When I stepped through the doors of Second Chances the following day, not exactly eager to start my shift, I ran right into Jason at the front door. His hands were on his hips, and he had a look on his face that said we needed to talk. Good, because I had a mouthful of things to say.

Namely, I couldn’t believe they’d decided to hire Kai after everything Dan had told us about the little Swedish snake, not to mention the stuff he and George had dug up online after Dan had spilled the tea.

The guy seemed like a recipe for disaster, the kind of thing guy who could bring the bar down fast, especially if the rumor mill got to turning in town about him, but neither Jason nor George seem to give a shit, which put a bee in my bonnet. Did they even give a shit about the place? What about all the hard work we’d put in on it, all the crap we’d been through to get it making money again?

Their daddy would slap them both across the back of their thick heads if he were here and still running the bar, but Jimbo was long gone, God rest his soul.

“Good afternoon,” Jason said, yanking me outta my hateful thoughts. Maybe I was just being a bear, but I didn’t care. I felt like an old, reliable car that’d been parked in favor of the new hotrod, like none of the contributions I’d made to the bar over the years even mattered anymore.

“Hey,” I said, all I could muster. I couldn’t look him in the eye because at some level I knew I was being unreasonable, but I just couldn’t bring myself to be happy or even accepting of this new guy.

“Look, I know this isn’t ideal for you, I know you’re upset about it, but that’s why I’m helping you,” Jason said. Please, he wasn’t trying to help me, he was just trying to save himself any grief. He had to know I wasn’t happy about him hiring Kai, had to have seen how we scrapped with each other, so he’d thrown himself between us to keep us from tearing each other a new cornhole.

“If you say so, big boss,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“All right, I’m putting the brakes on right here. I know you don’t particularly care for Kai, but you’re gonna have to get over it,” Jason snapped. He’d never talked to me like that before, which made me realize that I needed to dial it back a bit. The last thing I needed was to be at odds with my boss and best friend.

“Look, it ain’t that I’m upset, at least not like you think I am. It’s more that I feel like I’m being thrown aside like you don’t care about me anymore,” I said. It sounded stupid coming out of my mouth, something a four-year-old might say to their mama when they found out mama was pregnant again, but it was true.

“Why? I don’t understand this; it’s not the first time you’ve said it. Jesus, Mike, you’re my best friend in the world, you’ve been at this bar almost as long as I’ve been alive. I’m not getting rid of you, how many times do I have to say that?” Jason asked.

“It ain’t even about the bar. It’s about you, about me, about us, as buds,” I said, throwing my hands up in the air. “Why can’t you see that?”

“All right, I guess we’re going to have to drop this. It looks like Kai’s here and I don’t want to scare him off with our bickering,” Jason said, sighing as he ran a hand through his hair. Maybe he was right; maybe I just needed to give Kai a chance. Jealousy made me do all kinds of dumb things, and it sure wasn’t the first time I’d been jealous of Jason’s relationship with someone else.

“Fine,” I said, turning to the door to watch Kai approach. He was beaming when he walked through the door, and he waved to Jason and me both. To show goodwill, I waved back at him, and he looked stunned like I’d flipped him off or something.

“You’re early, I like that,” Jason said, offering a hand for Kai to shake as he stepped toward him. Kai shook it and nodded at him.

“You can’t say I don’t learn my lesson. Yesterday was, well, embarrassing, to say the least,” Kai said, his cheeks blushing ever so slightly. I had to admit; it made him even cuter than I already thought he was, almost boyish in a way I hadn’t seen before.

But that was neither here nor there.

“Well, you ain’t the only one who’s gotta apologize,” I said, stepping toward Kai to offer him my hand to shake as well. He looked at me quizzically, his brow furrowed like he was worried I was wearing one of those shocking prank devices on the inside of my hand. “Oh, come on, don’t look at me like that. I ain’t tryin’ to pull nothing on you,” I said, jabbing my hand out at him. With a shrug, he took it and gripped my hand, so firmly it almost hurt. I wouldn’t have guessed somebody as little as him could have so much power, especially compared to a stocky dude like me, so I squeezed him back and he gave me a devilish grin.

Was he flirting with me? Naw, no way in hell. That’s the kind of shit I’d say after 2 AM when I was far more full of beer than sense.

“You don’t have to apologize, I get it,” he said as he released my hand. His eyes never left mine, like he was looking deep inside me. It gave me chills.

“The hell I don’t. I been treating you like shit stuck to the bottom of my shoe ever since you walked in here. You don’t deserve that, you’re part of the family now,” I said. Sure, the words were more than a little corny, but they weren’t wrong. If Jason and George had decided Kai was good enough to work here, then I would just have to get in line. And besides, like I said, maybe he wasn’t all that bad.

“All right, well, apology accepted,” Kai said.

“See? Was that so hard? Turns out two squabbling little girls really can get along,” George said. I hadn’t even seen or heard him enter the room, but he must’ve been drawn out by all the racket.

“Very funny. We’ll see who’s the little girl when all this is said and done with,” I spat back at him, and he smiled.

“There’s the smart ass we all know and love,” George said and clapped me on the back.

“And here I thought he was just a dick,” Kai said, and we all burst out laughing. I couldn’t blame him for thinking it of me—it wasn’t like I’d given him any reason to think otherwise—but it did still irk me. I was raised better than that, told use my manners and treat everybody like I would want to be treated. Dear Lord, if only my mama could see me now, she’d probably be rolling in her grave.

“He may not be a dick, but he certainly likes them,” Jason said, and my face ignited. Why the hell would he say something like that? Now, what would Kai think of me?

But wait a minute, why the hell did I give a single shit what Kai thought of me? Was it because of the way he’d shaken my hand, held my grip a little too long? Could it be that he was interested in me? Naw, no way, not possible. That was the wishful thinking of a lonely guy still getting over a breakup he should have gotten over months ago. Again, if only my mama could see me now, standing there like a scared little puppy dog who’d just peed himself, praying his owner wouldn’t notice.

“All right, all kidding aside, what do you say we get started with the training?” Jason interrupted, clearly trying to cover up for his joke that’d fallen flat. Thankfully, nobody’d responded to it.

“Can’t wait,” Kai said, cracking his knuckles like he was about to try to lift something four times as heavy as he was. It wasn’t that complicated; it was just a matter of memorizing all the drinks and prices and the food menu—not that he would be dealing with that very much thanks to me. But then again, on the days I was off work, maybe he would.

I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something about the idea of Kai puttin’ his dirty little mitts all over my tools in the kitchen made me more than a little uncomfortable. It was almost like coming into another man’s house and rearranging his underwear drawer or something—not that there was anything interesting in my underwear drawer.

“Where should we start?” Jason asked, stirring me out of my thoughts.

“Well, ain’t he gonna be bartending? Doesn’t it make sense to start there?” I asked, shrugging. Making drinks wasn’t my forté, never had been, but I could make a mean ass fried pickle.

“Why don’t you show him the kitchen first? He hasn’t seen the place, he needs to know where everything is just in case,” Jason said, the faintest hint of a smirk on his face. He had to know that the idea in of itself was driving me crazy, which probably only made him happy to see. Was this his way of getting back at me for being such an ass? Maybe I deserved it.

“All right, suit yourself. Come on, greenhorn,” I said, motioning for Kai to follow me into the kitchen. I hoped Jason would follow me, maybe even George too, but no such luck. When I turned around inside the kitchen, it was just Kai, me, and the scent of fried chicken.

“So, this is your kingdom, huh?” Kai asked, looking around the place. It wasn’t anything special, just some plain white tile covered with industrial machinery—refrigerators, fryers, some workstations, the whole nine yards—but it was my kingdom. Believe it or not, cooking made me happy. Maybe that was something I got from my mama before she passed, I couldn’t say.

“Yeah, something like that,” I said. “I don’t reckon you’ll be in here much, but it’ll be good for you to know where things are. So, it’s pretty self-explanatory. These here are the fryers; we use ‘em to, you know, fry shit,” I said. Where were my words? It was like I had a mouth full of molasses. What was it about this guy that got me so tongue-tied? No matter what I said or did, I always felt like he was watching me, judging me, and I didn’t like it one bit. More than that, I didn’t know why I gave a shit what he thought about me and my life. Why did I feel like I needed to prove myself to him?

“Yeah, that’s pretty self-explanatory. I still don’t understand the American fascination with fried food, but I guess I’d better get over that, right?” Kai asked, and I chuckled.

“Boy, if you don’t understand our fascination with fried food, then you’re in the wrong damn place,” I said. “I’ll have to make you my fried pickles sometime, maybe even some fried Twinkies or Oreos, you’ll change your mind right quick.”

“That sounds disgusting in the best possible way,” Kai said with a smile, and my heart jolted like it’d been shocked. I couldn’t tell if he was ribbing me or not. Either way, I didn’t know what to make of it.

“Disgusting? Boy, you may as well have just pissed all over my daddy’s grave,” I said, shaking my head at him. The only thing I could do was joke, come up with something stupid to say to cover up how uncomfortable I felt. He was staring at me, all intense like, like he was sizin’ me up for dinner or something. But maybe I was making that up, maybe it was my self-consciousness bleeding through, or maybe that was just the way Swedish people looked at other people. Who the hell knew?

“I look forward to trying all the different horrifying concoctions you Americans have come up with,” Kai said, and turned away from me, mercifully breaking his gaze on me. He looked at the utensils hanging on the wall above the fryer.

“Is this the southern version of a BDSM set?” he asked, nodding at the utensils. I had to admit, they did look a little suggestive, but even him mentioning it made me blush. Why I couldn’t say, but again, there was just something about him that knocked me off guard. I still got the distinct impression he was flirting with me, and I had no idea what to make of that.

“No, you pervert. I don’t know what the hell you people get up to over in the Socialist Utopia of Scandinavia, but here in America we have values when it comes to sex,” I said, and he smirked at me.

“Socialist utopia? Is that really what you think of Sweden?” he asked with a chuckle. “I hate to break it to you, but it’s far from it. We’ve got our own strand of, well, not particularly accepting people.”

“Whatever, it don’t matter. Anyway, the point here is that you don’t ever talk like that in my kitchen, got it?” I asked. I hadn’t meant for it to come out as forcefully as it did, but I had so little control over myself. It was like he was trying to get a rise out of me. I kept falling right into his trap, which might’ve been what he wanted all along. Maybe he was just like his parents, putting on an act to try and pull me in just so he could turn on me and make me look like a fool.

I’d spent most of my life being treated like the village idiot, and I damn sure wasn’t gonna let him continue it.

“All right, all right, relax. I don’t want to meet my end in the fryers,” he said.

“It might make you taste better,” I said, and he burst out laughing.

“Oh, are you already thinking about eating me for dinner?” he asked. “I knew you Southerners had odd tastes, but I didn’t realize you’d resorted to cannibalism.” All right, all kidding aside, I totally would’ve eaten him for supper without thinking twice if I’d been given a chance, but that wasn’t what I’d meant at all.

“It ain’t like that, ya sicko,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I just meant that you can be a little nasty on the surface.”

“Oh, you have no idea how nasty I can be,” he said and winked at me before he stepped out of the kitchen, leaving me in stunned silence. Did he just say that to me? And if he did, what the hell did he mean by it?

I couldn’t stand this; there was no way it was going to work. I had to talk to Jason, had to get this guy outta my bar and outta my life before something regretful happened. Could he see just how lonely and desperate I was? And if he could, was that why he was being so suggestive? And what if, what if, he meant what he was implying?

I stormed out of the kitchen, hoping to chase after him and put him right, but Jason had already gotten to him. There was no way I was going to be able to get him alone now, given the fact he was pulling out all kinds of utensils and materials from under the bar to show Kai how to use this or that, so I just sat there watching, still stunned at what he’d said to me in the kitchen.

There was no way Kai could be attracted to me. And there was no way I would ever act on it, even if he had been. In any case, it was dangerous to even think about.

I needed a beer.