Chapter 8

Zach Kelley was full of surprises. Given how uncertain he'd been about fitting in with my friends, he had them all eating out of the palm of his hand without even trying. I'd figured I would have to coax him out of his shell, but my roommate, Dwayne, took one look at him and homed right in. Dwanye's boyfriend, Jason, knew Zach from high school, so it just got better from there. I was glad because I had invited Liam to come, but he was working some gig in New York with Marco.

Zach seemed fascinated by everything he saw. I knew he'd been to a gay bar before, but there was a big difference between a gay bar and a gay nightclub. He was clearly enjoying the drag show. He commented about how good a singer Albert was. I did have to tell him to address Albert as Darlene and use she/her pronouns when she was performing, even if she came over to talk to us. Zach just nodded and accepted it, no questions asked.

Dwanye sidled over to me and said in my ear, "You should ask that man to dance."

"Who? Zach?"

"Of course," Dwayne replied. "He is all sorts of delicious. If you don't jump on that, someone else here will."

I groaned in frustration. "He's straight. He doesn't want to dance with me or any other guy, for that matter."

"I wouldn't be so sure," he said. He turned me so I was facing where Zach was standing. Our little group had grown to include people I didn't know, and they were gathering around Zach like hawks circling their prey. Zach was talking and laughing with them, his body moving to the beat of the music as he watched the drag show. Oh, hell no. If he was going to dance with any guy, it was going to be me. I'd seen him first.

I made my way over to him. As soon as he saw me, a smile lit up his face. "Hey, Miguel! This is so much fun. Thank you for bringing me here."

I moved closer to him. "I'm glad you're having a good time." I looked out onto the area in front of the stage where a lot of people were standing, cheering on the queens, and dancing. "Let's dance."

Zach's eyes went wide. "I'm not a good dancer."

"That's okay. You don't have to be a good dancer to have fun. Besides, you're a musician. You should have rhythm for days."

He stared at me for a long moment, then shrugged his shoulders and said, "Okay." He started walking out to the dance floor.

I stared at him as he walked away. "Okay? Just like that?"

Zach turned to face me. "Why not? You brought me here to have fun and experience something new. I'm not going to experience anything standing in a corner."

"Well, all right then," I murmured, following him onto the dance floor.

It turned out Zach was a fine dancer. Very fine. Super fine. Watching him move his body gave me all sorts of ideas that didn't go well with tight skinny jeans. My friends soon joined us, and we all had a good time laughing and teasing each other. We took turns dancing with each other. Zach danced with whoever came up to him, but he kept a polite distance between himself and his partner. One twink tried to get handsy with Zach, but he gently took hold of the other man's hands and shook his head. He was such a gentle giant.

I'd moved closer to Zach when I felt someone come up behind me and put his hands on my waist. I usually didn't mind if guys wanted to dance with me as long as they respected my boundaries. This guy was making me regret my choice. He moved his hands down to my hips and started grinding his groin into my ass. I shook my head and tried to pull away from him, but he pulled me back and slid his hand forward to try to cup my junk. "Let go!" I shouted, but he just tightened his grip.

I grabbed hold of one of his hands and utilized the pressure point I'd been taught in my self-defense class. He shouted in pain and let go. I turned around to tell him off, but he grabbed my arm and started yelling at me. "You little shit!"

Before I could use another self-defense move that would have shoved his balls up around his ears, I felt a solid presence at my back. The eyes of the man in front of me traveled upward and his face paled. He quickly let go and disappeared into the crowd.

I turned around and smirked up at Zach. "You keep rescuing me. I'm starting to feel like a princess."

Zach's cheeks pinked and he ducked his head. "Nah. You had it. I was just backup."

This man was too adorable for words. "Thank you for having my back."

"Any time," he said. "Do you want to go sit down?"

I shook my head. "No. I want to keep dancing and enjoying the show."

Zach stayed close to me after that, though he didn't loom. He was just a quiet presence nearby. My friends came and went. Other people danced around us and waved dollar bills at the drag queens. Zach took it all in stride with a smile and shining blue eyes.

Finally, the queens announced they were taking a break. We all went back to our tables and ordered more drinks. I noticed Zach had switched to Coke after only a couple of beers. I hoped it wasn't because he thought he had to keep an eye on me. I sat next to him and asked, "Did you want another beer?"

He shook his head. "Nah, I'm good. I don't like getting messed up in the head."

I nodded. "Okay."

The bunch of us were chatting and laughing when Darlene the Jersey Shore Queen showed up at our cluster of tables. She wore a deep red gown that glittered with sequins and each of her long red nails had one tiny gem glued to them. Her dark-brown hair was piled high on her head, adorned by a sparkly tiara. Her makeup, as always, was flawless. "Darlings, so glad you came to my show."

I jumped out of my chair and bowed deeply. "Your majesty." Darlene rolled her eyes. I motioned for Zach to stand. "Darlene, this is Zach."

Darlene's eyes traveled up Zach's body. "Oh, honey, you are just delicious."

Zach's cheeks turned a deep pink. "Thank you."

"And adorable," Darlene cooed.

Zach smiled shyly, and I sighed inwardly. I hoped she wasn't scaring Zach from ever coming back. "Stop scaring the straight boy," I said, trying to make it sound like a joke.

Zach put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed lightly. "It's fine, Miguel. I'm having a great time. No worries."

Darlene patted Zach's cheek. "You're sweet. Take good care of our Miguel." Then she walked away. Okay, I was going to kill my best friend.

"Are you okay?" Zach asked.

"I'm fine. Sorry if she made you feel uncomfortable."

He shook his head. "She didn't. It was all in good fun."

I huffed a relieved breath. "I'm glad you're having a good time."

He checked his phone and winced. "It's after one in the morning. I'm going to have to head out."

A round of protests went from my group of friends. "Don't go yet," Dwayne said. "We're just getting to know you."

A pleased smile touched Zach's lips. "I have to work the brunch and dinner shifts tomorrow. It's going to be a long day. I need the sleep."

"Why are you working both shifts?" I asked. "Is Sarah sick?"

He shook his head. "No. I'm going to be at National Guard training next weekend, so I'm working Sarah's shift this week, and she'll work mine next week."

I felt a little put out that I hadn't known this already. "Is it just Saturday and Sunday?"

"Yeah. Down at Dix."

"Dix?" Jason hummed seductively. "Where do I sign up?"

"I'd be down for some Dix," Dwayne said.

Zach's cheeks turned bright red. "Um…I meant Fort Dix?"

We all burst out laughing. "We know," I said. "We're just teasing you."

He smiled crookedly. "I won't be able to go out next Friday night. I'll be home being boring and going to bed early."

I put my hands on my hips. "Well, maybe I'll stop by and bring you a pizza so it's not so boring."

He looked surprised. "Sure. I'd like that. But don't go to any trouble on my account."

"It's no trouble," I replied. "You're my friend. It's my job to make sure you're not boring."

Zach chuckled. He grabbed his jacket from the back of a chair. "That's nice of you. I appreciate it. But if something else more exciting comes up, don't worry about it." He pulled up his rideshare app and ordered a pickup.

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from saying There's nothing more exciting than spending time with you. I really had to get a grip. "Okay, I will." I grabbed my own coat. "I'll wait with you until your rideshare gets here."

There was that shy smile again. Gah. I wanted to eat him up. "Thanks."

Zach said goodbye to all my friends, got lots of hugs, and made promises to come again. It was blessedly quiet outside, away from the noise of the club. It was chilly. I found myself wishing I could snuggle up to Zach's big body to absorb some heat. He seemed to notice because he put his arm around my shoulders and drew me closer to him. I looked up at him and asked, "Did you have a good time?"

"I really did," he replied. "Thank you for inviting me. I might have even made a few new friends. I got a couple of phone numbers, including Jason's. We both played baseball in high school. He was a year behind me, so we didn't really hang out together. He was a pretty good third baseman though."

"Was he out back then?" I asked.

Zach shook his head. "No. There were a few guys who were out, and they got harassed and bullied a lot. I'm guessing Jason felt unsafe being out at our school."

"No doubt."

A car pulled up. Zach checked his phone. "That's me. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yep, I'll be there," I said.

Zach unexpectedly pulled me into a hug. "Thanks again."

I put my arms around his waist and squeezed just a little. "You're welcome."

I thought I felt him kiss the top of my head, but it had to have been wishful thinking. I waved at him as the car pulled away. I sighed. I really had to get over this crush. It wasn't doing me any good.