Page 2 of Devour

“Very happy to have you.” Asher replied with a wide grin.

That comment didn’t go unnoticed by me. Asher and I never spoke of it, but he struck me as… an opportunist. One who flirted shamelessly and indiscriminately.

“What’s your name?”

“You couldn’t pronounce it if you tried,” he said with the sweetest inflection.

“Rhory,” Ember interrupted. She swatted his leg, either reprimanding him or clarifying who she meant—I wasn’t sure. Moving her glass to her other hand, Ember went around the table. “Jane, Asher, Carly, and… Eli.”

“Oh, we’ve met,” Rhory said after my name.

Dammit. There went my hope.

“Really?” Turning to me, Ember said, “I didn’t know you knew Rhory. You don’t really hang with the same sort of people.”

Before I could respond, Rhory addressed her with a wide grin. “Darling, I always know the perverts.”

Asher snorted and picked up his drink, choosing not to get involved yet again. Thanks for the back-up, dude.

“Then you definitely don’t know Eli,” Ember said before rolling her eyes and setting her hand on my shoulder. Now her—I could always rely on.

And my beer was gone. Nervous drinking in place of talking helped it disappear rather quickly. I stood to get another, and Ember said, “One for me, too. Cheapest on draft.”

Rhory had to leave his seat to let me out, but he ended up tagging along, likely to get something for himself. Oh, this would be awkward. One way or another and try as I might—I was going to make this awkward. It was a gift. After standing in silence at the bar for an uncomfortable length of time, I repeated my apology.

“Sorry.”

“And why is that?” Rhory asked.

“Why is what?” My thoughts fumbled, and I opted to put my hands in my pockets.

“Why are you sorry?”

“Because I embarrassed you and—”

“I’m not embarrassed,” he interrupted. Then, noticing the heat spreading across my face, he cackled and announced, “You’re embarrassed.”

“Uncomfortable,” I corrected. And not normally someone who flushed nor flustered this easily, yet here I was doing both. Rhory had a way of holding his gaze steady until it burned right through me.

“Can’t imagine how you’d fare at a gay bar.” At that, Rhory slid onto a cushioned barstool and leaned over the bar to cage his drink with his fingers.

“This isn’t a gay bar?” Honestly, I wouldn’t have been at all surprised if it were or if my friends picked it on purpose. Guess that answered that question.

Rhory laughed again and glanced at the empty stool beside him, so I took a seat and left the beers on the bar top. While his eyes fixed on me, he gradually smiled, which made no sense since I knew I looked awkward and out-of-place in my pressed jeans and polo. I didn’t know clubbing attire was a thing.

Rhory obviously did. While he sat there, I did a second sweep from his shining eyes and silent grin to the thick leather choker (collar… that might be a collar). His hair hung past his cheekbones and fell across his eyes, then continued down past his ears in the back. Once I got to chest level, I redirected to the multiple silver rings he wore on his fingers. He still cradled his drink like he intended to trap it there.

“So, how do you know Em?”

“We shared a class freshman year,” I said. From there, Ember introduced me to her brother. Asher was younger than her by less than a year and in our grade as well. According to Ember, he “needed some friends.” Having met him, I couldn’t imagine him ever having that issue.

“You got adopted by an extrovert.”

“That obvious?”

“Painfully.” Rhory shifted in his seat to face me with his scorching gaze. “What are you studying?”

“A bit of everything. The plan’s a degree in theology but…”

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