Happenstance

by Tessa Bailey

“What changed your mind, love?” one of the men asks, his accent upper crust British. Deep and polished. “Was it my sheer animal magnetism that drew you back in?”

“Porn,” he says from his elegant lean against the interior wall of the tram. “You know me from pornography, darling,” he drawls, his mouth spreading into a grin. “The good shit.”

“Charisma? It cannot be turned off, unfortunately. Women upon women have performed very thorough searches of my person looking for the switch.” I can’t help it. I’ll probably cringe about this for the rest of my life, but my attention drops to his crotch. “That’s the on switch, love. Not the off one.”

He must be an Aquarius and my chaotic Gemini energy is simply vibing with his.

“I can’t believe she asked me out,” Gabe says, staring after the cab. A forlorn giant. “That beautiful girl asked me out.”

No one will suspect that I’m the main attraction of a three-ring—er, man—circus.

I know with total certainty that I’m going to be obsessed with Elise Brandeis as long as I live.

“I like this rule until it applies to me.” “That is the very hallmark of being a man.”

“Animals,” she reminds us in a thready whisper. And we fucking pounce.