Dylan laughed, then his expression turned curious again. “Did you travel a lot when you weredancing?”
“Yeah. Europe, mainly, until I got the gig in New York.” Angelo reclaimed his seat. “I didn’t appreciate it, though. You don’t when you think something is going to lastforever.”
Dylan rested his elbows on the counter and cupped his chin in his hands. He’d grown a slight beard since Angelo had last seen him, and it suited him, setting off his grungy T-shirt and the skull pendant hanging around his neck. Dylan seemed to be more metal every time Angelo saw him, and today he looked like a rockstar.
“What’s your deal with the club?” Dylan asked. “I know I’ve only, uh, seen you there twice, but you’re a different personthere.”
The last part wasn’t a question, but Dylan was so on the money that Angelo nodded. “It’s a release for me... a healthy one. I’m a miserable git, in case you hadn’t noticed, but playing at the club gives me some controlback.”
“Has it always been thatway?”
“Nah. When I first went there, it was because I’m a bit of aperv.”
“Makes two of us.” Dylan licked his lips, and the air between them thickened again, heavy with the weight of what had brought them together three weeks ago in bunkerfive.
Angelo’s world narrowed to Dylan and the way he’d felt clamped around Angelo’s dick. He sucked in a breath as Dylan leaned forward but pulled away milliseconds before their lips touched. “I need adrink.”
He stood and went to the till and rummaged in the cabinet below. The grappa was exactly where his father had left it, the bulbous shot glasses stacked beside it. He retrieved the bottle and two glasses and slid them across thecounter.
Dylan picked up the bottle and studied the label. “Grappa, eh? I haven’t drunk this stuff since a staff jolly to Athens a few yearsago.”
“Citizens Advice has office parties inGreece?”
Dylan chuckled. “No, we barely have teabags. I worked in banking before I joined CA. Still in the debt sector, but it was less compassionate and pretty fucking oppressive. I ditched it a few yearsago.”
“I’mglad.”
“Yeah?”
“Uh-huh. I want you to behappy.”
Dylan stared, and for a fleeting moment, Angelo wished the ground would swallow him whole, but then Dylan reached out and covered Angelo’s hand with his own. “I want you to be happytoo.”
Why?But Angelo didn’t say it. Reeling from the sensation of Dylan’s palm on his knuckles, he used his free hand to thumb the cork out of the grappa bottle and pour two meatymeasures.
He passed one to Dylan. “Bottomsup.”
Dylan smirked and brought the glass to his lips, and any hope that Angelo may have had of lowering the temperature in the room was dashed as Dylan’s throat worked to swallow the fieryliquor.
I want to fuck hismouth.
As if Angelo had spoken aloud, Dylan dropped his glass on the counter and tightened his fingers around Angelo’s. “So... are we gonna take this date to the club, orwhat?”
“You wantto?”
Dylan shrugged. “I wasn’t sure when I thought about it earlier, but I think it would be good for us. There’s a lot going on. Let’s clear theair.”
That Dylan already understood how Angelo’s convoluted brain worked made Angelo’s soul sing. Could they play in the club and build on whatever was brewing between them in real life? With anyone else, Angelo would’ve called it a day weeks ago, but Dylan wasn’t like anyone else he’d ever hooked up with. The way their worlds had combined was bizarre but somehow felt right. “I really did just intend on feeding youdinner.”
“And you have,” Dylan said with an impish grin. “Now come up the road and feed me yourcock.”
* * *
Dylan’s skintingled as he dried himself off from the shower in Lovato’s opulent bathroom. He’d left Angelo at the bar already turning heads. And Dylan couldn’t blame the potential playmates who’d zeroed in on Angelo the moment they’d entered the club. Angelo was beautiful any day of the week, but something had shifted in him as they’d stepped over the threshold?—his shoulders had squared and his chin had risen, and there was a confidence in him that was lacking in the outside world. In the club, Angelo becameAngel, and Dylan couldn’t wait to play withhim.
If someone else hasn’t got therefirst...
But his fears proved groundless when he returned to the bar. Angelo was alone and nursing an amber shot of JackDaniels.
