Bent.

22. Until I'm Completely Broken In

Author's Note: Enjoy the last chapter of Bent! I would be sad that this is the last one, but I'm not, because the third and final book will begin tomorrow. I'll post an announcement when it's up. Hope y'all stick around!

22. Until I'm Completely Broken In

The party was loud, and it wreaked of stale beer and body odor.

"Adorable," Mitch muttered, as Kirstin led him to the keg by the hand.

He looked around. "These guys are gonna beat me up, aren't they?" Mitch muttered, fiddling with his cup.

"Don't be stupid. Some of them are in my classes. They're pretty nice," Kirstin replied.

Over the next two hours, he downed beer after beer, accepted peppermint patty shot after peppermint patty shot, and danced with Rozzi and Kirstin until he had somehow forgotten that it was his new least favorite day of the year. There were tons of people here.

What the hell?

Scott was standing in the doorway, gesturing for him to come closer, then turning to go out the front door.

Mitch's heart melted at the sight of him.

But then he realized that he shouldn't be here, and he became instantly worried.

"Good idea not to show up in your work uniform," Mitch teased as he approached him where they stood on the front lawn. His black button-down and ripped jeans were certainly not tight or translucent enough. It was Mitch's favorite shirt, though, so he couldn't complain about the view.

"Yeah, you won't be seeing me in that anymore. And before you say anything, don't." Scott replied, only half-joking.

Mitch's eyes widened. "What happened?"

He chugged some of a beer that he had just filled inside, and Mitch braced himself. "They were short-staffed tonight. Not on my side of the bar, mind you," Scott replied, rolling his eyes. "My manager came up to me, and threw those damn sparkly briefs on the bar, and told me to go change."

Mitch could feel himself blushing and becoming angry at the same time. "He what?"

Scott nodded. "Yeah, he said that I had to make it up to him for drinking on the job last month and making myself such a liability. That it was time to 'pay my fine'." The blue eyes looked sad as he recounted the story.

Mitch tried to push the mental image of Scott in those briefs from his mind. But it wouldn't go away.

"What... did you say?" Mitch asked, trying to will his cheeks to stop burning.

"It was kind of funny, actually. I smiled and nodded at him. Then I took the stupid black shirt off, took my time folding it, and laid it on the bar. But then I turned around and grabbed my sweatshirt, and put that on instead, and I told him he could keep the stupid shirt, and that I quit. He looked like I kicked him in the balls and God, it felt good to walk out of there."

"I would have paid money to see you stick it to him like that," Mitch grinned, and pulled him into a hug. "I'm glad you stuck up for yourself. Come on, then. You have catching up to do," he replied, pulling Scott back inside.

"Missed you. So fucking much..." Scott whispered in Mitch's ear as they filled their cups.

Mitch froze. He sounded so... different. Almost desperate.

Two more hours later, Scott had more than caught up.

Mitch wasn't sure if he had ever seen the man let loose like this before.