Chapter Two Marius
Marius touched up his eyeliner and ran a hand through his hair.
“That’s as good as it gets without a shower,” Owen said.
It was true, Marius knew that, but he wanted to look good.
Owen grinned at him. “Saw someone cute in the crowd?”
Marius shrugged. “Maybe?”
“Well, go for it then; use a lot of deodorant.” He made a face. “We all smell.”
Fuck, it was true. They all did. It had been that kind of set and that kind of crowd. The energy of these people was insane. It felt good. He had felt like a god tonight. “It was a good show.”
“It was a fantastic show, Marius,” Owen said.
Marius nodded. “I’m going to the bathroom to wash up.” He grabbed a fresh t-shirt from his bag too. There was nothing he could do about his jeans, but he could at least put on a clean shirt.
“You do that,” Owen replied.
Marius hurried through all of it in the hopes that the cute guy would still be in the club.
He would be easy to spot; he was easily the most beautiful human being Marius had ever seen in real life. Besides, he wore a green t-shirt.
Once he was presentable and smelled good, he took a deep breath.
He wasn’t exactly nervous; he had picked up cute guys before, after all.
Some had shot him down, but that was happening less and less these days because Citizen Clash was getting bigger and bigger.
Soon they would be famous. He could feel it in his bones.
The gorgeous guy was at the bar; beside him was a beautiful woman with dark brown hair. Fuck, what if this vision was straight?
He couldn’t just assume that every one of their fans was queer or that everyone who went to a club like Insider would be queer. Straight people liked to have fun too, and most of them didn’t mind having fun with queer people. He knew that.
Marius took another breath. There was nothing for it. He wanted to at least give it a shot.
He could feel people watching him as he made his way to the bar where the guy in the green shirt was sitting, drinking, and laughing with the beautiful woman. Some people came up to Marius as he made his way to this boy to ask for a photo and autograph, which he had expected.
The guy turned around at the commotion. Up close he was even more beautiful. His skin looked creamy, and his lips were a pale pink that reminded Marius of rose petals. His inner muse wanted to write a love song about that boy, and Marius didn’t even know his name yet.
Finally, he made his way to the bar. His heart was beating madly in his chest.
“Hi,” the woman said. “I’m Pearl.”
“Marius,” Marius answered.
“She knows that. Everyone here knows your name,” the boy said.
“I know that too, but it seems polite,” Marius replied.
The boy nodded, licked his lips, but didn’t say anything.
“This is Carden. He’s kinda a mess right now,” Pearl said.
“Carden,” Marius said, testing the word out. It felt good on his tongue. How would this boy’s sweat taste? “I thought your name would be softer.”
“Softer?” Carden asked, leaning just a fraction closer to Marius.
“Something like Julien or maybe Aiden,” Marius replied.
“You don’t think it suits me?” Carden asked.
“I.”
“Maybe I’m a vicious little thing underneath all this pretty exterior,” he cut Marius off.
God, it was probably messed up that Marius kind of hoped Carden was a vicious little thing.
“I’m going to dance now,” Carden announced and then looked Marius directly in the eyes as he stood. “You coming?”
Marius blinked at him. He had been pretty sure he had messed up with Carden, but here he was, looking expectant. He didn’t know how he felt about Carden taking charge of this whole situation, but he wasn’t going to let this chance slip by.
“Sure,” he replied and held out his hand to Carden just to see if he would take it. God, did he ever want to feel Carden’s skin against his.
Carden took his hand and pulled him to the dance floor.
Once they were in the middle of a sea of strangers, Carden pulled him close. He could feel Carden’s breath on his skin as the boy leaned closer.
“I better not wake up to my face on page six tomorrow,” he said.
Marius laughed. “If you wanted to keep a low profile, you shouldn’t have grabbed my hand.”
“You’re not the first celebrity I’ve ever danced on this exact dance floor with,” Carden said and then slid his hands down Marius’ sides. “Hmm, curves.”
Marius didn’t know what to make of that statement.
He wasn’t a skinny man. He liked to wear tight clothes and eyeliner and nail polish, but that was nothing new in the punk-rock scene.
It was kind of expected, really, the clothes and make-up and hair.
What was not expected, he knew, was that a chubby boy would dare to do it. Not that Marius was a boy. Not anymore.
“You like it?” Marius asked because he knew that some men did. He was good-looking, and he was charming, so what did it matter that he wasn’t a skinny little thing like all those other rock stars?
Carden looked him up and down. It felt like a caress. “I kind of do.” He said, sounding surprised by it. Which wasn’t anything new. A lot of people thought they had a type until they met someone who shattered that assumption.
Marius’ hands were on Carden’s bony hips as they swayed to the music.
It wasn’t dancing, and it went against the fast pace of the song too, but that was totally fine with Marius as long as he could touch Carden.
His fingers itched to feel skin, but he didn’t try to feel Carden up.
He wondered what Pearl meant when she said Carden was a mess right now.
Was Marius a rebound guy? A singer from an up-and-coming hot punk band?
Did Marius care? When he looked at Carden, he could confidently say that no, he didn’t care a bit if he was a rebound fuck.
“I want to take you home,” Marius heard himself say.
Carden blinked at him. For a long moment he didn’t say anything, and Marius was ready to step away and count his losses, but then Carden licked his lips, nodded, and said okay in that voice that made his stomach flip.
Of course, Marius didn’t live in the city anymore. He was fucking touring right now, and when he had said home, he meant a hotel room.
Carden was already pulling him away from the faceless crowd, or maybe Marius was being swept away, which hadn’t happened in quite some time if he was honest with himself. He felt constantly caught off guard when it came to Carden. He was never quite what Marius expected from a pretty boy like him.
Carden stopped at the bar and looked around. Once he found his friend Pearl, he tightened his grip on Marius’ wrist.
“I’m going home with the singer,” he told Pearl.
She smiled and gave a thumbs-up. Marius wasn’t sure if it was meant for him or Carden. Maybe both of them.
“Text me when you’re home,” she told him, and Carden nodded, kissed her cheek, and then they were on their way out of the club.
“I came with Pearl,” Carden said. “Your car?”
Marius shook his head. “Taxi, I came with the band.”
“Right,” Carden replied. He let go of Marius’ wrist to make the call.
The parking lot was mostly deserted. Marius could see their tour bus in the back. A small group of people was camping out in hopes of seeing the band and being able to talk to them, maybe get a picture and an autograph. He felt a bit bad not going over there to say hi.
“How old are you?” Marius asked just to fill the silence that had settled around them.
“Twenty,” Carden replied. “Are you relieved?”
“I know that everyone inside was of age,” Marius said, but secretly he was relieved that Carden wasn’t eighteen as of yesterday.
Carden nodded. Marius was about to say something when Carden spotted the taxi, grabbed him by the wrist, and pulled him towards the street.
Marius gave the driver the address of the hotel, and they lapsed into silence again.
Marius’ passion was cooling rapidly. When he looked at Carden, he still felt that hot spike of arousal and want, but Carden wasn’t talking, wasn’t even touching him much.
He was debating with himself to just abort the whole thing when they arrived at the hotel.
Carden paid the driver and was out of the car in a flash.
A moment later he stood in front of the entrance waiting for him.
Marius took a deep breath to tell Carden that he had changed his mind, when Carden grabbed him by the neck and kissed him.
His brain and conscience, shut the hell up. Carden was a good kisser; he was, in fact, a great kisser.
“Not getting cold feet, are you?” He asked.
Marius shook his head and grabbed Carden’s hand, intertwined their fingers, and pulled him through the lobby to the elevators. It wasn’t the most expensive or fancy hotel, but the rooms were clean and didn’t smell weird.
As soon as he closed the door behind them, Carden was kissing him again.
It was hot and wet and a bit desperate, and that wasn’t a bad thing in Marius’ book.
He let his fingers finally slide under Carden’s shirt.
Carden’s skin was hot to the touch, soft too.
He wanted to map it out with his tongue. Wanted to kiss every inch of it.
“Off,” Carden said and raised his arms up, so Marius obliged. Soon Carden’s shoes, socks, and skinny jeans joined the green shirt on the floor.
Carden was creamy white all over. His nipples were pale pink, and he had neither piercings nor tattoos. Marius couldn’t remember the last time he had had sex with someone who had such perfect skin.
“Like what you see?” Carden asked and struck a pose.
Marius nodded. “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
“I’ve been called lovely by some people,” he replied and then crooked his finger at Marius. “Come here, I want to suck your dick.”
Fuck. This boy was so bold and hot. Marius watched as Carden grabbed a pillow from the bed. He threw it down and sank to his knees. “So? Not fond of having a pretty boy on his knees for you?”