Page 30 of Never To Suffer (The Hollywoodland #4)

GOOD OLD FASHIONED LOVER BOY

QUEEN

Well, that was crazy. Dani never told me the new apartment came with free therapy and a gay, big dicked, and horny as hell silver fox.

We’re lying in bed, getting high while we watch the sunrise through the giant windows in his giant bed.

We’ve slept on and off, waking up to mess around again, and falling asleep wrapped in his warmth.

His arm tightens around me and I hold my breath for a moment, waiting to see if he’s about to tell me I should leave, or he’s ready to go again.

“We should probably talk,” he whispers in my ear, sliding his nose up the shell and sending shivers up my spine.

“Unless you want to talk about what’s for breakfast, or you’re ready to discuss some bondage options, I can’t think of anything we’d need to talk about.

” He groans against my ear, so I push my hips back, pressing against him.

As I guessed, he’s hard again. I’m not gonna walk for a week at this rate.

“Oh, you mean let's talk about whether you're about to put it in my ass again or my mouth? Cause we can absolutely talk about that, big guy.”

“That’s so not fair,” he whimpers when I don’t stop rubbing against him. His boxers are already getting damp, and his hand traces down my ribs, counting them before he follows my hips under the sheets.

He’s right about talking, but I’m not great with my emotions.

I’m more of a hold them all in until I explode and do something incredibly stupid kind of guy.

But I’ve also never been in this position before.

Knowing I could bump into him at any time in our hallway, and that we share a couple of walls, could make this whole thing even more awkward than it needs to be.

We got our own place after the mess of trying to live with Megan, and here I am screwing the neighbor days after getting the keys.

His brawny arm wraps around my chest, holding me close as each thrust pushes new, high-pitched cry from me. Whimpers and moans follow until he shivers behind me and goes stiff. I might break this poor man.

He kisses along my shoulders and mumbles as he pulls out of me, “Xander, we?—”

“You’re right. I completely forgot that docking was also on the table.”

“Xander,” his tone has me flashing back to all the names he called me in the shower. Names I hated, but now can’t hear enough. His deep, rumbling morning voice wakes my cock from its short nap. “Stop.”

“Fine. Whatever, man.” I twist out of his grip and try to stand, but my legs turned to putty an hour ago and the bones still aren’t working right.

I reach over and yank a towel off a chair, wrapping it around my waist before trying again to stand.

This time, I almost make it before he grabs the back of the towel and pulls me back to him. “Fuck! Seriously?”

“Seriously.” He’s got that look in his eye that parents get when their kids are being assholes, until he pulls the towel open and sits me on top of his thighs. It’s kind of hot.

“Let me guess.” I start, my fingers playing in his chest hair. “ Oh, Xander, I had so much fun last night, but we shouldn’t do this again. I like you but I’m straight, have a girlfriend—wife—whatever . Are you about to say that?”

“Not exactly what I had in mind. Tell me about your girlfriend and this open relationship situation.”

“Why?”

He takes a deep breath and sits up against the headboard. “Because I also need to feel safe. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed every minute of this, and every inch of you, but if this can’t happen again, I need to know that.”

“You…want this to happen again?” He rolls us over, pinning me against the mattress. I crane my neck, grabbing his bottom lip between my teeth and nibbling. He can’t keep his eyes open until I finally let go.

“Depends on your situation, doesn’t it?”

“You live next door, Theo. If you want this to happen again, I’m sure you can find some excuse to stop by, trip on a carpet, and fall dick first into my ass. Now, either suck it, or get off me.”

“I thought we fixed that bratty mouth.”

“You mean the part when you begged for this mouth last night? Oh Xander, fuck, you feel so good! ”

“We can’t use sex to avoid the subject every time I try to talk about this.”

“We can. Obviously.” I run my thumb over his lips until he opens his mouth and takes it in. Tease.

A familiar ring tone blasts through the apartment, but I must have left it in the other room when I went out to make coffee earlier. He leans back and I sit up on my elbows and shrug. “It’s my girlfriend. Hang on and let me get that while you figure out who gets to put what in which hole.”

“Vulgar.”

“Admit it, it turns you on,” I lean over and kiss him, and he lets me up with a deep chuckle, falling back onto the pillow while I hobble out to the kitchen counter, unlocking the screen.

The band talking somewhere in the background, picking out the familiar tone of a voice I can’t wait to hear in person.

“Xan! Oh my god, I have the coolest news! When do you leave for Japan?”

“Uhm in about—” I pull the phone away to check the time. “Shit, like six hours.”

“Damn, I hoped you’d say tomorrow, and we could see you before you go. Did you see the pictures I sent you? Of course you did, duh, you replied. Wait, hold on!”

“Wait, what’s your news?”

I don’t catch her in time and the sound of fabric shifting and garbled noises that I can’t make out before a voice from the past sends my mind racing.

“Morning, Xanda Panda. Guess who joined Beetle’s band?

” I’m instantly transported to a stairwell in my mother’s office building.

Skylar had come to drop something off for Dani and that’s when they told me they were leaving.

We went to the stairs to get high, but we never even got that far, too busy trying to rip each other’s clothes off.

Skylar was a unicorn, a once in a lifetime perfect match… until last night. Until Theo.

I’d wanted Skylar since I laid eyes on them, but with Steve in the picture, I wasn’t about to screw with that. Steve’s a damn truck and would have laid me out. I’m not that much of a dick.

“Skylar? Shit!”

“Bro, who am I kicking out of your bed when I get there?” They sound so much better than the last time I heard them.

When we broke down in the stairwell after they told me they were leaving.

“Hey, coffee’s here, gotta go. Oh, we made the cut, so we’re on to the next round or whatever, but we’ll see you soon, gorgeous! ”

“How perfect?!” Dani yells into the phone so loud I pull it away from my ear.

“Yeah, that’s uhm, great?”

“That’s all you’ve got?! What’s going on?

Why aren’t you asking about what happened or for pictures or something?

” She knows me too well, as she should. The sounds behind her become muffled and I assume she’s covered the mouthpiece when she whispers.

“This isn’t about Sky, right? About us hooking up? ”

“Hell, no. No, Beetle, it’s not that. I’m thrilled about that and about them coming back to LA. I, uhm…nothing. I'll tell you about it another time. I’m tired, nothing more.” I realize I’m missing something. “Wait, what happened to Todd?”

Her voice drops to a whisper, and I barely hear it. “I told him to hit the bricks. Okay, he kind of quit and maybe because I bitched at him, but whatever. Are you okay? Did that guy stay overnight or something? Wait! Did he hurt you?”

“No!” I say too fast and too loud, before I stop and take a breath. “Beetle, no, he didn’t. I swear. It’s…it was…

“OH MY GOD! You like him!”

“Hang on, let me… hang on a second.” I cover the phone and poke my head back into the bedroom in time to watch Theo pull on his pants.

There’s a knife twisting in my gut at the thought of going back home, sitting there alone in the dark without him.

When I notice he’s looking at me in the reflection of the mirror, he winks.

A rush spreads through my body like a wildfire, but instead of throwing him back on the bed, I tell him I’ll be right back.

“Xander?” He calls out as I turn. When I glance back at him, he tosses me a pair of sweatpants. “Put those on if you’re leaving. Otherwise, you’ll kill old Mrs. What’s Her Name down the hall.”

“I’ll be right back. I promise.” When I close the door to his place, I take a deep breath. “Okay, Beetle, don’t freak out on me, but I kind of, I uhm, yeah. I like him. He helped me with a thing and—uhm, we kind of?—”

“You and a super hot older guy? Duh. Sky and I both agree you were glowing in that picture this morning, babes. Or, I mean, he looks older. I mean his hair does. We couldn’t see much of him. Who is he? You swear to me he didn’t hurt you?”

“No, he… D, it was… I’ve… shit, I can’t even make words work right now. He’s, uhm, he lives…in the building. He’s… we were…”

“You were fucking all morning? That’s like karmic or some shit since we were, too. They had me screaming your name, Xander. Yours. Because that doesn’t scare them! It was so…”

“Freeing?”

“YES! Wait, you, too? Although, after we woke up, I needed pancakes, and that’s when Skylar joined the band.”

“Beetle—he, we—I cried, Dani. But like, the good cry. The get it out of my system cry. I haven’t done that since?—”

There’s silence on the line as it hits me, but she answers before I can. “Skylar?”

“Yeah,” I answer in a breathy whisper. “I still can’t believe you found them. That you’re banging them in some skeevy motel before you both come home.” I laugh.

“Xan, is this…normal?”

“For anyone else, no! For the grand scheme of our lives, I hope so. God, we’re the worst. I’m proud of you, Beetle. I am. About Skylar, about the competition. You’re doing it, sweetheart. You’re fucking killing it, and I miss you, but…we’re good. Right?”

“Aw, I love you, too, Xan. And yeah, we’re better than good.” She reads between my words like only she can. “And I’m proud of you, too. Hold on to this one. We’ll figure it out when we’re all back at the apartment.”