Trey Anderson moved with a grace that shouldn’t have been possible in a six-and-a-half-foot-tall man, especially one wearing pink combat boots that elevated him another three inches. Towering over the crowd, his hips swayed and bounced from man to man without settling on anyone, just like Trey himself.

I’d forced myself to come to The Firehouse, the only gay dance club on the block of Augusta that we called The Strip, for the fifth night in a row because once and for all, I was going to make my move on Trey. One way or the other, he’d know exactly how I felt after months of watching him from afar, trying to decide if I was man enough to actually do something about the desire he’d awoken in me ever since the night I’d arrested him for wandering the streets, drunk and loud after the bars had shut down.

I considered heading home early. There’d been a brutal murder in the city the previous night. One of the college kids seemed to have gotten himself mixed up in some kind of drug deal that had gone sour. It had only been a few blocks away from The Firehouse. We hoped that we weren’t at the beginning of one of the crime sprees that always seemed to pop up during the hottest parts of summer. Until we found a solid lead, though, we were just grasping in the dark.

Each time I tried to stand and either leave or make my way across the dance floor to profess my—what? Certainly not love. Maybe lust. Undying infatuation? Extreme curiosity?—I chickened out. His eyes always seemed to pick that moment to lock onto mine for a split second that lasted an eternity. His long, thick, gold-colored lashes had to be fake. As was the rainbow glitter that covered his face and sparkled like stars. Still, as his undulations made the light reflect at different angles, I longed to wake up next to Trey and see what he looked like on a normal morning while we made breakfast together and he talked about what a great lay I was.

Just when I would remember that breathing was a thing, I’d realize he wasn’t looking at me at all anymore and I’d have to start the whole process of screwing up my courage all over again.

My fingers begged to rub across his smooth, dark skin. My lips screamed to be kissed by his bright red lips. My flesh was oh-so-willing, but my spirit was a fucking coward.

Raising my hand to flag down the shot boy for another one of those glowing green vodka shots, I leaned back in my chair, giving in to another night of futility, and cursing the difficulty of being a male cop in Georgia who wanted to fuck another man.

Moving wasn’t an option. My family needed me as much as I needed them. They dragged me out of the house and made me talk to humans instead of drinking my way to oblivion. I was my sister’s frequent babysitter. It felt like an even trade on most days.

The shot boy, wearing a white halter top and a very short, very pink skirt, wove through the crowd and sat down on my lap before I had a chance to protest. His tiny ass landed squarely on my dick, forcing me to grunt as I shifted to get more comfortable.

Watching Trey had left me hard and horny.

Sean’s eyes went wide. “Officer James. I never dreamed you’d be so happy to see me.”

I didn’t bother telling him to use my last name. If he hadn’t started after the first few reminders, another wasn’t going to help.

When he shifted his hips, my eyes closed. If I wasn’t careful, I was going to end up taking the shot boy home. “Get off me, Sean. We’ve been over this before. You’re not my type.”

“Too fem?” he asked, while he rubbed the back of my neck with his free hand.

“No,” I said without further detail. Blunt worked best with Sean. Give him an inch…well, he’d want more than just the tip.

My attention was once again sucked in by Trey’s gravitational pull. Three men pressed against his long, lean body. Based on their haircuts, they were from the Army base on the other side of town. The college kids were the same age, but normally had longer, floppier hair. The soldiers looked determined to each have a turn with Trey, and for more than just dancing. Before I could use that as my excuse to rush to his side, Trey effortlessly spun away from them all. Before they even noticed he was gone, Trey had made his way to the DJ booth that really wasn’t anything more than a raised platform with a rickety wooden railing around the perimeter and a table with his equipment facing the crowd.

“Oh,” Sean said. “You like something a little darker?”

“What?” I gasped. “No. I mean, he’s gorgeous, but it’s not that. It’s his presence,” I said before realizing I was still talking out loud.

Sean patted my cheek. “Yeah, baby, we all feel that about Trey. But Trey is ephemeral on the best of days. He’s barely real when he does notice anyone. You can do better for yourself than Trey. Not me, of course. I’m too…whatever, I suppose. But Trey will just break your heart and not even notice that he did it.” Sean held a shot to my lips and poured it into my mouth. “On the house, Officer James. Just don’t torment yourself with guys like Trey who are just looking for a quick fuck. A solid, real man like you needs a solid, real man to appreciate just how solid you can be.” He wiggled his butt against my dick again, making me groan.

I forced my credit card into Sean’s hand. Despite never having seen him outside the club, Sean was as close to a friend as I had, which said everything that needed to be said about my social life. “Add five bucks for your tip, Sean.”

Sean’s sigh was full of disappointment at my rejection of the free drink, but he took the card and skipped away to take the orders from a group of men in suits before heading back to handle my bill.

Hoping that the men in suits would be able to tip Sean better than I could on my cop salary, I turned my attention back to the DJ booth and was surprised to see Trey and the DJ both looking right at me. I knew the DJ, kind of. He was my neighbor. He’d moved in sometime in March and other than grunting at each other while getting the mail or taking out the trash, we’d never talked to each other.

Both men laughed when they saw that I’d noticed their attention. The DJ quickly turned back to the turntable and did something that added the chorus of a song on top of the techno beat that the crowd was dancing to. Somehow it worked.

Trey smiled, blew me a kiss, and waved me over.

Holy shit.

With Trey’s full attention on me, my face became hot. I wanted to run away. I certainly couldn’t trust my unsteady legs to carry me across the room, but somehow they did without me even telling them to. I was a puppet to Trey’s whims. Warning bells went off in my head.

This is a bad idea.

Sean’s warning niggled at the back of my mind, but how could I say no when Trey beckoned?

“Hey,” I said lamely while leaning against the DJ booth, and trying to look calm and collected.

“You’re a cop, right?” Trey asked.

As his lips moved, all I could see was the speck of glitter on the lower left side of his lip. I wanted to nibble it off. Trey’s lip curled up on that side in a cruel smile that implied he knew exactly what I wanted.

“Yeah, I know you,” he continued. “You busted my ass one time. Took me into the station. But they let me go because they know that there’s no earthly walls that can contain Trey Anderson.”

Finding a tiny bit of my spine, I answered, “After you paid the fine. I’m sure that helped a little bit.”

“Sure, baby. But that’s part of the magic of Trey. I always have the Benjamins for when a smile or a little poke from my magic stick won’t do the trick.”

He laughed when my eyes dropped toward his crotch at the mention of his dick.

Certain that Trey was teasing and had no interest in me, I was stunned when he asked, “So what’s your scene, man? You down to clown around?”

Images of the carnal acts I wanted to perform with Trey flashed through my head. He certainly wouldn’t be interested in a long-term relationship. I wasn’t either, though. I didn’t think so, at least. But for a quick fuck to decide if I really wanted to be with men or just needed to try once, Trey could be just what I needed.

Still, something felt off. Like I was being baited into a trap. A quick nod felt safer than agreeing too loudly. I tried to claim it was cop instinct, but knew it was more likely just my cowardice storming back.

“Hot damn, officer man. We thought you’d never get up the nerve.”

“We?” It came out as much more of a squeak than I’d intended.

Fuck no. I’m not about to get gang banged by Trey and his friends.

“Yeah, we. But close your mouth, horn dog. I was curious when you’d man up, but I’m not joining you and Evan. Evan deserves your proper attention. And don’t let me hear that you didn’t give him your utmost, undivided attention or you’ll have me to answer to, got it?”

The room spun and went silent as the song ended abruptly and none followed after it. I felt every eye in the club on me as I tried to make sense of what Trey was saying.

He doesn’t want to fuck me.

Fine.

But he wants me to fuck someone else?

Who?

The crowd started to boo as I hesitated with my answer.

When the music started again and the crowd cheered, I realized they weren’t waiting for my answer. They were waiting for the DJ who had dropped the ball and left them without the beat they needed to feed their frenzy.

The DJ. My neighbor. He must be Evan.

He couldn’t have been over five and a half feet tall. More than six inches shorter than me. He practically disappeared in his giant hoodie, just like he had most of the times I’d seen him taking out the trash. His head shook a firm rejection of Trey’s meddling. He then flashed both middle fingers at Trey, who laughed as he shimmied back to the dance floor, blowing us each a kiss as the masses swarmed around him in an adoring cocoon.

I turned back to my neighbor—Evan, according to Trey—but he’d already turned his attention back to poking his laptop with one hand and a turntable with the other, clearly forgetting about me as quickly as Trey had.

“Sorry about that,” I mumbled, feeling that something needed to be said, but Evan made no indication that he’d heard.

I needed to get the fuck out of the swarm of chaotic thoughts that were attacking me. Trey had rejected me, and had even tried to pass me off to another man. And that man had rejected me, too. If that wasn’t a sign to stay away from men, despite how hard my cock got when I looked at some of them, I didn’t know what it would take.

Pushing my way through the crowd, I ignored Sean, who was calling my name. I needed fresh air. Unfortunately, the air outside the bar was nearly as hot and stale as inside. After living all thirty years of my life in Georgia, I still found the summer heat unbearable some nights. Not for the first time, I thought about getting away. My sister could find another babysitter. I could send her money if she needed it. Or maybe she could finally force the baby’s dad to pay for his kid.

Fucking Rick.

Problem for another day.

I needed beer from cans, and country music. Dance clubs were never going to be my scene and, since Trey had firmly shot me down, I couldn’t think of a single reason to ever go back to one of them.