Page 13 of It's Complicated

He laughed. “I had a thing with a goth girl too, back in college.”

“Yeah?”

He nodded. “She didn’t have knives on her walls or anything, but she loved candle wax.”

“Candle wax? Are we talking about what I think we are?”

“If you think we’re talking about pouring hot wax on people during sex, then yes.”

“Talk about an interesting time to walk into the conversation,” Luka said, sliding in next to us. “You have a thing for hot wax?”

“Not me, a girl I used to hook up with. She loved it. I don’t get the appeal, but it was hot as fuck watching her enjoy it.”

Luka glanced at me. “That sounds like something you’d be into.”

“Nope, not that I’m aware of.” I shrugged. “I mean, I’m not going to knock it until I try it, but that’s never been on my radar.”

Luka pushed his hair back from his forehead. “Where’s Zander? Did he head out?”

“He went to get some air,” I said.

“I’ll go see how he’s doing,” Luka said, putting his drink on the table.

He darted away before either of us could answer.

“That was weird, right?” Jamie asked.

I nodded, too distracted by my own shit to worry about Luka’s.

Jamie reached under his tee and tugged at the bet shirt again.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

He made a face. “Fine. It’s just tight.”

Catching the hem of his tee, I tugged the material up to reveal some of his side.

“Holy shit,” I exclaimed. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

The shirt was way tighter on him now than when we left the apartment. The material was so snug that little pockets of his skin bubbled out from under the cutouts, and I could already see a few red streaks on him where the shirt had shifted over the last few hours.

“A bet is a bet.” He shrugged.

“The bet was you wear the shirt I picked out. Being in pain wasn’t part of the deal.” I dropped his tee and scanned the bar for Jesse.

I caught sight of him on the other side of the room, deep in conversation with his boyfriend. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and texted him.

Isaac: can you watch the table for a minute? I need to save Jamie from his shirt

I watched in real time as Jesse pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked my text. He looked up from his screen and caught my eye, then gave me a quick nod.

“Come on,” I said.

“What about the drinks?” Jamie asked.

“Jesse’s coming to watch them.” I waved in their direction as they walked toward us.

Jamie stood and fell into step beside me as we headed toward the bathrooms.

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