Sixteen
As the lights dimmed, Kaj could practically hear the pulse of the crowd, an anxious energy simmering beyond the stage. His hands tightened around the sticks as he took a deep breath, mentally running through the setlist one last time.
The LED screens behind them flashed to life with eerie, distorted visuals. Without looking at them, Kaj knew the images flickering at his back by heart—moody, dystopian cityscapes, cryptic phrases. The low hum of industrial synths rumbled through his chest.
One, two, three…
A sudden explosion of light illuminated the space in ominous red, silhouetting the other three musicians in stark contrast.
As “White Noise” erupted, Kaj’s drumsticks hit the snare in time with the crushing riffs and pulsating bass licks that ripped through the air. He could feel every impact reverberating through him and rattling the very structure of the ground beneath them.
Then, Noah stepped into the glow at the front of the stage.
The throng of people at their feet roared, moving like an ocean in a storm as they surged forward. It was always incredible to see. A part of Kaj stirred at the sight, but it was soon drowned by the euphoria swamping the venue.
Kaj’s double kicks fired off like a machine gun, forcing a rush of adrenaline through his veins. His job was to hold everything together, to drive the force behind the melody, and control the heartbeat of the performance. Every fill, every crash, every moment of silence between the notes was a calculated breath. But no matter how hard he played or how deep he sank into the rhythm, his gaze kept drifting back to Noah.
The way he arched his back, abandoning himself to the music. The way he bent forward menacingly while delivering brutal growl after growl. The veins in his arms, pumped and visible under the heat of the lights. The sweat already glistening on his skin.
Kaj’s chest puffed with pride, knowing he would be taming that beast later tonight.
Cleveland had been hectic, and the day that followed wasn’t exactly relaxing, either—a show, a couple interviews, a flight that got delayed and had them stalled at the airport for over six hours. It’d been grueling. In Los Angeles, they’d slept on a bus that drove them through the night to San Francisco. But tonight, here in The Golden City, where they’d have a couple of days to wind down. They were finally going to burn all Seven Heavens to the ground.
This was just the warm-up.
The lighting changed in tandem, strobing violently during breakdowns, dimming to a soft ethereal glow during more melancholic moments. Raw. Organic. Electric. The venue transformed into a vast chorus, thousands of voices joining Noah’s as he delivered every line like a fucking confession.
Kaj’s drumming became more deliberate, each hit soaked in emotion rather than aggression. Xander’s fingers were dancing along the fretboard of his bass, his entire body immersed in the groove. On the opposite side of the stage, there was Aksel. His pick hand was a blur as he shredded through intricate leads.
As the show neared its climax, Kaj pushed himself harder, arms and back burning at this point. His entire body was drenched and his breathing was ragged, but still, he found the strength to steal another glance at Noah as he stepped up on the platform at the edge of the stage, reaching out to the sea of fans before him. Their hands stretched toward him in response, desperate to merge with the sonic devastation Artificial Suicide unleashed.
Energy swirled.
Unrelenting.
Savage.
Dark.
When the final notes of the encore rang out, the lights dimmed and the mosh pit slowly subsided. As a wave of cheers and applause crashed over them, Kaj let the deafening sound engulf him. Aksel, Xander, and Noah stood at the edge of the stage, their chests rising and falling with exertion. But if their body language was any indicator, they felt as fulfilled as the drummer.
And there, in the middle of chaos, as Kaj approached them, Noah’s gaze found its way to his, charged with illicit promises, before returning to the crowd.
The deep, droning synth of the outro hummed through the speakers again as the four musicians waved and bowed to their audience. Then Val took a few photos with the vast sea of people behind them.
As the band stepped into the shadows backstage, Kaj’s heart raced. Soon, the arena would be silent, but in the hush of his hotel room, another kind of symphony was about to begin.
A knock on the door. That was all Kaj’s dick needed to wake up when he’d been dozing off for the last hour.
“What the hell’s taken you so long?”
“Prep.” Noah shoved his chest and entered the room, taking the hoodie off his head.
“You didn’t need to.”
Unless they'd had a massive feast, they were all pretty regular when it came to bathroom schedules. For Noah it was always after lunch, and he’d starved himself since then today, eating just a light snack before the concert. Anal sex could be messy on occasion, and Kaj appreciated the effort, but under those circumstances it wasn’t like major accidents could happen even if he didn’t douche, nor did he care. He was mature enough to deal with it.
“I wanted to. Now, fuck me,” he rasped in a commanding tone as he handed Kaj a bottle of lube.
Grabbing Noah’s neck with his free hand, Kaj crashed their mouths together in a kiss that obliterated him completely. There was no turning back now. Not when their bodies were pressed together so deliciously. Not when Kaj had finally accepted and embraced what he’d prohibited himself for years—this untenable desire for Noah.
“Shit…” Kaj husked, pulling Noah’s bottom lip between his. “I think I’m gonna fucking combust.”
Noah smiled against his lips. “Let’s not delay this more, then.”
Noah slid his hands beneath Kaj’s tee, lifting it over his head as they walked toward the bed. Then he took off his own and cast it aside somewhere on the floor. The sensation of skin on skin turned off any trace of reason from Kaj’s brain. They were all heat and desperation. Teeth and tongues. Sharp breaths and repressed moans.
As Noah’s legs hit the mattress, they lost their balance and fell, chuckling as the scooted up. The bottle of lube rolled across the mattress, only to swivel back and lightly tap Noah’s head as they became a mess of limbs and lips.
Clothes were yanked away in a frenzy. Noah’s hands wandered over Kaj’s back and thighs as he grinded his hips, their swollen cocks sliding together in a torturous rhythm. Kaj trailed open-mouthed kisses along Noah’s jaw, drawing a groan that turned into a sharp inhale when he tilted his head back in invitation. Pressing his lips to the pulsing column of his throat, Kaj savored his ragged beats and the way their bodies moved in perfect sync.
Kaj didn’t care if worshipping Noah’s body was betraying himself, because he was ready to walk a road straight to hell.
“Turn over,” he ordered, his voice low and rough as he moved to the side.
Noah complied without retorting, flipping onto his stomach. Kaj nudged Noah’s leg apart with his knees and settled between his thighs. Running his hands over the vocalist’s back, massaging his ass, Kaj parted his cheeks to look at that hole that always took him so well.
Well, shit .
Noah had shaved e-ve-ry-thing .
Kaj wanted to be gentle, to relish this moment, but at the same time, the part of him that was still sore about their past wanted to besiege Noah’s body.
Reaching to grab the condoms he’d left on the bedside table, Kaj grazed his pierced nipples over Noah’s back and whispered, “Is this your way of saying you’re dying to get railed?”
“No more than you want to fuck me,” Noah said with that hot confidence of his.
With everything he needed in hand, Kaj knelt behind Noah, drinking in the sight of his prone form. But they were not here to admire each other. They were here to light the fuse and let it burn down.
Kaj clutched Noah’s hips and pulled them up. Without any preamble, he spread Noah’s cheeks wide and dove in, licking a stripe along his crack. A grunt of approval scratched his throat when Noah moaned and arched. That sound… His scent… The touch of his skin…
Spurred by Noah’s reaction, Kaj worked his tongue in circles around his hole, alternating between broad strokes and pointed jabs. He sucked and nibbled at the sensitive flesh, indulging in the strangled moans he was dragging out of him. Obscene slurping noises filled the room as Kaj ate him out with abandon.
“Fuck, yeah… That’s it.” Noah groaned. “Don’t you dare stop.”
Kaj pulled back momentarily. “You do not order me around.” He smacked his ass hard.
“Fuck!”
“Do you have any hard limits?”
“You seriously asking me that now?” Noah looked at him over his shoulder. “We’ve fucked before.”
“A decade ago.” Kaj spat directly onto his hole. Noah stirred slightly, the print of a palm already appearing on his smooth skin. “Things change.”
“No. I don’t have any hard limits that I can think of.”
“Not planning to do anything crazy, but in case I get too carried away, safe word?” Kaj gave him a pointed look—he wasn’t going to take any of his bullshit right now. Not with this.
“Traffic light system.”
That he answered so fast and without hesitation told Kaj Noah knew his way around the kinkiest side of sex. Definitely earned him extra points, along with that deepthroating technique he’d mastered.
“I’m confident I’ll be able to read your tells, but if I don’t, use it .”
“Sure, yeah.” Noah turned his face away.
Kaj reached around Noah’s hip and gripped his cock, stroking it while thrusting his tongue inside him. He speared in and out, feeling the vocalist trembling as saliva dripped down his balls and precum leaked from his slit. However, it didn’t look like they were anywhere close to his breaking point.
Determined to strip this man of his dignity, Kaj added a finger alongside his tongue and curled it against Noah’s prostate, making his body jerk. Letting go of his dick, Kaj inserted a second digit and scissored inside his tight heat. He lapped, kissed, sucked, and churned relentlessly as Noah buried his face into the mattress, a stream of muffled curses falling from his lips.
Five, or maybe ten minutes later, Kaj came up for air. Satisfaction coursed through him as he watched the quivering mess Noah had become. His hole was glistering and twitching from the assault, but Kaj was a sadistic bastard and loved toying with his prey.
Grabbing the bottle of lube, he coated his fingers generously and rubbed them against Noah’s entrance. He pushed three fingers into his ass, reveling in the way he easily opened for him now, sagging against the sheets.
“Kaj… Fuck. Shit. Please.” Reduced to incoherent pleas, Noah whimpered, squeezing the head of his own cock. “I n-need you—to fuck... me.” He groaned. “Or I’m gonna—Fuck. I’m gonna bend you over a-and fuck you myself.”
That threat should have sent a disgusting chill down Kaj’s spine. The simple thought of a man putting their dick into him usually made him feel sick. Instead, he had to bite his bottom lip to stop himself from challenging Noah. For some reason, it seemed that he was not only okay with breaking his own boundaries, but he liked the idea.
“Fuck. Me. Or do you want me to fight you on this, too?” Noah glared at him over his shoulder, pushing his ass higher in the air, the curve of his lower back driving Kaj insane.
Without missing another beat, Kaj sheathed his throbbing cock, slicking it up with lube before pressing the tip against Noah’s hole. He breached through the first tight ring of muscle, stopping to give him a few seconds to adjust to the intrusion.
“More,” Noah demanded breathlessly. “Fuck. Give me every fucking inch of your fat cock.”
Kaj thoroughly enjoyed dirty talk, but he loved being in charge even more. He smacked Noah’s asscheek again. “Shut up.”
With one powerful thrust, he buried himself to the hilt. They both cried out. Heat flooded every fiber in Kaj’s body, and for a moment there was only fucking bliss. No voices. No noise. No pain. Just pure ecstasy.
Kaj grasped Noah’s hip with bruising force, propping the other palm between his shoulder blades to keep him pinned down, and pulled out almost completely. He rocked back and forth, tantalizingly slow as lust scratched at the little self-control he had. Around this man, it was like the rational part of his brain shut down, transforming him into maddening knots of basic instincts and needs.
Intoxicated by the way Noah squeezed his cock, Kaj set a punishing pace, the sound of skin slapping against skin echoing through the room. Noah’s back arched beautifully as he matched his rhythm, meeting each thrust, taking him deeper.
“As hot and tight as I remembered,” Kaj growled.
Forcing Noah’s legs wider as Kaj spread his for better leverage, he angled his hips, searching for that spot that used to make Noah scream.
“Oh, god. There! Right. Fucking. There,” he moaned, fisting the sheets.
Kaj smirked, mercilessly ramming into him over and over. But when electric pulses flared inside him, warning of the impending orgasm about to peak, he slowed and leaned down.
No woman. No man. Not the best orgasm in his life. Nothing had ever felt so good as having this man all to himself, and he wasn’t ready for this moment to end yet.
Keeping a hand on Noah’s hip, Kaj moved the one on his back to his knee, hiking it toward his side.
Noah moaned.
“You like that, don’t you?” Kaj whispered in Noah’s ear as he draped himself over him, biting down on his shoulder. “Being fucked like the dirty whore you are.” He swirled his hips.
“Fuck.”
“Answer me.”
“Yes!”
Sweat broke out on Kaj’s back as he continued fucking Noah, alternating shallow with deep thrusts. Slow and fast, pounding and grinding, he prolonged the inevitable as he lost himself in the overwhelming sensations engulfing him, in the way Noah was writhing beneath him, the sounds of their bodies coming undone together.
“Harder,” Noah rasped, snapping him out of his delusional world. “Fuck me harder. Make me come, please.”
Perching up on his hands, Kaj changed his position again. He pulled out of Noah’s ass and thrust back in repeatedly, the frantic movement making the bed frame creak in protest.
“This is what you want?” Kaj grabbed a fistful of Noah’s hair, yanking his head back.
“I’m close,” Noah breathed out, a palm pressed firmly on the headboard while the other was curled into a fist beside his face, helping him keep his stance against Kaj’s brutal strokes. “F-fucking close… Keep going.”
Kaj kissed Noah with ferocity, swallowing his moans and feeding him his own as they chased their release.
“Fuck, yes… yes!”
Noah tensed and shuddered, groaning unabashedly as he rode the crest of his orgasm while Kaj continued driving into him. Noah blew his load all over the bedsheets, and his hole clenched in a series of spasms around Kaj’s cock, strangling him.
Ripples of the most consuming pleasure washed over Kaj, sending him over the edge. He froze deep in Noah’s ass, coming so hard that he went blind for several seconds, ears ringing and pulsing with the violence of his heartbeats.
Then silence.
They collapsed, breathing raggedly as they came down from the high.
Once Kaj recovered control of his body, still in a haze, he pulled out of Noah, making both of them hiss, and rolled onto his back. The cloying scent of sex inundated the space between them. Maybe it was because he hadn’t had sex in seven months, but this was the best fuck he could remember from the last few years.
Their breaths gradually steadied as they lay side by side, staring at the ceiling. The faint glow from the bedside lamp cast long shadows across the room while sweat cooled on Kaj’s skin.
“Fuck…” Noah finally said, his voice rough. “I think you fucked my soul out of me.”
Kaj snorted, reaching for tissues from the nightstand to clean himself up. “Is that a review? ‘Soul-fucking good’?” He stared at Noah’s flushed face, his hair disheveled, lips swollen. A strange sense of satisfaction spread through his chest.
“Five stars. Would recommend.” Noah chuckled. “Though I might need a wheelchair tomorrow.”
“You asked for it. I just delivered.” Kaj rolled on his side and playfully flicked Noah’s earlobe with his tongue, dragging the earring between his teeth.
“Mmm…” Noah stretched languidly, reminding Kaj of a cat. “I’d say we both needed that.”
“By the way,” Kaj started as he glanced down at the sheets twisted beyond recognition, a very obvious wet spot spreading beneath Noah. “Did you just empty your entire supply of cum in the first round?”
Noah laughed wholeheartedly, his eyes and the bridge of his nose crinkling. “What can I say? You have that effect on me.” Noah rolled onto his side to face Kaj. “I feel sorry for the staff, though. They’re gonna hate us.”
“I’ll leave them a really big tip,” Kaj said as Noah reached over to pluck the condom from the drummer’s softening cock. He tied it off and tossed it in the direction of the trash can, missing by half a meter. “And maybe a written apology.”
“Dear Housekeeping,” Noah intoned mockingly, “Sorry about the DNA samples everywhere. We got carried away.”
Kaj burst out laughing. “Carried away? This looks like a fucking crime scene.”
“Fine. Sorry about the aftermath of our sexual apocalypse. Please accept this hundred-dollar bill as compensation for your trauma.”
“You’re an idiot.”
Kaj got up and padded to the bathroom, discarding the condom he’d picked up on the way. He peed, washed himself, and wetted a small towel with warm water for Noah. When he returned, the vocalist had propped himself up against the headboard.
“Room service?” he asked with a mother-fucking-sexy grin.
“Don’t get used to it.” Kaj tossed the washcloth at him. “I’m not your personal cleanup crew.”
Noah caught it and wiped himself down while Kaj found a relatively clean corner of the bed to sit on.
Once he was done, Noah threw the towel toward a hamper in the corner, missing spectacularly again.
“Jesus, you wouldn’t make a living out of basketball.”
“Nope.” Noah chuckled, easing into a sigh.
They settled back, relaxing in the comfort of silence despite the damp mess beneath them. Kaj closed his eyes, feeling the mattress dip slightly as Noah shifted beside him. Everything felt… right. The sex. The company. It was as if they found the key to exist together in the same space.
Kaj lost track of time. He didn’t know whether they’d been there for five minutes or an hour when Noah’s hand drifted across the space between them. He caressed Kaj’s chest, mindlessly drawing infinite patterns, getting closer and closer to his nipples.
Noah murmured as his fingertips brushed against one of them, making Kaj inhale sharply. “These are fucking hot.” He pinched lightly, tugging at the piercing.
Kaj bit his bottom lip. “Careful.”
“Or what?” Noah challenged, leaning in, his breath hot against Kaj’s chest.
Before Kaj could respond, Noah’s mouth closed around his nipple, tongue flicking against the metal barbell. The warm, wet heat combined with the gentle pressure sent a jolt through Kaj’s entire body. He felt his cock twitch against his thigh, blood rushing south with alarming speed.
“Fuck,” Kaj groaned, threading his fingers through Noah’s hair.
Noah hummed against his skin, the vibration adding another layer of sensation. He alternated gentle licks and firmer suction, occasionally grazing his teeth against the sensitive flesh. His hand wandered down to Kaj’s stomach, tracing the defined muscles before moving lower.
“Someone’s getting excited,” Noah murmured, pulling back just enough to speak. His fingers wrapped around Kaj’s hardening length and slowly stroked him. “Impressive recovery time, by the way.”
Kaj huffed a laugh and grabbed Noah’s neck, bringing those beautiful, plump lips against his.
Here we go again.