CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER twenty-ONe
Noah was so handsome all the time, but something about his solo travel outfit made David melt at the sight of him stepping out of the jet bridge. Noah wore over-ear headphones, an oversized hoodie with Japanese calligraphy, and matching sweats. His high-top Adidas sneakers fit the outfit perfectly and made David wish he actually knew how to be fashionable beyond what Noah picked out for him.
David popped up from his seat at the gate where he’d been waiting and dragged his roller bag along behind him as he rushed up to his boyfriend. Noah bopped his head to his music but stopped when he noticed David, breaking into a grin.
“Didn’t expect you to be down here with the commoners,” Noah said too loudly as he slid his headphones off to rest around his neck. David pulled him in for a kiss, with the tinny sounds of pop music playing in the background.
Noah laughed, guiding them out of the flow of traffic to kiss him again. “What am I gonna do with you? Three hours apart, and you’re kissing me like it’s been years.”
“Feels like it,” David said, snuggling into the warmth of his chest as Noah swayed them side to side. “I missed you.”
Noah kissed his hair. “I missed you, too. Wanna eat at the airport or find somewhere nice?”
“I ate on the plane,” David replied. He’d eaten half a packet of peanuts before looking at the insane sodium content, and ate several more stalks of celery.
“Somehow, I knew you’d say that,” Noah said, and some of the light went out in his eyes.
David kissed him to bring it back. “I felt the baby kick. He waited for me to be there—it was amazing. Weird, but amazing.”
Noah smiled. “Oh? That’s cool. How did that feel for Caroline?”
“She said it was uncomfortable. Makes sense.”
Noah took his hand they headed for the exit, where a fancy rental car was waiting for David to drive them to the hotel. A few people took pictures of them as they walked.
David swung their hands, trying to think of the best way to bring up his discussion with Caroline. He’d mulled over it for the past hour while waiting for Noah, but nothing prepared him for the real moments when they were together.
“Tired?” Noah asked as they stepped onto an escalator.
David shrugged. “You?”
Noah shrugged back. “Not really. Short flight.”
David nodded absently. He wanted to make Noah as happy as possible before this discussion. That way, when things inevitably soured, they’d have to make up a lot of ground before they hit rock bottom. He used to wait until he won races to tell Klaus any bad news, and it usually worked to save him from a black eye. Usually.
“Is there a place you’d want to go to dinner?” David asked in an effort to redirect.
Noah cocked a brow at him. “Depends on what’s happening after dinner.”
David smirked. “Unfinished business.”
******
David didn’t do well with patience. They dumped their luggage in his hotel room, and within minutes, he had Noah bent over the desk in the suite, fucking him senseless.
“I thought you were bad after six weeks,” Noah gritted out as David found a new angle. “How do you make it through a whole day of work?”
“You’re talking a lot,” David huffed out, sinking deeper inside him. Noah moaned his approval and shuddered around his cock.
“Can’t tell if you’re insulting me,” Noah teased breathlessly. He ground back against David’s hips until David was fully sheathed in him, stars bursting behind his eyes at the force of his pleasure.
“Noah—!” David cut himself off when Noah squeezed around him, nearly emptying right then and there. “Fuck, don’t do that yet.”
He picked up into a needy rhythm, curling his toes against the delicious friction between their bodies. Dinner plans went out the window as soon as Noah had given him bedroom eyes over his shoulder. What was he supposed to do—stand there and not fuck the most beautiful man in the world?
Noah still had his hoodie on, and so did David. Maybe that was embarrassing, but David didn’t care, as long as he was balls deep in his boyfriend.
“Oh, fuck, right there,” Noah panted, rocking back against his thrust. He tipped his head back, bracing against the desk so that David met more resistance on his next thrust.
“Like that?” David asked before nipping his neck.
“Mmpfh,” Noah replied, hollowing his shoulders. “Fuck.”
David slowed his pace to drag it out, delighting in the way Noah moaned. He hoped their neighbors hadn’t checked in yet—most of the teams wouldn’t be arriving until evening.
He wrapped his hand around Noah’s cock and hitched his hips in time with his first squeeze. Noah’s cock jerked in his hand, already leaking.
“I always imagined this at Oxbow,” Noah said, his voice strained with desire. “You fucking me over a desk. Race debrief to get all the tension out.”
David groaned at the mental image and found Noah’s neck again, this time sucking a mark. Noah wriggled underneath him, needy for more. David obliged, driving into him hard and thorough, making sure Noah could feel his full length.
Noah shut his eyes as David braced over him.
“Imagining it right now?” David teased as he bottomed out.
“Yeah. M’close,” Noah whispered, his brow furrowing from the pleasure. “Fuck, Jochmann.”
David nestled his nose behind Noah’s ear, panting against him as he slowly rocked into him, sending sizzling pleasure between them. Noah moaned again, fighting against it, but David gave a quick snap of his hips to stop him.
“You always had me in corner entry,” David whispered in his ear. “So much faster.”
Noah arched against him, biting his lip.
“Late braker,” David praised, bottoming out in him. “Smoothest pedal inputs I’ve ever seen.”
“This is embarrassing,” Noah panted. “I’m gonna come from you talking about my fucking driving style.”
David nosed against him in response and thrust again. Noah let out a whine.
“I used to watch your onboards to see how your fingers moved,” David whispered. “And your fucking Nomex. Skin-tight. Makes me wanna—”
Noah came with unexpected force, and David let out a grunt of surprise as he came too. He milked Noah through orgasm with his hand as he pumped into him until he was empty. Fucking hell. Both of them stumbled onto the bed in a boneless heap.
“Fucker,” Noah teased through his panting. “God, you’re so fucking good.”
David grinned at the ceiling, his eyes still closed, until Noah rolled on top of him, and they devolved into lazy, sloppy kisses.
“You wanna tell me what’s going on?” Noah asked as he pushed up David’s hoodie to kiss his stomach down to his navel, dangerously close to his overstimulated cock. “I know something happened on the plane.”
David groaned, nesting his fingers into Noah’s hair and gently pushing him down further. “I’d rather get sucked off.”
“I know you would,” Noah teased, turning his head to bite David’s wrist lovingly. “Now talk to me. You can fuck me after, if you’re nice.”
David sighed as Noah crawled up his body and came to rest on the mattress beside him. Noah’s hand went up the front of David’s hoodie, smoothing over the lumps of fat on his ribs.
“Caroline said she’s still in love with me,” David said reluctantly. Noah’s hand stopped moving. David met his eyes. “I told her you’re the only one I want. This doesn’t happen without you.”
Noah kissed him softly, allowing David to fully taste him. When they broke apart, Noah’s eyes were filled with love, not anger. “Tell me more.”
“She hasn’t involved you much because she thinks you won’t stick around after the baby’s born,” David said.
Noah let out a hum. “I kinda figured that. I guess a part of me knew she was still into you, too.”
“Are you mad?”
Noah laughed softly. He nuzzled into David’s shoulder. “No, I’m not mad.”
Silence filled the hotel room. For a moment, David just listened to the sounds of their breathing. The sounds of the city slowly crept in, reminding him that they were just two people in a hotel room. There were people all over his city who didn’t give a single shit about their problems.
Noah propped himself up on an elbow. “Do you think I won’t stick around?”
David stared at the popcorn ceiling. “I don’t think you’ll leave me because of a baby,” he said. “If you were going to do that, you would have left already.”
Noah touched his chin, gently guiding David to look at him. His eyes shimmered with deep love—so different from the lust David remembered seeing in Noah’s eyes the first time they had sex. They were both stronger people now. Well, Noah was, anyway.
“That was a very media-trained answer, Jochmann,” Noah murmured. “Do you think I might leave for another reason?”
David snorted softly. “I don’t know, Noah. Why does anyone leave anybody? I don’t want you to leave, but I know I’m messing up your whole life. You didn’t ask for this baby. I wouldn’t blame you for wanting something else. I probably would, but I don’t have a choice.”
Noah’s lashes drooped low. “I wish you could see you the way I see you.”
David rolled his eyes. He didn’t want to see himself right now, period. Having sex was a nice distraction from thinking about his paunchy, corpselike body. He could focus on feeling, not something visual.
“Hey, I mean it,” Noah said in the low voice he only used with David.
David frowned. “People think I’m having an affair with Caroline.”
“Yeah, I know. Fans keep tagging me in posts like I don’t know you’ve been with her, which I think is funny because you’ve barely been with her in public.”
So Noah already knew. Late to the punch, again. David sighed. “Well, we want to announce the pregnancy on Instagram this weekend. Caroline is flying to France tonight so we don’t have to worry about Klaus. I told her I wanted to talk to you about it before she posts anything. I suggested doing a joint post so no one speculates.”
Noah sat up fully. He covered his mouth to yawn. “I think that sounds like a good idea. Can we talk about it while we shower?”
“You don’t like being sticky?” David teased, grateful for the chance to inject some humor.
Noah tugged at his hoodie strings. “C’mon.”
As they showered off, David told him about the baby’s kicks and about the first time he’d spoken to his son. Noah smiled through his explanation until he got shampoo in his mouth and had to spend a few minutes washing suds from his teeth.
As they dried off, David told Noah about his imaginary future—he couldn’t help it.
“I love you,” Noah said when he finished, holding him close. “You’re fucking adorable, you know that?”
David cocked his head.. “You’ don’t think it’s stupid?
Noah shook his head, brushing their noses together. “Of course not. And I think it’s really good that you were so open with Caroline about everything today. You guys should have talked about this stuff a lot earlier, but I know it’s been busy.”
Doubt lingered in David’s mind. “But you don’t think it’s silly to want my dad back in my life?”
Noah caressed his jaw. He was so sweet in moments like this—David wished he could go back in time and show this moment to his rookie self. He wouldn’t believe it.
“I think it’s perfectly normal to want your dad in your perfect life,” Noah said. “It’s not your fault that he’s an abusive asshole. You love him. I know you still look up to him, too.”
David tried to turn his face away in shame, but Noah gently stopped him.
“It’s okay, baby,” Noah said. “It’s perfectly okay to want that.”
Sorrow lodged in David’s throat. “I have so much good,” he said. “I have you. I thought I lost you, and now I have you back, and all I can think about is my stupid dad.”
Noah pulled him into a kiss, slow and sensual. David let himself relax into it, allowing Noah’s tongue into his mouth. Everything was a little easier to bear when he had this to look forward to. Someone who wanted him, always. Someone who listened to him and loved him despite all of the stupid, hurtful things he’d done.
“I don’t deserve you,” David whispered when he finally broke the kiss. He thumbed the line of Nike’s wings inked into Noah’s collarbone.
“Yes, you do,” Noah murmured. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“I’m the guy who told the whole world your bad driving lost you a championship.”
David flinched at the memory, but at the time, he’d been so convinced Noah was coming after his chances at his own championship. Back then, publicly insulting the man he loved seemed like the better option compared to what his father would have done to him if he lost his seat at Oxbow.
“Well, it kind of did,” Noah said.
David shot him a look. “It did not. It was bad luck.”
Noah smiled. “Maybe. I’d rather have you than a championship, though.”
David gave him a playful shove. “Stop. You’ll have your championship.”
“We’ll see,” Noah said. “I told you before, I don’t want it as much anymore. There’s a lot to life outside of racing. And you’re most important.”
Back to this again. David shook his head. “You worked your whole life for that trophy. You’ve already earned it in my eyes. Now, we just have to show everyone else.”
Noah rocked back on his heels. The reality of the weekend crept into the corners of David’s vision. This wasn’t a vacation; this was work. David still had to show up at the track for a full day of media commitments tomorrow. He would only see Noah in passing until late in the evening, and he’d be too tired to fool around when he finally did come home.
“What’s your dream future?” David asked. He’d totally forgotten to ask—selfish, as usual.
Noah cocked his head, his lashes low over his eyes. “It starts with you eating dinner tonight.”
Tension threatened to surface between them. David thought of all the things he could say to get Noah off his back, all of the white lies and crafty sentences he could form in his second language that would stop Noah from worrying about his fucking diet.
He had to lose three pounds before Sunday. Given how his weight fluctuated throughout the day, he had to aim to lose five.
He threaded his fingers with Noah’s, holding both of his hands. Noah waited patiently, as if he understood what David was thinking through. Noah always knew when to let him breathe, when to walk away, when to hold him tight.
“Okay,” David said quietly, meeting Noah’s eyes again. Warm, chocolate brown. “You can pick a place, as long as you drive there. All I ask is that it’s a place where I can get something healthy and not fried.”
Noah loved fried anything, and David knew how much he loved Texas fried food. He said it reminded him of home.
This time when Noah smiled, David’s heart skipped a beat, the same way it had the first time Noah waved at him in that stupid little media tent so long ago. “I think I can manage that, but I’m having fried mushrooms, so it’ll be tough.”
David gave him one more kiss. “Let’s get looking, then.”