yeah. We had to ask someone to leave. A guy followed his ex here and was being a dick.”

“Oh shit. Really?”

Ridley nods, dragging a hand through his unruly hair. “Indy went into scary Daddy mode and dragged the guy out by the collar. Salem told him we’ll call the cops if he shows up again.” He points to a group of guys near the pool tables. “The guy in the baby blue sweater. His friends are gonna have him stay with them.”

“That’s good. That’s our first major incident, huh?”

“Yeah. Not bad for how long we’ve been open.”

“Not bad at all.”

Ridley leans on the bar. “So where did you go?”

I grin, crunching on a piece of ice.

“Did you hook up?”

“Maybe.”

“With who?”

“There you are,” Lowen says, coming out from the back with a stack of t-shirts for the shelves behind the bar. “A very drunk twink was looking for you.”

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, I think I dodged a bullet with that one.”

“For sure,” Lowen agrees. “His friends had to drag him out of here while he was ‘hunting for the bear with BDE’ as he put it.”

Ridley practically chokes on his laughter.

“He yelled out that he was promised a dicking down.” Lowen grins. “Did you break a promise, Kitty Kit?”

“I promised him nothing. Not gonna lie, he was pretty cute, but I could tell he was drinking too much long before I dipped.”

“And where did you dip to?” Lowen asks.

“He won’t fess up,” Ridley says.

“Side quest,” I mumble. I’m not at all interested in sharing the details of my time with Stewart. It just feels wrong somehow. He trusted me with a major step in his life, and I’m not gonna gossip about it.

“Fair enough,” Lowen says, continuing his task of restocking shirts.

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