Pounding Skin

by L. A. Witt

  He took a breath. “We still have time to get dressed and go to the party.”

  “I know.” Jon didn’t move except to slide his hand up Matt’s back. “But I think I’d rather stay here. Just us.”

  Matt’s stomach fluttered. He pushed himself up and arched a playful eyebrow. “You might want to be careful. That sounds dangerously romantic.”

  Jon laughed and lifted his head so he could nibble Matt’s collarbone. “There is nothing romantic about the things I want to do to you tonight.”

  Matt sucked in a sharp breath. “Well now you’ve got me intrigued.”

  “Still want to go to the party?”

  “What party?”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  * * *

  Every city came with its own realities. Things you either learned to live with, or you went crazy. Or left. Nobody lasted long in Los Angeles if they couldn’t cope with the traffic, and nobody stayed sane in Seattle if they couldn’t handle some rain.

  Virginia Beach had jet noise.

  It wasn’t the same as living near a commercial airport. Hell, there was a commercial airport in Norfolk, not twenty minutes away, but those planes didn’t halt conversations like the fighter jets did. People in Virginia Beach, especially those living and working close to the airbase, were well accustomed to pausing mid-sentence, letting a jet fly by, and picking up right where they’d left off. People even had stickers on their cars that said I <3 Jet Noise.

  Skin Deep, Inc. was close enough to the flight line that the jets flew right overhead on their way in to land. Matt had pretty much learned to tune it out. Pausing a conversation was a necessity—those engines were so loud, you couldn’t hear yourself think—but it didn’t startle him or turn his head. Not even when it vibrated the whole shop. They were part of the background. Something he noticed without noticing, like a distant train going by or the buzz of someone else’s tattoo needle. Unless it was something unusual—like the time one of the squadrons was out hot-dogging with the Blue Angels and it was nonstop screaming engines for an entire afternoon—it just didn’t register on his radar.

  Up until recently, anyway.

  Now that he was spending more nights than not in bed with a fighter pilot, he absolutely noticed the jet noise. Whenever the building vibrated and that familiar roar drowned out everything else, Matt broke out in goose bumps.

  Today, it was almost constant. The weather had been shitty lately, so they hadn’t been flying much, and they were apparently taking advantage of some unseasonably clear skies. And wasn’t it just his luck—today was touch-and-go day. The jets came in, touched down on the flight line, and took off again. One after the other. All day long.

  Which meant Matt’s concentration was utter garbage. He had sketches that needed to be done this week for some custom work, and the sooner he finished them, the sooner he’d book the tattoos. The sooner he’d get paid. Business had been a little better lately—it tended to come in waves, and all those on-base referrals had started trickling in—but that didn’t mean it was time to slack off.

  “Jon’s Christmas party was the other night, wasn’t it?” Colin asked. “How’d that go?”

  “Uh, well . . .” Matt sat back, stretching his arms and shoulders. “You’d have to ask someone who actually went.”

  “Didn’t make it?”

  “Nope.” Matt grinned. “And I regret nothing.”

  Colin laughed. “I wondered. I mean, when Daniel and I went to the ship’s Christmas party, he looked good in his dress blues, but . . .” He whistled. “The officers? Shit. I’d have ripped buttons off.”

  Matt’s cheeks burned. “I don’t think I ripped any, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.”

  “Nice.” Colin chuckled.

  Lucas stepped in from the back with a box of ink on his shoulder. He set it on the table behind the counter with a heavy thud. “Hey. No fair drooling over uniforms and not inviting me in.”

  “Oh God.” Matt rolled his eyes. “You too?”

  “Uh, yeah? Especially since you’re doing a pilot. I mean, hasn’t every gay man on the planet jerked it to Top Gun at least once?”

  “He’s got a point,” Colin said with a shrug.

  Matt eyed him. “Do I need to tell Daniel you’re getting all hot over officers while—”

  “Oh please.” Colin snorted and waved a hand. “He was the one telling me that if I thought his XO was hot in a dress uniform, I should see the guy in his flight suit.”

  Lucas shivered. “Unff. Flight suits.”

  Matt squirmed in his chair. “Damn. I might have to have Jon wear that thing home one night.”

  “I can’t believe you haven’t already.” Lucas clicked his tongue.

  “Yeah, that is kind of a hot picture.” And you guys are not helping me concentrate today. “Hope he doesn’t mind it getting torn.”

  “You’re a lucky man.” Lucas dug under the counter for a second, came up with a box cutter, and started opening the box of ink. “It’s like you’ve got your own personal Maverick.”

  Matt laughed. “Fuck that. I’d take Jon over Maverick any day.”

  Colin whistled. “Damn, bruh. You’ve got it bad, don’t you?”

  “Well, I mean . . .” Matt shrugged. “It’s not serious, but I’m not exactly in a hurry to kick him out of my bed.”

  “Not serious?” Colin’s eyebrow quirked. “You’ve been a space cadet since the day you met him, and I can tell when he texts you by that grin on your face.” He paused, then gestured at Matt. “That grin.”

  Matt quickly schooled his expression. Before he could speak, Pete interjected, “He’s right, man. Consensus around here”—he made a sweeping gesture at himself, Colin, and Lucas—“is that you’ve got it bad.”

  “You guys have been gossiping about me?”

  Colin shrugged unapologetically. “Don’t act like you guys didn’t have a few conversations about me and Daniel.”

  Okay, that was fair.

  Lucas put up his hands. “Don’t look at me. I wasn’t here for that.”

  Colin rolled his eyes. “And if you had been, you’d have been involved, so don’t play innocent.”

  “Yeah. True. I would’ve.” Lucas shrugged, then reached into the box and pulled out a few bottles of ink. “Just saying, I missed out on all that, so . . .”

  “Eh, give us time.” Matt started twirling a pencil between his fingers. “Just have to wait until he’s out of the room long enough, and we’ll—”

  “Watch it,” Colin said in a playful warning tone.

  “Just saying.”

  “Uh-huh.” Colin got up to head into the back, and as he walked by, he gave Matt’s shoulder a friendly squeeze. “By the way, while we’re giving people shit about relationships . . .” He winked. “You can tell me all you want that things ‘aren’t serious’ with Jon, but I don’t think I need to tell you what can happen when a client turns into a fuck buddy.” The squeeze became a pat, and Colin kept walking.

  Matt laughed, but his heart fluttered too. No, Colin definitely didn’t have to spell that one out. Matt and Pete had already decided it was only a matter of time before Colin and his regular-client-turned-boyfriend Daniel got married.

  Too bad Jon had made it clear he wasn’t interested in anything like that. Except lately . . . shit, he had a funny way of showing he didn’t care about Matt beyond sex. Rescuing Matt when his car shit the bed. Coming to Thanksgiving so Matt could come out. Inviting him to work shindigs. Hell, just the way he looked at Matt sometimes.

  Matt squirmed in his chair at the thought of Jon’s gorgeous blue eyes fixed on him. He’d see how things played out. For now, he had no complaints. Someday he’d have something like Colin had with Daniel. Maybe with Jon. Maybe not. But right now, he definitely liked being with Jon.

  He pushed his sketchbook aside and stood to work a crick out of his back. How long had he been sitting here? He glanced at his watch. Damn—almost two-thirty. He’d been hunched over a drawing for thr
ee hours. Not that he’d gotten a hell of a lot done, though, thanks to the jets flying by and rattling him out of his thoughts by reminding him of the sexy pilot who’d be riding him in bed later tonight.

  He really, really needed to finish this sketch, so he sat back down.

  Colin came to the front of the shop again, this time with an inventory sheet, which he handed off to Lucas. “Make sure they actually sent three bottles of Undead Gray this time. They shorted me on the last shipment.”

  “And Gan-green.” Lucas scowled at the sheet. “They’ve back-ordered that one twice, and in the last shipment they said they sent it, but didn’t.”

  Colin mumbled something. Then, “Fuckers. If I have to send them another email, it’s going to be to cancel our account. I’ll be happy to order it from somewhere else if they keep this shit up.”

  Lucas gave a quiet grunt of agreement, and started checking off the bottles.

  Matt half expected Colin to grab his coat and keys to head out to lunch. It was almost two-thirty, and he’d been working since he got here. In fact, Matt was pretty sure he hadn’t seen him eat all day either. Just that one cup of coffee this morning.

  Cautiously, he said, “Hey, you taking lunch, boss?”

  Colin bristled, but the defensiveness vanished before he spoke. “Yeah. Just waiting for Daniel.”

  Matt nodded and went back to his sketch. He and Pete tried to subtly keep tabs on Colin’s eating habits, and they’d learned in the past that a skipped lunch could be a bad sign. But taking a late one so he could eat with Daniel? That was all right.

  And sure enough, half an hour or so later, Daniel showed up with some takeout. They set up in the back and ate together, which was good. If Colin had been in a really bad state of mind, they’d go somewhere else, and he’d tell Matt and Pete he was waiting for Daniel, then tell Daniel he’d eaten with Matt or Pete.

  But they were here in the shop, and Matt could hear wrappers crinkling and lids popping. All was good.

  After lunch, Colin and Daniel went outside to where Daniel’s truck was parked, and they stayed there for a while. That wasn’t a surprise. These days, Daniel was here almost daily for lunch, and they stretched out their goodbyes a little longer than usual. Obviously Colin could do whatever the fuck he wanted since he owned the place, but he was typically the kind of boss who stuck to the same schedule as everyone else. He showed up on time, took exactly one hour for lunch, and did his best not to let his therapy and gym schedules fuck up everyone else’s hours.

  But no one was going to say anything about him spending a few more minutes with Daniel right now. January was closing in fast, and Daniel’s ship was pulling out for six months. No one blamed them for stealing every chance they had to be together.

  And the upcoming deployment was exactly why Matt had been scrutinizing Colin’s eating habits even more than usual. Stress triggered his eating disorder, and what could be more stressful than his man going away for half a year?

  It wasn’t just Matt who noticed either. After Daniel had left and Colin came back in, Pete eyed him. “You sure you’re going to be okay when his ship goes out?”

  Colin smiled, though his eyes didn’t really echo it. “Yeah. It’s gonna suck, but I’ll be all right.”

  “You know if you need anything while he’s gone,” Matt said, “All you have to do is—”

  “I know.” The smile was a little more genuine now. “And I appreciate it. I’ll be fine, though. We have email, and he can call me from the ship. We can even Skype when he’s in port.”

  Matt and Pete exchanged glances, but let the subject drop. Neither of them had to say it. For the next six months they’d need to keep a close eye on Colin. As long as his depression didn’t get the best of him, he’d be all right. It was when the depression kicked in, triggered his eating disorder, and sent him on a downward spiral that things could get ugly fast. Everyone close to him—including Matt and Pete—had learned to recognize the signs before things got out of control.

  And if ever something was going to test Colin’s relationship with Daniel, this was it. If they had met even a year or two earlier, Matt suspected things wouldn’t have worked out. They sure as shit wouldn’t have survived a deployment. It had been a long road for Colin, and the stress of being separated from a boyfriend for months on end would have been disastrous. Between his therapist, his trainer, and his brother, though, not to mention everyone in the shop, he’d been on the rails for a while when he’d met Daniel. Matt hadn’t envied Daniel for what he was getting himself into. Not that Colin wasn’t an amazing person, but this was the kid’s first relationship. Ever. That must’ve been daunting even if it hadn’t been with someone who went through rough periods thanks to an abusive ex and an eating disorder.

  But it was like Daniel never even flinched. He’d been rock steady from day one, supportive and even-keeled when Colin needed it the most. In a way, Daniel was probably the only man Colin could handle being away from for months at a time and still keep his head together. Even when he was gone, Daniel stayed in contact, and while Colin was still sad and lonely at times, he never seemed like he was falling apart.

  Question was, could they maintain that for half a year?

  Well, they’d find out soon enough.

  “Y’all are coming to my New Year’s party, aren’t you?” Pete asked, bringing Matt back out of his thoughts. “Sarah’s planning to cook way too much food, and there’s no way the leftovers will fit in the freezer.”

  “So you just want us to come eat your food,” Lucas said.

  “That’s normal for him.” Matt laughed. “His wife’s a great cook, though, so if you want to gorge yourself, their house is the place to do it.”

  Pete chuckled. “That mean you’re coming this year, Huffman?”

  “I was planning—”

  The scream of a low-flying jet erased his thoughts.

  Jon. In a flight suit. Did he wear that oxygen mask thing when he flew this low? Why was that mental image so hot?

  “Hey. Huffman.” Pete waved a hand in front of his face. “You there?”

  Matt shook himself. “Yeah. I’m good. Uh . . .” Question. What was the question? Oh. Right. “Yeah, I was planning on coming. You don’t mind if I bring Jon, do you?” That wasn’t over the line, was it? Inviting Jon to one of his coworker shindigs? Nah. It was just a New Year’s party. No big deal.

  Pete was obviously okay with the idea, because he smiled and said, “The more the merrier.”

  “Cool.” Matt smiled. “We’ll be there.” Somehow, he was pretty sure Jon would be okay with coming along.

  Another jet screamed past.

  Assuming we make it past the front door this time.

  Chapter 23

  Pete and his wife hosted an annual New Year’s party at their house in Norfolk. Jon usually spent New Year’s with his squadron, but since Matt had come with him to the Halloween party and had at least attempted to come to the Christmas party, Jon was fine with changing plans this year.

  He and Matt booked a hotel room nearby—Matt was edgy about driving on New Year’s Eve because of all the drunks, and Jon figured they’d both be too trashed to drive anyway.

  After they’d checked in, they dressed for the party and took a cab to Pete’s place. Good thing, too, since the parking situation was a nightmare. Anyone who showed up now would be hoofing it in from at least five blocks away, and it was cold as balls tonight.

  The party was in full swing when they arrived, and Jon immediately recognized a few faces from the tattoo shop. Everyone else? He had no idea. He wasn’t worried, though. Matt could probably introduce him to a lot of people, and anyway, socializing with strangers wasn’t exactly a hardship, especially once he’d had a little liquid courage.

  There was no real dress code. Some guests were dress to the nines while others wore T-shirts. Jon liked that. Navy events always meant he had to wear a damn uniform. He rather liked showing up in jeans tonight. Matt had gone semi-casual as well—a button-up
black shirt and a pair of jeans that made grabbing his ass almost irresistible.

  A few people wore glittery cardboard top hats or glasses that spelled out the incoming year. Someone offered him and Matt one of the silly hats, and at some point, Matt wound up with three strands of silver Mardi Gras beads around his neck. A quick scan of the room revealed that most people had them, so Jon figured he’d have a few by the end of the night too.

  Matt introduced him around to the people he knew. Jon recognized some. Lucas, the apprentice from the shop. Colin, of course. And he was pretty sure he’d seen Colin’s boyfriend once or twice when they’d both been at Skin Deep, Inc.

  Daniel and Colin were, understandably, sticking close to each other. Daniel was deploying in the next couple of weeks, and the two of them probably wanted to spend as much time together as possible. Jon didn’t envy them. He’d witnessed enough deployment heartache to know exactly what they were about to dive into. Six months of pretending they were all right while trying to will the days to go by just a little bit faster.

  Jon wished them the best. A deployment could be the kiss of death for a couple, but he genuinely hoped Daniel and Colin were strong enough to weather it.

  Matt and Jon mingled together and separately, sometimes moving together and sometimes wandering in opposite directions. They both chatted with people, sometimes crossing paths and sometimes not. When Jon and a couple of guys started talking about planes, he didn’t have to worry about his date’s eyes glazing over because Matt was on the other side of the room, engaged in what looked like a deep conversation with Lucas and someone Jon didn’t recognize. A conversation about what? He had no idea, but Matt seemed perfectly content.

  Matt glanced Jon’s way at one point, and when they locked eyes for a second, they both smiled. Then they returned to their respective conversations.

  And Jon realized he’d completely lost the thread. What had they been talking about? He racked his brain, and seconds before he’d have made a total ass of himself, remembered that Pete had asked if thought he’d continue flying after he retired.