“Hey! Just about to start,” Spence declared loudly in his ear, making him lose track of the big guy. Damn it.
Spence set down four drinks. When Jaden stared, he grinned. “Three guys tried to buy me a drink, and I wasn’t going to say no. One of them kissed me and his stubble exfoliated my nose. Not sure I should use the bathroom in the next hour, or I might have company. So, any idea what you want me to bid on?”
Jaden snorted with laughter. Spence’s relentless cheerfulness kept him briefly distracted. “I told you—”
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t waste your money, you said. Except it all goes to charity, so it’s not a waste. Come on. Don’t make me choose a raffle box for you.”
Jaden groaned and stood up. “I’m too anxious to do this.” Any of the dates being raffled off sounded like too much for him. The Heart2Heart charity could keep his money and he’d just leave.
“Hey, man.” Spence pressed on his shoulder gently. “If you really hate it, we can go. But I think you can do this. You might not even win. If you do, it’s just one date. And if you hate it, you never have to do it again,” he added.
Jaden sighed. “Okay,” he finally murmured. “Fine. Pick something for me.”
Spence had a certain impish grin on his face. “Will do! Drink up!”
Boy, Jaden hoped he didn’t regret it.
His regrets came home to roost only two hours later.
“And moving on to our final prize! Oh, this box is full, people. That’s what I said last weekend,” the MC cracked jokes as people groaned good-naturedly.
An elbow in his side made Jaden wince and almost spill his drink. “Hey!”
“This is your chance,” Spence whispered with a big thumbs-up and grin.
Jaden considered telling him where to stick that thumb. He decided against it and just rolled his eyes. “Shhh.”
“What’s your number?”
Jaden pulled out the ticket Spence had handed him after heading over to drop the other half in the box.
036. One ticket in a great big box. What were the chances?
The crowd was thick, but the atmosphere was upbeat and happy. And everyone here was smiling at Jaden as they passed, like he was an old friend. It helped keep Jaden’s nerves in check.
The first four dates had already been raffled, and he was free and clear. Tickets for some VIP box at a sports arena, theater tickets, a five-star seafood restaurant, cocktails and a few hours in a giant ball pit. Safe from all of those things. All that remained was the fifth and final grand prize.
Of course Spence had chosen to put Jaden’s ticket into that box, the asshole. The grand prize was an overnight trip to the Grand Canyon. Helicopter trip, then biking to a picnic and a romantic cabin for two overnight.
Jaden leveled another glare at his brother while the MC cranked up the suspense, but Spence smirked and pretended not to see him.
“210. Do we have a 210 around here?”
A whoop and holler greeted him, and Jaden let out a breath of relief. His chances were even lower. One down, one to go.
“And… I know you’re all on the edge of your seat here… how about 36? Zero-three-six, everyone.”
“Shit,” Spence breathed out.
Jaden froze. Time itself seemed to halt for a moment as he stared at his ticket like it was lying to him.
No. He couldn’t do this.
Jaden was out of his seat—and the bar—before he even knew it. He made it to the cool, fresh air of the sidewalk before he sat on the curb, head in his hands.
Spence was still in there, no doubt getting all the information on his behalf.
This was what Jaden had wanted—but not yet. Not like this, with a stranger and an overnight trip and the freaking Grand Canyon!
“Oh, my God,” Jaden mumbled, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes until sparks danced across his vision. “What has he done?”
2
Henry
“It’ll be good for you.” Trip sounded annoyingly cheerful, as everyone who ever said that phrase did. But he wasn’t finished. “Getting laid will help with all that broodiness you have going on. Though that might actually help with getting laid. I hear the guys love a good Blue Steel.”
“Oh, shut up.” Henry dumped everything out of his backpack, then balled up his old boxers and threw them at his coworker.
Trip dodged and laughed. “Gross. I smelled you enough for one week. Time for a new loverboy to take on that duty.”
“I don’t know why I’m agreeing to this,” Henry muttered. Being grumpy was a lot easier than admitting to the nervousness that made his heart pound and hands tremble.
They’d only just gotten back from three days in the backcountry of Colorado, right in time for Henry’s flight. He and his mysterious date were flying to Phoenix first, then being driven in a limo to the canyon. Fancy as hell.
Trip had dropped Henry off at home, but unfortunately he’d stuck around to harass him under the guise of helping him pack.
“Because you need a hot man in your life.”
“Do I?” Henry scratched the back of his neck as he opened his closet and shoved aside the hangers of waterproof layers and thermal wear.
What did he wear to hike and bike around the Grand Canyon with a total stranger he wanted to impress?
Agreeing to let Trip choose a date for him in the raffle had been a bold move. Hell, agreeing to go to this event at all had been.
“I don’t know.” Trip’s tone was more serious this time. “Do you?”
Henry paused and looked over his shoulder for a moment. Trip was a smart guy, and he had a big heart. It meant a lot that he’d never batted an eye at Henry being gay. But even so, he’d never told Trip that he was trans.
For the last few years, Henry had been living stealth—without telling anyone his history. Everyone knew him as a guy now. With no inconvenient ties with his past life to haunt him, he was just treated like any other guy.
For the most part, he loved it. No barrage of well-meaning but wrongheaded questions about when he knew or why he had to do it. Nobody treating him differently or tiptoeing around him.
Henry deserved the same amount of privacy as anyone else. He wouldn’t dream of asking Trip if he was circumcised or their boss, Damien, what his embarrassing childhood nickname had been. Why should anyone else ask him that kind of stuff?
But there was the inconvenient fact that his transness had become some big secret without his really meaning it to. He didn’t exactly want it to be a secret. He just didn’t want people associating him with the person the world had once mistaken him for. That lie was dead and gone. This was his truth.
But try explaining that to a stranger on Grindr who just wanted to know if he was a top or a bottom, and how big his dick was. Anything outside that box? Too complicated for them. It was even scarier to contemplate losing Trip as a friend over it.
Maybe this date was all too much of a risk. But he was committed now. Too late to turn around.
“Shit, I dunno,” was Henry’s conclusion.
That made Trip laugh as he crossed his ankles and leaned back. “I think you’re running from something.”
“Ouch. Thanks, but I’ll skip the psychotherapy.” Henry mock-grimaced. He’d had quite enough of that for one lifetime.