Page 35 of Revelry

“It’s the same reason I insisted you come on tour, because I wanted you.” He stares at me with glassy, bloodshot eyes. “Because I’m that fucking selfish that I put my happiness before others’.”

“Also, more than one thing,” I mutter, cursing Mr Absolut and our eager-to-please flight attendant.Why did she have to bring so many bottles of vodka?“Hey, why don’t we move onto something else, like um … we could play eye spy?”

Cooper starts picking at the label of the vodka bottle in his hand. Does that whole sexual frustration thing apply to teeny tiny bottles of liquor too? If so, then he has a massive itch to be scratched, judging by the way he’s twisting and peeling that thing.

“I stand on stage in front of thousands of people, and I don’t enjoy a second of it,” he says.

I frown in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m convinced they’re all going to see straight through me, right to the selfish bastard on the inside.” He leans back against the headrest, staring up at the ceiling. “The one who ruins lives.”

“You don’t ruin lives, Coop.”

“I ruined yours, didn’t I?”

I take a deep breath. “I’m on a plane right now crossing the Pacific Ocean. I’m drinking with the world’s hottest rock star, and if that article I just read in economy was anything to go off the man soon to be crowned Society magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive. I get to tour with Taint and see firsthand how that works. I wouldn’t say that my life is ruined.”

His brows knit together and he glowers at me. “But you made a big deal about how much you hated me for ruining your life.”

I roll my eyes. “Yeah well, sometimes I talk too much, and I say shit I don’t mean.”

“I like talking to you. My head feels clearer.”

“Good. Then you can quit hogging all the booze. Between you and Zed, I’ve had no sleep in the last forty-eight hours.”

“You wanna sleep?” A smile twitches the corner of his lips.

“You think you can sleep?”

He looks around the plane and then he whispers, “Can we sleep together?”

“I told you I’m not having sex with you.”

“No I mean,sleepsleep? Like we did at Zed’s.”

“Okay, I don’t really know how we’re going to do that on a plane, but should you—”

“I’ll just …” Coop says, and he snuggles into my side.

“Yeah, okay,” I mutter, feeling really uncomfortable wedged between the window and Coop’s shoulder.Because this isn’t awkward at all. Before long though, I start to drift off, surrounded by his warmth and his peppery sandalwood scent.

When I wake I’m lying across two of the three seats, my legs are tucked up beneath me and I’m face down in his lap, and—surprise, surprise—I’m drooling again. What’s even more unexpected than me waking up with my head buried in his lap is that Coop is hard.Everywhere. I don’t know how we wound up in this situation again, but it has got to stop.

“Sorry,” I say, and I attempt to sit up but he shoves at my shoulders until I’m back in his lap again. “Ow. What the hell, Ryan?”

“Can you just … stay there?”

“You want me to keep my head buried in your lap?”

“This is the most calm I’ve felt since we boarded.”

“Yeah, because he thinks he’s seconds away from getting his dick sucked,” Levi says, as he pops his head up over the back of the seat. He wipes the sleep from his eyes and yawns. “Thank fuck you came along, Red, or we’d have never gotten any sleep. Jesus, Ryan, next time pop a couple Valium before we hop a flight and save all of the other passengers the head-fuck.”

“Shut up, Levi,” I say, feeling oddly protective. I sit up, because I can’t carry out a conversation when my mouth is this close to his penis. “How are you feeling? Did you sleep at all?”

Cooper nods and closes his eyes. “Yeah.”

“Well that’s good, right?”