Page 104 of Guitars and Cages

He handed me a schedule and told me he’d see me tomorrow, and I headed home, in the mood to celebrate. Seeing as how I had to be at work before the sun came up, I decided getting drunk wasn’t a good idea. I kind of didn’t want to be alone, either. I wondered if Conner would wanna go do something with me, if he was even home yet. I knew he’d been working late, but my day had been long, too, so I stopped by his apartment and knocked.

He answered the door dripping wet, with only a towel wrapped around him.

“Hey, what’s going on?” he asked as I stood there staring at him, unable to form words. Beads of water were dripping down his chest, and I watched, wanting to trace the path of the water with my tongue. “Earth to Asher.”

“Hot,” I muttered, before I shook my head, trying to focus.

“What?”

“I, uhh...”

“Asher, are you all right?”

“No...err...yeah...uhh...what?”

He laughed and stepped back. “Well, come in and figure it out while I get dressed.”

It took me a minute to get my legs and brain to cooperate and follow him. He closed the door and headed to his room, while I stared at the water dripping down his back. I wanted to pin him down and lick the water from his skin. I wanted to pin him down and do other things, too, and my jeans suddenly felt much too tight. I groaned and closed my eyes, wishing I didn’t react so damned easily every time I saw him. So much for my hope that spending time with him would make the desire go away; if anything, it was growing.

I tried not to envision him getting dressed, because that was making it worse. Instead, I started thinking of shoveling manure and cleaning stalls after a birth. By the time he came out dressed in jeans and a T-shirt that molded to his chest and showed off his definition, I was pretty close to calm again.

“So, what’s up?” he asked as he headed for the kitchen.

I could hear him rummaging around in the fridge before he came out with a couple cans of soda. He passed me one and cracked open the other.

I thanked him and drank half of it down, grateful for the cold. “I got a job. I want to celebrate, but I figured if I told Cole we’d end up getting drunk, and I didn’t want to be hung over on my second day.”

He chuckled at that. “So where are you working?”

“A livery in the suburbs. They board and train horses out there. The guy who owns it, Travis, had me come out to see how I got along with the animals and how much I knew. I guess I did okay, because he hired me.”

“Hey, that’s great!”

“Thanks. Maybe I won’t have to fight so much now.”

“Or at least not until the last set of bruises heal.”

I shrugged. “It is what it is.”

He shook his head. “All right, so what do you want to do to celebrate?”

I thought for a moment, and then grinned. “Ever played laser tag?”

He laughed. “Played it? Man, I love it. Paintball, too. There used to be an awesome place back home where Jace and I would go play.”

“Yeah, well, there are a couple places here, too. They’ve got paintball, laser tag, go-kart races, all of it. If you’re up for it, we could make a night of it. They have awesome pizza there, too, and we could grab dinner in between games.”

“Hell, yeah, I’m up for it. Let me grab my keys and shoes and lock up. Did you want me to drive?”

I chuckled, a devilish thought entering my mind. “You ever been on a motorcycle?”

He paused, one shoe half-on. “Uhh, that would be a no.”

I couldn’t help but grin. “You like thrills, but you’ve never been on the back of a bike?”

“I’ve taken pictures of them, I’ve watched them race, I’ve even admired them as they’ve gone by, but I’ve never been on the back of one.”

“Well, we can change that easy. I’ve got my Harley outside.”