Page 29 of The Bro Date
SHANE
I’m on edge tonight, worried about Toby going to a popular gay bar known for some pretty wild nights, so I snuck my phone into Raúl’s kitchen. Glancing over my shoulder, I make sure the coast is clear before reaching underneath my apron and slipping my phone out of my front pocket. I quickly scroll my news feed to see if either Toby or Tate has posted.
Sure enough, Tate’s profile picture is lit up, so I tap on the tiny circle and a dark, shaky video fills my screen. Loud club music blares from my phone, and I curse under my breath, quickly turning it down. Toby’s smiling face comes into view, and he blows a kiss to the camera before it zooms out to show him dancing and putting on a show for half the bar.
I can’t seem to pry my eyes away from his body and that fucking outfit. Or lack thereof.
I swallow the uncomfortable lump in my throat and adjust the slight bulge in my pants.
What the hell is he wearing?
And why is my body reacting this way?
I’m not gay, but I think I might be crushing on my best friend, and I have no idea how this even happened.
“Holy shit,” a soft, surprised voice murmurs next to me, and I immediately click my phone off, slipping it back into my pocket.
“What are you doing peering over my shoulder, Jaycee? Thought you weren’t a gossip?” I ask, flipping the burgers I almost burned while I was watching Toby and Tate drinking, dancing, and being the centers of attention at Stick Shift.
“First of all, I’d have to be like seven feet tall to peer over your shoulder, and second, I already saw your bestie on a date with a guy, so this isn’t a big shock. He looks hot as hell, though, but you know I would never say anything.”
“Fine. Thanks, or whatever,” I mumble.
I have more important things to worry about.
When Jaycee leaves the kitchen, I click on Tate’s Live and find him showing half his ass on the dance floor while Toby giggles behind the camera. Two guys much bigger than them enter the screen, and they share a look I can’t decipher before one shouts that it’s time for shots.
Over my dead body.
Quickly untying my apron, I rush out of the kitchen with Jaycee hot on my heels. I fully empty out my locker, stuffing everything into my ratty old backpack. Consequences be damned.
“Shane! Don’t do this,” Jaycee cries, stepping in front of me. “I can’t cover for you in the kitchen. Raúl’s going to be pissed if you disappear again.”
“Don’t care.” I’ve always said Toby is more important than some job, and I stand by it.
“Hey!” Raúl shouts at us, and her sad eyes slowly close as she takes a big breath.
“Shane, please,” Jaycee tries one last time.
“I gotta go.” There’s no changing my mind. She’ll be fine here. Raúl doesn’t treat her like garbage. “See you ’round.” I step past her, ignoring the commotion behind me.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going, Shane?” Raúl yells at my retreating back, but I don’t answer, especially when he’s shouting at me in front of everyone.
Raúl grabs my shoulder, spinning me around and yelling directly in my face, nearly triggering me into a flashback of the years leading up to my parents’ divorce, and all my mom’s shitty boyfriends since. I take a deep breath, knowing it’s even worse if you give someone like him a reaction. I stare right through him instead and speak calmly. “Take your hands off me.”
He immediately lets go and takes two steps back. “You can’t just leave during a shift whenever you feel like it. This is the second time.”
“It’s an emergency, and I have to go,” I say matter-of-factly. The details are none of his business.
“You’re fired if you leave,” Raúl sneers, throwing the ultimatum at me like a live grenade and not giving two shits about me as a human being.
My jaw clenches, even though I knew this would happen.
Raúl smiles like an evil fucking villain thinking he’s got me right where he wants me. But I’ll figure out something else. Ihaveto. Because right now, Toby fucking needs me, and he willalwaysbe more important than a job.
“Guess I quit.”
I pay the twenty-dollar cover and walk into the first gay bar I’ve ever been to, searching for my best friend. It isn’t hard to find him on the dance floor, grinding against a guy who looks like he just won a spelling bee instead of someone who’s humping my best friend’s ass in front of a packed house.
