Chapter 17

Chase was a smooth operator,projecting a charm and confidence in difficult situations, but I was getting to know him better. Which meant I could sense the nerves he tried to hide as we headed toward Zach’s place.

“We’ll do our best to keep the conversation focused on the plan,” I assured him. “If they get too pushy, tell them to back off.”

He flashed me a distracted smile. “I just want to make a better impression on them than I did with you.”

“Well, that might be difficult.” I grimaced. “I sorta talked a lot of shit when Fox first moved into the neighborhood.”

He chuckled. “That’s oddly reassuring. I guess I can’t make it any worse.”

“You can only go up from here,” I agreed, my own nerves ramping up.

I’d cast the die in how my friends perceived Chase, and my guilty conscience nipped at my heels. It would be up to me to undo the damage, because regardless of what happened between us, Chase wasn’t the bad guy in the story.

No one was—which was the hardest truth in life. As much as I wanted a villain to blame, the only baddie in this story was an economic market out of my control.

Tristan opened the door when we knocked. “Hey, come on in. But brace yourself. The whole gang is here.”

I winced. “I was afraid that would happen.”

“Sorry. Zach told Jordan, who told Ellis and Becca, and everyone wants to help with the plan, so…”

He shrugged helplessly and stepped back to allow us in. Zach pounced almost immediately. “Austin, finally! Everyone’s waiting in the dining room.” He eyed Chase. “And I remember you. The guy who chased Austin out of my coffee shop.”

“Uh…” Chase shifted and cleared his throat, the most flustered I’d seen him. “Yeah, sorry for the dramatics that night.”

Zach gave him an assessing look. “That’s all right. You had your priorities. I just hope you have them straight when it comes to Austin.”

“Zach,” I said with a head shake. “Let’s just focus on the marketing plan.”

“My laptop is set up on the dining room table,” Tristan offered.

“There’s good snacks too,” Jordan said, poking his head out from the other room with an Oreo in his hand.

Chase perked up beside me. “Oh, the bisexual cookies? I’ve been curious about those.”

The package I’d brought the night of our first hookup had been irreparably crushed in the throes of our lust.

“Maybe.” Jordan narrowed his brown eyes at Chase. “If you prove you’re worthy.”

“Don’t listen to him,” I said. “He just wants all the cookies for himself.”

“Cruel lies,” Jordan said before stuffing a whole cookie in his mouth.

“I’ll tell them to behave so you all can focus on your work,” Zach said. “But I can only hold them off for so long. You know what they’re like.”

Chase and I exchanged a wary look then followed Zach and Tristan into the dining room.

“Becca, Ellis, this is Chase Fox,” I said. “Chase, these are all my friends.”

“We’re more like family,” Becca said with a smile, though there was a hint of warning that I’d never heard in her voice. “We look after one another.”

“Well, it’s really nice to meet you all,” he said as we took our seats. “Thanks for helping us with this plan.”

“We’re here for Austin,” Jordan said, sitting back with his arms crossed. “Everyone here loves him.”

Chase nodded. “With good reason, I’m sure. I’m here for Austin too.”

A tension gathered in the room as my friends exchanged looks. I could feel an intervention of some sort coming on. Chase could too, judging by how stiffly he was holding himself beside me.

I rushed to head it off, a protective surge welling in me.

“Everyone’s friends here, Chase included.” I put my hand on his thigh under the table, squeezing to convey reassurance. “So, how about we get to work?”

Tristan nodded. “Good idea. I’ve been over the demographics, and the good news is that you’re really close to the Capitol Hill area.”

“Why is that good news?”

“Well, it’s more lively, and they already hold a number of events. With your proximity, you can piggyback on some of what they’ve done.”

“How does that work?” Chase asked. “Wouldn’t we be competing?”

“If you held your events at the same time, yes. But if you target their existing audience, an audience that already participates in street fests, pub crawls, and art walks just a few blocks away, they’re going to be more likely to convert.”

“I didn’t think about that,” I murmured. “So, how do we target their audience?”

“There are a lot of ways, from social media advertising to getting yourself or other business owners a vendor spot in one of their events to talk up Union Heights. They have a huge Pride event there, and if they know you’re queer-friendly…”

“That’s really smart, Tristan,” I said. “You don’t think it’s wrong to try to capitalize on the queer thing? I mean, I’m not—”

I stopped short. Everyone looked at me expectantly. Shit. Could I really say I wasn’t queer? I’d been having sex with a man. I wanted to have more sex with him.

But more than that, I liked him. I’d jumped to his defense far too quickly for me to continue to deny it. They were judging him based off my biased accounts before I really knew the man Chase was inside. Before I knew his heart.

But I knew his heart now, and I was growing more attached to it by the day, wasn’t I?

“It’s not wrong if it’s true,” Tristan said gently. “Whether you’re queer or a straight ally, you’re open-minded, and a lot of people like to support business that supports them.”

I licked my lips. “Right. That, uh, makes sense.”

Tristan went over a few more statistics with us then pulled up a few advertising concepts to review. My other friends contributed ideas here and there. The food trucks was a big hit with Jordan—enough that he finally pushed the package of Oreos over to Chase.

He pulled one out and took a bite, his eyes on me, and I squirmed in my seat, remembering all too well the first time I’d told him about these cookies.

Once we wrapped up the business talk, though, the conversation returned to Chase and me.

“So, why are you helping with this?” Jordan asked Chase. “I mean, you’re the big store threatening Austin’s business. How does any of this benefit you?”

It was a question I’d asked myself more than once.

Chase leaned forward. “We all start somewhere. The Fox brand started with one store. Now, we have eight, but we’re hardly in league with Barnes Noble. We’ve had our struggles, and maybe I just want to show everyone that we’re not so different. That we can all be stronger together, if we try.”

Becca beamed. “I like him.”

“Me too,” Ellis said. “Kinda makes me feel bad you got that mean news article written.”

Becca winced. “I’m sorry. I had no idea it would be so aggressive.”

“Ah, that was you. Well, I knew it came from Austin somehow. Not gonna lie, it kind of hurt, but I understand why he did it.”

I cringed. “I may have…overreacted a little. I definitely misjudged Chase a lot.”

He grinned at me. “Think you could say that again so I could record it?”

I shoved his arm. “Not a chance.”

“Okay, I’m just going to ask,” Becca said. “What’s going on between you two?”

Chase glanced at me, clearly letting me decide what to say. I bit my lip. “I’ll let you know when I do.”

“Safe to say they’re fucking like bunnies though,” Jordan said.

“Jordan!” Zach exclaimed.

“What? It’s true. I saw them at the store together, and they were sparking hard. And that was before they even realized they’d already sexted each other online.”

“Sexted?” Becca said. “Seriously?

“I never said we sexted,” I countered. “I said we flirted.”

Chase leaned forward. “But we totally sexted.”

“How did you not know he was a guy if you sexted?” Tristan asked.

I rolled my lips in. “No comment.”

Zach giggled. “Oh my god. You had gay sex and didn’t even know it. I thought I was the naive one in the group!”

“I suspected,” I said. “I just didn’t… There were certain words he didn’t say, and…”

My friends continued to laugh at me, and Chase’s lips twitched, his eyes filled with mirth.

“Oh, fuck you all very much. I think we’re done with work, so I’m taking my leave. Chase, stop smirking, or I’ll be going home instead of to your place.”

Chase hopped up, looking contrite. “I’m not smirking. I’m just trying to make friends with your family.”

He gave me puppy dog eyes, and they should not have worked. But they did, damn it.

Zach followed us to the front door and pulled me into a quick hug. “He’s totally smitten with you.”

“Whatever,” I mumbled.

“Maybe you’re smitten with him too, huh?”

I pulled back, my face hot. “Tell Tristan thank you again.”

“Oh, you can tell himself yourself on the next movie night.” He gave me a stern look. “No more skipping out to avoid us.”

I chuckled. “Sorry.”

“You’re invited too, Chase.”

“Thanks,” he said, surprised. “I really appreciate how caring you all are.”

Jordan came up behind him. “Mm-hmm, we are. Which is why we’ll be keeping an eye on you until we know you better.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

We said our goodbyes, and Chase let out a gusty sigh as we started down the sidewalk to the car, his breath puffing out in a cloud of vapor.

“That bad?” I asked.

“No, they love you a lot, and I’m glad you have that. Makes me a little jealous. My family is so tangled up in business that I never know if I’m talking to my grandmother or my boss.”

“That must be hard.”

“Sometimes. I’m not sure us Foxes know any other way to be.”

“Well, stick around,” I said as casually as I could. “Maybe you can learn a trick or two from us.”

He smiled and slipped his arm around my waist. “Just try and get rid of me.”