In The Spotlight

by Shona Husk

  And he was sick of being called Lover. He’d always hated that nickname and now he hated it more. If he complained, they’d only use it more … besides it could be worse. Much worse. While he knew the story behind the cook’s nickname, Sweetlips still sounded pretty bad.

  Pierce parked his car and took a moment.

  Nope, this was still weird.

  He grabbed his bag and made his way up to Ripley’s room. God, what if he wasn’t there? Should he wait—like a weirdo in the corridor—or go back to his car?

  His phone buzzed. How far away are you? Did you want room service? I’m starving. Allergies?

  That was too many questions in one message. He got out of the lift, double-checked the room number, then knocked.

  Ripley was holding the menu. ‘That was good timing.’

  ‘I’m not hungry.’ He couldn’t eat. He was too nervous.

  He looked at the menu again. ‘I have snacks. I can eat them.’

  ‘Don’t let me stop you.’ He was still holding his bag. He was intruding, and yet Ripley was acting as though it was perfectly normal.

  Ripley took the bag from him and dropped it near the wall. He dropped the menu too, then moved in for a kiss. Pierce had a heartbeat to realise he was prey and he’d been lured in. His heart beat faster. ‘I thought you were going to wear your uniform.’

  ‘It would just end up on the floor.’ He managed to say.

  ‘That’s the idea.’ Ripley’s hand was under Pierce’s T-shirt.

  Ripley drew back a fraction. The heat was still in his eyes—food had apparently been forgotten. ‘Perhaps I should order a bottle of wine?’

  Was he too sober for this?

  ‘I’ve driven nearly an hour to get here. I want to be here.’ He just didn’t know what to do. ‘Does this thing have rules?’

  ‘Does it need rules?’ Ripley had one hand on the wall near Pierce’s head.

  ‘I don’t know.’ He was used to rules. Usually he never gave out his number. He never talked about it at work. He never stayed the night. ‘I’ve broken all my rules already.’

  Ripley gave a graceful shrug. ‘Did you like it?’

  I like you.

  ‘I’m here.’ And hard and he wanted another kiss. He’d forgotten how good kissing could be. He put his hand on Ripley’s neck and leaned in. Ripley met him halfway. The kiss was slower, but no less hungry.

  ‘I’m glad you are here.’ Kisses trailed over his jaw to his ear. Ripley gently bit his earlobe. ‘I was worried you’d change your mind.’

  ‘No.’ He did want to be here. He wanted Ripley. ‘I don’t do this—’

  Ripley silenced him with a kiss. ‘I know. So go with it.’

  ‘It’s that easy for you?’

  ‘Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?’

  ‘So what, you’ll text and I’ll turn up and we’ll spend the night?’ he needed something, guidelines if not rules.

  ‘That’s how it usually works.’ His lips were curved in a half smile. Ripley pressed against him. His voice lowered. ‘Unless you want to do the calling.’

  The idea that he could call up Ripley and they could get together was one he wanted to test. ‘But you work until late.’

  ‘Yeah, but I also get to sleep late.’ He moved his hips. ‘You don’t and we are wasting time with our clothes on.’

  This was still just sex. It was just more regular than he was used to and with the same person. He pulled off Ripley’s T-shirt. Memories of the previous morning filled his mind. The way Ripley had been over him, grinding against him. He wanted to do that again. Could he ask? If he didn’t, he may never get another chance.

  ‘That thing, the other day …’ he couldn’t say the rest but he didn’t need to.

  Ripley grinned. ‘You want to be on top this time.’

  Pierce shook his head. No, he wanted to be lying on his back with his hands on their cocks. When Ripley so easily gave Pierce’s dick a kiss while getting him naked, Pierce was starting to wonder what it would be like to taste Ripley. He wasn’t brave enough to do it and he certainly couldn’t say it. Maybe next time.

  ***

  Ripley lay on the bed, knowing he had to get up in the next five minutes or he was going to be late. His phone had been on silent but there were two messages. One from Dan asking if he wanted to catch up on Saturday night and one from Pierce, for the same night.

  He knew which one he should decline. But he couldn’t. He wanted to see Pierce, and that he wanted him more than a couple of times a week was dangerous. They were not getting serious. They were casual. It didn’t feel casual when they were together. He was having fun pushing Pierce’s boundaries.

  He wanted him. It was as simple as that.

  He closed his eyes and put the phone down. He’d ignore both of them for a little longer. He should see his parents over the weekend too.

  The last thing he needed was a boyfriend. He was moving on. But it had been ages since he’d even wanted to see more of someone so badly the anticipation hurt. God he loved that feeling. Pierce had texted him, he was going to accept. Dan could wait a few more days.

  There was nothing waiting for him when he left Perth so he might as well make the most of what he had while he was here.

  He’d see his parents on Saturday during the day. Who needed down time?

  He picked up his phone and sent the messages to Dan and Pierce, and also one to his mother. That was his weekend fully booked. He got up and had a hot shower and a light stretch to ease some of the ache in his legs. His shoulder was still not right. He’d need to do something about that. See the physio instead of getting it massaged. He rested his hands on the tiles and let the water hit his back. Pierce would already be at work. He smiled. Tempting as it would be to linger in the shower for some quality alone time, he didn’t actually have the time and it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun alone as it would be with Pierce.

  Maybe he was only into him because he knew it had a time limit.

  But that wasn’t entirely true. He’d picked up in different cities and they always had a time limit and he still didn’t invite them to stay over on a regular basis. He shoved those thoughts aside. He didn’t have time to examine them and he didn’t want to look at them.

  ***

  Saturday had taken forever to roll around. Dan had known exactly why he was getting blown off and had called Ripley several unflattering things he totally deserved. So he’d called him up in lieu of getting together. He was being a shitty friend and he knew it. But the phone call had worked and he had made time to meet up with him. Dan knew he was here working, not on holiday, but he was also reluctant to go out clubbing with him again. He wasn’t a babysitter. Dan had very nearly cost him picking up Pierce.

  Not that Ripley had said that to him. He wasn’t able to put that into words yet. He didn’t like seeing this reckless side of Dan, because when he saw it in Dan he saw what other people had said about him. He didn’t want to be that person.

  He didn’t want to be the kind of person who ditched his friends either.

  There was a rap on his door. He hung up his tights and dance belts; unlike one smelly individual, Chad, he washed his every time. Previously he’d made the bathroom look less like an industrial laundry, but tonight he needed stuff to dry; matinees made extra work and extra washing.

  ‘Coming.’ He hung the last pair up and went to the door.

  Pierce smiled, but his gaze flicked down the corridor. Ripley stuck his head out and waved to the two dancers.

  Pierce turned a delicate shade of pink. He obviously wasn’t that keen on getting caught outside his room.

  ‘Come in.’ Ripley moved out of the way, but stole a quick kiss as Pierce walked past.

  Pierce reached out and ran a hand over his bare stomach.

  The door clicked closed.

  There shouldn’t have been such a tumble of need. It had only been one day, but he needed to touch Pierce and pull him close. ‘I’m glad you texted.’

  ‘I thought I shou
ld … I wasn’t sure how busy you’d be.’

  ‘Doing laundry.’ He pointed at the bathroom.

  ‘Wow, you know how to have fun on a Saturday night.’ But he walked into the bathroom. ‘Some of these don’t look very big.’

  ‘They aren’t.’ Some were full-length, others were what he wore for classes. If it was hot he didn’t want to be in full-length tights so he had shorts. They still covered all of his ass.

  Pierce looked at him then back at the tights. ‘I saw your interview in today’s paper.’

  ‘Were you looking?’

  ‘I was flicking through as I drank my coffee and there you were.’

  Ripley put his hand around Pierce’s waist. ‘Was it a good picture?’

  His mum had already photographed the article and sent it to him. Local boy becomes famous type of article. It was good promo for the company and him.

  ‘Do you take a bad one?’

  Ripley laughed. ‘Yes.’

  ‘Your parents must be proud.’

  ‘They are …’ he looked at Pierce. From the look on his face it was clear that his parents were never going to be proud of him no matter what he did. He wanted to pry but he didn’t want to push. ‘I was lucky. I know that. I have friends who will never meet their parents’ expectations.’ Pierce wasn’t buying it, from the expression on his face. ‘Heard of Selling the Sun?’

  He nodded.

  ‘I went to school with the bass player. That guy I was bailing out when we met, that was him.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Yeah. His father is a real asshole. It’s a lottery.’ He’d got great parents, but he might have also got the dodgy genes. He wanted to believe his luck was better than that. But he was too scared to test it.

  ‘It is … I thought I could do this. But I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m doing.’

  ‘You didn’t bring a bag … so I’m guessing you aren’t staying.’ That hurt more than it should. Had he driven up here to call it off?

  ‘You make it so easy to stay.’

  ‘And that’s a bad thing?’

  Pierce blew out a breath. ‘I don’t know. I can’t find my feet.’

  ‘So don’t. Have fun.’

  ‘That’s all this is.’ Pierce looked at him. Was he wanting agreement or denial?

  Ripley pulled away. The unflattering fluoro lighting of the bathroom cut across his skin. He glanced at Pierce in the mirror. ‘I don’t usually invite people to stay over. I want to see you more than a couple of times a week.’ He held up his hand before Pierce could cut across. ‘I don’t want to push. No. I do want to push.’ He turned around and grabbed Pierce’s T-shirt in his fists. ‘I want to push.’

  In two steps, they were out of the bathroom and Pierce’s back was against the wardrobe door. He didn’t stop Ripley and made no effort to resist when Ripley kissed him with a hunger he hadn’t let himself feel in a long time.

  Ripley stepped back. ‘Fuck.’ He raked his fingers through his hair. ‘I didn’t mean that.’

  ‘Yeah you did. Do it again and I’ll fuck you so hard …’

  Ripley looked at him. His heart was about to squeeze between his ribs in its bid to escape. ‘What? You going to finish that threat?’ He took a step closer.

  Pierce held his gaze. ‘Do I need to?’

  ‘I want to make sure you can follow through.’ Because he could quite easily and quite roughly get Pierce naked. As much as he’d then like to follow that up by being the one doing the fucking, that wasn’t going to happen.

  Pierce jerked his chin.

  Ripley took that as a yes. Between hard kisses, he pulled off Pierce’s T. Somehow they made it to the bed, the one still covered in clothes. He didn’t care; he was too busy tearing off Pierce’s jeans. Shoving him onto the bed, naked. He licked Pierce’s cock, but it was barely a taste before Pierce was pushing him away to drag down his trackpants.

  Pierce’s hand closed around him. He drew in a sharp breath at the rough strokes. Pierce was sitting, while he stood. For a moment he thought Pierce was going to suck him. He wanted to feel the wet heat of his mouth. He thrust forward, hopeful Pierce had changed his mind on giving head.

  He kept stroking. He wasn’t going to do it. Fuck.

  Then Pierce released him and stood. ‘Turn around.’

  Nah, that wasn’t how this went. Ripley put his hands on his chest. ‘Make me.’

  Pierce’s eyes widened for a moment. Then he pushed. Ripley fell back on the bed. Pierce picked up the lube and a condom and made short work of both. Was this how it usually was for him? Hard and fast?

  The heat that had risen cooled a little. He didn’t want to be another unmemorable fuck … but when he looked at Pierce, he knew he wasn’t. Pierce was trying to put this back where he felt safe. Fuck that. Safe was boring.

  He sat up. ‘You know what to do with that?’

  Pierce went to push him down, but he resisted. He grabbed the latex-wrapped dick and took him in his mouth. Remembered why he didn’t like using condoms for head jobs in the next breath. When was the last time he’d trusted someone enough to ditch them all together? He couldn’t do the math and suck.

  His fingers cupped Pierce’s balls and he let one finger slip further back. Pierce didn’t flinch, he nearly leapt to the other side of the room. Oops. ‘Sorry.’

  Pierce tossed him the lube. ‘Apologise while I watch.’

  Ripley caught it one-handed. He put some lube on his fingers. ‘You know what makes a head job really good?’ He beckoned Pierce closer with his slick fingers.

  A slight shake of the head was all he got in response, so he took his time. He closed his eyes. His hand around his shaft. He felt when Pierce moved closer. He prayed for mouth on his dick. But no God was listening.

  When Pierce pushed him to turn over, he did. He almost came when Pierce entered him. It wasn’t rough at all. Pierce’s hand stroked his cock. His hand was slick with lube. Ripley didn’t know if he should thrust forward or push back.

  In the end it didn’t matter. He couldn’t do anything but curl his fingers into the sheets and come. Pierce rocked deeper and groaned.

  Ripley shuddered again.

  ‘Did I hurt you?’ Pierce’s voice was soft.

  ‘No.’ He gave a small laugh. He was still finding his breath. He let himself collapse onto the bed.

  Pierce fell with him. He kissed his back, sighed and pulled away.

  Ripley lay there, listening to the shower. Pierce was in there surrounded by his jockstraps. Classy. He made himself move and went into the bathroom. He didn’t ask permission to get in the shower. He just did and Pierce said nothing.

  Pierce kept his eyes down.

  Ripley put a hand on his shoulder and kissed him on the cheek. ‘I think that was what I needed.’

  The tension that had been building all week at work and between them had been broken. He felt better.

  Pierce moved closer. ‘I think I want to stay.’

  Ripley put his arm around him. ‘I know I want you to stay.’

  Pierce rested his head on Ripley’s shoulder. ‘This isn’t a good idea.’

  It had gone past being a good idea the moment Ripley had asked him to stay the first night. It had been in dangerous territory all week. He glanced at the dragon on his arm. They were well into heart-eating dragon territory. It hadn’t been fed in several years. He’d vowed not to feed it. And yet here he was. He’d wanted Pierce to treat him like just another casual fuck because then he’d been able to pretend that’s all it was. ‘I’ll get a second key. If we’re going to fuck each other over, might as go all in.’

  Pierce stepped back. ‘Yeah.’ He shook his head. ‘Two weeks?’

  ‘Two weeks.’ What the hell was he thinking? No one got under his skin like this.

  ‘Every night?’

  By the time he hit Adelaide he was going to be a zombie. ‘Yeah.’

  It would be worth it to have wallowed so deeply in desire and lust. When Pierce looked at him, he knew he
was drowning.

  Chapter 7

  Ripley opened the door after the first knock and greeted Pierce with a kiss. They had agreed they’d spend Sunday night together. Today there were no shows, so all he’d had was class and rehearsal. He’d still managed to miss Pierce more than he should. Pierce took about ten seconds to recover from the shock before kissing him back and slipping his tongue in.

  His sailor was getting braver. And he was in uniform. Not a nice dress uniform, but blue splotchy cams.

  Ripley ran his hands down Pierce’s chest. ‘I didn’t think you’d do it.’

  ‘This is tomorrow’s clean uniform. I packed light and brought a toothbrush to leave here.’

  ‘I like the way you think.’ He handed over a plastic card. ‘A key … if you still want it. That way if I’m running late you can let yourself in.’

  Pierce started at the plastic like it was going to bite.

  ‘You know you want it.’ Ripley waved the card. ‘I know I want to be your first boyfriend.’

  He’d thought about that since the moment Pierce had left that morning. Pierce had never dated a man, and that was what they were kind of doing.

  Pierce blushed and took the card out of his hand. ‘Does it count when you are already thinking about leaving?’

  Ripley’s smile faded. ‘I am here right now. That’s important. I’m not making false promises to get your attention. ‘I live in America. I’m passing through. You’re in the navy … you move around.’

  ‘I’m a submariner. I’m based in the west.’ He touched the dolphin patch on his uniform.

  ‘You willingly lock yourself in a tin can that sinks for months … that’s …’ Ripley shook his head. That was like extreme navying. ‘Why would you do that to yourself?’

  ‘I like it.’

  ‘No, really?’

  ‘I really like it. The extra money, the being based in one place, plus submarines are cool.’