-12-
Spook woke to the smell of coffee.He cracked an eyelid and found a steaming mug settled on the nightstand between the lamp and the alarm clock.He didn’t need to squint at the numerals to know it was well past morning.The sun and the sea breeze drifting in from the veranda, gently stirring the voile drapes, were clues enough.He was going to have to drag his sorry arse out of bed before long and put himself through whatever sound check they were doing for tonight’s show.
“How’s your head?”
Xane was fresh out of the shower at the foot of the bed, a towel around his waist and his dark hair damp around his shoulders with a few snake-like tendrils clinging to his biceps.That was a whole lot more nakedness than he wanted to deal with right now.Occasionally, it’d be nice to wake to something other than one of his mates’ bottoms waggling before his eyes.
He reached for the coffee mug for something else to focus on.The heat radiating off the ceramic told him it was way too hot to drink, but he risked a sip anyway.
“Like Paul’s been beating a dustbin lid against the inside of my skull.”His throat sounded like it was lined with rusty nails.He tried rubbing the outside of it, but that just made him wince when he discovered the bruising there.“I suppose you’ve been up hours.”
“A while,” Xane replied.He dropped the towel.He possessed zero inhibitions.Although, thankfully, he pulled on a pair of lounge pants before turning around.
Better.Spook stopped deliberately averting his gaze, no longer afraid of getting an eyeful.Although, the lounge pants were set so low on Xane’s hips, they didn’t leave a whole lot to the imagination: happy trail, Adonis belt, semi.“You know there’s no one here to impress,” he remarked.
Xane shrugged.“They’re comfortable for idling in.I’ll order some breakfast if the concept doesn’t alienate you.”
Spook pushed up more firmly onto one elbow.Surprisingly, his head didn’t immediately crack in half, nor did his brain slosh about too much.Actually, the notion of breakfast didn’t sound too alarming.“What time is it?”
“Quarter past four.”
Fuck.Later than he’d anticipated.Explained why his head was merely foggy rather than home to a thunderstorm.Clearly, he’d slept off the worst of last night’s excesses.“I suppose eating something might be sensible given we’re due at a soundcheck in not very long.”
“The crew can handle most of it.There’s no immediate rush.”Xane ran the previously discarded towel through his hair.“I’m showered, so bathroom’s yours when you’re ready.”
“Is that a hint?”
“I just figured after last night…”
Eyelids closed, Spook rolled his mind back over the events of the previous night.It was all snapshot perfect up until the taxi ride, after which things were hazier.He recalled the gig and the bastard fucker who’d assaulted him all too well.Then, lights on the ocean, a glass box, and pain, followed by being bent double in the long grass, a lengthy darkness, and finally the silence of the suite and the nauseating taste of minty mouthwash.He drank another slurp of coffee to flush out that particular memory.Xane stood staring him as if he was waiting for a penny to drop.
It did, in a sudden flash of clarity.Tiny fragments of sensory bliss dancing in his memory like dust motes.The physical manifestation of which was dried upon his abdomen.
“We didn’t?”he asked, toes curling, as he winced in anticipation of the answer.
Xane, bastard that he was, had the audacity to laugh.“That, you did entirely to yourself.Apparently your drunken unconscious mind doesn’t adhere to the same set of rules as the usual you.But, you know, thanks for the show.Really appreciated that.”
Xane’s deadpan made it hard to determine if he was being genuine or sarcastic.
“I suppose it never crossed your perverted little mind to stop me.”
Xane palmed a hairbrush and began dragging it through his waist-length hair.“Oh, I definitely suggested it.As for physically preventing it, you didn’t exactly put me in a position where that was possible, considering you parked your arse right on top of me and apparently you weigh about forty stone while sleeping.There was no budging you.Whatever fantasy you were living was far too appealing to shake you loose from.”
Snatches were all that remained.Allegra had been part of it, but not the whole.
“You know, it’s impressive, really.Most guys that drunk just fall asleep holding it.You, on the other hand, showed single-minded determination in your pursuit of pleasure.If only that translated into the waking world, then you wouldn’t be staring at me like you’re about to leap up and tear me limb from limb.”
He wasn’t.And they weren’t having this conversation.He didn’t want to discuss his sex life, or rather the lack of it, with Xane or anybody else.Nor did he want to talk about Alle and the emotional rollercoaster ride he endured every time they spoke.
“Cold shower you took, was it?”he grouched, before scratching irritably at the stubble covering his jaw.
Xane snorted.“It was, and I don’t mind admitting it.Unlike you, I have no issues with self-care.So yeah, I rubbed one out.A couple actually.You’re as hot as sin when you let yourself enjoy the good things, and you did give me the full multi-sensory experience.Only a robot wouldn’t have been turned on by that.”
Xane was very much not a robot.He had emotions enough for four with some left over.It still disturbed him that Xane so casually accepted what had happened, with barely a twitch of discomfort.Admittedly, it wasn’t anything the guy hadn’t seen before, but still…
“Are you going to beat yourself up over it?Because seriously, what’s the point?You want her, but you won’t let yourself get near her, so you enjoyed a nice fantasy of it instead.I’m not judging.”
Spook glared at him, but Xane merely shrugged.“Watching you is always inspirational.”
