He found Xavi hiding away at the small bar, nursing a glass of red wine, talking eagerly to two teenagers, unfiltered adoration painted across their young faces. Lulu bet they were his students and that they—both the girl and the boy—were crushing hard on Xavi.Mine, Lulu’s greedy little heart hummed.He’s taken.It was silly, of course. Xavi was a good man, a good teacher. He’d never start anything with a student. The way they looked at him, though… Lulu clenched his fists, digging his nails into his palms, the need to scratch their hungry little teenage eyes out clawing at him.
Lulu moved closer asOther Peopleby LP played from the loudspeakers behind the bar.Other people. He’d tried being with other people over the years, but none of them measured up to Xavi. At this point, it was merely a matter of having a physical need met, but even that could barely get Lulu to drag his pathetic ass down toNoches Habanerasto pick up some rando. It wasn’t even about sex like it had been when he was younger. Last night, sleeping in Xavi’s bed, Lulu had felt safer, calmer, than he had in ages, feeling Xavi’s warm skin beneath him as the subtle beating of Xavi’s heart lulled him off to sleep. He’d slept like a fucking baby, content and cuddled up against hisoso.So yeah, Lulu knew he was a fucking lost cause, ruined for everyone else, and that just one look from his best friend sent Lulu’s heart on a flutter odyssey through his chest.
When Xavi noticed him, he smiled crookedly, that familiar fondness flashing through those dark, coffee-colored eyes. There was a maturity about Xavi that hadn’t been there just a few years ago. The beginning of fine lines at the corner of his eyes, which crinkled whenever he smiled or laughed. His cheekbones were more defined, standing out on his beautiful face.Coño,Xavi was like a fine wine, just getting better with time. A sexy wine.Right, get a grip, Lulu.
“OhEmGee, you were just amazing!” the teen girl bounced on her feet, beaming at Lulu when he reached them.
“Thank you.” Lulu swallowed, his eyes not leaving Xavi’s.
“Yeah, you pretty much stole the show.” The teen boy joined in the praise. “Like, who the fuck cares about Victor or Victoria or whatever, right,ese?” The kid blushed, and Lulu batted his eyelashes, bumping his shoulder against the kid’s.
“Well,muchas gracias, ese,” Lulu spoke in his sultry stage voice, fanning himself with his hand. The kid blushed even harder, and Xavi groaned.
“Lulu, meet mystudents, Meera and Manny.” Xavi’s near-black brows rose warningly to his forehead as he spoke the wordstudents. “Meera, Manny, this needychavais my best friend, Lulu.” Manny chuckled at thechava, which seemed lost on Meera, while Lulu gasped in mock-offence.
“I beg your pardon,mano! I’m not achava. I’m 100% purehombre.” He flexed his naked arms for good measure, his sheer black top stretching across his chest.
“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that,” Xavi mumbled under his breath. And there it was, that ambiguity in his eyes that Lulu was seeing more and more lately. The brief flash of something that could almost convince Lulu that Xavi felt something like what he felt. Fuck, if Xavi felt just a fraction of what Lulu felt when they were close, Lulu would throw himself at his friend right now and beg him to fuck him right here, on the bar, for all the world to see what Xavi did to him.
“Okayyy,” the kid, Manny, drawled. “Looks like we’re interrupting something here.” Pointing between Lulu and Xavi, he smirked knowingly, then shrugged at the girl. “C’mon, Mee-mee. I’ll walk you home. Our English teacher don’t like it when we’re tired in class.” Lulu snorted as Xavi bit his bottom lip, probably dying right now to correct the kid’s grammar and just blurt, ‘Doesn’t!’
The girl nodded, smiling softly at Xavi. “Okay. Bye now, Mr. Bernal. Don’t stay out too late.” She waved her fingers at Xavi, adjusting her purse over her shoulder.
“Yeah, Mr. Bernal,” Manny tipped his chin. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“Hombre, that line is so old it’s using fucking crutches,” Lulu shook his head. “Now, shoo, kiddos. It’s grown-up time.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, then reached for Xavi’s glass and threw back the rest of the red liquid, placing the empty glass on the bar. Xavi scowled, mumbling something under his breath. Fuck, he loved Xavi’s scowl. So. Fucking. Sexy. It only made Lulu want to misbehave even more, tease another scowl or two, perhaps even a growl from his big, grumpyoso.
“Cute kids.” Lulu nodded after them as they disappeared into the crowd.
“Yeah,” Xavi hummed, brushing a hand along his chin, and it wasn’t until then that Lulu noticed the difference, the lighting in the theater too dim.
“You shaved,” Lulu said, his chest filling with regret. He loved when Xavi grew his beard. Made him hot as fucking sin in that rugged biker way.
“Yeah, it was getting too wild.” Xavi shrugged, his gaze dipping to his boots. His nice leather boots and not his beat-up ones. There was something about Xavi’s posture, the slump in his shoulders, that sent a feeling of sudden loss shooting through Lulu’s chest. Like that evening long ago when Lulu had realized his mother wasn’t coming back. He’d waited for her outside on the steps to their apartment building for the seventh night in a row, asking people in the neighborhood about her. No one had seen Alma Bernal around. No one cared, and Lulu had wondered why it was he still did. Why he still cared about his mother when she so very clearly didn’t care about him or Manu. If she did, she would’ve taken them with her. That was the last night Lulu waited for her on the steps, although he only lost hope that she’d eventually return much later.
Something was up with Xavi tonight, but Lulu couldn’t pinpoint it. He was being shady as fuck, though, evasive, but before Lulu could read anything more into it, he felt a looming presence to his left. Xavi looked up, his body instantly reacting to the stranger, his shoulders stiffening.
Turning his head, Lulu locked eyes with the stranger, and a chill moved through his body at the unsolicited hunger in his ice-blue eyes. A wide smile cut through the guy’s face, and if it wasn’t for the feeling of unrest inhabiting Lulu’s chest, he could have found the man attractive, with his light blond hair flopping onto his forehead.
Xavi instinctively moved closer to Lulu, checking the guy out, clenching his fists.My protector, Lulu’s heart fluttered, and the feeling of unrest momentarily dissipated. Then the stranger spoke, with an almost hungry undertone to his voice, and the chill in Lulu’s bones intensified.
“Darling, you were wonderful,” he gushed, his blue eyes drinking Lulu in, leaving him feeling naked and exposed. He usually didn’t mind other men checking him out, admiring his body, but this guy’s eyes on him felt like a violation, almost. A growl escaped Xavi, and the corner of the guy’s mouth twitched into a sneer, like Xavi’s presence was that of an annoying bug.
“Darling?” Lulu huffed in an attempt to project a calm he was by no means feeling. “I’m not your darling,hombre.” He slid over to Xavi, hoping he would see the desperation and the silent plea in his eyes. This guy gave Lulu the creeps, the possessiveness in his voice crossing all social boundaries. Of course, Xavi read Lulu like an open book, snaking his arm around Lulu’s waist protectively. The stranger’s gaze zeroed in on Xavi’s hand resting against Lulu’s hip, and if looks could kill, Xaviwould’ve dropped dead on the spot, buried six feet under already. The stranger’s stare was like stone, the blue turning even icier.
“Didn’t you get my letter?” The guy spoke, his voice low, and the underlying accusing tone didn’t escape Lulu in his next words, “Who isthis?” He nodded disdainfully at Xavi, who dug his fingers into Lulu’s side in quiet reassurance.You’re safe with me, Xavi’s entire body seemed to vibrate.I won’t let anyone hurt you, never again.
Lulu licked his lips to offer the asshole a snarky comeback, but Xavi beat him to it, and when he spoke, Lulu nearly died on the spot, right then and there in the middle of a crowded bar.Death by swoon, the coroner’s report would surely read, if that was even a thing. It was now.
“I’m his man,” Xavi near-growled, his coffee eyes turning menacing, nearly black. “Who the fuck areyou, cabrón?” Holy fucking fuck train. Lulu’s dick hardened behind the zipper of his tight jeans, his hole fluttering eagerly at Xavi’s words.Man.Hisman.Myman. He knew it was only pretend, but his body didn’t seem to get the message, his hole clenching desperately to the rhythm ofBesame Muchonow playing in the background.
“Man,” the guy sneered, his gaze shifting between Lulu and Xavi. Rejection was definitely not a good look on the guy. Then he laughed like it was the most preposterous thing in the world that Xavi could be Lulu’sman. “I don’t think so,” he spat.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Lulu chuckled, not at all feeling the aloofness he was trying to project. “You’re right.” He blinked at the stranger, who was starting to look relieved. “I’m still only just getting used to it myself,” Lulu smiled, leaning closer against Xavi, feeling Xavi’s pulse beating rapidly against his ear. “It’s so new, I keep forgetting.” Lulu held out his naked hand between them. “Since I can’t wear my ring on stage, right, baby?” He tilted his head, looking up at Xavi as he pursed his lips, pouting. “Right,fiancé?”
The stranger’s gasp drowned in the deep, guttural groan spilling from Xavi’s lips. Lulu wondered if Xavi could feel his hardness, brushing up against his thigh. He wondered if Xavi was hard, too. Probably not. He had a lot more restraint than Lulu, although presently, Xavi didn’t look all that composed, but instead, slightly shaken.
“Fiancé!” the guy hissed, taking a step back. “You fucking…. You dirty whore!” Taking another step back, his eyes wild, his fists clenching at his sides, his next words left Lulu cold to the bone despite the comforting warmth emanating from Xavi’s body. “You’re gonna fucking regret this, you bitch!”
