Indigo Knights: The Boxed Set

by Jet Mykles

  Danny shrugged. “Okay. So? You wait a few years to be open.”

  “A few years?”

  “Fuck, man. What’s a few years to the rest of your life?”

  Again Danny had a point, and it hit Noble like a baseball bat to the side of the head. He’d avoided tagging “the rest of my life” on his thoughts on the subject. It scared him that it felt kind of right. He glanced over his shoulder and down to where Foxy was still standing. This time he wasn’t looking. He seemed out of place. Lonely. Noble ached for him. “I don’t know if I can do it.”

  “Haven’t known you long, man, but I’ve never known you to be a coward.”

  Noble glared at him.

  Danny stood straight and let it go. “I need another drink. Want one?”

  “No. I’m good. I’ll catch up with you in a minute.”

  “’Kay.”

  As Danny left him, Noble pulled out his phone. Before he could think better of it, he opened the messaging program and sent a text. We should talk.

  He watched down below as Foxy pulled his phone from his pocket and read. Without looking up, Foxy texted back. Where?

  Fuck if Noble knew. He was alone right now only because there was a guy with a guitar camped out near the door behind him, and a crowd prevented anyone from coming out on the balcony. Ideas?

  Foxy glanced around but seemed to come to a similar conclusion. We could leave.

  What about ur date?

  Foxy leaned in close to Maritza’s ear and murmured something. She glanced up at the balcony briefly, then nodded before going back to talking to the guy on her left. Meanwhile, Foxy texted. She’s ready to go too.

  Noble blinked. WTF?

  He saw Foxy chuckle. It’s fine. Meet us out front.

  Us? Noble considered texting back any number of questions, then decided not. He got the feeling this was better explained in person. He went to find Danny and told him what was up.

  “Threesome?” Danny joked.

  “Not if I have anything to do with it,” Noble assured him.

  “Okay. But I want a full report in the morning.”

  “Maybe you’ll be so lucky.”

  It took him about twenty minutes to make it through a crowd of “leaving so soon?” and “we didn’t get a chance to talk,” but an occasional check assured him that Foxy and Maritza were having the same issue. He made it outside first, but they were only a few minutes behind.

  “Whew!” That from Maritza as she hung on Foxy’s arm, clearly more than a little tipsy. “I thought we’d never escape.”

  Foxy’s eyes were on Noble, but nothing was said as he handed off Maritza to a limousine driver, who put her in the backseat of the car. “We’ll give you a ride,” Foxy said, indicating the car.

  A ride? Noble frowned, letting his misgivings show. “What’s going on?”

  “Just get in. I swear it’s okay.”

  Noble glanced around, sure there was some photographer somewhere cataloging this. It was possible the private party was actually private, but you never knew. What the hell. With a mental shrug, he ducked past the driver and into the back of the car. Maritza was on the back-facing seat, taking off her high heels. Noble sat across from her and scooted over to give Foxy room to sit.

  Dropping her heels on the carpet, Maritza focused as well as she could on Noble. “First thing you need to know is that we’re not a couple.”

  He blinked, eyebrows rising to his hairline. Beside him, Foxy laughed softly.

  Maritza continued, reaching out to lay a hand on Noble’s knee. “Donny’s my very best friend, and he’s helped me lots. The whole dating thing was just publicity. I swear. We’re not together.”

  Noble glanced at Foxy, who was watching him with a cautiously eager look. “Okay.”

  Maritza wasn’t done. “Donny is so in love with you.”

  That made Foxy swear and switch a glare on her. “Shut up!”

  The car pulled away from the party.

  “What? It’s true. Jesus, the way you go on and on about Noble…” She gripped both sides of her head with a melodramatic groan, then peeked up at Noble with a mischievous glint in her eye. “Is your dick made of gold? ’Cause to hear him talk about it, I’d swear it was.”

  “Shut the hell up!” Foxy barked, swatting at her knee.

  Noble burst out laughing, now convinced that he was half in love with this girl. Foxy swore up an angry storm, but Noble leaned forward to give Maritza a hug made awkward by their position. “Thanks for that.”

  “You’re welcome.” She sat back in her seat, primly drawing her feet up and to the side so she could tuck them under her butt. “And he didn’t talk about your dick that much, but he’s implied enough—”

  “Mari, shut your trap.” Foxy shrank into the corner, glaring out the window.

  Noble’s mirth dimmed. “I missed you too,” he admitted.

  Foxy perked up, turning to face him.

  Noble reached for his hand. “I missed you a lot.”

  Foxy was at him in a flash, hands up to cup his face, angling his lips for a much-needed, drawn-out kiss. Noble heard Maritza’s tiny “eep” but ignored it in favor of curling his hands around Foxy’s neck to absorb the warmth of his skin.

  He was the one who broke the kiss, but Foxy wouldn’t let him go far. They ended up with their foreheads pressed together, breath mingling between them. “We still can’t be together.”

  Foxy cringed, the pads of his fingers digging briefly into Noble’s skull. “Yes, we can.”

  “No, we can’t.” Noble drew back, forcing Foxy’s hands to fall away. But he kept his hand on Foxy’s thigh, and he couldn’t resist reaching up with his free hand to tuck a lock of hair behind one ear. “You signed a contract.”

  “Fuck the contract.”

  “No.” Noble shook his head, feeling oddly confident despite the awful words he spoke. “This is your career we’re talking about.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “I care. I don’t want you to give up your dream for me.”

  Foxy twined his fingers with Noble’s, holding on hard. “What could they do to me? Sue me? So what? I pay a fine.” He glanced at Maritza. “It’s not like they’re going to replace me for the third movie.”

  She’d been watching them quietly, letting them have their moment. From the mulish look on her face, Noble guessed they’d had this discussion before. She met Noble’s eyes and shrugged. “We don’t really know what they’d do.”

  Foxy snorted.

  Noble squeezed his hand. “How long’s the contract for?” He needed to know the specifics before he could make a real decision.

  “We looked it up. The contract’s for all three movies,” she told him, while Foxy raised their hands to his lips to kiss Noble’s knuckles. “The morality clause covers when we’re shooting and six months after the release of number three.”

  “When do you start filming number three?”

  “Next month. It’s due to release next Christmas.”

  Foxy had slipped his fingers from Noble’s to open Noble’s palm for kissing. It was unbearably sweet and far too erotic for Noble to think straight. From the grin she wore, it seemed Maritza could well see Noble’s reaction.

  “So”—he shuddered a little when Foxy licked the thick part of his thumb—“a year and a half, at least.”

  “Something like that,” she answered, her heavily made-up eyes going dreamy at the sight of them. “If nothing causes a delay.”

  “Fuck.” Foxy tugged him forward and managed to brush a kiss on his neck before Noble drew on hidden reserves and pushed him away. “Stop that. I can’t think.”

  “I don’t want you to think.”

  “Obviously.” He spread his fingers on Foxy’s chest, then laughed when Foxy flattened both hands over his. “Putting on a show for your girlfriend?”

  Foxy scowled. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

  “Isn’t she a girl? Isn’t she your friend?”

  Maritza giggled at Foxy
gaping at him.

  Noble stared into his eyes as offense melted away. “So. Even if we wanted, we couldn’t be together for a year and a half.”

  “I want you.”

  Noble sighed. Paused. He didn’t want to say the next words, but he had to. “I want you too.” He shook his head as hope blossomed in those deep, dark eyes. “Do you know how hard it is for me to wait for anything?”

  “I can help.” Maritza piped in, raising her hand. “I’m happy to be Donny’s beard.”

  That made both men blink and look at her.

  She gave them all innocence in return. “What? That’s the right term, isn’t it?”

  Chapter Fourteen

  They insisted on taking Noble to Foxy’s place at the beach.

  “I’ve got a show tomorrow.”

  “I’ll get you back on time,” Foxy promised, now seated right up against Noble, trapping him in the corner of the seat while Foxy nuzzled his neck.

  Noble was melting. Fast. The fingers of one hand were threaded in Foxy’s soft hair, and his other hand kept plucking at the front of Foxy’s dress shirt. If Mari—as Maritza insisted he call her—weren’t there, they’d have been naked. “You don’t even know what time I’m supposed to be there.”

  Mari seemed to be having the time of her life watching them. “When do you have to be back?”

  “Um.” Noble had to pause and close his eyes to appreciate the gentle bite of teeth at his pulse.

  “Donny, stop it for a second,” she protested, laughing.

  Foxy sighed, then tilted his head to rest his forehead on the spot he’d just bitten. His hand smoothed down Noble’s chest to rest on the stripe of bare skin between shirt hem and waistband.

  Noble caught at his hand to keep it from dangerous—and growing—territory. “Noon,” Noble said, hoping he’d remembered right. “I need to be back at the hotel by noon.”

  Foxy twined fingers with his. “Piece of cake.”

  “Bullshit.”

  Again Mari giggled. She grabbed a bottle of water from the shelf in the door next to her.

  “Should we take you home?” Foxy asked her. His hair smelled of mint, and the scent filled Noble’s head.

  “Don’t be silly. What kind of beard would I be if you took me home?”

  Foxy groaned. “I wish you’d stop saying that.”

  She sipped, then laughed. “Oh, come on, Donny. This is awesome.”

  “What if you want to go on a date or something?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Like I’ve done a ton of dating in the past year.”

  Foxy shifted so he was lying on most of the seat, with the upper part of his body draping Noble’s side. “You could have any guy you want.”

  She emitted a most unladylike snort. “That’s completely not true, and you know it. I can’t have any guy.”

  Foxy poked Noble’s stomach. “She doesn’t mean me, by the way.”

  Noble grinned, willing to admit that Foxy was the subject of her complaint.

  Her eyes went wide. “Oh God, no.” To Noble: “Trust me—he’s all yours. We tried dating, but he was obviously not into me.”

  “It wasn’t obvious,” Foxy protested.

  “Oh. My. Gawd. It was so obvious.”

  They went on to talk about her love life, but Noble let his mind drift. Was this even a good idea? It sure seemed like it with Foxy draped over his side. The fact that they fit together did not escape his notice.

  It finally dawned on him that he should probably call someone. He and Foxy had to shift a little so he could get his phone, with the end result that Foxy finally sat up. But he kept hold of Noble’s free hand.

  Gordon answered on the second ring. “What’s up?”

  Noble looked out the window at the dark waves. “I’m going to Malibu.”

  Pause. “I thought you were at a party in the hills.”

  “I was.”

  “And now you’re off to Malibu.”

  “Yes.”

  “With who?”

  “With the Foxy.”

  Both Foxy and Mari gave him questioning looks. He just smiled.

  “I see. Apparently good things have happened?”

  “Not yet, but things are looking up.”

  “Uh-huh. And you’ll be back at the hotel by noon.” A statement, not a question.

  “I will.”

  “You’d better. Don’t make me track your phone.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.” He looked at Foxy, squeezing his fingers. “He’s promised to get me home on time.”

  Gordon chuckled. “All right, then. Have fun.”

  “Not a problem.” Noble hung up.

  “The Foxy?” Mari asked, curious.

  He shrugged, replying to a text from Reine to tell him that, yes, he’d left the party. “That just kind of stuck in the last few months.”

  She giggled. “I know people call him Foxy, but I kind of like the Foxy. I might have to start calling you that.”

  “Don’t you dare,” Foxy warned with a laugh.

  Noble chuckled as they bickered, now quite clear on the fact that the two were very good friends. He sent a few more texts—including one to Danny—then tucked his phone away.

  Just a little while later, the car stopped at a big iron gate. Beyond was a relatively short driveway ending at a huge house that looked like one massive block of white with a bunch of windows carved out here and there. Palm trees lined the drive but were conspicuously absent around the house itself so as not to impede the glorious view of the ocean that was down a steep incline. The house was kind of ugly, to be honest. Far too minimalist for Noble’s tastes. Too much glaring white, even at night. But he could see where the rich and famous might find it dazzling.

  “This is yours?” he asked, climbing out after Mari. Crisp ocean air caught his hair, blowing it across his face.

  “Yeah. Was just going to lease it but ended up buying.” Foxy, already standing, wound an arm around his shoulder to pull him close as they started down a brick pathway. “Like it?”

  “Uh, sure.”

  Leading him around the corner, Foxy laughed. “You hate it.”

  “Well…” From this angle, it looked like less of a single block and more like stacked blocks. The path they were on cut through a paved patio, complete with barbecue and lounge chairs, to a lighted alcove with a door. Two tall posts marked a spot where a set of stairs started down over the edge of what Noble considered a cliff. Clearly the place had been meticulously designed. “Yeah. Sorry.”

  “No worries.” Ahead of them, Mari keyed a code into a number pad mounted beside the door. Foxy took the opportunity to give Noble a lingering kiss that stopped when the front door clicked open. “I didn’t pick it out.” He ushered Noble inside a spacious entryway. “The guy who takes care of my money said I needed a house for the write-off. It came mostly furnished.”

  It looked slightly better from the inside. All the walls were painted white, and most accents were chrome or black. The main room went up two stories, with one solid wall of window that faced a tremendous view of the ocean. A floating staircase led up to a railed landing before a closed door and a hallway. Another hall led farther into the house underneath the stairs. One lamp was lit beside an uncomfortable-looking white-and-metal couch, but the main source of light was the silvery moonlight showering through the windows.

  “Jesus.” Noble slipped away from Foxy to check out the view. Churning water as far as the eye could see. From this angle it was clear that the house was built either right at or over the edge of the cliff. It was up high enough to obscure signs of civilization on the road below, and the few trees were situated to block signs of life to either side. Someone had sought to present an all-natural view and had succeeded. “Okay, this is nice.”

  “Awesome, isn’t it?” Mari stepped up beside him, high heels held in one hand, the sequins on her dress winking in the moonlight. “I’m going to crash in one of the guest rooms. You don’t mind, do you?”

&nb
sp; A little late for that. But… “No.”

  “Good.” Hand on his shoulder, she went on tiptoe to kiss Noble’s cheek. “I’m really so glad you’re here.” She started toward the staircase. “Good night, boys. You be good, okay?”

  She was laughing as she ascended, but Noble lost track of her, distracted by the warm, strong arms that enveloped him from behind. By the lips that nudged aside his hair to reclaim his neck. “I want to fuck you down here,” Foxy growled, squeezing Noble’s midsection. “But she’d probably come back and watch.”

  “Maybe another time.”

  Foxy spun him around. The collar of his dress shirt was wide-open under that face too beautiful for words. “Will there be another time?”

  With a sigh, Noble slipped one arm around Foxy’s waist while sliding the other up his chest to curl around the side of his neck. “I hope so.”

  “You never really said”—he swallowed, hands at Noble’s waist—“back in the car, if this was just tonight, or…”

  “You mean, you were listening?”

  Smiling, Foxy briefly kissed him. “It wasn’t easy. I just wanted to touch you.” Another kiss. Hands slid around to cup Noble’s ass. “It’s been so long.”

  Noble agreed and encouraged the kiss, perfectly willing to fuck first and talk later.

  But Foxy had other ideas. “But seriously. I need to know.”

  “Why?”

  “Because if tonight is it…” He rubbed up Noble’s sides. “Is it?”

  Noble tugged at Foxy’s hair, tilting his head back so Noble could lick under his chin. He liked the quiver that shook Foxy’s big, strong frame. “Let’s say no.” He bit at the stubble just starting to make Foxy’s chin prickly. “I think I need you too much for this to be it.”

  Foxy’s hands bunched at his sides. “You mean that?”

  “Yeah.” Now that Noble had had a taste, he needed more. He took his turn at nuzzling Foxy’s neck, inhaling his earth-spice scent. “I don’t want anyone else.” He sensed Foxy was going to say something, but Noble was done with words. Another tug at Foxy’s hair kept him from speaking and tilted his head so that their eyes met. Noble’s lips hovered a bare inch from Foxy’s as he said, “Shut up and fuck me.”