Chapter Seventeen
Keston
I couldn’t stop thinking about him.
While prepping my clients, sketching out stencils, even listening to one of my longtime customers, bass player Noel Valentine, go on and on about the threesome he’d had the night before, all I could see was Bailey’s frightened face illuminated by the dashboard light as we drove to the city.
I’d been so fucking wrong about him. From the bits and pieces I’d picked up, he’d been raised by a single father and had a sister he’d bailed out of trouble numerous times. Not a trust-fund baby like his friend Weston. Shit. His story sounded almost as complicated as mine.
“Dude, what’ya say? You interested?”
“In what?” Refocusing on Noel, I stopped filling in his latest ink—a large bass guitar weeping tears and hearts—and set my instrument on the tray. “Sorry, I was concentrating.”
“I got this gig tonight, and then a bunch of us are goin’ to this club uptown.” Noel’s green eyes glinted. “Maybe we could hook up. Could be a blast.”
My brows shot sky high. It was the first time Noel had put the moves on me, but that life of hard partying wasn’t my scene.
Listening to his stories made me wonder how long he could keep it up.
When he’d been playing with Remi Angel, they’d partied together, but last I’d heard, Remi had settled down, gotten married, and retired from the performing life.
“Sorry. I can’t tonight.” I continued working on his tattoo. Another forty-five minutes, and it was done. “All right, that’s it. You know the drill.”
Noel watched me prep and wrap his arm. After I’d finished, he leaped off the chair to follow me to pay. “Yeah. Looks good, bro. And if you change your mind, we’ll be at Haven, on West Ninety-eighth.”
I smiled and shook my head. “That’ll be nine hundred.” He tapped his card and tossed me a two-hundred-dollar tip.
“Awesome as usual. Thanks, and see ya later.” He winked and strode out, blond hair catching the sun. The man looked like an angel but, from everything he’d told me and what I’d heard, he had the soul of a devil.
“Dude, are you fucking nuts? He’s hot and a rocker. Why’d you say no?” Ambrose, whose client had already left, came over to me. Jodi was still working on her customer, a young mother having her baby’s name and birthdate inked on her ankle, along with a tiny footprint.
“Not my scene.” I returned to my station to sanitize my equipment and wipe the chair.
“What? What the hell is your scene if it’s not him?”
I hadn’t yet figured out how to fit Bailey into my life.
The fact that I was having those thoughts about him still didn’t make sense, but fuck it.
Something about Bailey was addictive, and seeing him so lost and broken, when I was used to only the flirting, joking, and sensual side, chipped away at my rock-hard heart.
Spending the weekend with him opened my eyes to more of the puzzle that made up Bailey Marks.
I’d never been into games, but I itched to fit his pieces together.
“Maybe I’m not looking.”
In a rare bout of gentleness, Ambrose patted my arm. “I know it’s been hard since you lost Carlos. But it sucks to be alone. Since I met Carly, I’ve been less angry.”
Not that I’d seen, but if he believed it, more power to him.
“It’s not that.” I didn’t want to talk about it, and luckily the phone rang with a new appointment to distract me. But Ambrose waited until I ended the call and put the customer in the computer.
“I meant to ask. How was the weekend with your brother? You were in a cabin upstate?”
My smile was true. “It was cool. I really like Lauren, his fiancée. She’s pretty awesome. It was fun, actually. Grady had a bunch of his friends there, and Lauren had some of hers. We all hung out, went apple-picking. It was…nice.”
Ambrose rolled his eyes. “Sounds like a commercial for one of those cheesy holiday movies Carly loves to watch.”
I snickered. “Yeah. I said that too. A bunch of lawyers and me.”
“So did you have a chance to talk to Grady about Lucas? You had the whole weekend. Could you find a couple of minutes?”
I hesitated. “He wasn’t too hopeful. I’ve told you that before. Remember, he’s not a criminal attorney. He does family law—adoptions, child custody, that kind of stuff.”
Ambrose’s shoulders slumped. “I know, I know. It’s just…Lucas didn’t get a fair trial, I’m positive. His lawyers sucked. No offense to your brother, but they all suck. Money-grubbers makin’ a living off people’s suffering.”
While I could agree with him on some of that, it didn’t apply to all of them, and definitely not to the people I’d met this weekend, like Faith and Della, who prosecuted scumbags preying on kids and vulnerable people.
“I never asked, but what does Lauren do? Don’t tell me she’s a lawyer too?”
The last thing I’d reveal to Ambrose was that Lauren worked for the office that put his brother away.
“Yeah. But nothing that could help Lucas.”
His hand formed a fist. “Dammit. How can you surround yourself with all these sharks?”
“Maybe I’m learning not to judge a person’s character by their profession. I mean, how many times have we bitched to each other that people think we’re criminals or in a gang because of our tattoos?”
But arguing with Ambrose was like spitting into the wind—he just flew right back at me with my own words.
“Yeah, but lots of different people have tats now. You gotta be a certain kind of person to be a lawyer.”
Tired of his complaining, I brushed him off. “Yeah. Grady’s got ink, and he’s a lawyer. He’s also my brother, so knock it off already with the lawyer crap.”
His face turned hard. “Damn, they sucked you in too.”
“Enough,” I snapped. The door opened, and my next client appeared. “I’ve got work, and you have someone in about fifteen minutes.”
“I know my schedule. Thanks.”
The rest of the day was spent mostly in silence, and I hated it. Ambrose had been with me from the start, and I’d seen how his blind loyalty to Lucas was beginning to destroy his relationships with the people who cared most about him.
At six o’clock, as I was cleaning up, I got a text from Bailey. I’d thought about him all day but had refrained from getting in touch. He’d seemed upset when I left that morning, and when his name popped up, I immediately wondered if he was canceling.
Still on for tonight?
I could feel happiness tugging at my lips, and darted a glance over to where Jodi and Ambrose were putting away their instruments.
I didn’t need them in my business, for different reasons.
Jodi would go next level with ooey-gooey giggles, and Ambrose would either take a swing at me or accuse me of fraternizing with the enemy.
Yeah. Just finishing up. Be by around 8.
I’ll be waiting.
He tacked on several flame emojis. I chuckled to myself and stuck the phone into my jeans pocket.
“Care to share with the class what’s so funny?” Jodi asked in wide-eyed innocence.
I put on a stern face and narrowed my eyes. “Nothing.” Judging by her saucy smile and eye roll, she knew I was a damn liar, but I refused to take her bait.
“Looked like something to me,” Ambrose chimed in. “You got a hot date?”
I kept my face neutral. “No. I have things to do.”
“Things to do,” Ambrose repeated. “Why so secretive?”
“I’m not. I have errands…shit to take care of. I was away all weekend. Enough with the third, fourth, and fifth degree.” I picked up my jacket and zipped it up. “Ready to close up?”
“Damn. So touchy.” Ambrose put on his coat, and Jodi did the same and grabbed her purse.
“All set.”
I shut off the lights, locked the door, and set the alarm. “See you tomorrow.” I bumped fists with Ambrose and gave Jodi a nod, then walked to my place. It took me less than half an hour to shower, change, and pack a bag because yeah, I was spending the night uptown with Bailey.
But first we were going to talk.
**
Bailey had changed from Mr. Suit and Tie into athletic pants and a T-shirt, and he was freshly showered, his dark hair lying in wet curls, his skin glowing. His eyes lit up when he saw my overnight bag.
“I take it you’re staying?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Come on.” I stepped inside and Bailey hummed. “You smell amazing.” He drew in an audible breath. “Mmm-mmm.”
I hesitated only a second and kissed him. Hard. Soft, yielding lips moved over mine, and I yanked him close…closer. He opened to the pressure of my mouth, and at his moan, I realized I couldn’t let him go. Not tonight. Or tomorrow.
Maybe never.
Whoa. Where the fuck did that come from?
“Come with me.” Bailey tugged my hand, and all my good intentions to talk first flew out the window.
My body demanded his, and I tangled our fingers together as we walked to the bedroom.
He stripped, I tossed my clothes, and we fell on the bed in a hot, hard tangle of limbs.
I loved that his thighs were scratchy with hair and his chest wasn’t bare—too many pretty boys shaved themselves sleek as a seal, and it was like kissing a teenager. Not my thing.
Bailey, with his toned legs, firm ass, and hard six-pack, was all man. And tonight? Mine. But as usual, he wasn’t a silent partner.
“I need it bad, Keston. Just give it to me hard and fast. I’ve been thinking about it all day, and I can’t wait.”
He was telling me the truth. He had the condoms and lube out on the bed, ready for us. His dick was rock-hard, flushed and thick. He got on all fours and grasped himself. I mapped the globes of his perfect ass with my hands and dove in for a snack.
“Oh fuck, please, God. Keston. I want…” His words garbled as I plunged my tongue in deep and worked on him. I wet my fingers and thrust them in and out of his twitching body, loving his hoarse, broken cries. He squeezed me, and my dick ached, needing him. Wanting him.
I flipped him to gaze into his hazy eyes.
“Bailey,” I whispered and nudged his cheek, kissing him.
I’d had plenty of sex, but this was something more.
Something intensely intimate. My skin prickled with awareness.
I wanted to run, to hide from what was happening, but I couldn’t move. I didn’t want to.
“I know.” He caught my shoulder and slid his arm around my neck, anchoring me to him. “I know.”
I used the lube and rolled on a condom, and with one smooth push, entered him. He sucked me into his heat with a grip so tight, I couldn’t imagine him ever letting me go.
Or wanting him to.
Wishing I could hold on to these breath-stealing moments forever, I raised his legs to my shoulders, willing myself to become one with him.
He writhed as I pumped, his hand moving on his shaft, faster and faster.
Being inside Bailey took me apart to the very blood rushing through my veins, and I exploded.
Beneath me, Bailey quivered and shook as he came, spilling across our bellies.
Chests heaving, we clung together, bodies slick and sticky with sweat and come. Bailey slid his hands past my waist to knead my ass. “Absolutely fucking perfect.”
“No one’s perfect.” I nuzzled beneath his ear, sucking the lobe. “Especially me.”
“You are perfect. To me.” He traced the tattoos on my arm with his fingertips, then his tongue. I slipped out of him, rolled off to get rid of the condom, and returned to him in bed, where he picked up where he left off, skimming the outline of the infinity symbol.
“That was for Carlos,” I blurted out, shocking myself. Bailey stopped, his finger resting on my skin. “That date is the day he died.” My head hung low. “It was as if I died too.”
I didn’t know what I expected Bailey’s reaction to be. I’d never explained it to anyone, not even to Grady, but I knew my brother had understood. Everyone who knew me accepted it without question.
“I’m glad you didn’t die. But you’re lucky you had someone to love you.”
“Come on, you’ve never been in love before?” I teased.
His smile was devastating in its sadness.
“If you’re not loved in return, it’s not true love because that requires sharing.
I was in lust and make-believe fantasies about guys who only wanted sex.
None of it was real.” He sat up, his mood shifting like the wind.
“But enough about me.” He swung his legs off the side of the bed.
“Let’s have something to eat to get ready for round two. ” He put his pants on.
I stopped him before he could leave the room. “Enough about you? Are you kidding? You haven’t said jack shit about yourself.”
He laughed. “What? I’m a boring guy. Nothing to see here.” He spread his arms wide, but I folded mine and refused to move.
“I disagree. So yeah, let’s have dinner, but we’re gonna talk.” I caught him by the arm as he pushed past me. “I want to know.”
He kept his head down, and the despair in his voice was haunting. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”