Chapter Twenty-Seven Seattle to Los Angeles
Noah hated Los Angeles, but that was before Piper.
It was Seattle’s bye week. He had three days for other jobs. The other jobs were standing next to products nobody needed.
The air was warm for the late fall, everything was polished trash. Los Angeles always looked like it was trying too hard.
He walked past a pack of gay men at the airport that all looked like they had the same plastic surgeon who did not know how to say no.
***
The town car dropped him at the Beverly Hills Hotel just after noon.
Carmen had booked it. A side entrance off the valet circle.
Noah took the key from a hotel manager that met him at the door, took the elevator, set his Louis Vuitton duffle bag and roller down in a suite only a multibillion-dollar pizza brand could afford.
The shoot was at three the following day.
Pizza chain, big-game tie-in, a thirty-second spot that would cost the brand eight million to air it once during the World Championship game.
Noah knew the drill. Wardrobe, touch-up, hit the mark, read the line that was most likely written by AI and then keep doing it until some brand manager named Tiffany gave the director a thumbs up.
The set was a faked-up backyard lit too brightly. A food stylist was rotating a slice of shitty pizza every twenty minutes so it stayed photogenic and held on to a blow torch to keep the cheese melted. A stagehand put a pinata donkey up behind Noah.
“Hold up, I need a second, where is my fucking agent?” Noah said politely to the director as Carmen appeared out of thin air.
“Noah, I need you to be okay with the fucking pinata,” she calmly said to him.
“I don’t want to be that diva, but why do I need Mexican props? Tell Tiffany, the pinata goes or I walk, we are selling pizza, not stereotypes,” Noah replied with a smile.
“Tif, give me five, now!” Carmen yelled to the group of brand staff sitting to the side of the director.
Nobody fucked with Carmen Vale, and a brand manager from Orange County was not going to start.
The pinata was gone in less than thirty seconds.
Noah read it cold the first time.
“I may not be Italian, but I do love pizza…”
“Cut, Noah, dude, less newscaster and more friendly guy you want to have a beer with.”
Noah had to think about the pay check to get past the bullshit he was being forced to spew out of his mouth.
“I may not be Italian, but I do love pizza, and Mamma’s is what I will be serving at my big game party.”
“Okay take a big bite,” the director called out.
Noah put the slice of pizza that had been torched five times to his mouth.
Between takes, the director took the chair across from him. She had a headset, a clipboard, and a face that gave nothing away. It felt like Tiffany was the actual director.
“Next line please.”
Noah looked down at the script, which was different from the pages they had sent last week.
Mamma’s is the pizza I will be eating after I beat Piper Ashton in Seattle.
Noah looked up as he read it, and then looked over at Carmen. “I am not fucking saying this shit. We haven’t even had our divisional finale with L.A. and I am not claiming defeat because this cunt, Tiffany, is telling me to.”
The director’s face shifted as she heard Noah’s whisper to his agent.
The room got quieter than it had been before. The PA near the wall stopped moving. The food stylist looked up from her slice, blow torch in hand.
“Tif, what are these fucking changes?!” Carmen said as she grabbed a maple bar from the craft service table.
“Carmen, girl, we need this cut for our social media before the big L.A. vs. Seattle game. We know it will go viral,” Tiffany said, looking visibly annoyed.
“Okay, first off don’t call me ‘girl.’ I spend more on handbags than you’ll make before you turn forty,” Carmen said as she looked through Tiffany.
“Carmen, I am so sorry,” Tiffany replied, visibly terrified for her life. “Let’s wrap on the championship cut. I think we have all we need, the social cut went too far.”
Carmen glanced over at Noah and winked. They knew this game and had no time for bullshit.
***
In the car back to The Beverly Hills Hotel, Noah’s phone buzzed on the seat beside him. It was Darius. How much pizza did they make your ass eat? Hit me when you land tomorrow.
He typed, pizza was fucking nasty, I will call you in morning…remind me to tell you about the pinata.
***
Back at the hotel, the room was quieter than Noah liked as he dropped onto the couch without turning on the television or touching the minibar.
He picked up his phone. Piper had texted. Noah.
The text made him smile. You around Piper, and sent it.
Three dots. I sure am, where are you staying?
Beverly Hills Hotel. Use back entrance. Noah hit send.
He started to pace. Noah still could not quite figure out why Piper was so off and on with communications, but he was going to find out.
***
Across the city, Piper saw the message standing in his kitchen with an Uncrustable he hadn’t touched. Beverly Hills Hotel. He read it and stood still.
On the counter sat several cards and flowers that had been delivered for his birthday.
A giant Venus et Fleur box of eternity roses from Jayson sat on the counter, signed by one of his assistants.
There were reasons not to go to The Beverly Hills Hotel, clear ones.
He wanted to go.
He reached for the keys, then stopped with them in his hand.
This was the point he was over this version of himself, so he left anyway.
The drive passed in a blur of traffic and red lights that changed at exactly the wrong time, and the ride felt like it was happening in slow motion. He handed the car off at the hotel entrance without seeing the valet’s face and walked inside the side entrance with a hat and sunglasses on.
The lobby was quiet and empty. Part of him assumed someone would stop him, but there was no one there to notice who he was.
The elevator closed around him. He stood alone inside the elevator and saw his own reflection.
He stood in the hallway, forgetting why he was so concerned about making the trip to the hotel.
Then he knocked once. The door opened before he could knock a second time.
Noah stood there, one hand still on the door knob, looking at him with a steadiness that made everything feel perfect to Piper in that moment.
Noah had no shirt on and sweat pants that could not hide his semi-hard cock.
“You came,” he said with a huge smile that almost ended Piper.
Piper stepped inside, just past the threshold. The door closed behind him. Noah was close enough to reach and still not touching him.
Neither of them moved right away.
The distance between them wasn’t large, but it felt like crossing a border, which they had obviously crossed before.
Piper noticed several tiny flames flickering in the suite kitchen.
“Happy Birthday, Piper.” Noah grabbed Piper and embraced him.
“You know I don’t eat carbs, asshole.” Piper laughed.
“Well just blow, you don’t have to swallow,” Noah looked back with a wink. “Guess where I bought it?”
Piper looked over at the cake, knowing full well where it came from. “Is that a fucking Erewhon cake!!”
“Blow the candles out?” Noah asked, holding his hand on Piper’s back.
Piper took another step in, then blew, but did not wish for anything because he was where he wanted to be.
Jayson shot through Piper’s mind.
“Shit, I should not be here,” Piper said as he turned to Noah.
“I know.”
“That’s not why I came.”
Noah’s mouth shifted very slightly.
“I know that, too. Why have you been ignoring me?”
Piper looked away first, he was not ready to tell Noah the deep dark secrets that orbited his world.
“I needed some time.”
“Piper, I will always give you time.”
Piper crossed the room toward the window. Still, Noah said nothing.
Piper turned then, because he hated silence.
“I’m not confused Noah, I want you, but,” Piper said.
“I didn’t think you were, but there is always a but.”
“But we are making bad fucking decisions.”
“Yes, we are.”
“That doesn’t seem to bother you.”
“It bothers me,” Noah said. “It’s just not changing anything.”
Joan, why can’t I fucking control the situation?
Something was keeping him there in spite of it all.
“I could’ve stayed home,” Piper said.
“I know.”
“There is a lot you don’t know about me, Noah.”
“I know. You do fucking know, there is a lot you don’t know about me, Piper. I want to know everything about you.”
There was no argument in Noah’s voice. No attempt to win the point.
Piper hated that he felt the same way.
He always went to the worst case scenario, and that was Jayson making sure Noah ended up dead.
He crossed the room and stopped close enough to feel the heat coming off Noah. The heat was quietly destroying Piper.
Noah didn’t move. He wanted this to be Piper’s decision. He wanted him to reconcile leaving with what the two of them could not escape.
“You drove all the way here,” Noah said quietly.
“Don’t make it sound so fucking dramatic, I live twenty minutes from here,” Piper laughed.
“I want you to stay if you can.”
Noah lifted one hand and touched Piper’s face. His fingers sliding into his hair just enough to hold his head still without force.
Piper closed his eyes as Noah’s touch hit his body.
“Tell me to stop,” Noah said.
Piper didn’t.
Noah kissed him, and whatever Piper had been holding in gave way so fast it almost felt humiliating.
Piper grabbed Noah’s shirt and pulled him closer.
The room closed in around them, as their bodies consumed each other.
The edge of the bed was against the back of Piper’s knees. Noah’s hand against his back, Piper pushing him back, then being pulled down with him.
Noah looked into Piper’s eyes and held there for a second.
“You sure. Your rib okay?”
Piper answered by pulling him back in.
Noah reached over and hit play, Kiss It Better by Rihanna entered the room like a hard on.
Noah got Piper’s shirt off. Piper got Noah’s shirt off. They undressed each other on the edge of the bed with messy urgency.
Piper found the button of Noah’s jeans without looking.
Noah’s hand slid down Piper’s body and stopped on the bruise over his lower rib. He lowered himself down and kissed the large bruise.
Noah laid him down on the California King bed and held him there with one hand resting softly across his sternum.
Piper felt the weight of it and stopped calculating who was running this, and forgot to think of all the reasons why he should leave.
Noah let his hand travel down Piper’s body. Slowly over the bruise without putting any weight on it, and held there. Piper’s breath caught on to the way the hand had moved. Noah was going to fuck him as softly as he could, knowing full well Piper was downplaying his rib pain.
Noah’s mouth was on his throat, his collarbone, working down.
He bit once, lightly, on the soft place under Piper’s jaw, then again harder on the meat of the shoulder blade where Piper had taken hits before and was used to bruises.
Piper made a sound that wasn’t a word. Noah heard it and did it again. Whatever the sound was, he liked it.
When Noah got his hands on Piper’s cock, Piper made the sound again.
Noah smiled against his hip when he heard it.
Noah took Piper’s cock in his mouth before doing anything else.
His mouth all the way down on the first try, slick and warm, throat closing once around the head, then the slow, controlled pull off and back down.
Piper’s hand went into Noah’s hair and grabbed.
He didn’t pull, and just held his hand there while Noah sucked him off. Noah let him hold on.
Noah pulled off before Piper could come. Wiped his mouth on the back of his wrist.
Noah reached for the nightstand. The lube he bought at the gas station near LAX was there.
The song switched, Rock The Boat, by Aaliyah.
“I hope you made this playlist just for me,” Piper smiled.
“Promise,” Noah replied.
“I’m gonna go slow, okay? You’re a wounded bird and I don’t want to destroy you before we have to finish the season,” Noah said as he pressed his lubed cock against Piper’s asshole.
Piper turned his head into the pillow and bit down hard.
“I told you I feel fine, it’s just a little bruise.”
“Look at me,” Noah said.
Piper looked at him.
Noah watched him stop being the version of Piper that managed his face, just for that moment.
When Noah pushed his cock in, he noticed that Piper was shaking. He pressed his forehead against Piper’s forehead, breathing with him, and waited.
“Tell me to stop if anything hurts,” Noah said again, quietly.
“Don’t,” Piper said. “Don’t fucking stop.”
“You don’t have to be scared. Whatever is going on. I got you. We got this.”
Piper didn’t answer, this is all he wanted.
Noah gripped Piper’s hip, the kind of grip that left fingerprints.
Every time Piper twisted, he felt his rib screaming the way it had in Denver. A line of fire running through his body.
Noah noticed and slowed, then changed the angle so Piper was more comfortable.
To Piper, Noah felt like a painkiller.
The bed moved against the wall in soft thumps. Sweat slid down Piper’s temple into the pillow. Noah kept fucking the pain out of Piper, slow and easy.
Piper said, “Harder.”
Noah heard Piper loud and clear and increased each thrust into Piper’s ass.
Piper grabbed the back of Noah’s neck and held on, pulling him down, fingers in his hair, the hurt rib numb at this point. Noah’s mouth was at his ear. No words were needed, just heavy breathing.
Piper came hard first, untouched, between their stomachs, making Noah’s favorite sound.
Noah followed a few seconds after, pushing deep, Piper felt Noah’s cock pulse, and the heat of his load traveling deep inside his ass hole. Noah’s body shook against Piper’s as he came inside him.
Neither of them moved for a minute as they lay there laced in sweat and cum.
At some point, the room came back into focus around them. The sheets twisted loose and covered in sweat. Noah stayed close, one arm thrown across his stomach, his head turned toward Piper.
Piper sat up. Joan, we need to get out of here, he thought, now that his head was clearing.
Noah watched him without saying anything while Piper looked for his shirt on the floor.
“I should go,” Piper said.
Noah nodded once.
“Yeah.”
Piper stood there a second, fastening nothing, adjusting nothing, just holding the edge of the moment a little longer.
Noah sat up slowly.
“I’m not asking you to stay.”
“I know,” Piper replied.
“I’m also not pretending I don’t want you to leave.”
Piper met his eyes.
“I’m not either, but I am trying to be realistic about our situation.”
“Fair enough, let’s get through the season. I now have to beat you knowing full well you can take a pounding with a busted rib.” Noah laughed.
Piper half smiled.
He looked away first, because staying in Noah’s gaze.
When he turned back, Noah was still watching him.
“Soon,” Noah said.
Piper held his gaze briefly.
“Soon,” Piper finally replied as he kissed Noah’s forehead.
He walked to the door before he could say anything else. His phone buzzed, it was a text from Jayson, We need to talk.