CHAPTER FOUR
Beau
Sometimes I think Beau’s sadder than he seems. ~ Love, Kenny
“Christ on a cracker. I’ve died and gone to gay heaven. Who is that?”
I rolled my eyes at my best friend, Lincoln, before popping a tater tot into my mouth. Linc had a radar for pretty boys, and while there were times it had come in handy, I wasn’t in the mood at the moment. “Who cares? Can’t we just eat and not worry about sex for once?” Not that I typically minded thinking about sex. Hell, I quite enjoyed sex and thought about it often, but right then, I just wanted to eat and chat with my friend and relax.
“Who said anything about sex, hmmm?” Linc cocked a blond brow at me. “I was only commenting on a pretty face…and body…good God that body. It’s better than yours.”
That’s what made me turn around in my seat. Not that I thought I had the hottest body around or anything, but it was pretty good. The second I did, my heart dropped to my stomach…nope, not there…it kept going, landing somewhere close to my feet.
My head suddenly throbbed. Jerking, I tried to whip around, duck down in my seat so he couldn’t see me, but apparently my bad karma had returned because I saw the recognition in his blue eyes as I turned away from him.
“Beau? Holy shit, Beau Campbell,” Ash nearly shouted as he stalked forward.
Linc’s eyes went wide, obviously not realizing who it was. Linc hadn’t gone to high school in Fever Falls, and though he’d of course heard about the football player who’d gone pro—because who the fuck hadn’t heard of Ashton Carmichael—he wasn’t into the sport and likely didn’t put two and two together.
The moment Ash stepped up to the table, his muscular thighs were right fucking in front of me, enclosed in tight blue jeans…and they were sexy thighs. Not something I’d ever paid much attention to, but then these were Ash’s thighs, and I had no doubt he was as charismatic as he’d always been.
But it wasn’t nice to stare, was it? Especially not with straight football players who kissed you once and then never spoke to you again. Nope, not fair at all.
I knew I had to do something, knew I had to look up, but I couldn’t quite make myself do it.
“Beau?” Ash asked, probably wondering if I’d lost my mind since he saw me last.
“Yes, Beau?” Linc added, because he was Lincoln and of course he could read me like a book.
As my head slowly angled upward, my eyes scanned his body. Ashton Carmichael… Ash was fucking there, back in Fever Falls. The second I reached his face, the corners of his mouth tilted up into a sexy, cocky smile, and I was taken back to that night, to the kiss, the feel of Ash’s lips against mine, the feel of a man’s lips against my own. He’d been both my nemesis—the man who would be able to live my dream—and my sexual awakening. And fuck, he was even more gorgeous than he had been ten years before. Somehow his eyes were bluer, this piercing dagger that went right through me. His jaw was squarer, his dark scruff sexier…well, he hadn’t even had scruff back then, but he had it now. His hair looked a little lighter, but still very brown. His lips were sort of pouty, which he played to his advantage, or at least he had back then.
Wait. Had someone asked me a question? I couldn’t remember.
“Hi, I’m Lincoln, Beau’s very available and flexible friend. He seems to have lost his voice at the moment. You are…” Linc’s words snapped me out of whatever trance Ash had put me into.
“Knock it off, Linc,” I said just as Ash replied, “You don’t know who I am?”
I rolled my eyes. Jesus, he hadn’t changed a bit. “Oh, of course, because everyone has to know who Ashton Carmichael is.”
“Obviously,” Ash answered with a cocky grin that was just an older, sexier version of the one he’d had when we were teens.
“Wait…you’re the football guy?” Linc asked, and I swear Ash lit up like someone stuffed the sun up his ass.
He held out his hand, and Lincoln took it. “Ashton Carmichael, nice to meet you.” Lincoln pretended to swoon, and Ash frowned but recovered quickly. “Christ, it’s been a long time, Beau. I think the last time I saw you was the night of our graduation party. Shit, I was drunk as hell that night.”
Because he just had to throw that in so I was reminded that my sexual awakening had been his drunken mistake. I opened my mouth to reply but didn’t get the chance before Ash was sitting down in the booth, making me automatically have to scoot over.
“Yes, please. Make yourself at home,” I told him.
“There’s the Cranky Campbell I remember.”
Ash winked.
Lincoln laughed.
I groaned. How was this my life? I couldn’t believe Ash was back. But then the headlines I’d obsessively read came back to me…the partying, the women, the orgy…not getting signed…Ash taking an early retirement.
A tornado formed in my chest, a mixture of sympathy and anger—hurting for him having lost everything; pissed that he threw it all away. Fuck, I would have done anything for the opportunities Ash had.
“Do you mind if I steal that?” Lincoln asked. “The guys will love it. Cranky Campbell fits him so well.”
“Fuck you very much.” I threw a tater tot at my ex-friend.
“Feel free,” Ash told him, picking a tot off my plate as though it hadn’t been ten years since I saw or spoke to him. What the hell was that?
He chewed, and it brought my attention to his strong, square jawline. This wasn’t how I expected the day to go. There was no universe I could have imagined for myself where Ash would be sitting beside me, eating food off my plate.
“Wow…I knew about you, of course. Everyone in town talks about you, but Beau never mentioned you’d been friends. He actually made it sound like…”
I cocked a brow at Linc for nearly selling me out, and he closed his mouth.
“Like he hated me?” Ash asked.
“Well…now that you mention it…”
“I didn’t hate you,” I cut them off, but the truth was, I had. Or at least I always told myself I had, and in ten years, that hadn’t changed.
“I think that might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.” Ash winked before eating more of my food.
I was so dumbstruck, I didn’t know what to say, so instead I watched him as he made himself completely comfortable with us. Was there ever a situation where Ash was uncomfortable? Well, except for post-kiss with me, apparently.
“We love our Cranky Campbell,” Linc added. “I have a feeling we’ll love you too. Straight football player eating at Fever Pitch, one of the gayest restaurants in the gayborhood.”
Oh fuck. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind what Lincoln was doing. He was trying to figure out if Ash was straight.
“The gayborhood?” Ash’s brows pulled together. “And wait, there’s such a thing as gay restaurants?”
I shook my head and groaned. This was going to be a long dinner. “No, it’s not really a gay restaurant. I mean, it’s frequented by a lot of members of the LGBTQ community, but anyone can come here, and yes, Fever Street is now basically the gay mecca of Fever Falls.”
“Oh,” Ash replied, and then his brows rose to his hairline as if he’d realized what it meant for me. “Oh.” His cheeks suddenly flushed, making me wonder if Ash was thinking about that night ten years ago, which had obviously been a fluke for him. Unless he kept his trysts with men secret, which was entirely possible. “Congratulations?” he asked, making Lincoln laugh again.
“Oh, honey, you’re cute as hell.”
“Cut it out, Linc,” I told him. The last thing we needed was for Lincoln to fall in lust with Ash. He didn’t do love, but he sure as shit did lust. I looked at Ash. “You don’t have to congratulate me.”
“Yeah…that was weird. Sorry. It just threw me for a second.”
Because I’d kissed him like I’d been straight? I was pretty sure I’d kissed him like I’d wanted to crawl inside him. But then, he’d kissed me back, he’d kissed me first, and clearly it didn’t mean the same thing for him.
“I’m not…gay, I mean. I’m an ally, though!” He said the last part a little too enthusiastically, then looked around the restaurant as though the gays were all going to come and get him.
“Congratulations,” I replied.
“You don’t have to congratulate me,” he said with a smirk.
“Bi?” Lincoln asked, hope making his voice rise an octave.
“Sorry, buddy, straight as straight can be.”
Was it me, or had Ash turned away from me when he’d spoken? Likely, I was looking for signs that weren’t there. It wasn’t an enjoyable thought that my male-first-kiss only did it because he was drunk…that he wasn’t attracted to me…or men in general.
“Damn it!” Lincoln cursed, and thankfully Ash laughed before popping another tater tot into this mouth.
“Ugh. These are cold. How about I order us some more? And potato skins. Maybe we can do some appetizer platters. Do you guys want a drink? Dinner’s on me,” Ash rambled on.
Before I could get the word no out, Linc replied, “I’m in.”
Did I mention it was going to be a long night?