#PictaBook

Chapter 1The doorbell rang as Phoenix Ford put on his motorcycle boots. He swung the door open and nodded at Logan, his cousin, coworker, and best friend. “Let’s go!” “Hold it.” Logan put his hand flat on Nix’s chest. “You’re not going anywhere dressed like that.” Nix looked down at himself. He looked f*****g great. The leather pants hugged his ass awesomely, and the T-shirt showed off each one of his abs. He’d spent years perfecting them at the gym, and he wanted to show them off. “What’s wrong with this?” He glared at Logan. “Nothing, if we were going to a b**m club, but we’re not. I will not sit next to a wannabe Dom in a family place.” “I’m not a Dom, nor do I ever want to be a Dom.” “You want to look like one?” Logan shook his head. “Put on jeans, Nix. Plain, ordinary jeans. They can be black so they match your bad boy persona and your leather jacket, but I draw the line at full leather gear.” “f**k you.” “Cute. Now go change.” “Ass!” But Nix started unbuttoning the leather pants while walking toward his bedroom. He was bone-tired. They’d worked hard all week, and he’d wanted nothing more than to slouch on the sofa, order pizza, and have a beer while falling asleep to some lame action movie—or the news would work great too. But their boss had been on a team-building seminar, and now he was organizing after work activities for his employees. Nix sighed, but he’d heard Kyle Richards had agreed to come to the pub to hang out with the rest of them. Kyle was so hot, and the night they’d spent together at the Christmas party last year had been scorching, or close to. Every time he thought about it, he got aroused. But he’d chased after Kyle for more than two months now without results. Jeans on, a once-over in the mirror to make sure he still looked hot, he headed out into the hallway where Logan was waiting. “Have you eaten?” Nix’s stomach rumbled. “No, I figured we’d eat there.” “Good, me too.” It would’ve been awkward if he was the only one who hadn’t eaten. Together, they walked through the old part of town. It was a pedestrian zone in the summer but open to traffic now in the dark and gloomy February. The zone consisted of old, narrow, cobble-stoned roads leading to the town square. The pub they were going to faced the square, and while Nix didn’t go there often since the clientele were mostly straight, middle-aged people, it was nice to not have more than a ten-minute walk home. He could have more than a couple of beers and still be able to make it home of his own accord. His stomach rumbled again. “Please tell me they have good food.” Logan gave him an unimpressed look. “I don’t understand how you don’t go there all the time. You practically live in their backyard.” Nix rolled his eyes. “Because when I go out, I want to get laid, and the chances of finding a hook up in there is minimal.” “You’re such a whore.” “Just because you’ve played monogamous for the last ten years doesn’t mean I have to.” “Played? What the hell do you mean?” Oh-oh. Nix shrugged and grinned, hoping Logan would let it slide. He could get away with a lot, but not when it came to Kristen, Logan’s girlfriend. “It was a joke, Logan. I know you’d never…and Kristen is great.” “Damn right, she is.” Nix nodded. “What I’m saying is, you’ve chosen the whole “find a girlfriend and live together for the rest of your lives” route, I’ve chosen the “please close the door when you leave” route instead.” Logan shook his head, seeing right through him. There was nothing Nix would’ve wanted more than someone to share his life with. But it was different with guys, they didn’t want to be tied down, and most men he hooked up with didn’t want to get exclusive or live in monogamous relationships. It was tiring, but better to get laid than to be lonely. They walked into the pub, and Nix instantly spotted Kyle at one of the tables. He looked pristine as always, dressed in slacks and a light-blue shirt. His short, dark hair, perfectly styled, and his horn-rimmed glasses made him look hot enough to eat. “No!” Logan grabbed his arm when Nix started off in Kyle’s direction. “But it’s an after-work pub night, we’re here to talk to our coworkers.” “We’re here to eat, have a beer, and socialize. Not harass the administrative staff.” “I’m not harassing him. He likes me.” Logan sighed while giving him a long look. “He doesn’t, Phoenix.” Oh, full name, he must be serious. “He does. We had a great night—” “I’m sure you both got off famously and all, but he doesn’t like you.” Nix scowled. Kyle liked him. Why else would he have slept with him? “I’m going to talk to him.” “No, please—” But Logan didn’t get the chance to say anything else before Nix hurried over to Kyle’s table. “Hi, Kyle.” He gave him his best smile. “How are you?” Kyle rolled his eyes, and Nix’s heart beat harder. “Phoenix. You are like your name suggests, aren’t you?” “Huh?” Nix lost himself in Kyle’s cornflower blue eyes. “You’re never put to rest; you keep popping up over and over again.” Nix frowned, then he shrugged. “So how have you been?” “Since we saw each other in the office earlier? Good.” He looked away from Nix and focused on his phone. Nix did too, but he didn’t recognize the app he had open. PictaBook. It had a light background and a purple camera with a pile of books next to the name. “What are you looking at?” Kyle glanced up from the screen with raised eyebrows, his tone condescending. “Books. I know you’ve never owned one, but they’re this neat little invention of words strung together to create a different world you get to take part in.” His words stung, but Nix tried not to let it show. “So it’s like f*******: but for books?” How lame! Kyle sneered. “More like i********:, but yes, it’s all about books.” “Cool.” Kyle snorted and Nix looked at the screen again, trying to see his username but only seeing a profile picture of a naked man hiding his privates underneath a book. “Nice picture, but that’s not you.” Kyle sighed. “Was there anything you wanted, Nix?” “Yeah, you know…” He rolled his shoulder. “Would you like to grab a beer sometime?” The slow blink didn’t bode well. “I don’t know how to tell you this so you understand. I’ll try to use simple words. You’re hot, and you’re an okay lay, but, honey, you’re dumb as a doornail. I don’t do stupid for more than one night, okay?” Nix had a hard time breathing, let alone finding his voice. “Nix, is a burger fine?” Logan called from a table across the pub. He was talking to a waitress and held a menu in his hand. Nix glanced at Kyle, who had his nose pressed against the screen of his phone again, and walked toward Logan. “Burger’s fine.” Though he’d lost his appetite. When he sat, the waitress smiled and hurried off toward the kitchen. Logan looked at him for a long time. “What did he say?” “Nothing.” “Come on, Nix. Your shiny ego is crackling.” “He said I was dumb as a doornail, and he doesn’t do stupid for more than one night.” “f**k him, he doesn’t know you. If he thinks you’re stupid, let him believe you are, and move on.” “I am dumb, and he used a condescending honey to explain it to me.” Logan’s lips thinned and the frown that had meant someone would get beat up when they’d been kids, made an appearance. “You’re not stupid, Phoenix. Don’t listen to him.” Nix nodded, then he grabbed his phone from his pocket. “I’m going to show him.” “No d**k pics in the pub!” Nix snorted a laugh, making Logan grin. “He was on this app, a book app.” “Nix, you don’t read.” “No, but I can pretend I do.” Logan grimaced. “Talking books when you haven’t read the book is usually a bad idea.” “No, you don’t have to have read the book. Look.” He showed Logan the app. Logan grabbed the phone. “A picture says more than a thousand words. Recommend books using pictures and hashtags to tell us what you liked and didn’t like about it. This sounds like one crappy app.” “I know! But Kyle was spellbound by it.” Logan sighed. “It says sign up for free.” He pointed at the sign-up fields. Nix grabbed the phone. “I can do pictures and hashtags.” Reading might not be his thing, but pictures he could do. “I have a feeling this will go horribly wrong.” Logan smiled and nodded as the waitress put a beer in front of him. “Nonsense. I’m not going to be rude to him. I’m going to say I’m reading the same books he is, and then we can talk about them.” “Yeah, there’s a catch, right there.” Nix stared at him. “What do you mean?” “He’ll be reading the books and therefore know what they’re about.” “Yeah…but I can find a summary online. Or you can read the book and tell me what it’s about.” He didn’t want to get his hopes up, but Logan had helped him a lot in school, reading his homework aloud to him, helping him understand the questions he had to answer, and so on. “Not going to happen. I’m too tired to sit and read when I get home in the evening. Plus, you have no idea what kind of books he reads. I might read the occasional book, but unless there’s a dead body, I’m not interested.” “Right.” Nix nodded, squinting at the screen as he went through the sign-up process.