by Jet Mykles
“No.” Maybe he answered too fast. “That’s not what this is.”
“Okay.” Same tone as before, said while Rabin stared pointedly at him.
Danny frowned. “It’s not.”
Smiling, Rabin shrugged and looked away.
“All right.” Noble set his feet apart, hands on hips, as he came to a stop before them. The mohawk stood straight up, and a long-sleeved white thermal that was at least two sizes too small conformed to his chest. It was short enough to leave some of his belly bare above the thick belt that wasn’t really holding up his tight jeans. “What gives?”
“Nothing,” Danny answered, gaze on Rabin.
Who just kept smiling and sipped his drink.
Noble glanced from one to the other of them, then back. “You know how I hate to be left out. What are we talking about?”
“Cash didn’t show,” Rabin answered before Danny could.
Now Noble was watching Danny. When understanding dawned, it transformed his face from annoyance to mischief. “Ah. And this distresses you.”
“It does not distress me.”
Noble and Rabin exchanged a glance that just pissed Danny off. Even more because he knew he was distressed, and it didn’t help that they knew him well enough to be certain of it. He crossed his arms and decided he was not pouting. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Shit.” Noble spoke to Rabin, eyebrows raised. “He’s really hooked on the nerd.”
Rabin nodded. “He is.”
“Stop calling him a nerd,” Danny tried to intervene. Even if he is.
Noble ignored him and kept talking to Rabin. “You ever meet him?”
“Cash? Not yet.”
“Don’t you think that’s strange that we haven’t met him?”
Danny pushed off the booth to stand closer to Noble. “Guys, c’mon.”
Rabin nodded to Noble. “I do think it’s a little strange.”
Noble cocked his head, spiked hair glowing in the partially black-lit area. “Almost like he’s hiding this secret from us.”
“Hey!”
“Or”—Rabin held up a finger—“Cash is a figment of his imagination.”
Then Lance was there beside Danny, drink in hand. The black of his shirt and jeans was so much more vibrant than the black of the tables, walls, and floors. “Or Cash is some online buddy.”
Danny gaped at him.
Noble hooted, clapping his hands, rings flashing. “You don’t think this is all some cyber game, do you? Some dude he made up in one of those RPG games?”
Lance shrugged. “What do I know about these things? I just play guitar.”
Danny propped his fists on his hips, trying to glare at them but failing to get them all in one glance. “Guys.”
Noble leaned on Rabin’s shoulder, lips close to his ear, but he failed to whisper his next words. “I think we should help him out. Maybe find him an actual cutie to play with.”
Danny’s jaw couldn’t drop any farther open. “What the hell? I can get my own—”
They weren’t listening. Or they at least pretended not to.
“I don’t know—he might take offense.” Rabin raised a hand, supposedly to cover his mouth and conceal his words, but he too spoke plenty loud enough for Danny to hear. “He thinks he’s the shit, you know. Lead singer and all.”
Noble rolled his eyes dramatically. “Tell me about it. My God, could he be more full of himself?”
Despite the fact that he was the butt of the joke, Danny started to laugh. Which, he was sure, was what his friends intended. “I am not—”
Noble studied him but continued to speak to Rabin. “Still, he needs some arm candy. Maybe Izzy knows someone?”
“All right, that’s it. Fuck you busybodies.” Danny stalked off toward the backstage door.
“Where you going?” Noble rushed up to his side. “Is there a computer back there? You going online to”—he made air quotes with his fingers—“have sex?”
“Let it rest.”
“Seriously, man, you need me to hook you up?”
Danny pushed through the door, smiling. “Not in a million years.”
Noble continued to follow. “You sure? A million years is a long time.”
“Bite me.”
Noble stopped in the door to the dressing room. They were alone for the moment, the thump of dance music muted when the thick backstage door clicked closed. “Well, I could. But I didn’t think it was a good idea for you and me to have that kind of relationship.”
Danny threw himself onto the threadbare couch, sighing loudly.
The drummer stood at Danny’s knees, hands on hips. “Serious, now. You okay?”
“I’m fine. Just a little disappointed.”
“You guys dating?”
“No! We’re not dating. I just…”
“Just?”
“Like him.”
Noble nodded. “You know what you’re doing?”
“Yeah.” Danny let his gaze drop. “Sure.”
Noble patted his head. “You need anything, you know…?”
Danny swatted at Noble’s hand but then caught his wrist to squeeze it. “Yeah. I know.”
“Cool. I’m gonna go eat. You need something?”
“No, I’m good.”
Then Noble was gone, and Danny was alone. Clearly his friends had decided to give him a few minutes alone. He appreciated it.
So he was bent out of shape. So what? It was understandable. He and Cash were fucking. He liked to spend time with the people he was intimate with. Was that so wrong? Besides, he liked Cash. Liked spending time with him. Wasn’t it normal to want to share such a big part of his life with Cash? At least a little? No, it wasn’t wrong. Neither did it matter. Obviously Cash wasn’t of the same opinion. If Cash just wanted to keep the whole thing at fuck buddies, Danny was completely down with that.
He was.
Chapter Ten
The apartment’s main room was dark when Danny got home after two o’clock. Only city lights and the moon lit the room, but a wash of lamplight illuminated the hallway from Cash’s open door. Danny tossed his keys onto the table and paused, staring out the window, wondering if he’d just go into his bedroom or if he’d talk to Cash.
Cash took the choice away from him. Danny had just dumped his outer clothing on the corner chair when Cash materialized as a shadow in the hallway, one hand on either wall. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Just be casual. Don’t be hurt. You knew he wouldn’t come.
“You sounded great tonight.”
Danny frowned. He couldn’t see Cash’s features very well, but he knew Cash could see his. “You were there?”
“I was. For a while.” The shadow ducked its head, and the light made a nimbus of unkempt curls. “I didn’t stay until the end.”
But you were there. Danny took a step toward him, heart rate speeding. “Why not?”
Cash shrugged. “It was…weird. I’ve read about those places, but all those people…” Another shrug.
Those places? “Did you go alone? I thought you were going to ask one of your friends.”
Cash snorted a laugh. “Yeah, like any one of them belonged there either.” And another shrug.
Just like that, the bottom dropped out of Danny’s resentment. “Aw shit.” He was in front of Cash in less than a heartbeat, hands to either side of that lovely jaw to tilt Cash’s head up. “I’m sorry,” he told the eyes he could see very well now that he was closer. Cash was without his glasses, so there were just those gorgeous eyes. “You should’ve told me. I could’ve made sure Izzy came tonight.”
Cash shook his head about an inch both ways, not enough to dislodge Danny’s hands. He reached up to encircle one of Danny’s wrists, just to hold. “It’s okay. I wanted to see you play. I just…didn’t know what to do when I was there.”
Danny almost smiled. Cash without a keyboard or a laptop wasn’t a comfortable Cash. “You mean you didn’t sit at the bar and attract a horde of men t
o flirt with?” Even as he joked, the very idea made his blood hot. Not that it ever would or could happen. Even at the club, he’d had a hard time picturing Cash there.
“Yeah, right. That’s me. I flirted all over.” Cash rolled his eyes and blew a breath past his lips. “No one even noticed I was there.”
“But you were.” He stroked his thumb along Cash’s jaw. “That’s what’s important.” And the very thought made Danny’s heart soar in a way he couldn’t quite describe. It was like he was expanding, like there was too much air inside him. He was going to burst. Before Cash could further protest, Danny kissed his lips. “I’m sorry you were uncomfortable. I didn’t think you’d be alone.” Truthfully, he hadn’t really thought about it, and that niggled him with guilt too.
“It’s okay.” Cash kissed him back, sliding an arm around Danny’s waist. “What I saw, though,” he whispered against Danny’s lips, “it was great. You looked terrific up there.”
Danny purred, knowing the compliment meant more since music really wasn’t Cash’s thing. He curled one arm around Cash’s shoulders and dug the fingers of his other hand into Cash’s hair. “You noticed?”
Cash chuckled through the next kiss. “Um, yeah. You’re the brightest thing onstage.” A little sigh escaped his chest as Danny nuzzled underneath his ear. “So beautiful.”
Danny froze, drinking in those last two, barely whispered words.
Cash flinched, trying to duck away. “I-I mean, you were, uh…”
The smile that curled Danny’s lips could not be denied. He twisted and pushed Cash up against the wall, pinning him with his body. “Beautiful?”
Cash shut his eyes. “Shit.”
Danny pressed the tip of his nose to Cash’s, their foreheads almost touching. Why could he barely breathe? “Did you just call me beautiful?”
“No.”
“Liar.”
Slowly, dark eyes dragged open. The new angle threw one eye into light while the other remained in shadow. Without the glasses, he barely seemed real, more like a shadow lover out of Danny’s dreams. “You’re gonna make a big thing outta this, aren’t you?”
“Oh, you bet I am.”
“Do you have to?”
“But it’s so romantic.”
Cash groaned, his fingers clutching at Danny’s sweatshirt. “If I go get naked on my hands and knees on your bed right now, will you drop it?”
The sound of the words coming out of Cash’s mouth stunned Danny for a moment. “Maybe.” He caught Cash tight when the other man moved to dislodge. He tipped his head to the side so he could brush his lips over Cash’s. “But first tell me you meant it.”
He tasted Cash’s breath on his tongue for a brief moment of hesitation. “I meant it.”
For that, Danny had to kiss him. He plunged and sucked and demanded until he could feel Cash writhing in his arms, fingers digging into his spine. When he drew back and got a good look at Cash’s face, the other man was flushed and dazed, his lips swollen and wet. But he wanted more. Danny could feel the need because it matched his own.
“You want me.” Danny didn’t make it a question, didn’t seek to give Cash the option of denying. Perhaps it was bad of him, but when faced with the treasure in his arms, his soul was only so good. “Say it.”
Cash had lost resistance. He sank toward Danny, offering his mouth. His hands dropped to Danny’s hips. “I want you.”
Danny pulled him from the wall and guided him into Danny’s room. They stripped off their shirts, and Danny shoved Cash’s sweats off before nudging him down to the mattress. Danny’s boots and jeans took a little more effort, and he couldn’t resist teasing as he saw to the rest of his clothes. “I seem to remember something about you on your knees and naked.”
Cash’s eyes went big. Danny was about to let him off the hook, when he did get up on his knees, then crawled up the mattress toward the corner of the bed where the bottle of lube lay. He settled back on his knees, staring at the bottle like it was a confusing puzzle.
Danny dropped his second boot to the floor. “Cash, you don’t have to. I was just teasing.”
Cash shook his head. “No. If I’m going to…do this…be this, I need to…” He scowled harder.
“Babe, don’t worry about it.” Danny rushed with his zipper, anxious to get Cash back in his arms and smooth away that scowl.
Ignoring him, Cash poured some lube into his hand, but then he stared at his fingers, rubbing his thumb over the pads. Another puzzle. “How come I’m the bottom?”
Danny hid a grin as he pushed his jeans and briefs down his legs. “Did you want to fuck me?”
He was watching when Cash jerked in shock. “Uh…”
Finally Danny was naked. He knelt on the bed. “We can do that, if you want.”
Cash swallowed, eyeing Danny’s cock sideways. “Uh…”
Danny pressed himself and his cock up against Cash’s side and nuzzled his neck. “But you seemed to like it when I was inside you.”
Cash shuddered, and the lube bottle fell from his limp fingers. “Don’t…say…”
“Say what?” Danny slid his hand down Cash’s belly and took firm hold of his cock. “That it’s warm and tight inside your ass, and I can’t wait to get back in there?”
Another shudder. “Don’t talk about it.”
Danny nipped at Cash’s ear as he stroked his shaft. “Where’s the fun in that?”
“Y-you’re demented.” It was said on a sigh.
“Yes. And I’m perving hard on your body. I want my hands and tongue all over it.”
Cash groaned and sagged into Danny. Chuckling, Danny nudged and watched him crumple to his back on the mattress. Danny was on him immediately, covering his chest with bites and licks before he made his way up Cash’s neck to finally meet with his mouth.
“What do you want?” Danny whispered against wet lips.
“You.” The answer was immediate and simple, and it set off that expansive feeling inside Danny again.
He purred and kissed Cash again. “How do you want me?”
Fingers pulled at his hair. Cash kept his eyes downcast, long lashes hiding deep brown irises. No, that wasn’t hiding. His gaze was focused downward, in the direction of Danny’s cock. He couldn’t see it, but he could certainly feel it, pressing into his belly. “I…” He licked his lips. “I want to…taste you.”
“Oh God.” Danny squeezed Cash’s shoulder, trying to get ahold of the surge of need that speared through him. With brute force, he forced control over himself. “Are you sure?”
Cash swallowed, but he nodded. His eyes came up to meet Danny’s. “Yeah.”
Danny stole one last kiss before twisting away to lie on his back. Cash rolled after him and propped himself up on his arms. Weak moonlight filtered through the blinds and glowed a different blue from the computers in Cash’s bedroom. Other than that, they were in darkness. But it didn’t matter. They’d mapped each other out well enough to know where to go. At least Danny had. As smooth hands slid down his chest, he was delighted to realize Cash had done his own share. Danny threw his arms up over his head and gripped the edge of the mattress as he watched the shadow that was Cash reposition between his legs. Cash didn’t hurry, but he also didn’t linger as he tracked his way down Danny’s belly until he found curly, trimmed hair. Then tentative fingers closed around the base of Danny’s cock, and Danny couldn’t help but groan.
“Let me know if I do this wrong,” Cash murmured, lowering to his elbows.
“Just watch the teeth. You’ll do—ah!—fine.”
Yes, that was a tongue he felt. Quick and light, like a kitten testing a treat. But then the lips joined in, and all thoughts of baby animals washed from Danny’s mind. Cash was nothing if not…methodical. Thorough. He carefully explored every millimeter of the head of Danny’s cock before lips and tongue ventured slowly down the shaft. He must have been reading online, because he tried a few swipes of tongue that Danny was pretty sure he wouldn’t do on instinct. But what did
Danny know? Maybe Cash was a natural-born cocksucker. The thought would have made him laugh if he had enough blood in his brain to do so. But Cash had control of the most alive portion of Danny’s body, and he wasn’t done. When the sucking began in earnest, Danny nearly came out of his skin. One of his hands shot down to sink into Cash’s hair, to guide him just a bit. Cash didn’t protest, quickly adapted to the angle Danny put him in, and then they were both groaning as Cash’s mouth slid up and down Danny’s cock.
“Ah!” Danny felt it coming. Knew he should warn Cash. He would’ve if his mouth had worked. “Gah!” He gripped Cash’s hair and tugged.
Thankfully, Cash took the sign and popped his mouth free, but he kept a thoroughly wet hand pumping Danny’s cock even as spunk spurted out over Danny’s belly.
Danny lay for a few gorgeous moments, just breathing, no thoughts in his head. He was aware of Cash moving but couldn’t be bothered to track him. Not just yet.
He started to rouse at Cash’s chuckle. “I must’ve done something right if you’re not talking.”
Danny cracked open one eye and stared into the shadows of Cash’s face. “What?”
“You. You’re always talking. I must’ve done it right if you’re speechless.” He sounded proud. “Unless you don’t want to hurt my feelings.”
“Don’t want to…?” With a frustrated grunt, Danny surged up and tackled Cash onto his back. “I’ll give you feelings.”
Wait, that sounded wrong. But it was too late. He was kissing Cash. He wanted Cash as breathless and mindless as he’d just been. They kissed until Cash was writhing. Then Danny kissed his way down Cash’s body. He took his time, nibbling at any area he thought might be good, making note of the places Cash really seemed to like. When he reached Cash’s cock, he teased around the shaft, laved at Cash’s balls, did everything but suck until wordless begging poured from Cash’s mouth. Satisfied, Danny sank Cash’s cock into his mouth and used every trick he knew to drive Cash crazy without letting him come. Oh no, before he’d allow that, he wet two fingers and pushed them into Cash’s anus. With at least some part of him inside Cash’s eager body, he finally let Cash come.