by A R Steele
He hoped no one would expect that of him. There was no way he would ever do anything with a woman. Once he’d realized he was attracted to men, he’d skipped right over the bisexual phase that so many of his friends had gone through. He was willing to try just about anything once, but not that.
“You were never nervous about it?”
Ace’s grin came back, even more brilliant than before. “Course not. It’s all about being sexy… and that comes to me naturally.”
His cockiness was enough to make Gabriel look away, blushing. Now that they were closer to the front, he had a good view of the guy onstage. That stripper was only all right-looking. Gabriel tried not to be vain, but he was fairly sure he was as attractive as that guy. His dance didn’t look like anything special, either.
“There’s the DJ booth, up there,” Ace said. “The VIP lounge is that way – it’s not open yet. This area here might get turned into a dance floor eventually.”
They walked out of the main room and into a quieter side hallway. Ace stopped and swiveled in front of a door.
“Here, we come to the end of the grand tour,” Ace said. “This is Trenton’s office. Over there is the change room, and down that way is the back room. You should come visit us in there later… Princess.”
Had Ace just winked? Gabriel put the thought out of his mind. Right now, all Gabriel needed to do was get through the interview with Trenton.
“Thanks for showing me around,” he said, trying to smile. As intimidating as the stripper was, he had been nice to Gabriel.
“I’m going to do a song. See you around.”
Ace’s departure gave Gabriel a chance to take a breath and compose himself. God fucking damn, that guy was something. Gabriel was about to bite his fingernails when the door opened. He jumped back.
The man let out a puff of smoke as he stared at Gabriel. He stubbed out his cigarette on the doorframe and tossed it over his shoulder. Gabriel tried not to gape. The office was messy, but surely no one would throw cigarettes around like that. He was only slightly relieved when he saw it land cleanly in the trashcan.
“Gabriel Mueller?”
“Yes. You must be Trenton.”
Gabriel reached out to shake his hand. Like most men, Trenton was taller than him. He stood perhaps two inches taller than Gabriel’s five foot nine. Grey strands speckled here and there through his dark hair gave away that he was older than Gabriel. At twenty-two, Gabriel expected his wavy blond locks wouldn’t go grey for a good long time.
The owner didn’t say anything at first. He held onto Gabriel’s hand for longer than Gabriel thought was necessary. His eyes appraised him even more closely than Austin’s had. Gabriel was going to have to get used to this. The female patrons weren’t going to inspect him any less.
Still, it felt strange and somehow sleazy to be evaluated like a piece of meat. Trenton was practically undressing Gabriel with his eyes. But he should have expected that. This might have been the only line of work where that was actually appropriate.
“So, you want to be a stripper.”
Trenton hadn’t even asked Gabriel to sit down, he noticed. He had the feeling Trenton might just laugh if he pulled out the resume he’d brought along with him. At least he’d had the sense to dress down. The nice shirt and tie he’d worn to get his current job would have been completely out of place here. Even in his well-ironed chinos and button-down shirt, he felt overdressed.
“Yes,” he answered. “I never thought about it before, but it made sense. I’m a janitor right now – I work at the mall down the street. It’s been so hot lately, I unbuttoned my shirt halfway at closing time the other day. This one lady saw me and started chatting with me, and she told me about this place. I’d never heard of it before. She told me I’d fit right in here.”
“I see.” Trenton seemed vaguely amused, and Gabriel went quiet instantly. He’d babbled too much. What was he doing? He clearly wouldn’t fit in here, even if he did have a nice body and an okay-looking face.
There had to be a way to salvage this interview with some dignity, if not with the job. “What else did you want to ask me? I’m an open book.”
Trenton drew another cigarette out of his pocket. “Got a light?”
“I don’t smoke.”
Was that a test? What kind of interview was this? He should have brought a lighter instead of a resume. He should have guessed it would be like this.
Trenton didn’t rebuke him for not smoking, though. He simply went back to his desk and found his own lighter inside. He lit the cigarette lazily, his eyes lighting up and down Gabriel’s body again as he did. Gabriel fought to keep from biting his lip. Does he have to keep doing that? Something about this man made him powerfully nervous. This whole situation had caught him off guard.
“To answer your question,” Trenton said, “no. I don’t have any more questions for you.”
Gabriel nodded. Sure, it was a little disappointing to know that he wasn’t good enough to be a stripper. Trenton had clearly measured him up and found him to be lacking in some way. Maybe he wasn’t hot enough – the guys who flocked to him every time he went to a gay bar would disagree. Maybe he wasn’t tall enough, or he just didn’t have the right type of look.
His sexuality wasn’t usually that obvious, but Trenton had to be good at reading people. Maybe he knew Gabriel wouldn’t be able to fake attraction to the ladies in the crowd. Whatever it was, knowing he wasn’t cut out to be a stripper was almost a relief. He could leave now.
But Trenton’s next words weren’t to tell Gabriel to go home. “An interview isn’t too useful without seeing how you dance,” he said. “Once you get onstage and show me what you can do, we’ll talk.”
*
Read the rest of Hard Wood (Tool Shed Book 1) by clicking here!
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Book 2: Full Frontal, Owen and Cooper
Book 3: VIP Room, Lucas and Elijah
Book 4: Live Fantasies, Jesse and Shade
Book 5: Exposed, Wright and Yorick
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