Chapter Twenty-Eight
Donovan
I ’ve never been the kind of guy who likes to go to clubs very often. I’ve never even been to Lush, but I’m excited to go with Eric and the crew tonight.
It’s so strange to think that—the crew. I have a crew. Sure, almost half of us are jilted exes from the same asshole, but who gives a shit about how we all came together. What matters is we’re friends now.
The ride share drops me, Eric, and Ana off on North Robertson Blvd. There’s a line out front. Lush is a newer WeHo club, but it got popular quickly. Whoever the owner is must really know his shit.
“Did you say we don’t have to wait in that?
” Eric nods toward the group of people waiting to get in.
At the same time, he takes my hand and laces our fingers together.
I grin, but then glance down to see he’s got Ana’s hand in his other one, so we basically just look like a queer throuple.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
“Ant said to give the guy watching the line our name, and he’ll bring us in. I’m pretty sure Rylan and Mads got pulled in the back.”
“Hey, where’s our back-door service?” Eric teases.
“I’m sure you two have that planned for later,” Ana jokes, and I nearly choke on my tongue.
Does she know we’re sleeping together? Ant and Hayes do, of course, but is Eric talking to her about me too?
“Abso-fucking-lutely,” Eric tosses back.
The two of them laugh, and though there’s a small twitch of jealousy in my chest, I’m glad they’re so close. Eric needs more people in his life who are good to him, and there’s no doubt that Ana is that.
“I think you two are going to be trouble together,” I say honestly.
“I think you’re right.” Eric grins, and our little throuple makes its way toward the line.
“Hey. I’m Donovan Carter,” I tell the bouncer. “Anthony Damiani said to give you my name.”
The guy smiles. “Come with me.” There’s a chorus of what the fucks behind us as he takes us over to the bouncer at the door. “They’re with Ant.”
The huge, muscled guy doesn’t speak, just signals for us to go in.
Pop music assaults us the second we get inside. Lush is packed, and I have a feeling it’ll be a while before anyone else can get in.
“Anthony has a lot of pull around here!” Eric says in my ear.
“Yeah, I think he’s tight with the owner or something.” I have to practically yell so he can hear me.
We weave through the dancing crowd. It’s about eighty-five percent men in here.
Some talking, some kissing, some rubbing up against each other.
Some of the guys working are walking around in jockstraps, others in Speedo-style underwear.
At the back, men are dancing on small stages, with money stuffed in their skimpy clothing.
“God, I love gay bars. I should have noticed I’m bisexual a whole lot sooner,” Eric says, and I can’t say he’s wrong. Ana snickers.
“Pretty boys everywhere,” I confirm.
“Mine is the prettiest.” He gives me what might possibly be the world’s largest smile, and I’m not sure how I don’t dissolve on the spot.
“You two are grossly cute,” Ana says. “Now can we go find the rest of our friends before I get jealous? I totally want a man.” As she speaks, a woman with buzzed hair and flawless makeup walks by. “Or a woman,” she adds.
Eric gives a mock gasp. “I had no clue.”
“She’s gorgeous. And I did some experimenting in college.”
“Didn’t we all,” I confirm, “though only with guys for me,” and we all laugh.
I continue to lead them through the club in the direction Anthony told us to go. We head straight for the stairs and take them up to the second level.
“Holy shit. I had no idea this place was so big!” Ana shouts.
“Yeah, it’s definitely the hottest club in West Hollywood!”
The second floor is just as packed as the first. The difference here is that off toward the back, there are roped-off sections with couches and a bar on a raised platform. There are two separate bar counters up here, along with poles, platforms, and dancers like they have downstairs.
I spot our friends almost immediately. Hayes and Mads are sitting on a wraparound couch while Rylan is pretending to give Hayes a lap dance.
“I think his face is going to explode,” I say, noticing how red Hayes is.
“He loves it,” Eric adds, and there’s no doubt in my mind he’s right.
“Save me!” Hayes shouts when he sees us.
“You’re here!” Rylan pushes to his feet, arms wide. “I missed you guys.” I freeze when he pulls me, Eric, and Ana into a hug.
“He’s clearly been drinking already,” Mads says, holding what looks like a glass of water.
“What? Me? Never!” Rylan pulls away and winks.
“Where’s Anthony?” I ask, taking a seat. Eric goes down beside me, so close our legs are touching. Ana sits next to Hayes.
“He’s dancing in a minute,” Mads answers.
That makes sense.
We chat for a few. A really hot guy in a jock comes over to ask what we want to drink.
I turn to Eric. “Do you want beer or a shot?”
“Shot first. Beer second.”
When I turn back to the white guy with dark hair, his gaze is flicking hungrily between Eric and me. My stomach twists, and it’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him to back off, that Eric is mine, but then Eric’s arm wraps around me, and he says, “What about you, husband ?”
Oh… Oh. Is he jealous? Because I totally was.
The guy laughs. “Just admiring you both , but I’ll be good.”
I put my hand on Eric’s thigh because if he can be possessive, so can I. I order us each a shot of tequila and beer that’s on tap.
The music changes, and when I look up, I notice Anthony coming out onto one of the small stages.
He’s wearing a purple Speedo, which looks good against his olive skin.
He looks shimmery, like he put something over his body to make him glisten.
Cheers go up around us. Clearly, our friend is popular, and Anthony immediately starts moving to the music.
He’s a good dancer. I already knew that, but I’m reminded when I see how fluidly he moves. It’s like he’s one with the music, his body moving in ways I would never be able to do.
Rylan nudges Mads. “I think he’s more flexible than you.”
“He is not.” Mads crosses his arms, sounding pouty.
Our waiter comes back with our drinks. “It’s on Anthony’s tab!” He grins.
I assume we’ll all split it at the end of the night, so I just nod, and he leaves us to our drinks.
“Here.” Eric sits forward, grabs salt, and shakes some onto his hand. “Take yours off me, and then I wanna take mine off you.”
How do I argue with that?
I take his hand and slowly lick the salt, tasting both it and a slight tinge of sweat on his skin. It wakes up my dick, which starts to plump, and then I pull back, down the shot, and see Eric is holding my lime in his teeth.
Oh God. I’m so fucking obsessed with this man.
Biting back my hungry growl, I lean in and suck the lime in his teeth. In the background I hear Rylan say, “Anyone feel like they’re watching Eric and Donovan porn right now?” Then an ouch , so Hayes must’ve swatted his arm.
I suck the lime, and then Eric spits it out and we’re kissing, right there in the middle of a gay club with our friends all around us. The feel and taste of him go straight to my head, making me lighter and dizzier than any shot ever could.
I nearly whimper when he pulls away and says, “My turn.”
My only answer is a nod, words escaping me.
We repeat the process, Eric licking me this time, sucking lime from my mouth before we’re kissing again. I’m drunk off him, off us, feeling this flare of rightness and happiness no one but him can bring.
“Hot,” I hear and look up to see Anthony join us. At some point he put on a crop top and a small pair of shorts, so I must have been kissing Eric longer than I realized.
My cheeks heat. “Shut up.”
He gives me a supportive smile.
“You’re good,” Mads tells him.
“I try, baby.” Anthony winks at him. “You guys having fun?”
I drink my beer while the group of us talk. Eric is…well, he’s basically all over me, kissing my neck, tickling my nape, only stopping touching me to say something to our friends or to take a drink.
Despite always having been open with affection, it’s surprising he’s so touchy-feely, that he’s not leaving any questions that he’s queer and here with me. It’s so easy for him to just be who he is, and it’s one of my favorite things about him.
A few minutes later, Ana stands and says, “Eric, do you want to go get a drink with me? The waiter’s taking forever to come back around.”
I really like Ana, but I want to growl at her right now.
“Sure. I’ll be back.” Eric kisses me on the cheek and then disappears with Ana.
Hands covering my face, I let out a loud groan. “He’s killing me,” I say, not caring that Rylan and Mads can hear me.
“I think you mean to say he’s crazy about you. Have you still not told him how you feel?” Hayes asks.
“We say I love you, but we’ve always said that…though we say it more now. I know I need to talk to him, but I’m scared of doing anything that’ll change things.”
“Why would telling him change the fact that you’re in love with each other?” Rylan asks. “Is this something else about relationships I don’t know? I’m still figuring all this stuff out, but I’m pretty fucking good at it so far.”
“How do I know if he’s in love with me? He hasn’t told me.”
“Wait. You can’t tell he’s in love with you?” Mads asks. “You’re worse at this than Rylan was.”
I give the goalie for the LA Rebels the finger.
“It’s different for them. They’re best friends. There’s a lot at stake,” Anthony defends me.
“Thank you.”
“But I still think you need to talk to him,” he adds as he comes over and sits beside me. “And you only won’t because you know who is in your head, telling you you can’t have this.”
“I hate that fucking asshole,” Rylan says, all of us knowing that the elephant in the room is always Malcolm. He fucked with me, Hayes, and Anthony so much.
“I didn’t realize how worthless he made me feel,” I admit. “How his digs really got to me. I hate feeling like this.”
He turned me back into the boy I used to be, the one no one wanted except…Eric. Eric has always wanted me, even when it was just friendship. Eric has always loved me, always been by my side, always saw more in me than I could ever see in myself.
Eric who has been touching, holding, and kissing me all night. Eric who looks at me like…well, just like they said before. Like I’m his world…and I know he’s mine.
Malcolm has hurt us all so much, changed us, but I’m not going to let him keep doing that to me.
I’m not going to let him stop me from telling Eric how I feel about him, and maybe…
maybe Eric needs to hear it from me as much as I need to hear it from him.
That’s not something I ever considered, but learning how he’s been insecure about his career and education, maybe in some ways Eric isn’t as confident as I always thought.
Suddenly I can’t wait to tell him. Maybe this isn’t the right place and I should wait to ensure Eric is really in love with me before I tell him. The guys could be wrong, but I just…can’t. Not anymore. I have to trust this. Trust us .
“I’ll be right back,” I tell our friends.
“Where are you going?”
“To find my man.”