Page 13 of The Intimacy of Control

“Jack needs a pest in his life. Every time I mention you, he smiles, and then he scowls, and it’s obvious as hell that he kinda likes you. Keep being who you are, and he’ll come around.” He gave me a wink.

“You mention me to him?”

One of his eyebrows rose as he tilted his head to the side. “Can you blame me? I teased him because you’re so young, and his reaction was too good to pass up on. I’ve made a million comments and jokes at your expense. I’m not even sorry about it.”

Hm. Well, that didn’t sound too bad, honestly. “No worries. I guess I’ll keep showing up, then.”

Mav looked over his shoulder before whispering. “Wear him down. It won’t take much.”

He turned around, fiddling with a bottle on the wall behind him right as Jack walked back down the bar. He set my shirt on the bar, neatly folded. “Here. You’re free to go now.”

Be cool, Forrest. I placed my hand on top of it, looking up at him with a slight smirk. “I was always free to go, sweetie. I just don’t want to.”

Jack rolled his eyes and scoffed.

“Can you blame me?” I countered. “My dreams are full of you. But I guess I’ll go home and sleep to get another taste. Thanks for returning the shirt, but I’ll be back for that rain check.”

“Yeah, keep dreaming. You don’t have an excuse to show up here anymore.” He pushed away from the bar. “Goodbye, Forrest.”

I stood, taking the shirt with me. “See you later, baby.”

The entire way out of Driftwood and to my car, I was panicking on the inside. Had I really said all that shit? Thank God I was such a flirt. Hopefully, my fake confidence came across the way I’d wanted it to, and he didn’t think I was a total loser.

Mav seemed to think I had a chance. Andros wasn’t too sure about that. Me? I wasn’t ready to give up yet. For now, I’d stop looking for fun with other people and mute the apps I normally used to find meaningless hookups. At least until I could deactivate them and say I was in a committed relationship for the reasoning.

chapter six

Crew and Willow weren’t the easiest shopping partners I’d ever hung out with, but they were definitely the funniest. They bickered like siblings—which I guess made sense seeing as they’d been friends for so long.

I wasn’t expecting a message from him asking if I wanted to come along with them on a day out. I’d been to Crew’s house for their Christmas dinner, which was my first time meeting everyone, but we hadn’t really talked outside of that. He said he’d wanted to get to know me since I was one of Callum and Tobi’s friends. He wanted to “bring me into the OG circle,” he’d said. Whatever that meant.

It honestly scared me a little because I didn’t know what it meant, and uncertainties scared me more than anything else. They’d even offered to pick me up in Crew’s car, though I’d politely declined.

There was a little strip with different shops and a boba tea place. Willow had bought a few clothes, and Crew had bought his husband a new orange button-up shirt, whereas I was content with the boba tea in my hand and nothing else. I hadn’t really seen anything that caught my attention.

“You’re bein’ such a fun killer, C!” Willow admonished beside me.

Crew scowled and kept walking, leading us to some bookstore he wanted to check out. “I am not goin’ to a mall that doesn’t have stairs or an elevator. You’re being mean. You know how I am with escalators.”

It was still kind of odd to hear so many Southern accents in New York, of all places. Crew, Willow, and Tobi were all from around the same area, though Tobi’s was the thickest of the three. I’d met plenty of Southern people when I still lived in California, oddly enough. Here, though, it was mostly unheard of.

I finally chimed in as we waited to cross the busy street. “How are you with escalators?”

“I am terrified of them. Shakin’ in my boots at the thought of them. There is no fucking way I will ever get on one.”

I raised an eyebrow at Willow, who was smiling. “The last time I tried to get him on one, he couldn’t stop physically shaking. It was kind of funny.”

“No, you’re just an asshole. Why are we still friends again?” He quipped.

“‘Cause you love me and we’ve been friends this long, why change things now?”

“Price would never make fun of me for my fear.”

“Well, he’s your husband, and he wasn’t invited. This is a significant other free hangout.”

The indicator turned green for us to walk across, Crew and Willow still kind of bickering back and forth to each other. I could see a building on the other side of the street, a bit further down the sidewalk. It looked colorful, with a pink exterior and a large sign above it. “Hey, is that where we’re going?”

Crew nodded. “Yup. Pride and Pages. It’s a queer-owned bookstore; they sell queer books or books written by queer authors. I saw someone post about it online and thought it’d be good to check out.”