Jackson gave him another kiss with smiling lips, ending it with a light bite to Ash’s bottom lip. He spun Ash around and pushed him. Ash dropped forward, catching himself on the bed with both hands. He glanced back at Jackson. “Damn, you’re not holding back.”
Jackson laid a firm slap on Ash’s ass. Ash sucked in a breath at the sting of pain giving him a rush of pleasure.
“You said you like it rough,” Jackson said.
“I did and I do.”
Jackson cracked Ash’s other ass cheek. “Then get the rest of the way up there.”
Ash crawled fully onto the bed, Jackson close behind him. He started to lower to his elbows, stopping as Jackson slipped an arm under his chest. With his other hand, Jackson gripped Ash’s hair and pulled, making him kneel upright. He pressed tight against him, his hips working his cock on Ash’s ass.
Jackson yanked Ash’s head to the side, licking and sucking at his neck. Ash reached back and grabbed one of Jackson’s firm ass cheeks, encouraging him to grind on his ass harder. Jackson pressed against him more and rubbed down Ash’s abdomen to his cock, wrapping his fingers around it in a tight fist.
Ash rocked his hips toward Jackson’s hand. Jackson’s hold on him tightened, humping against him faster. Knowing neither of them were going to last if they kept it up, Ash laid a hand over Jackson’s that was stroking him. “You need to get in me before I lose it.”
Jackson nodded, his breathing already quick. He pushed on Ash’s back between his shoulders, and Ash went forward to his elbows, lifting his ass for him. Jackson grabbed the lube and coated his fingers, pushing one inside him.
Ash groaned low in his throat. Finally. It felt so good to have something inside him. But, it was also a tease for what he really wanted. He shifted back, trying to get Jackson’s full finger inside him. “Don’t take too long with the prep work.”
Jackson rotated his hand back and forth, his finger turning inside Ash. “We’ve got plenty of time before you have to go on.”
“But not so much before I spontaneously come and I’d rather you fuck me to it.”
Jackson worked a second finger into him. “Don’t make me get out a cock ring.”
Ash whipped his head to the side, trying to see him. “You don’t seriously have cock rings.”
Jackson answered him with a wicked smirk.
Ash closed his eyes, smiling. Jackson became a great match for him more with each second.
Jackson pulled his fingers out him. At the sound of the condom wrapper crinkling, Ash shifted his legs further apart. He felt Jackson slide up close to him. He waited, trying to keep his body calm despite the need inside him. Instead of Jackson’s cock, three lubed fingers pushed into his hole.
Ash dropped his head to the bed between his arms. “Damn it.”
Jackson rubbed the palm of his other hand over Ash’s ass. “You really want my cock, don’t you?”
“My ass in the air isn’t a big enough hint?”
Jackson swatted Ash’s ass again. “Sarcasm doesn’t belong in the bedroom.”
“Maybe not, but fucking does, so let’s get to it.”
Jackson grinned, but still withdrew his fingers from him.
Ash felt the wet and wrapped tip of Jackson’s cock on his hole. A moan escaped him just at knowing what was to come. Jackson pressed into him. Ash sucked in a deep breath, letting it out in a rush as the broad cock-head stretched his rim.
Jackson sank into him until he was buried to his base. He held Ash’s hips in both hands, taking a moment to enjoy the heat and tightness of him. Before he could start thrusting, Ash’s impatience took over with him bumping back against Jackson.
Jackson looked down, watching Ash fuck himself on his cock. The sight of Ash once again holding nothing back in working to get his pleasure snapped Jackson’s control. Holding Ash’s hips, he yanked him back hard. A choked gasp slipped from Ash’s throat, but from how he slammed against him in return, Jackson knew he’d given Ash what he wanted. He pulled Ash back again as he thrust forward, setting a hard, fast rhythm.
Ash panted short moans each time Jackson’s body met his. He stopped trying to move and surrendered his body to Jackson’s control. He craved it like this, and Jackson’s cock filled and worked him so beautifully. Pre-cum dripped from his own. Gripping the sheet in one hand, he reached under himself with the other, jerking it in quick strokes to match Jackson’s thrusting.
Jackson leaned over Ash’s back. He slipped a hand under him, pulling Ash’s off his cock. “I want to make you come completely.”
Ash spoke between quick breaths. “It’s not going to take much more.”
Jackson pulled at Ash’s cock, Ash’s moans growing louder. Ash shuddered and heaved back against him, his body constricting and releasing as he came. Warm cum slicked Jackson’s hand and sent him into his own orgasm.
He rested a hand on Ash’s back, giving them both a moment to catch their breath before slowly pulling out of him. He let out a groan at leaving Ash’s warmth, but climbed off the bed and went to the small bathroom to discard the condom. He stepped back out from the bathroom, stopping in place to admire Ash.
Ash had flipped over to his back, lying with his legs wide apart, one arm tossed above his head. His softening cock rested toward his left hip, still wet with cum. He looked spent, relaxed, satisfied, and so very beautiful.
Jackson slid onto the bed, bowing his head and sucking Ash’s cock into his mouth. They both needed recovery time, but he still couldn’t resist tasting him. Ash groaned, placing his hand on Jackson’s head. Jackson slowly drew up and let Ash’s cock gently fall back to his body. He kissed up Ash’s stomach to his chest, pausing to tease each nipple ring with his tongue. He kissed higher to Ash’s collarbone, and Ash tipped his head back, giving his throat to him. Jackson licked up it and reached Ash’s lips. They met in a languid kiss, Jackson lying down beside him as it drew to a slow end.
Ash exhaled a contented sigh. “I really don’t feel like performing now.”
“You got a couple hours to rest before you have to.”
“Yeah, but in a couple hours, I’ll want sex again. And I always get lazy after being fucked. I just want to sleep, then get it again.”
Jackson rubbed his hand across Ash’s chest. “We can still do that.”
Ash rolled his head to the side, looking at him, his voice soft as he spoke. “Hey, I really am sorry for earlier. I shouldn’t have blown up like that.”
“It’s alright. But I didn’t take your spot on purpose. When I was told about the change, things weren’t the way they are now between us.”
“I know. I never looked at the lineup, so it was my own fault for not knowing.” Ash flipped onto his side toward him. His fingertips moved over Jackson’s cheek in a light caress. “I have a tendency to explode over little crap…and big crap, too. Well, pretty much any kind of crap.”
Jackson chuckled. “Yeah, I kind of already figured that out about you.”
“Even knowing that, you still want to hang around me? Because for a lot of people, it wears on them.”
Jackson took Ash’s hand in his, a serious tone entering his voice. “Yeah, I do. I don’t see it wearing on me. It might get frustrating at times, but,” he touched his smiling lips to Ash’s hand, “it’ll take more than temper tantrums to scare me off.”
Ash slid closer to him, tangling his legs with Jackson’s. “I guess there’s some truth to the strong, silent cowboy thing. Well, except you’re not very silent. Like, at all.”
“I’m silent a lot. I have to be because your lips are always moving.”
Ash brought his lips a fraction from touching Jackson’s. “Sometimes they’re moving in a good way, though, right?”
Jackson answered him with a kiss.
As it ended, Ash tucked his head against him. Wrapped in Jackson’s warmth, one thought fluttered through Ash’s mind; he wished he could hold off tomorrow, because when it came, he and Jackson would be going their separate ways.
 
; CHAPTER 9
Ash stood front and center on stage before the erupting crowd. He flung his arms up, encouraging more, and the crowd responded in a deafening roar. Devin pounded the drums in a single, deep beat. Ash pumped his fist in the air on each one. He took a breath and lifted his mic, his voice leaving him in a low, long note, getting louder, going higher, until his baritone voice pitched up to his rocker scream. Jeremy’s guitar, Chad’s bass, and Devin’s drums jumped into their hard rock song, “Not This Time,” and Ash launched into singing.
Jackson stood offstage, focused on Ash. They were so different in their performance styles. Whereas he just walked the stage, occasionally jogged across it for his higher energy songs, Ash never stopped moving. Ash stood so close to the stage’s edge he seemed in danger of slipping off, then he spun back around, his hips, his body, moving with the music as he strutted toward Jeremy, throwing his arm around the guitarist. Through it all, not once did Ash’s voice waver off-key or did he miss a note. It amazed Jackson, like so many things about Ash did.
Jackson took a deep breath, hoping to loosen the tightness in his chest. As captivated as he was by the performance, his thoughts kept distracting him. He needed to talk to Ash and finally ask him something he’d been holding in since before Ash’s anger spell that morning. After they’d smoothed everything over in the afternoon, things felt so good between them, he didn’t want to risk upsetting it. Even now he wondered if he was crazy for considering what he was.
What if he was taking things too much to heart? What if the things he was starting to feel weren’t even close to what Ash was? It wasn’t like he was a stranger to flings. If anything, he was more of a stranger to a real long-term relationship. But for some reason, what he felt when he was with Ash made him want to believe it was more than a fling. They came from different lifestyles, different backgrounds, different music styles, but when he looked into Ash’s eyes, he’d never met anyone who seemed so familiar.
From Ashes finished their set with Ash flinging the microphone behind him and it falling to the stage with a boom. Jackson headed down the stairs to meet him at the bottom. Ash reached the stairs, jogged down half and jumped. He landed on the ground and spun.
“Fuck yeah! Now that’s how you kick ass!” Ash spied Clint Murray standing near by and jabbed his index finger toward him. “Try following that!”
Clint rolled his eyes in a disgusted look and turned away.
Jackson laughed. “Just because we’ve made peace doesn’t mean you gotta go starting a feud with another country artist.”
“The hell it doesn’t,” Ash said. “He’s done nothing but give me shitty looks every time I walk by him.” He lifted his voice, looking in Clint’s direction. “But now he sees how the big boys play!”
Jeremy shoved Ash on the back to get him walking. “Seriously, man, let’s have a little bit of peace.”
Ash slowed so Jackson walked at his side. “So what’d you think of our set?”
“You were incredible. All of you were. But I already knew you were a hell of a performer.” Jackson pointed to Ash’s steel belt buckle of a large skull. “I’m not sure about that, though. You sat there making fun of my big belt buckle and look at you.”
Ash touched the skull buckle. “Yeah, but look at the difference between them. A skull versus a bull’s ass. Which is cooler?”
Devin glanced back at them. “I kinda like Jackson’s better.”
Ash snorted. “Figures.”
Chad spoke up. “Either way, you like big ass belt buckles, too. You wear a lot of them.”
“Because they add a little flash to my outfits.”
Jackson leaned toward him as they walked. “Maybe it means you’ve got a little country in you, after all.”
Ash turned a smirk on him. “Well, I did enjoy the country that was in me earlier.” He lightly touched Jackson’s hand. “Let’s go to your trailer again.”
“Alright.”
Ash lifted his voice for his band members. “I’ll catch you guys back at the bus in a little bit.”
His band members nodded and waved, all seeming to know what he was going off to do.
They reached Jackson’s trailer. Jackson climbed the steps behind him. Now was the time. He’d have Ash alone. All he had to do was ask him. What was the worst that could happen? Ash would say no. As matter-of-factly as Jackson tried to reason it, his heart still tightened at the thought.
Ash moved toward him, concern on his face. “Is everything alright? You’re not mad that I was taunting Clint, are you?”
“No, I don’t care about that.” Jackson took Ash’s hand and pulled him toward the couch. “Listen, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
Ash sat next to him, giving him a smile. “You always do. Don’t you remember what I told you to say you wanted to do instead?”
“Yeah, but what I want to talk about will probably determine whether or not much more of that happens.”
The humor faded from Ash’s expression. “This can’t be good.”
Jackson sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees, letting his hat hide his face. “Well, it might be good. But judging from your reaction just now, I don’t think it will be. Not for me, anyhow.”
Ash laid a hand on Jackson’s thigh. “What’s going on?”
Jackson glanced toward him. “What were you planning on doing after tonight?”
“We’re going back to L.A. And once I get home, I’m planning on not getting out of bed for at least a week other than to eat, shower, and use the bathroom. We’ve been on the road a long time, and I’m feeling a little burned out. Why?”
“It’s just, there’s a lot about each other we don’t know. And I don’t know how you feel, but I’d like to get to know you better, spend some time with you away from all this craziness. So I was wondering if you’d maybe like to come home with me. It wouldn’t have to be long. A couple days, a week, whatever you wanted. I just thought, maybe, we could see if there might be something here, between us.”
Ash stared at him, silent for a moment. “Come home with you? To Texas?”
“Yeah.”
“To your ranch?”
Jackson cleared his throat. “Yeah.”
Ash nodded slowly, as if he was finally clear on what Jackson was saying.
Jackson glanced away from him. Ash didn’t have to speak for him to know what his answer was. He should’ve realized what was happening between them was nothing more than two guys having a good time.
Ash took a breath. “Well, that’s not really what I had in mind to do.”
Jackson nodded. “That’s alright. I kind of already knew you’d rather just go home.”
“Yeah, I do. That’s why I was going to invite you back with me, but I’ve never been to a ranch before, so it could be…interesting. I guess we could go to your place first, spend some time there, then you could come to L.A. with me.”
Jackson snapped his head toward him. “You’re serious?”
“Yeah, I’m serious. If you’re going to make me tiptoe around horse shit for a week, you better believe I’m going to drag you out to my turf.”
“I meant, you’re serious about wanting to spend more time with me?”
Ash looked at him in confusion. “That’s what you just invited me to do, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t think you’d really accept.”
“So, is that your way of saying you didn’t want me to?”
“Hell no! I’m just surprised, that’s all. I didn’t think you’d want…” Jackson stopped his words, not wanting to voice how he thought Ash wouldn’t want to spend more time with him. From how Ash’s expression softened, it seemed Ash knew his thoughts, anyway. He pulled Ash into a tight embrace. “I’m not going to say anything else. Just that I’m glad you’re going to come home with me.”
Ash rested his head against Jackson’s, his arms wrapped around him. “We really need to work on this communication thing, you know?”
Jackson sat back an
d cupped Ash’s cheek. “We’ll have some time to work on that.”
A grin shone over Ash’s lips. He pushed on Jackson’s shoulders to get him to lean back and slid onto his lap, straddling him. “I was hoping we could work on it now, using what we seem to communicate best on as a starting point.”
Jackson rubbed his hands over Ash’s ass. “I like that plan.”
He met Ash in a long, slow kiss. Once again, Ash had amazed him, and in the best way yet.
CHAPTER 10
Ash stepped out of Jackson’s home to the porch. The two-story mansion was on a slight rise, giving a full view of Jackson’s property. Two barns and an indoor riding arena were to one side. An outdoor riding arena, set up with pens and shoots for roping, were situated nearby. The pastures rolled out into the distance, lined in black wood fencing, a stream coursing through them. In one pasture, a few cattle napped in the shade. In the others, horses meandered as they grazed.
When they arrived in the early afternoon the day before, he and Jackson had gone pretty much from the car to bed, which was fine by him. He was tired and horny, and had wanted both taken care of quick. Ash folded his arms across his chest a leaned one shoulder against a post. A small smile came to his lips. Now, though, even he had to admit, standing here looking over Jackson’s property, it felt right.
He wasn’t so much of a diehard city boy that he didn’t enjoy the outdoors. Hiking was one of his favorite hobbies. Sequoia and King’s Canyon National Park was truly his favorite place in the world. He could disappear in there for days, wandering the forest and trails. During the band’s downtime, he always took trips to other national parks and natural places around the world.
As much as he enjoyed it, he never had a desire to live a country life. He loved the city, having shopping, clubs, plenty of men, at his fingertips. But there was so much peace here. No noise other than the birds and occasional whinny from a horse. He understood better why Jackson enjoyed it, especially with the hectic life of being a famed musician. Here, Jackson could be himself.
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