Page 96 of The Bartender Special

At least in his crappy little apartment there was a separation from it all.

A place to hide.

A place to⁠—

The sound of faint knocking halted his self-pitying spiral.

He looked at the door with an eyebrow raised high.

It had to be at least two in the morning. Wasn’t Callum asleep already?

Benny threw the covers off and winced lightly as he walked to his bedroom door. Before he reached the doorknob, the knocking sounded again.

But it wasn’t against the door.

He turned on his heel and stared at the window opposite.

Was it Ethan?

Benny hurried to the window and pulled the curtains to each side, almost sure his best friend had opted for their old method of sneaking around in high school.

The person on the other side of the glass, backlit by the moon, that apparently wasn’t his nerdy best friend, stood carrying a shopping bag and a glare.

It was Jack.

And he was clearly frustrated.

He pointed to the window lock.

Benny’s surprise had his fingers opening it and the window without further questions.

Jack didn’t hesitate.

Benny stepped back as the bartender spilled over the windowsill and into his room. Before he could even stand tall again, a grumble came out.

“I know you own a phone. Not only have I seen you use it, I’ve been on the other side of the line from it before.”

He had changed from earlier that day and now was dressed down for obvious comfort. Dark green athletic shorts and a black band tee, both well-worn, fit him…well.

Benny’s eyes dropped to the section of the shorts where an outline of something could probably be seen if he was more focused.

Then that stare went to the plastic bag Benny realized Jack was holding.

Jack caught his gaze.

He shook the bag.

“I had to run out to grab something for Dixon and saw this and figured you might need it.” Jack pulled out a green bottle of aloe. He pointed to Benny’s legs. “Unless you already got some?”

Benny was immediately moved.

He immediately decided not to be moved.

Which meant physically moving away from the dressed-down bartender.

“Callum had some, but it was a few years old,” he said, not-so-casually stepping back to the bed to get his phone. “Plus, it’s not that bad of a burn now. You didn’t have to do any of this.”

Jack followed every step Benny took backwards.