Travis: Night. I wanna finishmy movie. Heath Ledger is singing to Julia Stiles on the football field and the marching band is performing for her. Fave part. HL is a sweetheart.
Derek smiled at his phone. So it was Heath Ledger after all.
Bulletproof arrived in Reno shortly after 6:00 a.m., so everyone went to thesuite and crashed. Having had very little sleep on the tour bus, Derek was the last one up. He rose to the scent of coffee and the sound of his bandmates, who were all standing around the breakfast bar.
“Any plans for today?” Derek asked, grabbing a cinnamon roll that dripped with thick white icing. He knew he wanted to spend this rare day off with Travis, but first needed to checkwith his best friends to see if anything was on the agenda.
Brandon rolled his shoulders. “I think I want to relax by the pool and work on my tan. This damn tour has left me pale as a ghost.” He turned to Cam. “Is that OK with you?”
“Do I get to rub lotion all over your body?”
Brandon grabbed Cam by the belt loops and tugged him closer, with enough forceto hear their hip bones smack together. “You better believe it, baby.”
Cam braced his hands on either side of Brandon’s face in an act of defiance. “Then I’m in.”
Derek had to force himself to look away before he got an erection from the way those two challenged each other with their dominant displays of power. “What about you guys?” he asked Jeremy and Alan.
Alan shrugged. “I’m cool with it.”
Jeremy nodded in agreement. “As long as there’s plenty of beer.”
“Cool. I’m gonna grab Travis and meet you down by the pool.” Derek pulled his phone from his pocket and opened his message exchange with Travis.
Derek: I hope you packed your swim trunks!
He watched his phone as he left the suite, but no replydinged back, and he wondered if Reckless had an obligation today. Just because Bulletproof had the day off didn’t mean that Reckless did. Standing in the hallway, he realized he didn’t know which room Travis occupied. Shit. One of the bodyguards stationed outside his door asked if he needed assistance, and a few seconds later Derek was on his way to the 18thfloor, the bodyguard shadowing hismovements. He knocked on Travis’ door, and Ricky answered. “Hi. Is Travis here?” Derek asked tentatively, unsure if he was intruding by just dropping by, when Travis clearly didn’t answer his text.
Ricky’s eyes widened, enamored to have Derek pay a visit to his room. “Sure. Come in. Can I get you something? We don’t have a lot to offer, but we got little bottles of liquor in the minifridge.”
Derek looked around the small room, without judgment. It had been a very, very long time since he’d been in something this basic. It was barely big enough for one person. He couldn’t imagine the lack of privacy and how badly two people, even the best of friends, would get on each other’s nerves in a room this size. “I’m good, thanks. Where’s Travis?”
“On thebalcony.” Ricky drew back the heavy curtains to expose Travis sitting with his back to the sliding glass doors, head down, never looking up at the scratchy noise of the curtains opening, which sounded like nails on a chalkboard.
Derek knocked on the glass, again unsure if his presence was welcome, but he received a genuinely happy smile and an inviting wave to join Travis on the balcony.
“What are you doing here?” Travis stood, clutching a notebook and pen in his hand, and greeted Derek with a ravenous kiss.
The luscious impatient swipes of Travis’ tongue banished all thoughts that Derek was interrupting and sent a quiver up his spine. “I sent you a text. Didn’t you get it?”
Travis shook his head. “I’m not married to my phone like most people.It’s inside somewhere. I don’t carry it with me all the time. Hardly ever, actually.”
“Oh.” Derek wondered if that meant Travis wanted to be alone and had escaped to the balcony for privacy. “I hope it’s OK that I just showed up and knocked on your door.”
“Shit, yeah. What’s up?”
“Come down by the pool. The guys are scoping out a primo spot for us.”
“Isn’t it going to cause a big commotion for Bulletproof to hang out by the pool with common folk?”
Derek chuckled. “We have security.”
“In that case, how can I say no?”
“Did you bring swim trunks?”
“No, but I have underwear.”
“I got an extra pair. And I swear they’re clean. I didn’t chiz in them or anything. At least not lately.”
