Chapter 23
twenty-three
A fter looking at a place to buy the next day, Micah was all colorful in a faded orange shirt and blue board shorts. He opened the door to the taproom and let me step inside. “Bar?”
I gave him a wide smile. “Yes. The far side, where we always sit.” I pointed to the back side of the bar and walked to our usual chairs. Taking a seat, I looked through the tall windows at the patio area, the late afternoon sun peeking through the fog. Surfing, then looking at places with him, had been a perfect day. While waiting for him, I straightened my blue button-down shirt and slipped my phone out of the pocket of my board shorts.
He climbed up on the seat beside me, setting his Mercedes keys and phone on the wood of the bar.
Ally stepped to us. “Hey, Ash and Micah. Haven’t seen you two in here in a while.” She set menus in front of us. “The usual?”
“Yep.” As I lifted my hand, my beaded bracelets slid down my arm, and I played with the hoop in my left ear. Glancing toward the far end of the bar, my mind replayed the day Anne hit on me while Micah sat there with his arms wrapped around his beer. “You sure you wouldn’t have gone home with me that day?”
He looked up from the menu. “What?”
“That day when I was talking to the girls. If I had hit on you and maybe gotten you drunk, are you sure you wouldn’t have let me take you home?” I lifted one side of my mouth.
“Yes, I’m sure.” He raised a brow at me.
“Even if I got you drunk?” My gaze drifted to the chair he’d been sitting in that day, imagining myself next to him, ordering shots with the sole intent of getting him into my bed.
He scoffed and shook his head. “Why are you thinking about that again?”
“I don’t know. Just fond memories, I guess.” I turned my attention to the menu in front of me. He was with me now. My chest warmed from the inside out.
He tilted his head and whispered, “We’ll make more memories. Don’t worry.” He leaned back, looking me up and down. “You can hit on me and get me drunk today, and I’ll go home with you.”
Now that sounded fun . I wiggled my brows at him. “Really...”
Ally stepped over and set two beers down. “Ready to order?”
“Yes, but first, get Micah a shot of bourbon.” I let the grin on my face spread. What I could do to him. Desire flickered through me, and I wetted my lips. “Then I’ll have the taphouse burger, medium.”
He shook his head once, chuckled, and handed the menu to Ally. “I’ll have the same, but make mine medium rare.”
“Okay.” She snatched my menu, cocked her head, furrowed her brows, and then walked away.
I placed my elbow on the bar, rested my cheek on my hand, and gazed at him, soaking in how gorgeous he was. “I like the place with the view of the ocean.”
“Yeah, me, too. It’s not on the beach, but at least it’s got a killer view from the patio.” He took a sip of beer. “We’ll just have to drive down to the beach trail when we want to have bonfires and stuff.”
“Yeah, but if we just want to walk down there, it’s not that far.” What would I have done to him if the girls hadn’t shown up? I placed my hand on his thigh, rubbing my thumb over the fabric of his shorts.
His gaze dropped to my hand.
Ally set the shot of bourbon on the bar and left.
“Drink up.” I squeezed his thigh and moved my hand higher.
With a sly smile, he grabbed the bourbon and drank it down. His lips puckered and released. “Damn, that’s strong.” He picked up his cell phone and opened the text screen.
“What are you doing?” I lifted my head.
“I’m texting the realtor. That place won’t last long, so I’ll have him draw up an offer today.” He tapped the screen, then he set the phone down and glanced at me.
I frowned at my beer. I knew nothing about buying real estate and didn’t want to look stupid, so I’d let him deal with it. “So, that means it’ll be ours?”
“If they accept our offer.” He bumped his shoulder into mine. “Don’t worry, we’ll get it. I know how to play this game.” He sipped his beer.
“I’m sure you do.” Right about now, I had another game I wanted to play. I moved my hand further up his thigh and brushed my fingers over his groin.
He sputtered, spitting beer back into his glass. “Is that how you hit on people?” He snickered.
I shifted in my seat, adjusting my shorts to give my swelling cock more room. “Gets the point across.”
A coy smile swept over his lips, and he dropped his head, then came up to gaze at me with hooded lids and parted lips. Leading in close, his gaze fell to rest on my mouth, then he crept his tongue around his lips. He brushed his lips over mine, then skimmed them over my cheek. He whispered, “I want you.”
I gasped. My cock hardened in an instant, lust rocketing up my spine. Damn, he was good. “Okay. Fuck lunch. Let’s go.” I rose from the bar stool, covering my hard on with my hands.
“Are you serious?” With a laugh, he straightened in his seat. “You’re easy.”
I smirked and moved carefully back in my seat, making room for my solid dick. “I’m only easy for you.”
He glanced down, then came in close and whispered in my ear, “I made you hard?”
Heat flushed my cheeks. “Ssh. Yes.” It sure didn’t take much. Biting my lip, I scanned the half-filled tables and two couples sitting at the bar.
His porcelain cheeks reddened, then a sly grin spread over his mouth. He shifted in his seat. “Maybe we should take this food to go.”
“No, I like this game.” I gave him a shy grin.
Ally came and set our burgers down. “Here you go. Anything else I can get you?”
I was going to have fun with this. “Another bourbon for Micah.” I smirked as lust hummed inside me.
“Sure thing.” She walked off, poured the bourbon, and set it on the bar in front of him. “There you go.”
He took the bourbon and swigged it down. “Okay, that’s enough. I want to remember what you’re going to do to me when we get home.” He wiggled his brows at me.
I took a bite of my burger. “Hurry and eat then.” I swallowed the burger down, then leaned toward him. In his ear, I said, “I’m so fucking horny for you right now.”
He swallowed his food, then adjusted his shorts. As he studied me, he took a deep breath. “What do you want to do to me?”
I took another bite of my burger, peeked at his stiff cock tenting his shorts, and let one side of his mouth tug up. He must be just as horny as I am . “First, I’d kiss you until you couldn’t take anymore.”
He closed his eyes and parted his lips. “And then?” He gazed at me and raked his teeth over his lower lip.
Placing my hand high on his thigh, I brushed against his hard dick with my fingers. I wanted inside those damn shorts right now. “I’d suck you off.”
He jumped from his chair, snatched my hand and hauled me into the one-person restroom, then locked the door behind us. He turned, leaning on a white sink with a mirror in a black frame behind it. “Do it. Now.”
I lifted his brows. “Are you serious?” I’d never done it in a restaurant bathroom before. I looked around the large, gray tiles in the bathroom, lining the walls and floor.
“Damn right.” He opened his shorts, exposing his thick cock.
Oh, damn. Heat shivered up my spine. I stepped flush to him and rested my hands on his cheeks. “First, I have to kiss you until you can’t take it anymore.” I placed a slow kiss over his mouth, parting his lips and entering him with my tongue.
He moaned into my mouth, kissing back with more intensity, grinding his cock on my hip. “Come on, we don’t have much time.”
I placed sensual kisses on his neck while skimming up his shirt and teasing a nipple into a hard nub.
As his head tipped back, he licked his lips. “Hurry, Ash.” His hands clutched my hips and drove them tighter together.
With each thrust of his hips, pleasure jolted through my needy dick, and I became more and more sensitive. I unfastened my shorts and stroked myself a few times, the pleasure shivering through me. I released throaty moans.
He glanced at my stroking hand and whimpered. “Let me do that.” He snuck his hand to my stiff cock and pumped.
I became breathless, caught up in the moment, thrusting my hips in time with his hand, sucking and nibbling on his neck. The crest of orgasm came on in a sudden, intense shudder. I released sharp gasps as I surrendered to each wave of pleasure. My knees weakened, and I dropped my head to his shoulder.
He held me up, continuing to milk my pulsating cock until it ended. In a needful voice, he said, “Ash, hurry before someone comes.”
I lifted my head to gaze at his face, his eyes full of lust. As he lifted his hand to lick my cum, I dove to my knees, grasped his firm cock, and engulfed it with my mouth, sucking and swirling the head, fondling his balls. I’d give him as much pleasure as I could.
Tensing his face, he let out a muffled groan, then clutched the sink behind him, thrusting in time with my lapping and sucking mouth.
As I worked his cock, it swelled further in my mouth, then cum spurted to the back of my throat. I swallowed, taking it all in, the taste bitter and sweet and all Micah.
A muffled groan escaped his lips.
As the waves of his orgasm slowed, I released him, licked my lips, and stood, savoring the way he looked and tasted.
Breathless, he hung his head. “Fuck, that was good.”
The doorknob rattled.
“Oh, shit.” As I came to my senses, I stepped to the toilet paper, rolled some out and cleaned myself off, then threw it in the toilet. “You need any?”
He nodded.
I handed a wad of toilet paper to him, my pulse thrumming through my body. “Hurry.”
“I am.” He wiped up, tucked his spent dick inside his shorts and threw the wad into the toilet, then flushed it.
The doorknob jiggled again, and an angry huff snaked through from the other side.
I peeked at myself in the mirror, wiped my mouth, and smiled at Micah, then placed a quick kiss on his cheek. “Let’s go.”
Putting his hand on the doorknob, he took a deep inhale, then unlocked and opened the door.
A gruff man with graying hair and a beard stood on the other side of the hallway in a red flannel shirt, his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. As he focused on both of us, his eyes widened, then narrowed. With a scowl, he said, “Fucking faggots. Get the fuck out of here.”
My brows snapped up. “What the fuck?” I lifted my fist and stepped toward him.
Micah seized my fist. “Stop, Ash.”
The man glared at me. “Get the fuck away from me.” As he stepped into the bathroom, he bumped me, tossing me a few steps backward.
Micah caught my arm and yanked me away into the hall.
I twisted around and glared at the man, my hands fisting at my sides, my chest heaving with deep breaths.
The bathroom door slammed in my face. That asshole wasn’t getting away with this. “Fuck you.” I lifted my hands to pound on the door.
Micah grabbed both of my hands. “Stop it, Ash. Leave it alone.”
I turned to him, glaring at him, then pointed at the door. “How can you put up with that shit?”
“Come with me.” He hauled me to our seats at the bar. “Eat your food and let’s go.”
“I asked you a question. Answer me.” How could he be so calm? I kept glaring at him.
He sighed. “It doesn’t happen often around here, but it still does. I’ve been hearing that my whole life.” He took my hands in his. “It’s not about you, it’s about them. They hate what they don’t understand, or maybe more often, what they won’t admit to themselves.” He gave me a faint smile. “Don’t let it bother you.”
I released his hands and faced the bar, staring at my burger, taking deep inhales. “No one ever said something like that to me.”
He leaned in close. “We had fun. Just think about that.”
My mind filled with the look of ecstasy on his face as he sucked me off. I smirked. “We did.” I grinned at him. “Fuck that guy.”
“Yeah, fuck that guy. He probably never gets laid.” He laughed.
“Exactly.”
* * *
A week later, I’d dressed for moving in a plain white t-shirt and black workout shorts. I looked at the U-Haul truck backed up to the walkway leading to the condominium I now shared with Micah. The midday sun filtered through the fog, warming the late summer day. Justin and Dilan worked a black leather couch down the ramp while Wells attempted to pick up a heavy box inside. “Wells, be careful. Those are Micah’s dishes.”
Wells waved his arm at me and stood up straight, curling his arms around his head to show off his biceps. “I’ve been going to the gym. I can handle it.” He laughed, then picked up the box.
As Justin and Dilan passed by, I stepped off the path, watching them.
“Hold it up higher.” Dilan glared at Justin.
“I am. Quit nagging at me.” Justin raised his side of the couch.
A wide smile swept across my face. I finally had a home, and it was with Micah. I twisted on the path, looking over the ocean waves, cresting down below the bluff. Below me was the two-story, modern building, with sections of cream stucco, gray wood siding, and an angled red shingle roof. The grounds held pathways with flower beds, bushes, and trees. Not a bad place to hang my hat.
Wells approached me with the heavy box in his arms. “Get to work. This is your place, and you’re just standing there.”
“I am.” I released a quick laugh and strode to the truck, stepped up the ramp and inside, then picked up a large box and brought it down the path to the two-bedroom condominium. Once inside, I set the box down in the corner of the main room onto the carpet, next to the couch, in front of a large opening to the dining area. I straightened and took in the glass French door, leading out to a patio overlooking the bluffs, the ocean, and the hills beyond. Two large windows rested on either side of the door. The patio was bigger than the one at the apartments, which was nice. I turned around and gazed at the fireplace nestled into the opposite wall with a white stone surround running to the ceiling.
I walked through the dining area, now housing Micah’s dinette, and into a kitchen with white cabinets, brushed nickel hardware, stainless appliances, and black granite counters.
Micah stood at the counter with an open cabinet stacking plates into it.
He shouldn’t have to do all this. “Want help with the dishes?”
“No, I’m good. Why don’t you get your clothes unpacked?”
Wells stood a few feet from Micah, next to the box he’d brought in, his hand on his hip. “This is nice, Ash.”
I smiled at him. “Yeah, I really like it.” Maybe Micah could help Wells find a place nearby.
“I’ll help you with your clothes. We’ve got almost everything out of the truck,” Wells said.
Micah glanced at him, then stacked more dishes.
“Okay, come on.” There were things I needed to talk to Wells about, anyway. Like the fact that Micah was setting Wells up with a friend. With a smirk, I walked past Wells and into a hallway, then into the spare bedroom.
Wells opened a tall wardrobe box and peeked inside. “Is this the box your mom sent down?”
“Yeah, one of them. My other stuff is in the suitcases.” I pointed to a set of black suitcases lying on the floor. My mother sure was eager to get rid of my things. Maybe she thought it was time I moved out, too. I grinned.
He scanned the room with a smirk. “So, Micah gets the master for his stuff and you get the spare bedroom?” He chuckled.
“He’s the one that’s going to be here most of the time.” I sighed. “But I don’t want to think about that.” I wouldn’t think about leaving until the day of. I pursed my lips.
He stepped to me and placed his hand on my shoulder. “I know. You’re going to be a mess when we leave.” He leaned in. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.”
I attempted to smile at him. “I’m sure you will.” But only Micah could really take care of me. I lifted a bunch of clothes on hangers out of the box and hung them up in the mirrored closet.
Wells grabbed some clothes and hung them up. “So, I hear Jeff set up your coming-out interview when we do The Fillmore gig in a few days. You sure you’re ready for that?”
I lifted more clothes out of the box. Micah had come a long way with his new therapy and was still getting better all the time. “I’m ready, so is Micah.”
With a nod, he grabbed the last of the clothes from the box. “That’ll be interesting.”
Walking to the larger of the two suitcases, I set it on its side and unzipped it. “I hear Micah has a hot gay friend that’s coming to the gig.” I gauged his reaction.
“Really.” He crouched down beside me and snatched clothes with hangers from the suitcase. “Is he partial to bass players?” He snickered at me.
“He knows who you are and wants to meet you.” I gave him a sly smile. Micah sure was clever with how he handled the situation with Wells, the little devil.
“Wait, is this a setup?” He stood with the clothes in his hand. “What am I supposed to do with Linda?”
I shrugged, picking up more clothes. “Maybe she’d be interested in a three-some.” I walked to the closet and hung them up. It was obvious he wasn’t all that into Linda, anyway. “Or maybe she’d be interested in Dilan.” I laughed.
He hung up his handful of clothes. “So, what does this guy look like?”
Pulling my phone out of the pocket of my workout shorts, I opened my Instagram app, then flipped through a few photos. I held the phone out to him.
An image displayed a young man with curly, sun-bleached, blond hair, cut to frame his face and large, green eyes. The young man was shirtless and ripped. A wide, dimpled smile rested on his ample lips.
“His name is Noah. He’s from Santa Cruz and went to school with Micah. Micah used to surf with him all the time. Now he lives down in the San Jose area and does something with networks. I don’t know, high-tech shit.” I chuckled. I still didn’t understand that industry, but if I was going to live here, I had to try.
He grabbed my phone and studied the image. “Damn, he is hot. Any way I can meet him before the gig?”
Micah was so right about this. “Maybe we can work something out. A romantic bonfire on the beach with just the four of us?”
He beamed at me. “Yeah, make that happen.”
Grabbing his hand, I led him into the kitchen. “Hey, Micah. Wells wants to meet Noah sooner. Can you set that up?”
Micah looked up from a lower cabinet, crouched on the floor with pots all around him. “Sure.”
Justin stood at the far end of the kitchen, drinking a bottle of water. “Are you shitting me? Now you’re setting Wells up with a guy?” He snickered.
Dilan stepped into the kitchen. “I think there’s something in the water around here.” He seized Justin’s water, took a gulp, and then placed a quick kiss on Justin’s cheek.
“Hey!” Justin scoffed and wiped his cheek. “Don’t you start.” He grabbed his water bottle back.
With a smirk, Dilan stepped to Micah. “Got any guys for me?” He chuckled.
Micah focused on Dilan. “Of course. I know a big burly guy who loves bondage and smaller guys like you.”
Dilan’s smirk faded, and he wrinkled his nose. “No, thanks.”
Everyone laughed.
My attention moved to Dilan and Justin. “Did you two decide yet if you’re moving to LA?”
Justin and Dilan glanced at each other, then Justin said, “Yeah, I think that would be best. We should have someone living close to the label and it’s more our style.”
I nodded. “Well, it’s only a quick plane flight away. We can make that work.” The upcoming gig at The Fillmore flashed through my mind. “Dilan, how’s it going with the fan account on Instagram? Did you find many people from here to go to The Fillmore gig?”
“Shit, there were too many. Did you know we even have an entire group on Facebook that’s a Bay Area Swarm fan club? I had to run a contest to get the tickets out.” Dilan shook his head.
“That explains a lot.” I gazed at Micah. “Now I know why so many people were noticing me around here.”
“Yep.” Justin smacked Dilan on the hip. “Come on, let’s get the truck back and let them unpack.”