Sucker
Copyright
Rating: NC-17 for graphic male-male sex
Pairings: Backstreet
Boys/*NSYNC/O-Town
Disclaimer: The young men who
comprise the Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and O-Town are their own people.
The author has not met anyone here described, nor does the author mean to
suggest that these people act this way in real life. This writing is a
work of fiction. I make no money from this venture.
Continued from part eighty-four
Rolling onto his stomach, Erik closed his eyes, raising his hips, squeezing his dick. Lips parted, he breathed roughly, thinking about fucking JC, thrusting into that greedy puckered hole, feeding JC’s need. He remembered JC bucking beneath him, skin slick with beaded sweat, muscles flexing, dick swollen to rigidity, body tense and straining. He could fuck JC forever, over and over and over again, rocking his hips and oh, oh, yes, yes, yes! Groaning, Erik shuddered as cum hit the sheets. Damn.
Flopping on his back, Erik rubbed his hand dry on the now-dirty sheet. Terrific. He was at home, alone, masturbating over a guy. An unbelievably sexy guy, but still: a guy.
One more night of this, and he was finding a girlfriend.
Unless Howie and JC wanted him again.
Escaped. He wasn’t imprisoned, was he? If he walked out the front door, what would happen? AJ would run after him and hit him? Nick would tell Kevin? What would Kevin do, yell at him? Whip him? He’d been whipped before; he could take it.
But he didn’t have to take it, did he?
Nick had drowned JC.
What would Nick do to Ashley?
Ashley was a nice person. Justin kind of liked him.
AJ had been willing to play Nick’s victim. At this point, Justin wouldn’t trust Nick with a throw pillow, but AJ had put his life in Nick’s hands. What did that say about the Boys?
What was going to happen to Ashley? To Dan? To Erik and Trevor and Jacob?
What was going to happen to JC? To Joey? To Lance and Chris? To Justin?
The Boys really were criminals. Justin and his friends were their victims, and their co-conspirators. What if Nick wanted to drown Ashley? What if Nick asked Joey to help?
Joey wouldn’t do it. He wouldn’t. Not Joey. This was a game, this was supposed to be about hurting feelings, messing with people’s heads. It wasn’t supposed to be about - - but he’d done it, he’d done it himself, he’d wrapped his hands around Jacob’s throat and squeezed. But he’d been upset, he’d lost control, he hadn’t planned it and plotted it and deliberately set out to endanger someone’s life. Didn’t that make Nick worse? Except Nick had practiced, had tested, had taken steps to ensure JC’s ultimate safety. If Justin hadn’t been stopped in time, if there hadn’t been other people around, if he’d squeezed a little bit harder…
He was as bad as the Boys. He was worse. They took precautions. They made plans. They took risks, but calculated risks. He was a fucking danger to himself and others.
Was that his fault? Was it Kevin’s?
He had to talk to AJ. AJ was blunt enough to tell him the truth. Opening the door, he slipped down the hallway. He didn’t want to interrupt; he peeked into the living room.
Nick was in there, alone, on the sofa.
Turning, Justin-
“What are you doing out of your cage?” Nick asked.
Shit. Turning back, Justin put his hands in his pockets. “I wanted to talk to AJ.”
“He’s busy,” Nick said. “What do you want?”
“Nothing.” He didn’t want to be alone with Nick, that was for damned sure. “I’ll-”
“He’s on the phone with Kevin,” Nick said, grinning, obviously anticipating the effect of his statement.
“He is?” Even knowing that Nick was messing with him, Justin couldn’t resist. “He called Kevin?”
“Kevin called him,” Nick said. Still grinning, he crooked a finger. “C’mere and sit down.”
He should’ve stayed in his room. “Maybe I should go,” he said, walking forward so he wouldn’t seem disobedient. “You’re busy, and-”
“I’m not busy,” Nick said. “On my lap, you know how I like it, you’ve seen JC do it.”
Oh, god, why the hell did he put himself in these situations? Steeling his overworked nerves, Justin knelt gingerly across Nick’s lap, gradually lowering himself.
“That’s it,” Nick said, taking his hands and placing them behind Nick’s shoulders on the sofa back. “Good boy.” Nick grinned. “What did you want to talk to AJ about?”
He really didn’t want to be this close to Nick. At least he was on top, but he was astride Nick’s lap, with Nick’s eyes flickering suggestively over his body, with Nick’s hands rubbing over his thighs. He didn’t want Nick’s hands on him. “Did you really practice with AJ?”
“Practice what, the drowning?” Nick asked. “Yeah.”
“But he was conscious,” Justin said. “Even if you could get him up the ladder fast, it’s not the same. Drowning JC, then picking him up, carrying him back onto the boat, getting him in position, performing mouth-to-mouth - - even once you got started, he wasn’t going to breathe right away.”
“Oh, no, AJ wasn’t conscious,” Nick said.
Justin stared at him.
“Everybody else was there, waiting and watching,” Nick said. “To help us in case it didn’t work out. But I did it with AJ like I did it with JC. He got bitchy about it, but he was the best one. Kevin’s too big and the other guys are too small. AJ’s not as tall as JC, but he has more bulk on him, so I figured they’d weigh closest.”
“You almost killed AJ?” That changed everything. “You’re willing to risk each other’s lives?”
“Hell, no, we’re not willing to risk each other’s lives,” Nick said, actually looking offended. “That’s why everybody was there. Kevin was in the water with us, Howie had life jackets, we were on top of it. We had to make it real so I could make it safe for JC.”
Now Justin really had to talk to AJ. “You held AJ underwater until he passed out, and you’re okay with that?”
“He agreed to do it,” Nick said. “We didn’t do it against his will. He made me make it up to him.”
“How?” Justin asked. How could anything like that ever be compensated for?
Nick smirked. “Like I’d tell you.”
Baffled, Justin needed at least something to make sense. “Then you really do hate JC that much.”
“I don’t hate JC,” Nick said. “I like him. He’s kind of…special to me.”
“You drowned him,” Justin said, finding it impossible to reconcile any of these ideas. “Do you not know what it means to like someone?”
“Do you?” Nick asked. “You love JC, right? You’d call it love?”
“I do love JC,” Justin said.
“Okay, but you came over to my house to tell me that you love me and offer me your body,” Nick said. “You know he’s in love with me, and you love him, but you totally betrayed him.”
“I had to,” Justin said.
“Yeah, that gun to your head was pretty big,” Nick said. “Oh, sorry, wait, my bad, you walked into my house totally on your own. What’s that called, free will?”
“I didn’t have a choice and you know it,” Justin said. He wasn’t going to play that game again.
“Wait,” Nick said. “Are you saying that you had to, you didn’t have a choice? So you don’t love me after all, you just said it because you were forced?”
Oh, shit. Justin rubbed at his eyes, trying to summon the energy to go through this. “No, that’s not how it was,” he said, placing his hand back where Nick had put it. “I am in love with you.” He sounded tired, but at least he’d said it.
“So you love me,” Nick said.
“Yes, Nick, I love you.” What was the point in trying to sound convincing? Nick knew that it was complete bullshit.
“Look, AJ told me how unstable you are,” Nick said, “so I’m trying to be nice to you. If you-”
“Nice to me?” Justin asked. “This is you being nice to me? Telling me that you drowned my best friend is being nice to me? Telling me that you drowned AJ is being nice to me? If you’re willing to do that to AJ, you’re willing to do anything! To anyone!”
“You asked me questions,” Nick said, “and I answered them. If you didn’t want to know, you shouldn’t have asked.”
“I thought you were hiding,” AJ said from behind Justin.
“He wants to talk to you,” Nick said. “He’s freaked out about you drowning.”
“Were you talking to Kevin?” Justin asked, looking over his shoulder at AJ. He tried to get up, but Nick yanked him back into place.
“Not so fast,” Nick said. “I’m still trying to decide what I want from you.”
“Yes, I talked to Kevin,” AJ said. “No, it wasn’t about you.” He sat beside Nick on the couch, apparently unconcerned about Justin’s position on Nick’s lap.
“How did he sound?” Justin asked. “What did he talk to you about?”
“I’m going to tell Joey that I came to see you tonight,” Nick told AJ. “If he asks me questions like that, I’m taking his balls off, because he won’t need them anymore.” Squeezing Justin’s ass, he said, “Take off your shirt.”
Justin looked at AJ.
“What do you want me to do about it?” AJ asked.
“Can I go to my room?” Justin asked.
“No. I didn’t tell you about Ashley, because I was giving you a break, but I might as well do it now,” AJ said.
“What are you doing to Ashley?” Justin asked Nick.
“Why does it have to be me?” Nick asked. “It’s not me, it’s Brian. Did I tell you to do something?”
Damn it. “Yes.” He couldn’t risk disobeying. If Kevin found out that he thought that he was too good to show his body to Nick, Kevin would make him walk naked through the city or expose himself to strangers or something equally horrifying. Pulling off his shirt, he lowered his head to avoid Nick’s eyes.
“Are you listening?” AJ asked.
“Yes.” He opened his eyes, keeping his gaze below Nick’s chin, carefully placing his hands behind Nick’s shoulders again. “Thank you for being nice to me,” he said quietly.
“Oh, you’re welcome,” Nick said. “Do his abs ripple when you fuck him?” he asked AJ.
“Yeah,” AJ said. “Look, normally, I wouldn’t care what you do to him, but I’m the one who has to deal with him once you’re gone, so can you tell him what you’re going to do so he’ll stop worrying about it?”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Nick said. “I don’t know if I feel like fucking him or not.”
“I’m not good enough,” Justin said. He wasn’t sure where the words came from.
“What?” AJ asked.
“I’m not good enough for Nick’s dick,” Justin said. “Kevin said so.”
“Hell, when he’s right, he’s right,” Nick said. “You know what? I like that, that was good, that was smart. Just because you said that, I’m going to let you go.” Cupping his chin, Nick kissed his cheek. “You can get up.”
Having escaped from the shark’s mouth with barely a scratch, Justin said, “Thank you, Nick,” and stood, reaching for his shirt.
“Don’t bother,” AJ said. “This won’t take long.”
It didn’t take long; AJ explained Ashley’s immediate future in a few sentences, Nick tossing in some colorful additions. Considering the circumstances and the people involved, it seemed guaranteed to work. “That’s going to be hell on him,” Justin objected. “It would be hell on anyone, but Ashley’s so nice-”
“The point of this whole game is to make their lives hell,” AJ said.
“What did you think we were going to do to him?” Nick asked. “Play a couple of pranks, say ‘gotcha,’ and go home?”
“Whose plan was this?” Justin asked. “Whose idea?”
“It was yours, wasn’t it?” AJ asked Nick.
“Of course it was,” Nick said. “It’s my job to take Ashley down. What, you thought Joey came up with it?” he asked Justin.
“No.” To be honest, he’d suspected Brian. “Can I use the phone?”
“No,” AJ said. “Go run and play. We have shit to talk about.”
“Thank you, AJ,” he said, adding, “Thank you, Nick,” before picking up his shirt and fleeing the room.
Once they’d settled down comfortably together, Joey began to kiss him again, feeling him up. Amused, aroused, Ashley went with it, running appreciative hands over Joey’s chest.
“Pretty,” Joey murmured, teasing his nipple.
Feeling Joey’s dick harden against him, Ashley spread his thighs, raising his knees. “Mmm, Joey,” he moaned, as Joey’s hand slid down his body.
“I want you there with me,” Joey said, pushing a finger into him. “Tell me you’ll be there with me.”
“Anywhere you want,” Ashley promised, kissing him, groaning as his finger crooked and stroked the right spot. “Oh, Joey…”
“I’m going to Vegas,” Joey said. He seemed to be sharing actual information of some sort, so Ashley, tense and moaning, tried to pay attention. “I’m going with Nick, but he’s working, he’ll be busy. I want you there with me. I can show you such a good time, pretty, you’ll love it.”
“Vegas?” Ashley repeated, panting as tension built in his body. “Joey, Joey, stop.” Groaning, he could finally relax when Joey’s hand left his ass to rest on his thigh instead. “You’re going to Vegas?”
“In a couple of days,” Joey said. “I’m flying out with JC so it won’t look like I’m going with Nick, but we’re hooking up once we get there. You and I can do the same thing, pretty, you can meet me there.”
“Behind Nick’s back?” Ashley asked.
“It doesn’t need to be behind Nick’s back,” Joey said. “He’ll be hooking up with other people all weekend. You and I will have plenty of time together. We can make love, we can try the tables, we’ll have a great time.” Joey kissed him, slowly, until his hips rose. “Say you’ll go,” Joey whispered, kissing him, nuzzling him, hard against him. “Tell me you’ll be there with me.”
A trip with Joey. Nick would be there, but they’d still have time together. It would get him away from Brian, from the guys, from the house, from the drama and the bullshit. “I’d love to,” Ashley said, stroking Joey’s beard. “I’d love to, Joey, it sounds terrific.”
“I knew you’d make me happy,” Joey said, kissing him, lifting his leg. “Now let me make you happy.”
A tap at the door. “Come on, get your ass in bed.”
“Yes, AJ.” Rising, Justin left the guest room and went to AJ’s bedroom, stripping and crawling into bed. “I love you.”
“No, you don’t. You’re just relieved that Nick didn’t fuck you.”
“I’m not good enough.” He’d never been happier to say it.
“You’re a victim,” AJ said, moving around the room, undressing. “That’s a beacon for Brian. But you’re too much trouble for Nick, so you’re not always going to be worth it. If you get his attention, he might change his mind, so try not to be too interesting.”
“What’s interesting?” Justin asked, eagerly filing away this new information, craving more.
“For Nick? In a guy? He likes bottoms, he likes nice guys, he likes a good body and a good face. Unfortunately for you, you fit all of that. Hold still, don’t flirt, and don’t make eye contact.”
“I’m not going to flirt,” Justin said, disgusted by the thought. “What about Howie?” he asked as AJ climbed in beside him.
“Justin,” AJ kissed him, “Howie doesn’t want you.”
Good. Justin slid in closer, until their bodies touched. “Who does he want?”
“That’s his business, not yours.”
“AJ?” Justin ran his hand down AJ’s muscular arm. “What about Kevin?”
AJ just laughed and kissed him again.
“You got Angel calmed down?” Nick asked.
“Yeah, he’s okay. He’s coming to Vegas.”
“Good. I’ll be back in the morning, after he’s gone, so you two can have more precious quality time.”
“Okay,” Joey said. Nick and Ashley not crossing paths tomorrow would lessen the drama, so he was fine with that.
“I went to see AJ, but he has baby-sitting duty.”
“AJ?” Joey asked, suddenly aware of his own nudity. “How, uh, how is he?”
“He’s good.”
There was a moment of silence, when Joey wanted to ask more, wanted to press for details. What had AJ worn, said? How had he moved, acted? Was he in his own home, or Justin’s? But Joey wasn’t ready to interrogate Nick, wasn’t ready to give Nick that kind of power over him. So he said, “If Ashley’s still upset, he might not want to go home for rehearsal.”
“Yeah,” Nick agreed. “If he wants to stay with you, let him hang out for a little bit, maybe an extra hour or something. Pet him up all nice so he feels good. But tell him you have to talk to me about Vegas, and kick him out.”
“Okay.” Joey paused. “We’re not running errands again tomorrow, are we?”
“No, but you’re calling JC and arranging a hook-up,” Nick said.
No way. “I’m not your pimp.”
“We’ll talk about it later,” Nick said. “Get back to Angel. Love you.”
“Love you, too,” Joey said. “Bye.” Rolling his eyes, he hung up.
With an indistinct grunt, AJ slid his thigh over Justin’s.
“Dan trusts Ashley, like he trusts me,” Justin insisted. “He doesn’t care how innocent Brian acts or how crazy you are, and he doesn’t care how many other people think we’re lying. He believes in Ashley, and he believes in me.”
“Yeah,” AJ said, wrapping an arm around him. “Dan’s my hero. Go to sleep.”
“He loves me,” Justin said. “He believes in me. He does.”
Brian? Kevin? Squirming out from under Trevor, Chris searched his clothes, finding his phone and - - Brian! Quickly, Chris answered, scurrying for the door. “Hello?” he asked, ducking down the hallway into the bathroom.
“My pet,” Brian said, all warm and sleepy sounding. “Did I wake you?”
He didn’t want to lie to Brian and say no, but he didn’t want to give a plain yes, either. “I was happy to wake up to you.”
“It’s so good to talk to you,” Brian murmured, yawning. Chris sat on the cool edge of the tub, entranced. “How’ve you been?”
“Just fine,” Chris said. “I’m glad that you called. I love you.”
“I love you, too, pet,” Brian said. Chris’s heart pounded. “I worry about you sometimes. You have a lot to juggle right now.”
“Things have been eventful,” Chris said. “Never a dull moment. But you don’t have to worry,” he was quick to add. “I can handle it.”
“Maybe it would be easier on you if you had someone to talk to,” Brian said. “Don’t you think so?”
Oh, no. What was he supposed to say? What was the right answer? What was his next line? If he agreed, he’d go against Brian’s earlier objection. Was he allowed to disagree? “It’s very kind of you to think of me,” he said, tentatively feeling his way across the ice. “Do you think that I should talk to someone?”
“It would be nice for you to have someone to confide in,” Brian said. “I would love to be that person for you, but I’m so busy with Lance and Jacob...”
“I have friends,” Chris said. “I can talk to them.”
“They must be busy, too,” Brian said. “We’re all putting so many hours on this. The person you’re with the most is Trevor, but you can’t really talk to him. Maybe you can talk to Kevin.”
“Kevin’s been very good to me,” Chris admitted.
“Then you should feel comfortable talking to him about whatever’s bothering you,” Brian said. “You must be worried about the game, about Trevor, about your friends, even about me. I know how hard it is on you to be this close to me and only get to see me in secret when we can get a moment to ourselves. I don’t think that you should have that kind of secret from Kevin. You should be able to talk to him about everything, so that he understands your mental state, so he can support you.”
“You want me to tell Kevin about us?” Chris asked.
“I think that it would be good for you,” Brian said. “For your partnership with him.”
“Chris, what happens between you and me is private,” Brian said. “Very private. What you are I share are some of the most intimate moments of my life. I can’t believe that you’d even bring up the idea of telling anyone else about them.”
“I don’t want to ask for too much,” Chris said, “but would you mind mentioning it to him first? Maybe if you talked to him first, and then he asked me about it, I’d feel comfortable. I don’t know if I’d be okay with just telling him, myself.”
“All right,” Brian said. “Whatever makes you happy.”
Limp with relief, Chris said, “Thank you, Brian.”
“I have to go,” Brian said. “Lance should be up soon. He kicked me out of his bed last night. You would never do that.”
“Never,” Chris said fervently. “I love you, Brian, I would never deny you anything, I would never reject you, ever.”
“I love you, too,” Brian said. “I’ll talk to you later. Bye, pet.”
“Good-bye,” Chris said, but Brian was already gone.
He might get to talk to Kevin about Brian. That might be good; that might make things easier. Keeping everything bottled in didn’t seem to be good for him. He could talk to Kevin; Kevin understood.
Since he was already in the bathroom, Chris went ahead and used the toilet, then cracked the door open a slit, peering into the hallway.
Empty.
Taking a deep breath, Chris scurried back down towards Trevor’s room, hoping that his luck would hold out and-
Dan came out of his room, initially simply looking startled at bumping into Chris, blue eyes widening as his gaze skimmed down to-
“You didn’t see a thing,” Chris said, yanking open Trevor’s door and hurriedly locking himself inside. Shit! Hastily unlocking the door, he poked his head out. “Hey,” he whispered.
“Yes?” Dan asked, looking like he wanted to laugh.
“Could you get my phone? I left it in the little boys’ room.”
“Hold on.” Dan went down to the bathroom, then came back, handing over Chris’s phone. “Next time, try underwear,” he advised with a smile.
Chris nodded. “I’ll look into it.”
He didn’t know why he kept blaming everyone else for everything, when he was his own worst enemy.
There was no doubt in his mind that, like it or not, Brian was his best ally. At times, it seemed like Brian was his only ally. He didn’t have to trust Brian for them to work together. He didn’t have to like Brian as a person to respect Brian as a tactician. He didn’t need a diagram to know that pissing Brian off was, at this point, an incredibly bad move.
First checking to make sure that Brian’s car was still in the driveway, he showered and dressed and made breakfast. Quietly treading upstairs, he knocked softly at the guest room door.
“Come in.” Brian sounded fairly awake, and when Lance opened the door and went inside, he saw that Brian was in a T-shirt and underwear, sitting on the rumpled sheets, watching Jacob sleep. “He isn’t up yet.”
“I’m not here for him,” Lance said, setting down the tray before Brian on the bed. “I want to apologize to you for last night.”
“You’re upset about Howie and JC,” Brian said.
“I was,” Lance said. “But I took it out on you, and that wasn’t fair.”
“A lot of things don’t seem very fair lately,” Brian said with a rueful half-smile. “We’ll just add that to the list.”
“I shouldn’t have yelled at you,” Lance said, “and I shouldn’t have kicked you out.”
“I should’ve found a more tactful way to bring it up,” Brian said.
“There’s no good way to tell me that Howie and JC are back together,” Lance said. “I wasn’t going to react well, no matter how you said it. But that’s not your fault.” He gestured to the tray. “I made breakfast for you.”
“I don’t know what it is about you,” Brian said. “I spent all last night telling myself to give up on you and all morning telling myself to get over you, and you walk in here looking gorgeous, offering me bagels, and my heart’s pounding eight miles a minute.”
“Well,” Lance looked down at himself, then offered Brian a smile, “I did take a shower.”
“Thank you for breakfast,” Brian said. “You can sit down and stay and eat with me. If you want,” he added, a hint of unease drifting across his expression.
“Thanks,” Lance said, sitting down beside him, close enough to brush shoulders. “We can watch our favorite channel.”
“He had his own show for three years running,” Brian said, taking a sip of orange juice. “You’d think that he’d be more interesting to watch.”
“No wonder he got cancelled,” Lance said. Stroking Brian’s sideburn, he kissed Brian’s cheek. “You forgive me?”
Brian turned to him with a warm, knowing look. “You know how much I love you. You know I can’t resist you. Now you’re just rubbing it in.” Brian gave him a light kiss and a sad, affectionate smile. “I’ll always forgive you.”
“Mmm, so smooth.” Howie stroked his cheek, coming around to his other side to pick up a bottle of cologne. “You look pretty thoughtful.”
“I’ve had a lot on my mind.” He watched Howie pull on a T-shirt, watching all of that gorgeous skin disappear. Howie’s skin was a delicious color and almost unnaturally smooth, like he was aging much more slowly than everyone else around him. “You really are very handsome.”
“Thank you,” Howie said with a wink. “So are you.”
“You don’t look fully dressed without your jewelry.” It bothered him. Howie was always so well-dressed, so perfectly assembled, that it was strange to see the lack of those final touches.
“I stopped wearing it,” Howie said, meeting his gaze directly. “I don’t want to fight with you.”
“There won’t be a fight,” JC said. “I want you to wear it. It’s part of who you are. And so is your relationship with Lance.”
Howie shook his head. “There is no relationship with Lance, JC, you-”
“That’s fine,” JC said. “That’s between you and Lance. What happens between you and me is only between you and me, but I’m going to be spending more time around you than anyone else, and I’d rather look at you while you’re wearing jewelry.”
“Are you sure?” Howie asked. “I can buy some new pieces, if you don’t want me to wear the old ones.”
“I want you to wear whatever you want to wear,” JC said. “I don’t care who gave it to you.”
“All right,” Howie said, and embraced him. “Thank you.”
He didn’t know if he got off on the activities themselves, or on providing Joey with such pleasure. Was he doing it because he wanted it, or because Joey wanted it?
But wasn’t that what sex was about? Besides, he was pretty sure that Joey didn’t smack Nick’s ass like that, so he was happy to give to Joey whatever he could that Nick was too good for.
He lingered over breakfast, not wanting to go home. He knew that it was his responsibility to show up for rehearsal, but he wasn’t ready to face Jacob, Trevor, or Laughing Boy Estrada. He didn’t want to ditch Dan, but the other three had been such assholes, he didn’t want to deal with them.
He hung out with Joey for a while. They talked about Vegas; Joey had been there more often than he had, and told him several crazy stories that all ended up involving a lot of alcohol and a lot of sex. A bunch of them involved some friend of Joey’s named Jimmy who seemed to be even more aggressive about sex and liquor than Joey was, which Ashley hadn’t thought was possible.
“I’d like to meet Jimmy sometime,” he said. Sober, if at all possible. With a cop nearby.
“We had a couple fights,” Joey said, “and I haven’t seen him in a while. But Nick will be there, and I’d better tell him about you.”
“He’s not going to want me to go,” Ashley said.
“You need the break,” Joey said. “Especially after yesterday.” Joey smiled, the arm around his waist squeezing. “And I want my pretty there with me.”
“I’d love to go,” Ashley said. Without Nick, preferably, but he’d take what he could get.
“Nick’s going to be home soon,” Joey said, glancing at the clock, “and he’s going to be pissed. Why don’t you go get ready, find a flight, get a room.”
“Okay.”
“Now, you know I love you,” Joey said, stroking under his chin, tilting his face up.
“I love you, too,” he said, smiling, running his fingers through Joey’s hair.
“You and I have both gotten a lot of shit for spending time together, and I don’t want that to happen this time. So I want you to tell everyone that you’re going somewhere else. Not Vegas, and not with me. Say that you’re stressed out and you’re taking a few days to yourself.”
“Okay.” That made sense. “They’d never understand, anyway.”
“That’s right.” Joey kissed him.
Maybe they’d invited him to breakfast to break up with him.
Maybe they’d invited him to breakfast because they wanted to have breakfast with him.
Kissing his bracelet for good luck, Erik rang the bell.
“Erik-Michael, come in.” Looking fabulous as ever, JC greeted him with a smile, kissing his cheek. “Honey, you look great.”
“Thanks.” He’d borrowed one of Dan’s shirts. It was one that Justin had bought, and Dan didn’t necessarily know about Erik’s last-second appropriation. “So do you.”
“Howie’s setting up on the patio,” JC said. “You can go on out.”
“Okay.” Walking back through the house, Erik stepped outside, where Howie was laying out plates. “Hey.”
“Erik-Michael.” Howie flashed him a smile. “You’re just in time.”
Not the greeting he was used to from someone who’d tended to pet his treasure trail just because he was within touching distance, but he’d take what he could get. The first few buttons of Howie’s shirt were open, exposing his throat, and Erik wanted to unbutton more and reveal the rest, for a start. After spending a minute staring at Howie’s skin, he realized that he was also staring at a necklace. Howie was wearing jewelry again. Erik grinned. That had to be a good sign.
“What are you smiling about?” Howie asked, looking amused.
“I’m glad that you and JC are back together.”
“So am I,” Howie said with a smile. “You were such a big part of that,” he added, coming closer. “We owe you so much, Erik-Michael. If there’s ever anything that we can do for you…”
When Howie hugged him, Erik bit his lip and begged his dick not to respond to Howie’s touch, Howie’s nearness. His hands wanted to slide down to cup Howie’s ass, wanted to stray all over. If only he could just drop to his knees and - - god, what was wrong with him?
“Did he say yes?”
Erik hadn’t even heard the real question, but he didn’t care. As JC set bowls on the table and Howie pulled away, he said, “Yes.”
“I didn’t even ask yet,” Howie protested with a laugh. “Come on, let’s sit down.”
“I’ll say yes, anyway,” Erik said, joining them at the table. “When do I ever say no?”
“I think we’ve established where your boundaries are,” Howie said, and winked at him. He blushed, unable to pretend he didn’t know what Howie meant.
“Honey, you’ve done so much for us,” JC said. “We know that it isn’t fair to ask you for something else.”
“You can ask me for anything.” He wanted to help them. He loved helping them.
Howie and JC exchanged a glance; Howie nodded at JC, but JC gestured at Howie and Howie turned to him. “We’re going to Vegas.”
“That’s great.” They needed him to house-sit?
“JC and I want to take a few days to ourselves, just to enjoy each other.”
“To reconnect,” JC said.
“Nick’s playing in Vegas this weekend, so he and I are flying out together,” Howie said. “Joey and JC are taking another flight, and we’ll meet there.”
“That’s great,” he said again. Ashley was going to hate it. “You need me to water plants?”
“We won’t be gone that long,” JC said, laughing.
“We want you to meet us there,” Howie said. “We want to spend time with you, too.”
Oh, hell yes. “Just tell me when and where.”
“It’s going to be a little bit tricky,” JC said.
“Delicate,” Howie said.
“We want to share our trip with you,” JC said. “But we just got back together, and if we go to Vegas with you, it’ll only make everyone think…”
“More of what they already think,” Howie said.
“More of that, right,” JC agreed. “So when you leave, tell everyone that you’re going somewhere else. L.A., maybe.”
Erik frowned. “Aren’t Joey and Nick going to see me?”
“Joey invited Ashley,” Howie said. “He won’t say a word.”
Oh, damn, what was Ashley’s problem? Hell, he realized, it was probably the same problem he had. “I tell everyone I’m going to L.A., I secretly fly to Vegas, and we hang out for the weekend?”
“You don’t have to come,” JC said.
“But we’d love to spend time with you,” Howie said.
“I’ll go,” Erik said. “It sounds like a great weekend.” It sounded like the best weekend of his life.
JC smiled at him.
Howie winked.
Oh, yeah.
“He’s fine,” Joey said. “He’s going to call me once he gets his flight booked.”
“Good.”
Joey smoothed Nick’s hair back from his face. “How’s AJ?”
Nick snorted. “He babies Justin. It’s gross. Did you talk to JC?”
“I’m not your pimp,” Joey said. “I’m not JC’s pimp, either. If you want to have sex with him, call him and tell him yourself.”
“Okay.” Nick flipped open his phone.
“Right now?” Joey asked.
“You told me to call him.” Nick dialed.
“I don’t want you to call JC from my lap,” Joey said.
“Why not?” Nick asked, lifting Joey’s shirt a few inches with one hand and turning his head to kiss Joey’s stomach. “Hey, baby,” he said, smiling, his voice smooth, friendly, seductive. “How’ve you been? Yeah? Everything’s been pretty good. Hey, so you’re coming to Vegas? Yeah, it’ll be great, I can’t wait to rock the house.” Nick laughed. “I know you do.” His smile was affectionate, indulgent. “Listen, I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes, and I know you and Howie are getting back into the groove, but I was thinking that you and I could get together this weekend. Ditch everybody else and spend some time alone, just you and me.”
Joey could only imagine what JC’s response would be.
Closing his eyes, Nick smiled gently, murmuring, “Oh, baby, you’re always the best.”
“Okay,” Joey said, pushing Nick aside and getting up.
“Oh, yeah, baby,” Nick murmured as Joey left the room, “you know how much I love it when you do that for me.”
Erik sighed, surveying the contents of his closet. He needed new clothes for this trip, which he wouldn’t if someone hadn’t ruined them all. If he’d known that two minutes after he got home, Ashley would show up and Jacob would start another battle, he would’ve stayed at Howie’s house a little longer.
“It’s the truth!” Ashley shouted.
“You don’t know what the truth is!” Jacob shouted. “It’s hard to recognize it when you’ve got cum in your eyes!”
Oh, damn. Erik snickered.
Ashley sounded horribly offended for a while, which was pretty funny, considering what Trevor had told Erik about Ashley’s little “let them come on your face, they like it” theory. Ashley sucked at arguing, though, especially against someone like Jacob, who pretty much flayed him alive, and the whole thing ended with Ashley running upstairs and slamming the door, which was just pathetic.
Round four hundred and twenty-seven went to Jacob.
Erik waited a few minutes, until he could assume that Ashley had probably stopped crying, and then went over and knocked on Ashley’s door.
Ashley opened the door and glared at him, red in the face.
“Hey,” Erik said, easing Ashley back and stepping inside, closing the door behind himself. “I’m about to head out to pick up a few things. You want to come?”
“You want me to go shopping with you?” Ashley asked, sounding all shocked and offended. “After everything that happened yesterday, you-”
“Yeah, I’m going to pick up some new clothes,” Erik said. “I’m flying out to L.A. this weekend, and I thought maybe you’d want to come along.”
“You want me to go out of town with you?” Ashley demanded. “Why the hell would I want to do that?”
“I heard that Nick and Joey are going to Vegas this weekend,” Erik said. “JC and Howie are going, too. I thought that it would be a good chance for you and me go fly out, maybe to L.A., have a good time…”
“This weekend?” If Ashley hadn’t already been red-cheeked, he would’ve flushed guiltily. “Um, no, I, I kind of-”
“Ashley, I don’t want to go to L.A. with you,” Erik said. “I need you for my cover story, and you need me for yours. Play along.”
First surprise, then confusion, then guilt, then, finally, understanding. “Why didn’t you just say that?”
“I was trying to be discreet,” Erik said. He should’ve known better; he was picking up the graces of subtlety from JC and Howie, but Ashley was hanging out with Nick and Joey, whose idea of flirting probably consisted exclusively of ass-grabbing and dick-baring. “I’m spending the weekend with Howie and JC in Vegas, but I have to pretend to be going to L.A., so no one gets the wrong idea. If you and I go together, we can cover for each other.”
“Nick and Joey are going to see you there,” Ashley said.
“Yeah, and JC and Howie are going to see you.”
By this point, Ashley wasn’t even blushing, he was just consistently beet-red. “It’s not the same.”
“You’re right,” Erik said, “it’s not. If we’re going on a trip together, we have to get along, so let’s go shopping.” Was Ashley even going to need clothes? Wouldn’t that just get in the way of offering his ass? Maybe they could find some tear-away pants.
“This is JC.”
“Hi, it’s Joey. I need your help with something. Oh, congratulations on making up with Howie, or whatever that was. And don’t worry, I’m okay with you and Nick getting together this weekend, I think it’s a great idea.”
“Oh, uh, thank you,” JC said, sounding overwhelmed but amused. “How’ve you been?”
“Busy consoling poor little molested Ashley,” Joey said. “You’ve listened to Nick’s album, right?”
“Yes,” JC said.
“I haven’t,” Joey said. “He asked me which songs I think he should perform, and I don’t know what to say. What should I tell him?”
“How many tracks?” JC asked.
“Um, eight, I think.”
“‘Help Me,’” JC said. “‘I Got You,’ ‘Who Needs the World,’ ‘My Confession,’ ‘Heart without a Home,’ ‘I Stand for You,’ ‘I Just Wanna Take You Home,’ and ‘Do I Have to Cry for You.’”
“Hold on, go slower,” Joey said, scribbling down the titles. JC recited them again, and he said, “Thanks.”
“Then tell him that he might want to try ‘Blow Your Mind’ instead of ‘I Stand for You,’” JC said.
“Okay,” Joey said, making the note.
“If he wants to throw in a Backstreet song, he knows to do ‘I Want It That Way.’”
“Given,” Joey agreed. “Thanks.”
“No problem.”
“Guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” Joey said.
“You’ll see me tonight,” JC said. “At the meeting.”
“What meeting?”
“The, the meeting,” JC said. “The ten of us, we’re meeting at Kevin’s house tonight.”
“Since when?”
“Since Howie told me this morning.”
“Do we really need another meeting?”
“We’re going to talk about Vegas, about Ashley, and there’s something else that Howie doesn’t sound too happy about. I wanted to ask you about… How is Ashley?”
“Scared, because no one believes him. Happy, because he’s going to get laid in Vegas.”
“It’s kind of strange,” JC said. “We know that Brian didn’t mean it, but Ashley doesn’t, so basically, if you think about it, he really was molested.”
“Yeah,” Joey agreed, not sure what the problem was.
“I guess there are worse things,” JC said, sounding unconvinced.
“Like losing an eleven-million dollar house?” Joey asked. “Brian grabbed his dick. He’ll get over it. He says he doesn’t even care about that, he’s just upset that his friends don’t believe him. I get groped worse than that when I go clubbing.”
“Joey, you love being groped,” JC said.
He laughed. “That’s what it’s there for.”