CHAPTER 11
DAINE
Kicking the new guy around felt good, I’ll admit it.
If I couldn’t get drunk, which I’d promised myself I wouldn’t do again tonight — and I couldn’t eat an entire apple pie because I’d look like I was having a baby — then I needed something to keep me entertained.
The new kid was an easy target.
One minute he was mouthing off to me, and the next he was slinking off like a berated puppy. I wasn’t sure which I was enjoying more.
The thing is he reminds me a little of myself at that age. Just like Fox implied, I was a smart ass on steroids when I was twenty-one. I thought I knew fucking everything there was to know, and I wasn’t about to listen to anyone who told me differently.
I’d grown up a lot since then, even if it doesn’t look like it on the surface.
I don’t act like I know everything anymore, for one thing.
And I’m not running around seeking everyone’s approval either, as this guy Finn obviously was. All night long throughout my shift, every time I turned around he was right there, watching me, lingering just close enough to notice.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was into me. But my gay-dar is fine-tuned and I knew this boy wasn’t gay. He was shy. Wet behind the ears. Inexperienced and insecure.
He probably needed a mentor, more than anything. Once again, I wondered why the hell Blaze would have hired him. With all the experienced entertainers just chomping at the bit to work here, he chose this mousy kid?
It didn’t make any sense.
Maybe Blaze saw some potential, some spark, in him, I figured.
That’s why I made a point to come out of the dressing room and take a seat at the bar to watch his debut performance. Immediately, I knew it was his first time.
He’d gone with a western outfit, choosing to dance to Garth Brook’s ‘Friends in Low Places’ and he’d pulled a big black Stetson low over his eyes. Tentatively, he took a step forward on the catwalk, and looked around like a deer frozen in headlights. The song continued as all eyes in the place waited for him to move.
Finally, something propelled him forward.
One boot in front of the other, he walked into the room to a chorus of raucous cheers. He smiled a crooked grin and reached up, tipping his hat to a young blonde sitting near the stage. The crowd cheered again and he wiggled his hips a little. The blonde stood up and threw a wad of bills at his feet. He danced over, turning around and showing his ass to the crowd.
I smirked, shaking my head. He was awkward as fuck. Not a graceful bone in his body. If it wasn’t for his ripped abs and boyish good lucks, he’d be useless up there.
Fortunately, for him, the women didn’t seem to mind his atrocious performance and they seemed perfectly happy to feast their eyes upon his naked body. I watched all the way until he ripped off his chaps, revealing my very favorite American flag g-string.
“You little asshole!” I muttered, standing up and turning away, unable to watch any longer.
I’d been easy on him so far, but it was time to turn up the heat.
If Blaze wasn’t going to teach him the rules around here, then somebody had to. If I needed to be the one to do it, so be it.
Little Finn didn’t know what he had coming.
I walked back to the dressing room to wait for him to get off stage so I could give him an earful about wearing my shit again and if necessary, a lesson in respect.
I ignored the fact that the words spinning through my head made me sound a lot like my old man. He’d disowned me a long time ago, as soon as I’d come out to him, but that didn’t keep his voice from popping up in my head now and then.
The realization of that fact took the wind out of my sails a bit, and by the time Finn got off stage, I’d gotten my things from my locker and disappeared out the back door.