by HJ Welch
He had no right to be pining over Raiden. Every logical part of Levi’s brain had already agreed that he was to be completely off limits from now on. Unfortunately, the instinctual caveman parts of him were begging for Levi to pick Raiden up, throw him over his shoulder, and make love back at the hotel until they were both wrecked men once again.
Make love? Have sex. Good god, even his idle thoughts were working against him. Making love was something you did with girlfriends. It was tender and emotional. This was simply his body screaming out for more fucking. It had been a long time since he’d had anything more than a blow job, after all.
Raiden was watching the band intently. Sometimes he mouthed along with the lyrics. Other songs he bobbed his head or tapped his heel. He was always tuned in to the beat, constantly moving, so full of life. He’d brush into Levi hovering behind him and appear not to even notice.
Levi doubted that, though. He was clearly trying to aggravate Levi from that little stunt he’d pulled earlier. Perhaps he truly believed he could ditch Levi for a while and push him into reacting. But Levi had a constant tracker running on the GPS in Raiden’s phone, so he was never going to get far.
Levi couldn’t let it get to him. He could still salvage this job, so long as he kept things professional for the duration of the tour. He absolutely did not trust Raiden not to deliberately let their transgression slip to Levi’s uncle and get him in trouble. The little shit would get a kick out of watching Levi get berated, he was sure.
“How much do you hate this?” Raiden shouted over his shoulder, giving Levi a wink. “Girly punk pop probably isn’t your thing, I’m guessing.”
Levi arched an eyebrow at him. “Just because a song is sung by a young woman doesn’t make the music inherently ‘girly,’” he said. There was so much noise it was natural for them to both tilt their heads to hear each other’s words. It brought their faces too close together, so Levi pulled back.
Raiden eyed him skeptically. “Well, yeah,” he agreed. “I thought a Marine such as yourself wouldn’t be caught dead enjoying anything that could be interpreted as girlish, though?”
“Ex-Marine,” Levi corrected, keeping his gaze on Pearl as she enraptured the crowd. They lapped her up, with her dazzling, colorful outfit and shimmering purple hair. She looked like a doll and had the audience eating out of her hand. He could feel Raiden’s stare on him, and he couldn’t help the smile that tugged at one corner of his mouth. “And my gunnery sergeant had a thing for singing Avril Lavigne when we were on the move.”
“No way,” said Raiden in delight. Levi tried to ignore how much he enjoyed defying Raiden’s expectations.
“Yes way.”
They both focused on the stage as Pearl chugged from a bottle of water. Her energy was still radiating all through the room, keeping the band and the crowd engaged, but Levi could tell she was suffering a bit. Sweat was running down her back and she took a couple of deep breaths before speaking into the mic, announcing the last song for the night.
“I hope this keeps you fuckers happy,” she growled with a smirk, causing the room to scream with joy.
There were so many flashes from cameras and reflections from phone screens in the throng, Levi strained to make out anything unusual. But he could make out a guy near the front in a hoodie that didn’t seem to be enjoying himself, from what little Levi could see of his face. He was just standing there, not dancing or singing or taking pictures.
Something crawled up Levi’s spine and instinct told him to move away. It was probably nothing, but after the incident with the GPS the day before last, he wasn’t willing to take any risks.
Levi leaned down to talk against Raiden’s ear. “We should leave now.”
“What?” said Raiden. His head whipped around and his dark eyes narrowed at Levi.
“It’ll be much easier to extract you before everyone starts moving,” Levi explained.
Raiden didn’t need to know about the shady-looking guy under the hood. He’d be quite right to argue that Levi was being ridiculous. But the fact of the matter was, someone had targeted Raiden again, and they didn’t have any further facts yet. Levi had learned long ago to listen when his gut told him to be cautious.
But Raiden shook his head. “No, I want to stay and see the band. I can’t ditch them. Besides, I promised we could go for a drink.”
There was no fighting it. Sometimes, Levi just had to be the bad guy. “Until we know more about who hacked your GPS and what that means for your threat level, I need to restrict the number of locations you visit. Especially without prior investigation.”
He didn’t want to tell Raiden about the guy because it was Levi’s responsibility to assess and monitor threats. If he shared that information with Raiden, he might react in an unpredictable manner and bolt. Better if Levi could just get him out of the theatre quietly and quickly.
Of course, Raiden wasn’t going to make this easy though. He stared at Levi in disbelief. “So I’m under house arrest?” he asked.
“Don’t be dramatic,” Levi said. “If you want to go out after the next show, tell me and we can scout a bar beforehand. Or you can go to the hotel bar.”
“Oh yeah,” Raiden scoffed with a scowl. “I’m sure that’ll be rocking.” He folded his arms. “No, this is stupid. I want to take the band out. They’ve earned it. I’ll let you come along, but we’re going.”
Levi should have known Raiden would dig his heels in. He wasn’t going to apologize for spoiling his fun, though. Raiden was a brat and he needed to learn that sometimes, he couldn’t always get his way.
“Not until we understand what happened to us better,” he said. His gaze was unflinching. “Need I remind you that this is for your protection, Mr. Jones. If I say you need to do something, you do it, without question.”
Raiden squared his jaw and looked furious. “So you’re just going to boss me around now?”
As Levi recalled, he rather liked being bossed around the night before. He refused to let that memory surface, though, as blood would undoubtedly rush to his cheeks…and other places.
He could tell Glittergasm were wrapping up the song. There might be another encore, or the crowd might just keep them there for a while, but he and Raiden needed to move now.
Levi took hold of Raiden’s elbow. “I’m sorry,” he said, despite promising himself he wouldn’t apologize. “But we have to go. Now. You can make it up to them. They’ll understand.”
There must have been something in his tone of voice that caught Raiden’s attention. Because he narrowed his eyes at Levi and snarled, but he still nodded.
“Fine. Let’s go.”
He stormed off, pulling his phone out as he did and tapping furiously on it with both thumbs. Levi rolled his eyes and escorted him back through the building and out into the alleyway where their car was waiting.
“You need to grow up,” he said as he opened the door for Raiden.
Rain was falling lightly, illuminated in the dark by the streetlights. Ideal conditions for someone to lurk. A quick scan of the alley made Levi confident they weren’t being watched, but he was still happy to get Raiden inside the Jeep with its bulletproof windows.
“It’s just drinks. If I was being a real hard ass, I’d have stopped you going to the gig at all.”
Raiden scoffed as Levi shut the door. Levi kept his face neutral as he stalked around the front then slipped into the driver’s seat.
“You don’t get it, do you?” Raiden said. Levi could see him glowering at him from the corner of his eye as he started the engine. “This isn’t me bitching that I didn’t get a few beers. It’s all networking. These guys need to meet people in the industry. There are certain connections you can only make late at night in the corner of a club.”
Levi knew connections like that, but he doubted that was what Raiden was referring too. He debated telling him about the sketchy guy he had seen at the front of the crowd, but he couldn’t be sure it had been anything at all, and he didn’t want Rai
den ripping into him. Besides, he didn’t have to explain himself. He was in charge here.
“If it’s so important to you,” Levi said, merging into the traffic around the theatre, “then it’s up to you to explain. I told you, we can make it happen next time. By then we should have more info and can be better prepared.”
Raiden crossed his arms. “Fine. If I can’t socialize with these guys, there’s no point in me being on this tour. Not for them, not for me. This is our careers on the line.”
Levi didn’t say anything in response to that. He understood Raiden’s argument, but it was Levi’s job to protect him. This was his career too, and he’d already fucked up too many times as it was.
They made the rest of the drive back to the hotel in silence.
18
Levi
Raiden refused to talk all the way back to their rooms. Not that Levi spoke either, but Raiden’s silence was somehow deafening. He fumed next to Levi as they rode the elevator upwards and walked down the hall. They reached Raiden’s room first, and he jammed his keycard into the handle to unlock the door.
“Night,” he said stiffly, shoving his way inside. He made to yank the door after him, but Levi grabbed it just in time. “Oh for fuck’s sake,” Raiden muttered. He didn’t try to pull it closed again, though, just walked into the room, rubbing his face.
Levi followed, shutting the door quietly behind him. Room service had done a good job cleaning up after the party. He purposefully didn’t look towards the bedroom or wonder if the maid had switched the sheets after their adventure last night.
“We can’t keep fighting,” he said calmly. He placed his car keys down on the table and removed his jacket and gun. Raiden watched him from where he was sprawled on the couch, beer from the minibar already in hand. “You need to stop resisting me, or you’re going to need a new bodyguard.”
Raiden scoffed and took a swig of his drink. “You’re the one creating issues,” he said, not looking at Levi.
Levi decided to be straight with him, seeing as they were now back to the safety of the hotel.
“It was probably nothing,” he said, walking towards the other sofa, “but I saw someone I didn’t like the look of in the crowd. I wanted to get you to safety.”
Raiden turned his gaze on Levi as he sat down. One of Raiden’s feet was on the couch, the other on the table, his legs open just enough that it could be misconstrued as an invitation.
“I’m not a child,” he said slowly.
His lower lip was just touching the rim of the bottleneck. He regarded Levi through his long, black eyelashes. Room service had left just a couple of lamps on to illuminate the room.
“I know that,” said Levi. He willed his heart rate to stay steady.
“Then don’t treat me like one,” Raiden shot back. “If you’d told me there was an issue, rather than making me feel like a fucking diva for wanting to do my job, we’d get along much better.”
“I apologize,” Levi said. Raiden was right after all. “I didn’t want to spook you.”
“I’m not the one that’s spooked.” Raiden sipped his beer, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. He didn’t take his eyes off of Levi. “I think you just didn’t want me going out and having fun. I think you wanted to come back here. Just the two of us.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Levi replied, not moving his gaze away from Raiden’s, no matter how much he wanted to. He wouldn’t back down. “If I can trust you to behave, I’ll go back to my own room. But understand, if you leave the hotel without my permission, I’ll know right away.”
Raiden licked his lips and smirked. “I think the safest way to ensure I stay put, then, is for you to stay right here with me. Otherwise, I might be a bad boy. I’m feeling pretty rebellious, I must say.”
Levi ground his teeth, willing himself not to rise to the bait. “I told you, last night was a mistake. I don’t have feelings for you, so I’m sorry if you think there’s something more between us than there really is.”
Raiden laughed and took a long gulp of beer. “Okay, Kevin.”
Levi shook his head. “Can I trust you or not?” he demanded. He felt the strong urge to get away from this situation. If he could just get to his own room and put a movie on, he could distance himself and forget about the way watching Raiden’s wet lips were making his pants feel too tight.
“Probably not,” Raiden said. “You’re the one who lured me away under false pretenses. If you’re not going to entertain me, then I’ll just head back out and show the band a good time. That drummer girl is pretty into me, you know?”
Levi absolutely ignored the spike of jealousy that lanced through his chest. “You can entertain her after the next show,” he said calmly. “Although that doesn’t seem very professional to me.”
Raiden placed his bottle down and stood up in one swift motion. “Turns out I’m not very professional, I guess,” he said.
Levi told himself he didn’t have time to get up before Raiden swung his leg over and straddled his lap. Levi was pretty sure if it had been an insurgent with a knife, he could have moved a lot fucking faster. But as it was, he just stared up as Raiden crowded into his personal space.
“What are you doing?”
Raiden smiled, like a shark. “Tell me to get off you, and I will.” He had his hands on Levi’s shoulders, his knees either side of his hips. Levi’s heart was like a jackhammer in his chest. “Tell me to get you off,” Raiden added in little more than a whisper, “and I will.”
Levi’s hands itched to move up and settle on Raiden’s waist. He balled them into fists instead. He had been prepared to fight. Not to fuck.
“We shouldn’t do this,” Levi said.
“But you want to,” Raiden retorted. He looked down at Levi, his hair falling in a dark curtain around his face. Levi wanted to grab it. “It’s just fucking. Stop overthinking so we can both enjoy this already. I’m tired of fighting.”
So was Levi, desperately. It felt like he’d been at some sort of war ever since he’d been a teenager. He was exhausted. He was disciplined. He could restrain himself and continue with this struggle. He had the strength to do that.
He no longer had the will.
One hand flew to Raiden’s hair, the other to his waist, just like he had wanted. His lips crashed against Raiden’s mouth, sucking the moan from it as it escaped his throat. Raiden’s limbs tightened around him, latching on as if he might stop Levi from ever letting go.
Levi gave up. They were both adults, they both wanted the other. As long as Levi continued to do his job and protect Raiden from harm to the very best of his ability, it was nobody else’s business what they did behind closed doors.
He seized Raiden’s hips, easily twisting the smaller man and depositing him on his back along the sofa. Raiden gasped for air, his eyes sparkling in the dim light. “Yes,” he hissed. “Get over here, you Neanderthal.”
Levi should have been insulted by that, but unfortunately his mind did appear to have regressed to that of a prehistoric man. He all but pounced on top of Raiden, scooping him up and devouring his mouth, his tongue and lips savoring every drop of beer that Raiden had left lingering there.
Raiden’s hands made short work of yanking Levi’s shirt from his pants and slipping under the material to find his abs. It felt so good to have his fingers skimming over Levi’s skin. He shuddered, needing more.
His shirt was over his head and on the floor in a matter of seconds. Raiden’s gaze roamed over his chest, followed by his hands. It was like he was in awe.
A strange rush of pride flushed through Levi. He wanted Raiden to appreciate his body. It was what he’d worked hardest on, after all. His most prized instrument. Just as Raiden worked on a composition, Levi had honed his body to be as perfect as it could be, ready to help him do his job.
But in that moment, all his hard work was being appreciated in pleasure, not business. Plenty of girls had seen him naked, had enjoyed his body meeting with theirs. However, none o
f them had draped their hands over their heads and gone compliant quite the way Raiden did just then. It was like he became human putty in Levi’s hands.
“What do you want to do?” Raiden asked.
Levi huffed. “So now I have to do all the work?” he demanded, tugging at Raiden’s buckle and pulling his belt free from the loops on his jeans.
Raiden smirked. “I had to do all the work to get us back here,” he teased, shifting his hips obediently as Levi yanked at his pants and briefs. “Now it’s your turn.”
“So, you’ll just do as I say?” he asked dubiously. “Because I have been thinking about a gag.”
Raiden didn’t seem to care he’d now been stripped naked. He just squirmed underneath Levi and batted his eyelashes. “I knew you’d been thinking about fucking me again,” he whispered triumphantly.
Levi loomed over him, but he didn’t fight the grin that crept onto his mouth. “You really want that gag, don’t you?”
“Kiss me,” Raiden said breathlessly. “That’ll do the same thing.”
Levi dipped his head, claiming Raiden’s lips. But he was softer this time, less punishing. He wanted Raiden to offer up his mouth, his breath, his words, all willingly. And he did.
Levi shifted his weight. His cock was straining in his pants, but it would have to wait. For now, he wanted to enjoy running his hands up and down Raiden’s hips, flanks and arms. With one hand, he crossed Raiden’s wrists and pinned them into the sofa cushion. With the other, he explored Raiden’s body. He cupped his jaw, played with his hard nipples, then finally took pity and stroked his hard, dripping cock.
“Oh, fuck,” Raiden cried into Levi’s mouth, bucking his hips. “Jesus, yes, thank you.”
Levi chuckled. Even if this was an unwise course of action, now he’d given up resisting, he was having a lot of fun.
He kissed his way down Raiden’s chest, letting go of his hands. Raiden gripped the arm of the couch instead. “Good boy,” Levi murmured against his skin. He looked up and met Raiden’s gaze, their eyes locked as he inched his lips closer to Raiden’s cock.