Chapter 24 #3
His smile was small but genuine, and he went back to texting. “Luca says they're setting up at six. We could swing by before the show, say hi to him and June properly. I know they wanted to visit me at the hospital but the nurses weren't letting anyone in besides family.”
“Sounds good to me.”
The place where the band was playing smelled like beer and old wood and the ghost of a thousand shows, and the stage was already set up with equipment that looked like it had survived a war.
Luca was onstage adjusting his amp when we walked in, and the second he spotted Soren his whole face lit up. He jumped down and crossed the room in about four strides, pulling Soren into a hug that looked like it hurt.
“You absolute fucking idiot,” Luca said into Soren's shoulder. “Don't ever do that to us again.”
“I'll try not to,” Soren said, his voice muffled.
June appeared from the back room carrying her bass case, and when she saw Soren she set it down carefully and walked over to join the hug.
The three of them stood there in a tangle for a minute, and I hung back near the bar because this was their moment and I was just the guy who'd brought him here.
When they finally pulled apart, June looked Soren over with the kind of thorough assessment that reminded me of Coach before a big game. “You look like shit,” she said bluntly.
“Thanks, June. Love you too.”
“I'm serious. Are you okay to play tonight?”
“Yeah, I'm good. Rook drove, I've got meds, and I promise I'll tap out if I need to.” He glanced back at me.
“Good to see you again, man.” Luca said, grinning at me.
“You too,” I said, shaking his hand.
June just nodded at me, her expression still cautious but warming slightly. “Thanks for taking care of him.”
“He takes care of himself pretty well,” I said. “I'm just backup.”
“Good backup, though,” Soren said, and there was enough warmth in his voice that Luca's grin went absolutely feral.
“Oh shit,” Luca said, looking between us. “Oh shit. You guys are together.”
Soren's face went slightly pink, but he didn't deny it. “Yeah. We are.”
“Finally!” Luca threw his hands up like he'd won a bet. “June, they're finally together. You owe me fifty bucks.”
“I don't owe you shit,” June said. “I said they'd figure it out by the end of the month. We're only halfway through.”
“You bet on us?” Soren asked, sounding somewhere between amused and exasperated.
“Of course we did. The sexual tension was killing us.” Luca turned to me with an expression that was pure mischief. “So does this mean I get free tickets to Wolves games now? Because I'm very supportive of this relationship and would love courtside seats.”
“They're not called courtside seats in hockey, you absolute dipshit,” Soren said.
“Whatever. Rinkside. Glassside. The good seats where I can watch giant men beat the shit out of each other.”
“You can buy tickets like everyone else,” I said, but I was smiling.
“That's cold, Cap. I thought we were bonding.”
“We're not bonding. You're being annoying.”
“I can be both.” Luca slung an arm around Soren's shoulders. “But seriously, I'm glad you two figured your shit out.”
“I'm going to kill you,” Soren said flatly.
“You love me too much.”
“That's debatable.”
June rolled her eyes and picked up her bass case. “I'm going to finish setting up. You two can keep embarrassing Soren without me.”
She headed toward the stage, and Luca finally let go of Soren to follow her. But before he went, he looked at me with an expression that had lost most of its humor.
They bickered their way toward the stage, and I found myself grinning as I watched them go. This was Soren's family—chaotic and loud and exactly what he needed. And the fact that they were letting me into it, even just at the edges, felt like a gift I hadn't earned yet.
The show started at eight, and by the time the band kicked into their first song the bar was packed. I claimed a spot near the back where I could see the stage clearly, and spent the next hour watching Soren come alive in a way that made my chest feel too full for my ribs.
He played like he was exorcising demons, sticks moving so fast they blurred, and the crowd fed off his energy like they could feel what he was putting into it.
Between songs he grinned at the audience and made stupid jokes that got laughs, and when Luca dedicated a song to “our boy Soren who scared the shit out of us this week but came back anyway,” the whole bar cheered.
After the set, Soren found me near the bar, sweaty and flushed and looking more himself than he had in days.
“You were fucking incredible,” I said, and pulled him in for a kiss before I could think better of it.
He kissed me back, hard and sure, and when we broke apart there were a few whistles from the crowd. Soren flipped them off without looking and grinned at me.
“Let's go home,” he said.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Let's go home.”
The house felt different when we got back.
Less like a refuge and more like the start of a thing we were building on purpose.
We ordered takeout and ate it on the couch while the sun set over the ocean, and when Soren asked if he could stay another few days I told him he could stay as long as he wanted.
Later, after we'd cleaned up and moved to the bedroom, he curled against my chest and traced patterns on my skin with his fingertips.
“I'm scared,” he admitted quietly.
“Of what?”
“Of this being too good. Of it not lasting. Of fucking it up somehow.” He paused. “Of you realizing I'm more trouble than I'm worth.”
I tightened my arm around him. “Not possible.”
“You don't know that.”
“I do.” I pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “You're stuck with me, Vale. Better get used to it.”
He huffed out a laugh, and I felt some of the tension bleed out of him. We lay there in the dark listening to the ocean through the open window, and for the first time in longer than I could remember, the future felt like a thing I could reach for instead of just survive.
“Babe?” I said after a while.
“Yeah?”
“I love your siblings too. Talia and Micah and Poppy. Just so you know.” I smiled against his hair.
“I know.”
“Good.”
He shifted closer, tucking his face against my neck. I held him until his breathing evened out and I thought he'd fallen asleep.
But then his hand started moving. Slow at first, tracing patterns across my chest, fingertips dragging through the hair there before sliding lower. My pulse kicked up, and I felt him smile against my skin.
“Thought you were tired,” I said, my voice coming out rougher than I'd intended.
“I am tired.” His hand kept moving, palm flat against my stomach now, fingers splayed wide. “Doesn't mean I don't want you.”
He pushed himself up on one elbow and looked down at me, his eyes dark in the dim light from the hallway. Then he swung a leg over my hips and straddled me, and that's when I realized what he was wearing under the loose shirt he'd borrowed from me.
The thin black lace underwear. The ones that barely covered anything, sitting low on his hips and doing absolutely nothing to hide how hard he was getting.
“Fucking hell,” I breathed, my hands coming up to grip his thighs automatically. The lace felt delicate under my palms, and I could feel the heat of his skin through the fabric.
“I put them back on while you were in the shower,” Soren said, grinding down against me slowly. “Thought you might like the surprise.”
“You're going to fucking kill me.”
“That's the plan.” He leaned down and kissed me, deep and filthy, and I groaned into his mouth as he rocked his hips again. The friction was already making my brain short-circuit, and we'd barely started.
I slid my hands up his thighs to his ass, squeezing hard through the lace, and he made a sound that went straight to my cock. When I pulled back from the kiss, he was breathing hard and his pupils were blown wide.
“I want to ride you,” he said bluntly. “And then I want to fuck you.”
My brain stuttered to a complete stop. “What?”
“You heard me.” He sat back slightly, his weight settled on my hips, and looked at me with an expression that was pure heat and challenge. “I want inside you, Rook. Want to know what you feel like. But first I'm going to make you lose your fucking mind.”
I'd bottomed before. Once, with a girlfriend who'd been curious and I'd been drunk enough to say yes even though the whole thing had felt awkward and uncomfortable and nothing like what I wanted. I'd written it off as not being my thing, filed it away under “tried it, didn't work,” and moved on.
But the way Soren was looking at me now made my whole body respond in ways that had nothing to do with that half-forgotten fumble in the dark.
“Yeah?” I managed, my voice wrecked already.
“Yeah. If you want.”
“I want.” The words came out too fast, too honest, but fuck it. “I want you inside me. Want to know what that feels like with you.”
His eyes went molten, and he leaned down to kiss me again. This time it was slower, deeper, like he was trying to crawl inside my skin through my mouth. I kissed him back just as hard, my hands roaming over his back, his sides, anywhere I could reach.
When he finally pulled away, we were both panting.
He reached for the nightstand drawer and grabbed the lube, setting it within easy reach.
Then he shimmed back enough to work my boxers down, freeing my cock.
The cool air hit my skin and I hissed, and Soren wrapped his hand around me and stroked slowly.
“Fuck,” I groaned, my hips jerking up into his grip.
“Hold still,” he ordered, and there was enough command in his voice that I forced myself to go still. “Good.”
He slicked up his hand and worked me until I was leaking precome and shaking with the effort of not thrusting up into his fist. Then he shifted back further, hooked his fingers into the lace underwear, and pulled them aside just enough to expose himself.
“Watch,” he said, and I couldn't have looked away if I'd wanted to.