Imposter in Zebra-striped Briefs by C.C. Dado Read Free Book Online

couldn’t call himself straight after last night. Maybe he was bisexual, but really, had a female ever turned him on the way that guy did last night? Nathan. He liked the name. David never thought about whether or not he liked a person’s name or not before, but the name fit him. David wondered if it was short for Nathaniel. He could totally see that. He looked really intelligent. The answer was flat-out no, he had never felt a pull like that before to another person. He was starting to wonder if he was an eunuch, since he had yet to meet someone that made the world pause when you saw them, like his mom had always described meeting his dad. Until last night, the minute he locked eyes with Nathan. So did that mean he was gay? Or maybe it was just Nathan. Part of him wished he would have knocked on that door last night, but he had to figure his shit out. Nausea was overwhelming him. He threw his covers off and staggered into the bathroom, hoping his brother wasn’t awake yet. Thankfully when he got home last night, his brother was sleeping.
    He wasn’t so lucky now. He strolled out into the living room and saw Jamie sitting on the couch playing a video game.
    “Hey, brother, how’d it go?” Jamie asked, setting down his controller, waiting for his response.
    David walked past him into the kitchen to grab some breakfast, really just trying to avoid answering the question. They were always pretty close, but he didn’t think he could talk to Jamie about this. David started some coffee and made a bowl of oatmeal in an attempt to kill the nausea.
    “So dude. Tell me how it went,” Jamie finally said.
    “It went fine,” David deadpanned.
    Jamie stared at David in disbelief. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say about stripping for a gay bachelor party? ‘It went fine.’ Seriously did something bad happen? Did you chicken out? Shit, you did, didn’t you,” Jamie said, shaking his head, looking at the floor.
    “No, I didn’t chicken out. I danced, got paid, and I’m hoping we can never bring it up again.”
    David heard Jamie’s sigh of relief. “Hey, thanks. Really you’re the best brother ever.”
    “Yeah, no problem,” David said. “How you feeling?”
    “Much better, even though you forgot my soup,” Jamie said ungratefully.
    David shook his head, realizing he had lost his appetite, and went back to bed, thinking maybe things would be clearer when he wasn’t hungover.

Chapter 10
    Working (Nathan)
     
     
    NATHAN WAS still getting settled into the new place. Between work and adjusting to having friends, these past few days had been completely crazy. Josh wasn’t kidding when he said Nathan was “his” new friend. Josh managed to swing by for something or other every night and hang out for a bit. Nathan was pretty sure he was just trying to get out of Brandon’s way since he was manically planning the perfect wedding taking place in one week.
    Josh started texting Nathan too. He was pretty funny. He liked to talk in e-cards—Nathan swore there must be an e-card for everything—and most of them were super inappropriate, stuff you would never actually say to someone in person. He wasn’t quite comfortable enough to respond to most of them, but Josh sent a follow-up text after the first one that said, You know you laughed. It felt really natural to be friends with Josh. At first he was worried after the misunderstanding when they met that it would be awkward between them, but Josh was so cool and easy to get along with, they just clicked as friends. It was the first time he had really had a true friend like this.
    After twenty-three years of feeling like he couldn’t be himself, he was finally happy. He still kept thinking about that stripper, though. It was weird. He had only kissed one person in his life—well, two if you counted Josh—and he’d gotten both kisses without the other person wanting them. But for some reason, kissing the stripper felt different, like mind-blowing