Play With Me - Brittany Cournoyer Page 0,12

suit, and after we said our goodbyes, I shut the door and cleaned up their mess. Water bottles and Baylor’s drumsticks littered the table—as well as the one beer. After that was finished, I shut off the lights in the kitchen and then carefully stored my saxophone in its case. There were still a few hours of sunlight left, so I retreated to my garage to putter around with my bike. I bought it for a steal knowing it wouldn’t run and needed a lot of work to restore it, but it was my way of relaxing. And with my unexpected trips back to my childhood and how I joined the band, as well as thinking about how I’d see Foster again in a few days, I needed relaxation more than ever. I was tense in ways I’d never felt before, and not even a warm body would help alleviate that. No, getting elbow deep in grease would.

Or maybe what’ll help is seeing your bartender again.

He wasn’t my bartender, but fuck me if I didn’t want him to be. Even for a night.

And I found myself once again anxious for what Saturday night might bring. Maybe it wouldn’t lead to anything at all. But there was still a bit of hope that it would be something.

5

Foster

This wasn’t my night. Typically, things had been going well for me, but for some reason, tonight of all nights, I was a mess. I’d spilled drinks on customers, broken too many glasses, and mixed something that looked like sludge rather than a chocolate martini. And I knew deep down it had nothing to do with me being new and everything to do with the Sax Man onstage.

I had been a nervous wreck all afternoon after Mina had informed me that the band would be playing again. Waiting anxiously for when they would appear, I noticed how my hand trembled every time I reached for the rag, or how my body didn’t feel comfortable in its own skin. And when they finally arrived, marching in as if they owned the place, my tension only skyrocketed.

Of course, there was my little secret that I’d come the hardest I ever had in my life because I couldn’t stop thinking about him, and when he was playing my focus was entirely too much on him and not on my customers. Dammit, I needed to get it together before I lost my job. Mina had the patience of a saint, but I knew that could only last so long.

“What’s with you tonight?” she asked when there was a lull in traffic.

“I wish I knew,” I said miserably.

Great, aside from screwing up, I could also add lying to the assistant manager on my list.

She eyed me critically. “Do you need to take a break? I can handle it out here for a few if you need a breather.”

I wanted to take her up on her offer, but I couldn’t. Not if I wanted to prove to her I was worth keeping on. I needed to show her I could handle anything, even a big crowd, and I couldn’t let my personal issues—like the fact I was jerking off to a man—get in the way of that.

“No, I’m okay. But thanks,” I told her before turning back toward the bar to wait on the next customer.

I took a few deep breaths before I began mixing up a Cosmo and nearly sighed in relief when it turned out perfectly. Just a few more hours of this and I’d be good to go. I had this. And thankfully, the bar was so busy when the guys broke after their first set, Mina was the one to handle Sax Man.

I was bummed yet relieved, because I wasn’t sure I could look him in the eye knowing what I knew—that visuals of him made me come. But at the same time, I did want to look him in the eye and see if what I was wrestling with was really just a fluke because I needed to get laid. Or maybe there was just something about the Sax Man that awakened things in me that’d never stirred before.

It was only when the lights flickered, and Mina yelled last call that I realized how quickly time flew by when you were lost in your own head. Yes, throughout the night I’d stolen glances of the stage to watch as his tattooed muscles rippled under his sweat-soaked shirt while he played. And no, my fingers didn’t twitch