by Jet Mykles
“No more beards. And I don’t mean the one you can’t grow on your chin.”
He narrowed his eyes at her, then chuckled. “No more women.”
“Oh, Reese.” Hugging him again, she rocked them so that he nearly toppled again.
Laughing, he hugged her back. He thought she might try to bring up Luc again, but clearly she chose to leave it alone. He wasn’t sure that he was as happy about the date as she was, but he wasn’t dreading it. Jimmy was a good guy whom he met at the tattoo parlor. He was nothing at all like the jerks that Reese had suffered through after Luc’s rejection. It wasn’t more than meeting for dinner, but Jimmy was pretty clear with the signs that he was interested. Reese was willing to see where it went.
And if he couldn’t see himself giving his heart to anyone other than a certain rockstar, then he’d at least see what was possible.
◆◆◆
“Tom, that’s fuckin’ awesome!”
Reese stared in delight at the reflection of his back. At long last, the dragon to match the tiger twined across his shoulder blade. It wasn’t finished, just the outline, but at least it was started. It filled Reese with an entirely pleasant and strange elation which he hoped to feel a lot in the future.
“Glad you like it.” Tom sat back, grinning smugly.
Reese stood and let Tom carefully bandage the dragon. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, gathering his backpack on the way out. It was early evening and so far they were the only ones at the shop. Reese had offered to hang around and help out until the others arrived, but Tom waved him off.
Reese whistled as he walked the short way down a few blocks to a little Italian café. Life wasn’t perfect, but it was good. Tom might be close to agreeing to the apprenticeship and Reese was getting to know the other artists at the shop. If not Tom then Talbert might agree to taking him on eventually. After three weeks, the first mural at Purgatory was done and Garth liked it enough to commission one for the other side of the courtyard. Because of the mural, Reese had received a few inquiries on his work. Emails were starting to come in for his work. Painting had paid for the new tattoo!
He ducked out of the sun into the dim interior of the café. The host greeted him with a smile and took him to a table by the front.
Jimmy came out not long afterward to take his order. The young waiter smiled, topaz eyes twinkling beneath a mop of curly summer-brown hair. “What will you have… to eat?”
Reese matched his grin. “Surprise me.”
Jimmy winked. “Whatever you say, gorgeous.”
He watched Jimmy’s cute little butt retreat. If things went well, he might even have a boyfriend soon. So far they hadn’t done more than kiss, but Reese was hopeful for the weekend. It wasn’t the same as being with Luc, but then, he was resigned to the fact that it simply couldn’t be. How could a mere mortal compare to a god?
He grimaced at himself. Now that was a stupid comparison, wasn’t it?
Lunch turned out to be a delicious ravioli, which he enjoyed immensely. He pulled out his newest sketchbook and practiced by drawing the dark little corner of the café as he lingered over his meal.
Jimmy finally came to sit with him, his waiter’s apron off. “Oh, nice!” he exclaimed over the sketch. “You gonna color that in?”
Reese shrugged, setting his pencil down as he reached down for his bag. “Hadn’t thought about it. I was just practicing.”
“If you color it in, I’m sure Paul would love to have it.” Jimmy beamed. “He might even pay you for it.”
Reese smiled, folding the sketchbook shut and shoving it into his bag. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Jimmy grinned at him. “You ready?”
Reese drank the last of his soda and stood, nodding. “Yep.”
They went out the back to where Jimmy’s Corolla was parked. Before he started the car, Jimmy reached over to pull Reese into a kiss. It was nice. Again, not Luc, but nice.
Reese sighed inwardly, again telling himself that he really needed to stop thinking about Luc. But he found more and more of his thoughts laced with images and notions of the bass player, despite his absence. Reese had hopes that his obsession would mellow with time.
Jimmy parked in front of the club. Smiling, he leaned in toward Reese and they got lost for a few minutes in a sweetly warm embrace.
Hmm. “Want to come up for a while?” Reese asked, lips brushing Jimmy’s.
Pale blue eyes twinkled at him. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Reese let Jimmy twine their hands together as they mounted the rickety stairs up to the apartment. Both of the young men laughed as they tried to keep the handhold despite the fact that there wasn’t really enough room for them both to walk abreast. Grinning, Reese dug his keys out of the little pocket at the back of his pack and looked up.
He froze at the sight of the man perched on the railing that surrounded the small landing before his front door. “Luc!”
Did the man have to be so beautiful? He sat there, casually smoking a cigarette. His hair was loose and flowing in gorgeous curls about his shoulders, held back from his face by the sunglasses perched atop his head. A tight-fitting black T-shirt rode up his torso, exposing a delicious strip of hard midriff. His jeans slimmed lovingly over muscled legs to tuck into calf-high black boots. Déjà vu hit him, recalling the last time he’d found this man on his doorstep and the terrific night that followed.
Luc’s sable eyes fixed on Reese, then dropped to the hand that was still wound with Jimmy’s. His expression didn’t change, but Reese could swear he felt a chill in the air. “Hey, Reese.”
“Oh, my God!” This from Jimmy. “You’re Luc Sloane!”
Luc nodded, his eyes back on Reese’s face.
Reese couldn’t find words. Could only stare. What was he doing here?
Jimmy rushed by him, hand extended. “Oh, man, I’m a huge fan! Reese told me he knew you, but I never… Oh, man!”
Luc shook his hand briefly. “Well. At least he told you.”
“Huh?”
Reese shook himself and stepped up the rest of the way. “Nothing.” He managed to tear his gaze away from Luc to smile at Jimmy. At least, he hoped it looked like a smile. “Hey, I’m sorry. You mind if I meet you later? I think Luc has something to talk about.” And, strangely, Reese very much wanted to hear.
“Oh! Yeah! Sure!” Jimmy was one of those insufferably nice people. A smile for everyone. “I’ll see you later, baby.”
Reese managed not to wince and did kind of kiss Jimmy back, just before the brunet turned back to Luc. “I hope you’ll stick around. I’d love to get the chance to talk to you.”
Did Jimmy see the anger in those hooded eyes? In the grim set of those pouting lips? Probably not. He didn’t know Luc well enough to know that the stare was cold and Luc was too practiced at putting on a face for strangers. “Maybe. Sure.”
“Cool!” Jimmy practically skipped down the stairs.
Confused, Reese avoided looking at Luc by unlocking the front door with shaking hands. He didn’t bother to invite him in, just stepped inside. He knew Luc would follow.
Then he jumped and spun when the door slammed.
“What the fuck was that?”
Reese stared, eyes wide. He hadn’t expected the full brunt of Luc’s anger. It filled the room just like he seemed to, standing there with eyes narrowed. And so fucking beautiful. “What?”
“Who was that?”
“Jimmy.”
“Your lover?”
He slid his backpack to the floor, trying to get his brain to come back online. “Not yet.”
Luc’s eyes slitted.
Reese backed away.
Luc snatched the sunglasses from his head and tossed them onto the little dining table to his right. “What the fuck? You’ll find yourself a boy toy, but you won’t call me?”
“He’s not a boy toy.”
The snarl he got for that was rather amazing.
“Why would I call you?”
/> Perhaps the exact wrong thing to say. Red hair tumbled into Luc’s face, and he combed it away with impatient fingers. “Did I not say in my note to call me? Haven’t I called enough times to give you the idea that I want to talk to you? Hell, I gave you a fucking first-class ticket to Italy!”
“Well, yeah, but…” Reese backed up into the wall next to the door that led to the bedrooms. He stopped there, somehow very afraid to lead Luc in that direction.
Luc stepped toward him, looming but not touching. “But…?”
Reese glowered, trying to build up some anger of his own. “What business is it of yours?”
He jumped and unfortunately yelped when Luc’s palms slammed into the wall to either side of his shoulders. “You’re my business!”
He’s jealous. Reese didn’t want to get a thrill from that, but he did. “Fuck you.” Might have been more convincing if those words didn’t come out so breathy, but what the hell? “I’ve been handling my own life for a long time.”
“I know.”
Shit, it was like standing in front of the open door of a furnace, yet what he really wanted to do was thrust his hands into the fire. “What do you know?”
“I know everything.”
Reese blinked, aware he was drinking in the sight of his gorgeous man and completely unable to stop himself.
“I know about your job with Garth. I know about the mural he paid you to paint. The mural that I paid for.”
Reese gasped. “You paid—?”
Luc talked over him. “I know about the tattoo parlor. I know about the paintings.”
His eyes narrowed. “Reegan—”
“Yeah.” Luc sneered. “But looks like she didn’t know everything, huh? She didn’t know about the boy toy.”
She did, but obviously she chose not to mention it. “He’s not a boy toy.”
“Then what is he?”
“A friend.” He squirmed. Luc had kept track of him? The swell of warmth in his chest effectively diffused his anger. He chose not to think of what was happening in his pants, how Luc’s presence was making him hard. “W-we haven’t…”
“But you were going to.”
“Well, maybe.”
Luc gripped his shoulders, shaking him. “Why? Why didn’t you just call me?”
Reese gasped at the fire that shot through his new tattoo. The pain gave him the impetus to shove Luc back. He escaped to the other side of the room. “I couldn’t call you. How pathetic would that be?” He felt tears start to burn in his eyes. Luc hadn’t moved on. When the phone calls he wouldn’t answer had stopped twelve days ago—yes, he counted—he’d thought that was it.
With a huge sigh, Luc dragged a palm down his face, clearly trying to rein himself in. “Why pathetic?”
“Why did you pay for the mural?” His thoughts were scattered and it was all he could do to pick out random bits.
“To get your art out where people could see it.”
Astonished, he blinked at Luc. “What?”
“It worked, didn’t it? Garth said he’s got tons of people asking for your info.”
He licked his lips. “I don’t need you to help me.” Or maybe he did?
“Maybe I want to help you. Fuck. I need to help you.” There was a weird, desperate gleam in those too-dark eyes.
“You almost got me fired.”
Luc threw a hand in the air, gazing skyward. “Yeah. Almost. And then you quit.”
Since that was the truth and he couldn’t settle on anything else to say, he stood there like an idiot staring at the man who couldn’t be standing in his apartment.
“I’ve been fully prepared to apologize, to grovel, to do whatever it took, but you wouldn’t. Fucking. Talk. To. Me.” Luc scowled. His anger banked to a slow simmer. He propped his back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. “I see the earrings are back. Did you get anything else pierced?”
Self-conscious, he raised a hand to trail fingers over the silver hoops lining the outer edge of his ear. “No.” Geez, did he have to sound like he was pouting?
“What about the tattoo? Reegan said you were going to get the dragon done.”
Reese nodded, hand instinctively reaching for his shoulder. “Just started it today.”
“Congrats. Can I see?”
“Why?”
Luc pushed to stand, hands fisted at his sides. “Oh, for the love of God, how dense are you?”
Reese scowled, standing his ground. “Pretty damn dense. Tell me why you’re interested.”
“Because I love you.”
“How?” He spat the question before the flowers and butterflies that sprouted in his belly could distract him.
That caught Luc off guard. He gaped. “How?”
“Yeah. How? How can someone like you possibly love someone like me? You could have anyone. Why would you want me?”
If possible, Luc’s jaw dropped farther. He started to speak twice and gave up, then snarled and lunged for Reese.
Reese stumbled back, caught his leg on the rickety coffee table, and tumbled to the floor.
Luc followed him down, straddling his hips. “Why?”
Reese hissed, caught off guard by the shot of pain from his tattoo. “Get off!”
They wrestled, but Luc captured Reese’s hands and used his full body weight to pin them to the floor. How could such a lean man be so strong?
“Because you see the world in colors that I don’t. Not unless I’m with you.”
Reese paused his struggles, frowning up at him.
Luc stared intently at his face. “Because I’m comfortable with you. I like being around you. Because you make me laugh and I make you laugh. Because you look at me like there’s no one else in the world and make me feel that. Because I feel good when I’m with you. Because when I’m near you I start to see the colors that you see.”
Wow. “But you’re—”
“Damn it, Reese, if you start to spout off nonsense about me being more than what I am, I’m going to have to hurt you.”
“Luc…” he gasped.
“Except, you know I never would, don’t you?” Luc’s voice had gentled but his hold remained. “I couldn’t ever hurt you. Not again.”
Tears burned his eyes, painful realization trying to claw its way out of the deep dark hole in which he’d banished all his hopes. Luc was here. The words he’d refused to hear started to penetrate. Colors? Comfort?
Luc leaned in, sliding their hands out to the sides, still pinning Reese’s. He stopped with his nose hovering just over Reese’s, auburn hair spilling to either side of their faces. “I love you, damn it. I love every little fool thing about you. Just open up and deal with it.” Luc tilted his head and lowered it that extra bit to brush his lips over Reese’s. “Love me back, Reese. I need you.”
The dam broke. He heard the words. More, he felt them, deep in his bones. Warmth filled him as, for the first time, he had to believe what Luc was saying. “Luc.”
Luc pulled his head up, keeping himself so close but just out of reach. “Give me the words, Reese.” His breath fanned over Reese’s lips. “I need the words this time.”
“Luc…”
“Reese, please.” The bald agony in Luc's eyes bore into Reese's skull, snipping the fleeting threads of his resistance.
“I love you.”
“Thank God!” Luc released his wrists and dropped onto him, fusing their lips.
Reese winced at the push on his shoulder, but did his best to ignore it. He was far too interested in wrapping his arms around Luc, pressing the man’s body to his. He was shaking from the inside out as cold denial melted.
“Ah! Missed you,” Luc growled, tearing his mouth away from Reese’s to nibble on his chin.
Reese grabbed the hem of Luc’s shirt and yanked it up, eagerly splaying his palms over hot, warm flesh. “Missed you, too.”
“Need to fuck you.”
“Oh, yeah!”
Luc pushed up, grabbing Reese’s hand as he went. He hauled Reese to
his feet, then headed for the bedrooms. “Which one?”
“Yours.”
Luc tugged Reese down the short hallway, tossing a feral grin over his shoulder as he turned to the left. He pushed the door shut and shoved Reese toward the unmade bed. “You picked my room?” His hands went to the hem of his shirt to pull it off the rest of the way. The bangles on his wrist chimed.
Reese toed off his sneakers and sat hard to reach down and get his socks. “The other one’s better for painting.”
Luc snorted. “Oh, come on. Can’t you…?”
Tossing his socks aside, Reese looked up when Luc paused.
The bass player’s gaze was riveted to the wall at the foot of Reese’s bed.
Reese glanced over his shoulder at the painting of Luc within the ivory sheets. He hadn’t burned it and hadn’t had the heart to put it in the closet with the others. He hadn’t quite decided what to do with it if he ever had Jimmy over for the night. Now he didn’t need to think about it. Because Luc loved him. Luc was here. For him.
“Wow.”
Reese looked back to Luc, his heart warmed by the obvious admiration. “It’s not nearly as beautiful as you really are.”
Luc blinked, then looked at him. “You flatter me.”
Reese tugged off his T-shirt, managing not to dislodge his bandage, and tossed the shirt aside. He held out his hands, reaching for his lover. “Not one bit.”
A smile spread across Luc’s face, and Reese hoped to God that he was the only person who ever saw that sexier-than-sin expression ever again. Luc sauntered up to stand before him.
Reese slid his hands around Luc’s hips, cupping his ass and pulling him closer so he could stroke his cheek along the hot length that pushed against the fly of those jeans. “You’re the most beautiful thing ever,” he whispered.
Fingers tilted up his face so he could lock onto that dark gaze. “I’m yours, tiger.”
Tears burned Reese’s eyes. In an effort to hide them, he turned his face in Luc’s crotch. “All mine?”
Luc’s hands threaded in his hair. “All yours.”
He couldn’t stand it. His fingers came around to make quick work of the button and zipper of Luc’s jeans. He had to release the one part of Luc that he craved the most at this very moment. The part that, if he could believe Luc, was exclusively his. He wrapped his fingers around that beautiful, hard cock and led it to his mouth.