18. Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
Katie
“So, you two are a thing now?” Micah asks curiously and with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle. I roll my eyes at him but can’t quite stop the blush that creeps up my cheeks.
“Yeah, we are.”
“Like boyfriend and girlfriend?” I narrow my eyes at his teasing tone, but Micah is having way too much fun to care.
We’re at Temptation. It’s not open yet but I need to restock the bar and get everything ready, before it does. Pax has offered to drive me, and I jumped at the opportunity to not inconvenience Micah. I’ve invited him in to stick around until we start letting people in and he said yes, with the widest smile on his face. Right now, he’s stepped out for a phone call, which I guess means to Micah that it’s his time to shine and get all the ‘tea’ from me.
“I guess we haven’t quite defined it,” I answer with a shrug and set down the glass I was just polishing.
“You haven’t?” Micah’s eyes widen, then he narrows them at Paxton who’s just coming back, stepping in front of him with arms crossed in front of his chest. “What are your intentions with my friend?”
“Micah!” I scold him, hiding my blushing face behind my hands. What an asshat, I’m perfectly capable of having this conversation with Pax myself.
Pax’s mouth twitches and raises his eyebrow at Micah curiously, before stepping around him, then changing his mind. He leans in and whispers something into Micah’s ear, shielding the conversation with his hand so I can’t make out what he’s saying.
Whatever it is, it makes Micah’s eyes grow wide and then he, Micah, Jack the Ripped, my friend who I have not come to know as someone who is embarrassed easily at all, fucking blushes. I catch his eyes and quickly try to hide my giggle with a cough.
“But I mean, if you need the official title to be happy for us,” Pax says loudly, away from Micah’s ear as he turns to me. “Hey, want to be my girlfriend?”
I bite the inside of my cheeks to stop my grin from breaking my face in half. Butterflies flurry through my stomach and I feel like I’m bursting with happiness.
“Only if you become my boyfriend,” I say with a wink, leaning my upper body over the counter and puckering my lips for a kiss .
“Then we’ve got a deal,” Paxton replies with a smirk and presses his lips to mine in a quick smooch.
“Gah, you’re disgustingly cute.” Micah fans himself and grabs his bag off the floor. “Anyways, I need to get ready now, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, buh-bye.” He waves and walks off, then stops after only a few steps.
“Wait. So, if you two are a thing now, is it still cool if I get Katie on stage for my show?” He approaches again with his eyes darting between the two of us, braiding his hands nervously.
Pax’s forehead wrinkles in a frown and I can see that he’s not too thrilled with the prospect, but he is shooting me a questioning glance.
“Please, man?” Micah pleads with him and raises his hands in a defensive move. “I promise, I’m not trying anything; I just don’t want to get groped by drunk, horny, women.”
Pax's eyes turn to me again and I shrug. “It’s kind of fun, to be honest, but if you’re really, really against it, I’m sure we will find another solution.”
His eyes jump between Micah and me, and he rubs his chin as he thinks, clearly uncomfortable and unhappy. Before he can answer I walk around the counter and take his hand to pull him with me. “We’ll be right back.”
Ignoring Micah’s whistling, I lead Pax outside to our little smoking area. Neither of us smokes, but it’s a good spot for serious conversations where you don’t want people from the club listening in.
“You know it doesn’t mean anything, right?” I step right up to him, toe to toe until he hugs me, his hands resting on my butt. “I’m just doing a friend a favor. ”
“When I watched you, the two of you looked like you were enjoying yourself, though,” he says with an undertone I can’t place. But when I look up he has a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
“First, that was Micah riling you up when he thought you’re a regular who has a crush on me. Knowing who you are, he respects you way too much to do it again. And secondly, that was also before you fucked me into oblivion,” I tell him and roll my eyes.
“On a serious note,” I grab him by the front of his shirt and pull him down until we’re at eye level, “there’s only you, and we’ve just established we’re boyfriend and girlfriend. While I’m on that stage I won’t be able to think of anything else but you and the way you’ll be throwing me around in bed later tonight so we can enjoy the first of three nights left until Luke comes back.”
I press my lips against his, only for a moment, before I let him go again. But he has other plans. When I try to step back, he locks me in place with his arms, one of them tangling into my hair and locks our lips again, licking at mine until I grant him entrance to my mouth.
Our tongues dance passionately, so eager that it almost turns into a fight, and sooner rather than later I need to pull back before I forget to breathe. I don’t want everyone I work with to hear the soft whimpers he draws from me.
“All right,” Pax mumbles against my lips, staying only a few millimeters away from them. “I’m still not going to like it, though. And I’m going to stay and watch it.”
“Thanks, boyfriend,” I giggle and wink at him. “I’ll make it up to you.”
“Damn right you will,” he growls, but I note that the insecurity has vanished from his eyes. Good. Because he really doesn’t need to be .
Suddenly, my phone starts vibrating in my pocket, and I hesitantly take a step back and fish it out.
“Huh,” I say and show him the screen. “Unknown number” with the digits displayed under it. “Probably a scam.” I’m just about to decline the call when he speaks up.
“I know whose number that is. Answer it,” he says softly, and I cock my head at him. That sounds mysterious. “Put him on speaker.”
I do as he says and take the call, putting the caller on speaker and holding the phone up between the two of us so he can listen in.
“Hello?”
“Hey there.” I look at Pax, eyes wide with surprise when I recognize Cole’s voice. “How are you doing, Katie?”
“I’m, uh, all right. How about you?” I grimace and Pax bites the inside of his cheeks to suppress laughter. God, I hate small talk. Where did he even get my number from?
“Same old, same old.” He clears his throat and awkward silence fills the line until he continues. “Listen, I hate to get on your nerves about it, but have you talked to Pax?”
Pax looks at me and slowly shakes his head, making a back-and-forth motion with his hand next to his face to let me know he doesn’t want to share info.
“Well, we live together so, yes, several times,” I evade the question. He fidgets, clearly nervous, so I reach for his hand and grab it, giving it a soft squeeze, but when I look at him the tiniest smile is tugging at his lips, and mouths ‘Smartass’ at me.
The way he holds onto my hand, you could think I’m the door, saving him from drowning in the North Atlantic Ocean after his ship hit an iceberg .
“I mean, about coming back,” Cole elaborates, and I can hear the eye roll in his voice. “Listen I’m sorry for annoying you with this, really, but the guys found out that I know where Pax is, and they won’t stop getting on my nerves now. They just want to know what’s up.”
“Well, it’s not my fault your bandmates behave like toddlers,” I snap back playfully, and now it’s his turn to squeeze my hand.
‘Rude’ he mouths at me, and I stick out my tongue at him. I don’t care if I’m rude. If Hystoria thinks they can pressure him to come back before he feels ready, they’ve got another thing coming. Namely me.
“Relax, this is not about the band. They just want to make sure he’s fine. All of us are worried and it’s driving us up the wall,” he quickly explains, and I sigh, relieved. The last thing Pax needs is to be pressured to go back into the show business when he doesn’t feel ready.
“Listen, I told you at Flour Power already, I’m not getting involved,” I remind him. “I’m not talking about the band but your whole conflict in general. I’m sure Pax will contact you when he’s ready and if that takes another year, I fear you’ll have to deal with it. You guys were the one to issue the ultimatum and while understandable, it feels a bit unfair to put on the pressure now, don’t you think?”
“You’re right. Sorry, but-”
“Nope, I’m going to stop you at ‘sorry’, before you say something stupid,” I interrupt him and after a confused second, he chuckles. “‘But’ is never a good follow-up for an apology. I appreciate the concern, and I’m sure Pax does as well when I tell him about your call. Give it some more time.”
“Will do. I’ll do my best to keep the two of them off your back. If they annoy you feel free to tell them off the exact same way,” he laughs. “Bye, Katie. ”
“Bye, Cole.”
I hang up and look up at Pax. He looks… proud?
“Thank you,” he says, his voice barely audible, and drops a kiss on top of my head. He seems to like doing that. I’m not sure if I dislike it, because it makes me feel tiny, or love it. After all, it’s such a cute gesture. Either way, I’ll probably have to get used to it. “You’re amazing, you know that?”
“I do. It’s still nice to hear it,” I say with a smile and wrap my arms around him. He hugs me back and we stay like that for a few minutes. Until Micah throws open the door and exaggeratedly covers his eyes with his arm as he inches forward.
“I was asked to tell you to get your butt back inside and help Jen out because we’re about to open,” he says waving his arm around as though he’s scared of running into a chair, not seeing that they’re stacked up against the wall.
“You can look, Micah, we’re not fucking or naked,” I tell him with an eye roll, feeling Pax’s chuckle under my cheek that’s still resting on his pecks.
“Oh. Good.” He removes his hand from over his eyes and as soon as he sees us, he makes a gagging noise, bending over as though he’s about to puke. “Urgh, how disgusting. Love. ”
I chuckle and shake my head at him, breaking the hug but remaining close. Pax’s arm remains firmly over my shoulder as we follow Micah inside.
“By the way, you can get me on stage, but you will be glared at,” I let him know once inside and he punches the air in triumph.
“Yes! Tell your boyfriend thank you! ”
“The boyfriend says you’re welcome,” Pax mutters and clasps Micah’s shoulder. From his grimace, I can see that Pax is squeezing it tightly.
“Don’t overdo it, Micah,” I warn him. “Seriously.”
“I won't, I promise.” He raises his hand. “Boy Scout’s honor.”
“As if you were ever a Boy Scout,” I chuckle and get back behind the counter to greet Jen, while, Pax disappears into a dark corner, and I get back to working.
“Come on, he was tame today,” I laugh at Pax’s pouty lips when we walk out of the club. “The first time, he overdid it because he wanted to rile you up.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, he saw you staring at me with your resting bitch face and decided he wanted to annoy you,” I chuckle and nudge his arm with my shoulder. “You need to stay more often and watch him, today he didn’t even lay me on the ground.” I grin at him. “That’s a win in my book!”
“What a menace,” Pax chuckles and raises his arm for me to cuddle up under as we walk to his bike. He helps me put the helmet on, careful to not strap in any of my hair. Then he takes off his leather jacket and holds it open for me.
“I’m fine!” I tap the jeans fabric of my jacket .
“Do you really think I didn’t feel you shivering on our way here?” He asks with his eyebrow raised and I blush, letting him put the jacket on me without answering. “That’s what I thought.”
It’s sweet how attentive he is. I have no idea what makes him think that he could go back to being the inattentive boy he was back then, but I understand the irrational fear. Mine is just as absurd. And I think both of our fears involve letting people down.
“There you go,” he declares and pills up the zipper, patting the top of my helmet before putting his own on.
He holds out his hand to help me climb onto the bike and I’m starting to get the hang of it. What I’m not getting the hang, or enough of, is him. When he sits, he holds out his hands until I lay mine in them and pulls me forward at once, until I lock my fingers on his stomach. He gives my hands a proud pat before he starts the engine, and holy shit.
Maybe it’s that I’m sitting in another position. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m only wearing jeggings instead of full jeans. Maybe I’m still sensitive from last night but those vibrations from the engine just hit differently today.
I fidget in my seat but that only makes it worse. Fuck.
I hold onto Pax as he nudges the machine off the kickstand and drives out of the parking lot slowly, my fingers digging into his shirt, as my core starts to tingle. With each turn, the vibrations seem to reach a spot deeper inside me, each stop pushing me tighter against my boyfriend.
Boyfriend. My face breaks into a smile. It sounds so teenager, so first love, but I love calling him that.
My fingers itch with the urge to slide under his t-shirt to feel his skin. Two streets away from home, I can’t keep my hands to myself anymore. At our last traffic light, they move down his body, until I can palm his dick right through his pants.
He playfully slaps my hand, but I pinch his nipple in response and leave my hand right where it is, squeezing him, grinning when I feel him tremble with a chuckle. He turns his head, checking if anyone is around, but it’s so early in the morning that no other cars are around.
I rub him through his jeans and feel him grow hard under my palm. Fuck, that’s sexy.
The light turns green, and he grabs my hand to put it back on his stomach. I pout. All right, I’ll wait until we’re home.
But the ride is agony. Vibrations sear through my body, warmth filling my core and I dig my hand into Pax’s stomach as he navigates us through the early morning hours in Windmeadows.
As soon as the bike comes to a stand, I start fighting with the helmet, trying to tear it off my head quickly. Fuck. I’m so fucking close.
“Did that make you wet?” Pax asks excitedly, jumping off his bike. He cages me in so I can’t get off, tearing the button of my pants open and dragging down the fly, pushing his hand in there to feel my wet underwear. “Holy fuck, it did.”
“Pax! We’re outside,” I hiss and pull his hands out of there, buttoning them up again. They’re coming off soon anyway, but I don’t want them to slide down while in fucking public. “But why did you think I was copping a feel?” I ask and wink at him. “Now help me get this fucking helmet off. ”
He takes exactly one second to open the clasp and helps me take it off. Then he hoists me off his bike and sets me on the ground, where I hold onto him with wobbly knees. “Shit. Pax, I really, really need your cock.” I lick my lips. “This whole ride was like fucking edging.” I make a tentative step towards him, and he scoops me up and carries me inside.