Living in Fast Forward

by BA Tortuga

  Fuckhead.

  Growling, he stood and planted his hands on the desk Charlie had settled behind. “I want some time off at the end, then. A week in California.”

  “Whine. Whine. Whine. You’ve got some Southern-fried rock thing in Nashville, what about that?”

  “Goddammit, Charlie.” Nashville was important. He wasn’t a crossover man for nothing. He sighed. “When can I have some time, man?”

  “Holidays are coming, son. I can keep your schedule empty for that. You going to visit your momma?” Hollis might have to hit him. Hard.

  “Don’t go there, Charlie. You know better. I just want to stay in one place for more than two days.” He wanted some time with Jeremy that wasn’t business.

  “Yeah, I hear you, son.” Charlie actually looked a little hangdog. “This money’ll help the next record, you know it.”

  He met those bloodshot eyes and nodded. “I know. I do. It’s just tougher and tougher, older I get. But hey, my jeans fit.”

  “Shit, you’re in the running for Sexiest Man of the Year, son.”

  “Yeah?” That had him laughing a little, sitting back in his chair. “No shit. Well, that’s something that hasn’t happened in years, huh?”

  “You don’t look like a has-been drunk no more, Hollis. Amazing how that works.”

  “Fuck you, you money-grubbing old bastard.” Asshole. Okay, so it was true, and he owed it all to Jeremy, but goddamn. Did Charlie have to rub it in?

  “Yeah, yeah. You need anything? Everybody’s taking care of you okay?”

  “Yeah. I could use a sausage biscuit every once in a while without having to sneak off the bus…. Believe me, I work it off.”

  “I’ll talk to the kid, tell him to quit playing Hitler.” Charlie pulled out a smoke, lit up. “You want one?”

  “Nah.” Hollis thought about it for a minute. “Don’t talk to him, okay? He’ll just freak out.” God knew he didn’t want Jeremy to get all het up again.

  One gray eyebrow went up. “You watch that shit, son. You get caught up in him, I’ll fire him so fast his eyes’ll roll like dice. I figured him as some stress relief; he ain’t your friend.”

  The growl almost got out, but Hollis held it in. Charlie would do it too. And the man had no idea just how important Jeremy had become. Hell, neither did Jeremy. “I just don’t want to have to deal with him hiding when I need to work out.”

  “Need to work out. Listen to you. You got the bug.” Charlie nodded at him, looking satisfied. “It’s good for you.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Something was working, that was for sure. “So tell me about California.”

  “Two words, son.” Charlie leaned forward, looking like the cat that caught the canary. “Hollywood Bowl.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “OH, YOU ass!” Jeremy rolled, laughing his ass off at Chris’s stupid fucking story. “No self-respecting dude goes to a bar in a bear suit.”

  Chris leaned across the table, finger poking him in the forehead. “Who ever said I dated self-respecting men, Germs?”

  “Bitch.”

  Chris fluttered and simpered dramatically, making him howl with laughter. Like Chris was a skinny queen. Those abs made him look tiny.

  He motioned to the waitress at the hotel coffee shop. “More coffee, please?”

  He did love tour breaks.

  “You bet, honey.” The waitress popped her gum and winked, leaving them alone.

  “So. What’s it like?” Chris asked, lowering his voice.

  “The bus? Okay. It was hard to get used to at first, but yeah. I’m glad I took the job.” Real glad. Like bone-deep glad. Like the idea of the tour ending ached glad. Shit, he was stupid in love with the big asshole.

  “No, the rock star. You can’t tell me you haven’t seen him naked.” Nosy little shit.

  “He’s got an amazing fucking work ethic, man. He’s into it.” Jeremy was damned proud of Hollis’s bod, that shit-eating grin plastered over every magazine on Earth.

  “Uh-huh. You have a jones for him, I can tell.” The coffee came, and Chris sat back, smart enough not to talk on it when someone else was around.

  He didn’t say a thing to that. He’d lie before he fucked with Hollis’s career. “You still seeing Mack? Mickey? Mackey?”

  “No, honey, he got too possessive. You know how I feel about that.” Chris was a serial dater, Lord love him.

  “Yeah. I remember. I didn’t share very well either.” He winked as Chris got all huffy, both of them busting out laughing. “Shit, you’re funny, for a muscle-bound size queen.”

  “And you’re just too picky. It’s sad. You need to get out more.”

  “I’m busy, man. I love my job.” He loved his client.

  “Oh my God!” The waitress could achieve serious volume when she screeched. “Hollis Lee! Oh, honey, I’ve been to every concert you’ve ever done in this town!”

  The coffee shop wasn’t crowded, but all of a sudden it was loud, a certain big redneck sucking up all the attention in the room.

  Man, he’d never seen Hollis in, like, public before. It was weird as hell.

  The man was smiling that crooked little smile and signing autographs, but every so often those odd-colored eyes would flash to him, hot with something not… hot and sexy.

  “I guess it’s time to go back to work, man. Or at least away from all the crowds.” He stood up, plopped a ten on the table. Chris stood up, gave him a huge bear hug, squeezing the shit out of him.

  “Call me, Germs. You never call anymore.”

  Lord. Hollis was giving him the death glare, just full-on “You’re in deep shit.”

  “Yeah, yeah. See you, man.” He skirted the crowd and Hollis’s eyes, heading to the elevator and the suite. He assumed he wasn’t supposed to go and actually talk to Hollis in the restaurant.

  He had maybe a half hour to himself, which was just enough time to get twitchy. Then the door slammed open and a tornado shaped like Hollis blew in. “Who the hell was that?”

  “Chris Johnston. He’s an old friend of mine; we went to school together.”

  “Looked pretty close, the way he was hugging on you, baby.” Man, someone was in a shitty mood. Growly.

  “I haven’t seen him in a while. We were close once.” He shrugged, heading for the fridge to grab two bottles of water. Someone needed to hydrate.

  Hollis glared at him when he offered the water over. “Don’t be trying to fend me off with water and tofu, baby.”

  “What’s the matter with you? Did they keep you out in the sun too long? I haven’t seen you all day; I’m not fending you off.” Weird, growly man.

  “No? You always give me orange juice or water or green tea when you think I’m being unreasonable.” Sighing, Hollis rolled his head on his neck. “I’m gonna go take a shower.”

  “Dude, I give you orange juice at least once a day…. You need a massage?” Man, he’d had too much fucking coffee. Jitter. Jitter.

  “I want to know who that guy was!” Hollis snarled, turning on him and grabbing his arms. “I don’t share, baby.”

  Jeremy just sort of blinked. “What?”

  “You heard me. No hooking up with old boyfriends on the road.”

  “I….” Wait. What? “I didn’t tell him about us, Hollis. I just wanted to say hi.”

  “I didn’t think you’d talk, baby.” Shaking his head, Hollis bent and gave him a hard kiss. “It just threw me. Hard. Seeing you with someone else.”

  “Chris is a neat guy. One hell of a trainer. You’d like him.” Jeremy felt a little like he was caught in a whirlwind.

  “Oh, baby. I don’t think I would. Not at all.” He got another deep press of Hollis’s lips on his, that big body crowding him, backing him up against the wall. There wasn’t any option but to open up, to kiss Hollis right back and just let the son of a bitch in. Hot. Jesus, Hollis was something.

  Overwhelming. The man just surrounded him, pulling him in tight and lifting until his thighs opened up to straddle one
of Hollis’s legs. He wrapped around Hollis, fingers tangling in that dark hair as he pulled Hollis closer. Big hands closed on his ass, pulling him up even more, giving him something to hump against. And goddamn, but Hollis kissed him until his ears rang.

  “Uhn.” Hollis’s fingers hit the small of his back, the nails scraping just enough, and he damn near screamed, bucking back toward the touch.

  “That’s it, baby. God, I need you.” Sandpaper and gravel. That was Hollis’s voice, sliding right down his spine to meet Hollis’s hands.

  “Got. Got me. Fuck. Hollis. Please.” His hips rolled, thighs going tight enough to burn. So close. Goddamn.

  One hand worked around, pushing down between them to cup his cock, pressing hard, and that was it. That was the mother lode. He shot hard, head cracking against the wall, things just spinning.

  “I got you, baby.” Hollis kissed him slow, easing him down from the total rush, the utter high of it. “Right here.”

  “Mmm. Hollis.” He smiled, head rolling on his shoulders.

  “Better. Much, much better.” Hollis hoisted him right up and carried him to the couch, giving him a real muscle-man show. Goddamn, he did good work.

  “Uh-huh. What can I do for you, beautiful?”

  Hollis chuckled. “I’m good, baby. Real good. Just sit with me a minute, huh?”

  “Mmm.” He nodded and snuggled in, steadfastly ignoring that whole sticky thing.

  The weird growly thing was gone, replaced by the warm, humming songwriter man he was more used to. A case of unrelenting improvement.

  And he didn’t even have to hydrate the man.

  Damn, he was good.

  Chapter Eighteen

  HOLLIS WAS feeling like a damned zombie.

  Two more weeks to the Hollywood Bowl. A week after that to the Nashville Crossovers fan special. And he was fucking pooped.

  Orange juice, water, and good clean living could only go so far when a man wasn’t sleeping, or even fucking. But tomorrow was a travel day, so Hollis figured maybe now was the time for one, then the other.

  Not necessarily in the order he’d thought of them.

  He climbed on the bus, his sweaty shirt clinging to him, and grabbed a water off the little stand Jeremy had put by the door to keep him from rummaging in the fridge. Little fuck.

  “Hey, baby. You around?”

  “Uh-huh.” Jeremy was twisted into some weird-assed pretzel shape, butt in the air, one leg behind an ear. Wow.

  That was… well, it wasn’t sexy, because ow and weird. But it did lead to some thoughts that would be sexy once Jeremy was upright again.

  “Hey. You’re all bent.”

  “Hey, how’s it going? You playing ball with the guys?” Jeremy unrolled himself, cheeks just a little pink.

  “Yeah. Blew them all out of the water. They were kinda shocked.” He got the biggest kick out of that.

  “Stud.” Jeremy stretched up, hips wiggling just a little. “Sorry I missed it.”

  Right. Jeremy sucked at ball.

  “Uh-huh. You were twisting up like a gummi worm. How do you do that, baby?” The water went down well, but now he was hungry. He drifted toward the little kitchenette.

  “There’s some great fruit salad, and I made tuna salad earlier.” Jeremy leaned back, walking down the wall in a backbend.

  Now that was far better than the pretzel. That was almost pornographic. “Uh-huh. Fruit. Got it.”

  “Mmm-hmm. Pineapple. Strawberries.” Those muscled thighs spread, supporting that fine fucking body.

  Hollis figured he wasn’t that hungry. They could eat together in a bit. Swerving, he headed right over for Jeremy, his hands sliding up those legs.

  “Mmm….” Fuck, the muscles under his hands were hard as stone.

  “Oh, you’re feeling good, baby.” Look at that body. How could a man resist bending and kissing at that belly?

  “Careful. Don’t make me fall.” Jeremy’s stomach rolled under his lips, just sweet as anything.

  “Not gonna. You know I’ll catch you.” Licking a little line up, he slid his palms flat under Jeremy’s ass, testing the muscles there too. Oh man. Hard, taut, tight as hell. Jeremy rocked, nice and easy, pushing between his mouth and his hands. Growling, his body going tight as could be, Hollis nibbled, easing Jeremy up more against his mouth. Lord, he was horny. That man just did it for him.

  “Fuck. Hollis. Your mouth is so hot.” Jeremy shuddered, elbows damn near buckling.

  “Hold on, baby. Don’t fall down on me yet.” He had to nuzzle a little, right at the crotch of Jeremy’s soft shorts. Because damn.

  “Oh….” Jeremy smelled like pure heat, like nothing more than horny male.

  “Uh-huh. Jesus, yeah.” Hollis pulled at the cloth with his teeth, needing his hands to hold Jeremy up, but needing skin. That skin.

  “Hollis. Hollis. God damn.” Jeremy got heavier in his hands, deep sounds pouring out of him.

  “Oh yeah.” The shorts hadn’t given up easily, but Hollis could lick at Jeremy’s cock now, suck the head into his mouth. Arms shaking from holding Jeremy’s weight, he just went to town, needing so damned bad.

  “Gonna. Oh, fuck….” Jeremy humped up, trying desperately to get into his mouth, to get more.

  They were gonna collapse. Hollis figured better safe than sorry, so he backed off and got Jeremy up out of that bend, then kissed the man silly as soon as they were face-to-face. Then he dropped to his knees and took that thick prick right back in, sucking all the way down.

  Jeremy cried out, and man that sound was damn near like music, cock pushing into his throat, swelling and throbbing. Closing his eyes, he just loosened up everything, lips sliding down to touch the base, his hands pulling Jeremy all the way in. Salt and heat splashed against his throat; Jeremy’s fingers tangled in his hair. Shit, all the screaming groupies in the world didn’t do this for him.

  Not even one of them had ever come close. This was a lot like some word he hardly ever thought about. Hollis licked Jeremy clean, backing off to nuzzle with his cheek.

  “Mmm.” Jeremy slid down the wall, pushing right into his arms, all hot and wanting and fine.

  “Hey, baby.” Kissing was an art form for them. It really was. Slow, deep, and sweet, that first one left his head spinning, his cock aching. Jeremy’s fingers pushed at his pants, hunting for his prick even as Jeremy kissed him stupid. Hollis sucked his belly right in, giving the man more room to move, his cock pushing right up. Oh yeah. That was fucking amazing.

  “You’re the hottest fucking thing ever.” Jeremy knew just how to touch, just where to stroke to get him off.

  “You…. God. Baby. I need.” His back arched, his hands coming back to support him, giving him leverage to push up and up.

  “Look at you.” Jeremy shifted, lips wrapping around one of his nipples and pulling hard.

  “Fuck! Jeremy. More.” His hand cupped the back of Jeremy’s skull, holding him close. That mouth made everything go white-hot and crazy. Those sharp teeth added to the sting, fist pumping faster, thumb working him hard. A fucking growl burst out of him, and he came hard into Jeremy’s hand, just loving the feel of those fingers, that mouth.

  “You know how fucking sexy that is?” Jeremy leaned down, licked his cock clean.

  “I. Yeah. I see it when you do it.” His hands stroked randomly, finding Jeremy’s skin, those shoulders and arms. Better than a bean sprout sandwich, for sure.

  “You taste good.” Jeremy was a wicked fuck, grinning like that. “Clean living suits you.”

  “Asshole. I think it’s just you. Now where’s my fruit salad?” Smacking Jeremy’s ass, Hollis thought about all the things they could do with a day on the road.

  He could think of a lot.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “HOLLIS? MAN? You want something to eat?” Jeremy was starving, and there was some steak salad in the fridge that was calling his name.

  Steak salad.

  Olives.

  Maybe some peaches.
/>   Ooh.

  Peaches.

  “I could eat.”

  It had been hours since Hollis’s last snack, so yeah. He’d bet the man could eat.

  “You want red meat or olives? Both?” He pulled the big bowl out, grabbed a fabulous bleu cheese dressing.

  “Both. What’s dessert?” Hollis came around and picked at the olives, giving him a leer.

  “Peaches? We need an ice cream maker for whole-food ice cream….”

  “Whole food? What the hell does that mean?” Those brows could still snap down at the very thought of making something like ice cream healthy.

  “Pretty much just making ice cream out of nothing but cream, sugar, fruit—no preservatives and shit.” Dork. Big, goofy dork.

  “Oh. I was worried you were gonna take the sugar out or something. I’ll tell Ann Marie. What kind of machine do you want?” Oh, now he got that thousand-watt smile.

  “I… I don’t know. I’ve never bought one before.” He fed Hollis a cherry tomato. “Man, my folks have one of those huge, rattling wooden ones. You remember those?”

  “I do. I spent a lot of time sitting on it while someone cranked. Or vice versa.” That hot tongue scraped over his fingers.

  “Did you ride the ice cream machine, beautiful?” He could see that, a young, gangly Hollis, straddling the crank machine.

  “I did.” Grinning, Hollis fed him an olive, the salty morsel melting in his mouth. “It kept me out of the way.”

  “Were you a shithead?” Oh. Cheese. He grabbed some white cheddar and some little gherkins.

  “Not really. Just the kind of kid who figured bad attention was better than none at all. Oh, cheese.” Man, Hollis did love his milk products.

  “I was the quiet one, believe it or not.” He cut a slice, fed a bite to Hollis.

  “Oh, I can see you, off in the corner, huh? Hiding.” Hollis ate the cheese, nibbling at him again, grinning.

  “Yeah. There was a lot of competition.”

  “Yeah?” One big hand cupped his cheek, cradling his head. “Well, you got none here. Just me, baby.”