by A. P. Moraez
“Come,” Logan urged, “I want to show you something before we have to buckle up for takeoff.”
He took Ash by the hand and they started to follow along the long-ass corridor. It was so large that he was sure ten man would’ve been able to stand side by side from left to right. There were a lot of guys and some women, all Duke’s agents, already buckled up and waiting for the trip to start, chatting in little groups.
They finally got to a set of doors that were made from some wood slightly darker than the standard material the interior was made of. Logan was behind him and there was a jingle of keys right before Logan’s arm appeared in his field of vision and unlocked the door.
“Come on,” Logan said near Ash’s right ear, “let’s go inside real quick.” Then he walked Ash forward, pushing him gently with his body, and turned on the lights.
Ash stopped in his tracks and Logan took advantage to wrap both arms around Ash’s waist and nuzzle his neck. “What do you think?”
“What do I—” Ash lost his words, the room was so beautiful. In contrast to the heavily masculine interior of the main part of the airplane, this bedroom was all light creams and ostentations fabrics. There was a huge bed right in the middle and Ash was paralyzed, not knowing how to react. He didn’t even know someone could build lush rooms like this inside a thing that was supposed to fly between continents.
Shocked, he gasped out, “This is incredible, Logan.”
Logan kissed the back of his neck, hands massaging his waist. “You didn’t think I’d let you sleep out there on the uncomfortable seats, did you?”
Ash barked out a laugh. “I’m sure those seats are anything but uncomfortable.”
Logan snorted, trailing kisses from the back of Ash’s neck until his mouth clamped down where his beauty mark was. He sucked there, and Ash felt it all the way down to his balls. He was panting before he knew it. “They aren’t good enough for you. So I asked them to set this up.”
“Thank you,” Ash managed to gasp out. He seriously had no chance to remain in possession of all his mental faculties when hot as hell Logan got in one of his horny moods around him. “It’s really thoughtful.”
“Uhm…” Logan groaned as he slid his hand under Ash’s jacket and undershirt and got to the skin of his abdomen. “I can’t wait to use it later.”
“Logan,” Ash admonished, “we can’t. I’m sure this walls aren’t that thick.”
“Don’t care. I’m paying them well to pretend they don’t hear a thing.”
Ash laughed. “I didn’t know you were such an exhibitionist. First that day in front of Duke in our living room, now this.”
Logan spun him around so fast, Ash didn’t even fully register it until their lips were smashed against each other and Logan was showing him how much he didn’t care about anyone else. Ash was so hard, it hurt. He brought his hands up and held on to Logan’s neck as his mouth was devoured. Ash loved when he got like this, so despaired and ravenous, as if the very idea of just not kissing him would extinguish him.
There was a knock at the door against which Logan had pressed him as they kissed.
“Guys,” Duke called with a hint of humor in his voice, “we’re about to take off. You should come and get settled.”
“Fuck,” Logan hissed against Ash’s lips, panting. Sapphires were molten and provocative, fire deep in them. Ash was trapped by them as much as he was trapped by Logan’s thick, hard cock pressing onto his stomach as Logan’s hips pumped Ash against the door. Logan gulped and the bobbing of his Adam’s apple was so enticing that Ash didn’t resist, leaned in and licked him a couple times there. “Fuck, baby,” Logan moaned, “you ain’t helping, you know.” It was funny how he said that but then languorously licked all over Ash’s lips again, making him moan. “You’re so fucking irresistible.” Ash’s mouth was attacked again at the end of that sentence, then he jumped at the knock on the door right at his back.
“Guys, seriously, Daniel’s about to come back here himself to get you.”
Logan growled, then started fussing all over Ash, righting Ash’s clothes and then his own.
“Let’s go.”
Ash nodded, unable to speak, utterly ravished.
They went outside. If any of the guys had heard what’d been going out on the locked room, they didn’t let it on. Except for Ian and Duke, who were sitting side by side and, at seeing them, were all shit-eating grins and innuendo.
“Shut up,” Ash threw at them, and both men and even some of the other guys burst out laughing.
Logan himself was laughing when he helped Ash to buckle up.
Nothing unusual happened during takeoff, thank God. As soon as Daniel gave them the green light to move about as they pleased, Logan tugged him up and they flew toward the bedroom.
“Logan,” Ash laughed, “what you doing?”
Logan looked at him with fiery sapphires. “You know what I’m doing.”
Well, Ash found out pretty quickly after that.
When they finished testing the thickness of those walls and fell asleep in a heap of sweat and cum, Ash wasn’t sure if he was redder because of Logan’s thorough fucking or because of just knowing that everyone had heard all of it.
“HE’S JUST AMAZING, isn’t he?” Nick mused at Ash’s side. Ash jumped, he’d been admiring the dozens of people fussing around Logan and about other twenty other gorgeous men getting ready to the big evening.
Ash blushed at being caught gawking at his own boyfriend. But how could he just not? Used to how ruggedly handsome Logan looked with his cherished beard — and how erotic it felt rubbing all over his body, especially over his sensitive asshole when Logan rimmed him — he’d forgotten how absolutely destructive Logan’s freshly shaved face could be.
Alec joined them before Ash could even answer Nick. “Gods,” he sighed, “I’d forgotten how it was to be around him backstage before an event. How he just… takes over the room without even trying.” He threw Ash a smile before shifting his gaze back to Logan. “I miss having him around.” He rolled his eyes, then proceeded to his table to check his makeup. “The pussy just decided to leave to Hollywood all of a sudden and abandoned us.”
“Tell me you wouldn’t have done the same for that kind of money, hun,” Nick asked with a lifted eyebrow.
Alec stopped everything he was doing and pretended to think hard for a second. “True,” he finally said with a shrug. “Maria!” he suddenly cried, going after one of the makeup girls.
Ash was laughing, shaking heads while Nick smiled at his side.
Alec was a whirlwind; that was the best way Ash could describe him. A tall, lean guy, skin and hair as fair as snow, he seemed to be at some point in his mid-twenties now. He’d told Ash he’d been on the runways with Logan for just two years under Nick’s brand before Logan decided to abandon them and change careers.
“How can you keep up with that?” Ash turned to Nick. “It’s like his batteries never end.”
Nick laughed. “True. But he’s harmless and really hard-working, as all people under my employ. I can’t complain.”
Ash smiled back, then his eyes shifted back to Logan. It was nice to see how Nick genuinely loved his employees. Ash had gotten to see, first-hand, after they got from the hotel to the Palazzo Reale, how Nick’s company ran much more like a family than a business. So far, everyone had treated him with respect — respect that, in many cases, turned to unabashed curiosity and even reverence when they found out who he was. And yes, most of that different treatment came from the fact that they were curious what kind of guy had ended up with Logan Bishop; of course it was, and it was only normal, being the big superstar that Logan was, but not all of them had come to talk to him just because of his boyfriend. A handful had come to him about his music. One of the models, Yugo, had even come to him for an autograph, saying he’d just found Ash out on Spotify the other day and became a fan instantly. Ash still couldn’t believe he’d just signed an autograph and took a selfie with an international super
model. The whole experience was just being surreal.
“It’s true, though, what he said,” Nick mused at his side, voice lower than before.
“Uh…?” Ash had been distracted watching as some girl massaged Logan’s face with some sort of cream. He looked relaxed, as if asleep. Of course, he wasn’t. There was no way someone would be able to fall asleep in the middle of such bustle, but he looked like that. Like… like an angel that’d fallen right onto that white leather chair and fallen asleep asleep.
Nick was looking at him, amused, with a knowing smile. “About Logan,” he explained. “It’s always been like this when he’s around. Everyone has always seemed to gravitate toward him.” He paused, sighing. “It was a big hit on us when he decided to leave. It was hard to find our identity again both as a brand and as a team without Logan Bishop having our backs.”
Ash could relate to that. Nick didn’t know how much.
“But he’s different now.”
“What d’you mean?”
Nick shrugged. “For one thing, he’s smiling.”
“What? He didn’t smile before?”
Nick laughed. “Nah. Not like that.” He jutted out his chin in Logan’s direction and, sure as daylight, when Ash looked, Logan had opened his eyes and was talking to the girl pampering him, a huge grin making him even more handsome. “A smile from Logan Bishop back then was like a rainbow. Like finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, actually,” he corrected himself.
Ash’s heart constricted at hearing that. He hated the idea of a Logan that didn’t smile. It was alien to him, because there had never been a day in his life when Logan hadn’t smiled at him at least once.
“It was part of his appeal, you know?” Nick continued, seeing that Ash was rapt to his every word. “His brand, if you will.” He got up and grabbed two bottles of water, once of which he passed to Ash. After Ash thanked him, he continued, resting back down on the chair he’d pulled to sit at Ash’s side earlier in the evening. “The taciturn superstar, is what all the tabloids and news called him.” Nick laughed low. “And now…” he trailed off, shiny black eyes scanning Ash’s face and settling on his own eyes, making Ash squirm a bit. He hated being analyzed. Nick’s lips pulled up in a warm smile. “Now he’s all smiles. Lighter.” He poked Ash’s arm with his own. “Can’t imagine why.”
Ash blushed, eyes to his feet. “I’m not sure I’m the reason he smiles more now, but thank you.”
“Oh, Ash,” Nick said, tone so uncharacteristically sad that it brought Ash’s eyes back up. He seemed contemplative and even… hurt. “I don’t know to what extent you guys talked about his time here with us, but…”
“What?” Ash pressed after long seconds where Nick seemed unsure if he should say what he wanted to or not. “We’re really open with each other, Nick. You can spill. You literally can’t offend me.”
Ash didn’t know why. Maybe it was the fact that the man was one of the nicest people he’d ever met, having gone personally to collect Logan and him at the airport on his fancy sports car, then leading them to the fancy five-star hotel — that he was paying for them himself — where they’d be staying until tomorrow morning, since this was the only night Logan was required to participate as their special guest. Or maybe it was just that Ash genuinely liked him for having stayed a trustworthy friend to Logan for a big part of his life. He didn’t know, but the barriers of anxiety and social awkwardness he found himself trapped in when trying to connect with new people simply weren’t there when it came to Nick.
Nick seemed to consider his words for a moment, before the lines on his dark skin got more pronounced, as he frowned and exhaled heavily.
“Look,” the man started, “I don’t know exactly what happened between you two back in the day. Hell, I still remember meeting you guys that day out on the street and thinking how cute and absolutely adorable you guys were as a couple. And then… then Logan calls me asking for a job, and it took ages to get him to open up about why the fuck he was such a grumpy bastard all the time.”
Ash’s heart was thumping so hard; it was probably drawing an outline on his chest. He’d been wanting to know more about Logan’s past since they’d cleared all the bullshit between them, months ago, and started… dating or whatever it is they’d done then. Only with everything that had unfolded around them, getting to know more about the years lost between them, at least from Logan’s end, ended up being pushed to the back burner. Ash made a mental note to fix that asap.
Nick gulped at his water before he continued, “He actually never told me exactly what went down between you two, but Ash… he could never get over it. For years, every time we hung out, went somewhere for dinner or drinks, or whatever, somehow the subject always circled back to you.”
The words hurt. He hated it. He hated all of it. Hated being the coward and insecure young man who’d run. Who’d erased Logan’s smile.
“I confess,” Nick said, reaching out and taking Ash’s quivering hand in his. He had nice, smooth hands. Hands of someone who’d never had to do manual labor once in their lives. Who’d never had to fight or torture or… kill. “For several years I tried to play matchmaker and set him with some of my friends.”
Jealousy and outrage struck Ash like lightning. And it was idiotic. It was idiotic the way he involuntarily tried to pull his hand back from Nick’s, but it just happened. The idea of Logan — attentive, possessive, gentle, and kind Logan, the boy he’d fallen in love with even before he could understand the sentiment — in a serious relationship with anybody else sliced bits of his heart out.
“I tried,” Nick emphasized, squeezing Ash’s hand firmly as if to make a point, “but it never worked out.” He paused. “For years dumb little me failed to see why someone so polite and cool, a genuine nice guy, would just bury himself in alcohol at the first chance he got and just slide people by as if they were objects, never wanting more, until…”
“Until what?” Ash asked, half wanting to hear the answers, half wanting to run away, afraid of what he’d hear.
“Until I finally saw the pattern, Ash. That the only times when I’d see a smile, flimsy as it’d be, on his face, were the times when we’d be alone and the subject would circle back to the infamous Ash Reid.” Nick said that last part with a smile and another hand squeeze. “That’s when I realized it was real, what you guys’d had. The kind of real Logan wasn’t really ready to stop hoping for, even though there were no indications to let him believe you were even still alive, as far as we knew.”
Ash could only nod, biting the inside of his cheek to keep him from start crying. Or from punching something.
“And I can see it now,” Nick said with a kind smile and a special gleam in his eye. “I totally can.”
Ash wiped his eyes, ashamed, but really not that embarrassed. Crying in front of Nick was like crying in his room back home with Cass, for some crazy reason. It didn’t make him feel weak.
“And what,” Ash started, still busy wiping his eyes, “do you see, oh wise Nick?”
Nick laughed, then brought the hem of his own sleeve to help Ash out. “I can see everything now, actually,” he revealed, leaning back against the back of his chair once Ash managed to look him in the eye again. “I can see why Logan spent years being a sullen mess, and I can see, at the same time, why he never gave up, which may have been part of the reason that led him to be a sullen mess.”
Ash just stared at him, an eyebrow raised, kinda hyperventilating, as he hung on to every word.
“It’s just in his eyes, you know? Yours too.” Nick shook his head. “The way you look at each other… it’s like… like… I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like you’re both part of the same thing, you know? Like you’re real, Ash, and God knows how hard it is to find real these days.”
“You really see all that?”
Nick’s gentle smile broadened, showing a hint of his perfectly aligned, white teeth. “Yeah, I do.” He too was rubbing his eyes now. He gave another shrug. “
It’s just nice seeing it with your own eyes, you know? Your friends happy. Logan, especially. I never thought I’d see the bastard happy.” As Ash had just done, he turned his gaze to Logan’s chair, on the other side of the vast backstage room, where there was now another lady taking care of his hair, washing it or something.
After a few moments, right when Ash was taking a sip of his bottled water, Nick turned his wise, dark eyes on him, with a hint of a mischievous grin. “So,” he started, voice an octave higher than usual, “when’s the wedding?”
Ash went right ahead and choked on his water. When he finally managed to stop coughing, Nick had his head rolled back in laughter. “You should see your face right now,” he pointed out.
“Ha, ha,” Ash fake laughed. “Very funny, Nick. You’re hilarious.”
“No, but really, when’s the wedding?”
Ash rolled his eyes. “We’ve barely been together a couple months. I’m not sure Logan is even thinking about that kind of stuff yet.”
Nick groaned, as if offended. “You kidding, right? That man,” he pointed unashamedly to where Logan was having his hair done, “looks at you as if he’s ready to fuck you exclusively until you’re both eighty and have saggy balls, my friend.”
Ash couldn’t help but smile. “You think so?”
“I know so.”
Ash laughed in way of a response. Nick was straight up crazy, plain and simple.
“And,” he continued, bringing Ash’s gaze back to him, “I’m just gonna throw it out there and tell you that when it happens — probably within the year — I expect to be invited as a groomsman, at the very least. Anything less than that and you guys are doomed with me, just telling ya.”
Ash laughed, not entirely sure Nick was kidding. “Alright. I’ll see what I can do.”
Nick narrowed his eyes at him playfully, then they got distracted again when nothing less than five guys approached Logan’s station and started measuring him all over.
Nick snorted out a laugh. “That’s another thing that changed a lot about him.”
