Fuck it, I thought. While still dripping wet, I took a naked selfie where the bottom of the photo cut off at the bottom of my stomach, right before my cock. I sent it over to Red. I texted him right after sending the photo.
>>Liam: Yes. Next time, please don’t hesitate to suck me awake. And can that next time be tomorrow? Let’s film another video tonight.
>>Red: Good lord, hell yes. You sure you’re ready to make another video?
>>Liam: Ready as I’ll ever be.
>>Red: Deal. Mitch and Sam are closing tonight, so I can be at your place by ten.
I pointed the camera at my cock, already half-hard again even after I’d just come so recently. I took a photo and sent it to him, adrenaline rushing through me as I hit send.
>>Liam: I’ll be here. Just like this.
It felt insanely good to be texting like this with Red. At this point, I could handle the idea of thousands and thousands of people having eyes on Red online. I got to have this version of him—the version that was willing to wake me up with blow jobs, that wanted to send me messages at any time of day, that spent the night next to me in bed, just because.
Maybe this was enough.
Almost like opening myself up to letting someone care about me—for real, this time—was the thing I should have been doing all along.
15
Red
From the moment I saw the blond-haired man walk through the front door of the tavern, I knew there was going to be trouble.
“Well, fuckin’ hell, it is a gay bar,” he said, his wide eyes scanning all around the place like he was looking for someone.
“Evening,” Sam said, emerging from the back hallway. “We welcome anyone. But we are pretty much gay as hell. Welcome.”
“It’s you,” the blonde guy said, pacing up to the bar and sitting down, peering at Sam.
Sam cocked his head to one side. “Do we know each other? Were you that guy at James’ party a few weeks ago? Because that was fun and all, but I’m not really looking for a repeat—”
“You’re the guy from the picture,” the blond man said, fixing Sam with a hard stare. “You were with Hardy. Where is he? I know he comes here.”
Ice-cold worry started to creep through my stomach.
“What’s your name, bud?” I asked him as I finished drying off a pint glass.
“Colin Fenworth, very nice to meet you,” he said, holding out his hand to shake mine.
“From Los Angeles? You knew Liam?”
“I know Hardy, yes, and it took me two airplanes and a disgusting shuttle bus to get to this podunk town, so I hope to God he’s somewhere around this place.”
Colin ran his hand through his hair, shaking a little like he was grossed out by the mere thought of being in the middle of nowhere, Kansas.
“So you’re him, huh?” I said. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
I pulled out my phone, heading toward the back hallway and shooting Liam a quick text.
>>Red: You heard from Colin lately?
>>Liam: No. I ignore all his messages.
>>Red: Understood.
>>Liam: Wait… why? What’s up?
As I was typing out another message to Liam, I heard a shout from the front of the bar. I pocketed my phone and headed back out to see Colin scrambling around on the floor, grabbing a bag of white powder and hastily pocketing it.
Sam came toward me, speaking under his breath.
“This guy is fucking nuts,” Sam said, giving me a look that said please help.
“You don’t know the half of it,” I muttered.
“He said he saw the photo of me with Liam on Twitter. I tagged Liam in it, and apparently this Colin guy looks at the Liam Hardy tags every day. He found Red’s Tavern from that one picture.”
I sighed. “And your Twitter profile says you work here,” I said.
“Of course it does,” Sam said.
“Great,” I said.
Perry emerged from the kitchen, throwing a towel over his shoulder. “Something happening up front?”
“Nothing. We have an asshole up there who is probably on a good bit of cocaine, and we need him gone before the producers get here. Not a chance in hell I’m having this mess in here while I’m about to take a business phone call.”
Perry, Sam and I managed to get Colin out into the front parking lot where he wasn’t disrupting the rest of the bar. Colin wasn’t belligerent, but he was dead-set on trying to figure out where Liam was.
My stomach was sick as I watched Colin lean against the wall out front, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.
This was the person who had made Liam feel worthless. A person who took advantage of him, time and time again. And I didn’t want him anywhere in the same hundred-mile radius of Liam.
I clenched my teeth as Colin rolled his eyes at me, Perry and Sam.