Up in the Air 2

by George Loveland

He turned his face at the last moment and I hit his cheek.

  I stared at him, my lips pursed. He didn’t look at me.

  “Fine,” I spat out. I turned around, stormed past Danny on the dancefloor and into the toilets. There was one cubicle free, and despite the mess in there, I put the seat down and sat on top of it. I let out a sob which turned into tears.

  “Max?”

  I wiped away the tears, took a breath and then replied to Danny. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

  “He’s gone. I told him what for.”

  “You didn’t need to.”

  “I did. What an arsehole.”

  I laughed, grabbed some toilet paper and wiped at my eyes once more. I left the cubicle and went to the mirror where I checked the damage. I didn’t look as bad as I’d thought I would and thanked Danny as he rubbed my shoulders and hugged me.

  “Come on, we’ve been invited for an audience with the queen in her dressing room.”

  I followed Danny out of the toilet back into the bar, then through into the dressing room.

  “Miss Dai Zee, you were on fire last night. Gurl, I’ve not seen anyone pull off Baby like that since Baby Spice herself.” Crystal’s deep voice filled the room. She let out a huge laugh at the end.

  “That means so much coming from you, Crystal. It was my friend Max’s idea. I forgot the dress I was going to wear, and he suggested the change.”

  Crystal looked me over and then she grabbed me in for a bear hug. When she let go, she rubbed her fingers under my eyes.

  “Boy, what’s going on. My show has never left anyone in tears before, was I that good?”

  Danny filled her in on all the details. Crystal hugged me the whole time, and even when I tried to escape her clutches she held me tighter. Only when Danny had finished the whole story, did she let me go.

  “Let’s get out there and find you a new man. Come on, I’m renowned for my ability to match men up in an instant. Come, boy, Crystal’s not got all night.”

  “You can’t matchmake for shit,” Brandon said as he entered the dressing room.

  Danny beamed at him.

  “Bullshit and you know it, Brandon. Who did you have a date with today?”

  Brandon blushed and I had to laugh.

  “Didn’t I tell you to book this little queen while your stupid ass mulled it over? I’ll take your open mouth as a yes. Crystal knows and Crystal is never wrong. Now, let me fix this boy up before he goes home. He needs a good man in his life.”

  Crystal dragged me out onto the dancefloor and, like the night before, there was applause as the queen entered the bar. We danced, with Crystal twirling me like I was on display. A few guys danced with us, and when a couple started to gyrate with me, she left me to it.

  I couldn’t see their faces, but it was nice to know they weren’t old, and they had good bodies. I found myself in a sandwich between the two muscle studs and revelled in the way kisses were placed on my neck from the front, while the guy grinded up behind me.

  I lost myself in the moment. The sense I could have both guys together made my cock swell. The music got louder, the bodies got closer, and I leant back into one guy as he kissed my neck, while the other stroked at my chest. Hot breath at my ear whispered to me, but I couldn’t make out the words. I turned around to face him, a blond-haired, blue-eyed, clean-shaven hunk. I was ready for a kiss, I was ready for something, when someone else grabbed my hand and dragged me away from the two hunks.

  Someone in a white T-shirt held onto my hand and took me away from the dancefloor until I had the sense to break free from his grasp. Antonio turned around; his lips pursed and face red.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” I screamed at him. The music was too loud for me to be heard by anyone but him.

  He didn’t reply but took a step forward and his mouth found mine. I was too shocked to do anything, but when his hand gripped my hair, I went limp and surrendered into the kiss.

  The kiss went on and on. His tongue invaded my mouth and I let him. When he went to move away, I threw my arm around his neck to bring him closer. His body pressed into mine and I could feel his excitement, but then he stopped and thrust a piece of paper into my hand. He kissed my lips once more, and then turned and walked out of the bar.

  I unfolded the piece of paper and looked down at his name and his number.

  Chapter Seven

  “What happened?” Danny cried in my ear.

  I showed him the piece of paper.

  “Where’s he gone now?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Call him.”

  Danny raised his eyebrows at me. The piece of paper in my hand held too many questions. It made obvious sense for me to call him, but I was confused. My eyes scanned around the bar, to see if he was there, but I knew he had gone. The guys I had been dancing with were now snogging each other, which didn’t bother me. In fact, I was relieved.

  “Come on, give me your phone. I’ll call him for you.”

  “No, it’s fine. I’ll do it. Later.”

  “Why not now?”

  “Because I am confused as fuck as to what happened. I don’t understand why he rejected me, twice, stopped me from dancing with those guys, kissed me, and then walked off. Again.”

  “Probably because he saw a ménage à trois taking place.”

  I laughed. “It was getting hot.”

  “I was ready to throw a cold bucket of water over you all.”

  “It wasn’t that bad.”

  “Gurl, I was ready with my popcorn for a live threesome.” Crystal’s deep voice vibrated through me. “Anyway, you can thank Crystal with a kiss on the cheek and a promise to tell me all about it later.”

  “You set me up with those two.” I pointed to the guys who had now removed their tops. I gulped. They were defined. A strange feeling came over me. Suddenly glad not to be involved with them anymore.

  “I never get it wrong. I saw him come back into the bar. He wasn’t going to approach you while I was there, but I knew, I tell you, I knew as soon as I let go and fed you to those muscle boys, he was going to make his move. Gurl.” Crystal turned to Danny. “Was I right or was I right?”

  “You were right, Crystal,” Danny said in awe. Then a smile crept over his face as Brandon’s arm wrapped around his stomach. “We’re gonna go now. Call him, before he gets too far away.”

  “Okay.” I couldn’t work out what I was going to say or do. “I may stay here a little bit. Clear my head.”

  “You’re still not allowed to drink here tonight, even though I’ve left,” Brandon said.

  I stared at him but nodded. I didn’t think a drink would help in this situation anyway.

  “Okay, we’re off.” Danny kissed my cheek, kissed Crystal, and then took Brandon’s outstretched hand as they left the bar.

  “Right, boy, I need to get out of here too. You promise you’ll tell me all that happens with this man?”

  “I promise, Crystal.”

  “Good, now let me find a man or two. Crystal’s got needs.”

  Crystal took to the dancefloor and was instantly surrounded by guys who all vied for her attention. She soon had what she wanted.

  As I stepped outside the bar, the heavens opened. I’d never known it to rain in LA, but I guess there was a first time for everything. There weren’t any cabs, and I debated switching my phone on to get an Uber but thought better of it and waited. I put my hands in my pockets and fingered the piece of paper.

  It burnt in my hands, but in the end, I couldn’t resist. I had to know. Fuck the roaming charges. I wanted to know what happened.

  “Hello.”

  “Antonio, it’s Max.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Outside the club. Waiting for a taxi.”

  “Okay. I will come get you.”

  “You don’t have to.”

  “You won’t get a cab now it’s raining. I’m coming now.”

  “Fine.” I hung up. If he wanted to call the shots, I wanted t
o have some power. Plus, if a taxi turned up before he did, I’d consider getting in to show him he couldn’t mess me about.

  As though I was being tested, a taxi parked outside the bar, it’s light on to show it was available. I hesitated, but then a car on the other side of the street beeped its horn, waited for traffic to pass and then swung round outside the bar.

  The passenger window opened, and Antonio leant over so I could see him. “Come, get in.”

  I hesitated for a moment before I opened the door and climbed into the car and sat down on the soft leather seat. I stared at him.

  “Which hotel are you staying at?” He motioned to his phone on the dashboard where a maps app was open ready for the address.

  “Tell me why first.”

  “Why what?” His eyebrows were knitted together again.

  “Why you rejected my kiss at the bar, stopped that friend of yours, rejected my second attempt at a kiss, and then when I was about to have some fun you decided to kiss me. Then left me. Again.”

  He chuckled, which made me angry.

  “What’s so fucking funny?”

  “I’m sorry, I’m an idiot.”

  I balked at him. “You could say that again.”

  “I know. Which is why I came back, but then I saw you dancing and got angry that they were touching you. You’re too good for them.”

  “You don’t know me.”

  “I think you have a good heart.”

  I scoffed at him. “You really don’t know me.”

  “I know. Not yet.”

  The last words hit me hard. Was he serious?

  “Tell me where you are staying. I will take you back there. No sex though.”

  “You weren’t getting any.”

  “That’s okay. I’ll take you back anyway.”

  “Fine. Tropicana by the airport.”

  He found the hotel on his maps app, turned the music up and then headed off. We didn’t say anything, and it took all I had to not look at him. I still had so much I wanted to know, but he didn’t seem to be giving me anything. When a song I recognised played, I sang along. He turned down the music and then turned it off completely.

  “My singing wasn’t that bad.”

  “No, it’s something else. The car’s not driving properly. I don’t know what is wrong.”

  He grunted as we drove down the road. His lips were pursed and his knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel.

  There was a strange noise coming from the car, then a boom. Antonio spat some words out in Italian that I couldn’t make out and struggled with the steering wheel. He slowed down and then indicated off the road.

  “What’s happened?”

  “I don’t know. Stay here.”

  Antonio got out of the car and then shouted out, again in Italian. He opened the door.

  “The tyre has gone.”

  “Gone?”

  “Blown. Shit, fuck. Wait, I have a spare. We need to change it now.”

  “We?”

  His wide eyes told me I had screamed at him.

  “I’ve never changed a tyre before. Can’t you call someone?”

  Antonio shook his head. “I don’t have that kind of service. Come on, please, I can’t do it on my own.”

  “I don’t know what to do,” I cried again.

  “I need you to shine a light. I can do the rest. You can’t be in the car though.”

  I huffed and puffed and then stepped out into the rain. He handed me a torch and went around the back of the car. I followed him, shining the light while he opened the boot and took the spare wheel out.

  “I don’t suppose you have an umbrella in there?”

  He laughed. “It’s LA, of course not. We don’t normally have rain.”

  “Except for now.”

  Antonio picked up the spare wheel and whatever else he needed and took it around to the front of the car.

  I couldn’t help but watch the way the T-shirt hugged his body. His back was broad and I could make out the natural form of his body. If it hadn’t been chucking it down, I was sure I’d have been excited.

  “Grab me the crank,” he called out as he positioned the jack under the car.

  I went to the boot and found what I thought he wanted and took it back to him.

  “No, not that, the other thing.”

  “Urgh,” I cried out, ran to the back of the car and picked up every object there. “Which one?” I held out three different things.

  “This is the one I want.” He grabbed one of them.

  I shone the light so he could get to work and stood back as he cranked the jack to get the car up. My breath hitched in my throat as his arms flexed with each crank. When he’d finished I let out a whine.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. What else do you need?”

  “That one.” He pointed to another piece of metal and began to unscrew the bolts keeping the wheel in place. “The wrench.”

  Again, I enjoyed the view.

  “I need the light on the bolts.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Were you checking me out?”

  “Of course not.”

  “It would be so much quicker if you focused the light on the wheel and not my ass.”

  “Oh, I wasn’t checking your arse out.” I flashed the light to his bum and whimpered. Now, I was usually a bottom, but his arse looked good enough to eat.

  “Light, Max, please.”

  I shone the light back to the wheel and muttered an apology. The light reflected off the shiny wheel, and I could see how red his face was. I didn’t know if it was anger or exhaustion, but hoped it was exhaustion. Not too much, though. A little voice offered.

  “Okay, take this round the back.”

  Antonio had managed to take the wheel off, so I rolled the burst tyre to the rear of the car and put it into the boot. Back at the front of the car Antonio already had the wheel on and was putting the bolts in. I flashed the light over the wheel as he tightened the bolts. He handed me the wrench as he lowered the car down.

  My teeth chattered together. Antonio took the wrench from me again, tightened the bolts once more and then grabbed everything and threw it into the boot of the car. He walked over to me and kissed me on the lips. The small gesture warmed me up from the inside and I lost any thought of where we were; Antonio had to tell me to get back into the car. I did as I was told, even though the cool leather interior made me shiver even more. When the car started, warm air blasted through the car, and we set off, albeit without the speed we had driven at before.

  “Thank you, I could not do it without you.”

  “That’s okay,” I replied. He took hold of my hand, and despite the grease and dirt, I twisted my hand around so that we held hands. It was all the warmth I needed right now.

  We drove in silence. There was no music, no words spoken between us. The only voice to fill the space was the satnav as she directed us to the hotel. Ten minutes later we arrived. Antonio drove to the lobby, but I didn’t want this to be the end.

  I opened my mouth, closed it again, coughed and then tried to get out the words I wanted to say.

  “Do you want to come in?” I asked.

  He took a moment before he shook his head.

  “How long is your drive back?”

  “About an hour.”

  “You don’t want to be all wet. Why not come in, dry off, and get warm?” I looked down at our entwined hands and gave him a squeeze. “Get clean?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Okay.”

  “I want to, but—”

  “It’s okay,” I lied. The man had rejected me enough already. Why he didn’t want to come in now, I didn’t know. I leant over, kissed his cheek, let go of his hand and got out of the car. “Thanks for bringing me back,” I said as I closed the door.

  It was a few steps from the car to the lobby. I didn’t look back at him but kept facing forward as the automatic door to the hotel opened.

  “Wait.”

>   I turned around; Antonio stood half out of the car.

  My heartbeat quickened as his face flickered with different emotions. His brows creased together, and then dropped. He opened his mouth a couple of times, and then closed it again.

  “Wait for what, Antonio? The sun to rise?”

  “I need to park the car. What room are you in?”

  My stomach fluttered, but I had to rein it back in as much as possible. “Three-fourteen,” I replied.

  “Okay, no sex though.”

  I balked at him. “I wasn’t offering any.”

  His lips curved upwards. “Okay, be right there.”

  Antonio drove to the car park, and when he was out of sight I ran to my room. It wasn’t a mess, but there were a couple of shirts casually thrown about the place. Despite what he’d said, I put condoms and lube in the drawer by the bed, so they were in easy reach if we needed them. A knock on the door made my body tingle.

  Even though I knew it was him, I checked the peephole. He looked around as though he was waiting to be caught doing something wrong. When I opened the door, his eyes darkened, and his smile disappeared. He stepped into the room, his hand reached around the back of my head, and our mouths collided.

  Hot kisses turned into tongue dancing as the need to be close outweighed the need for oxygen. I closed the space between us, gripped at the hem of his T-shirt and pulled it up and over his head. We continued to kiss as I got rid of my shirt, then stopped as we worked on our own trousers, kicking off our shoes at the same time. I shivered, even though the room was warm, I needed heat, I needed warmth. His body was as cold as mine, and we had to remedy that.

  “Shower,” I mouthed into him. He nodded. I grabbed his hand and took him into the bathroom and to the shower. Once I checked that the water was at a good temperature, I turned around and got to look at him. He still had his boxer shorts on, which bulged in all the right places. I slipped my briefs down and stepped in.

  Antonio came in behind me, his cock pushed against my arse, but I wasn’t touching him there, not yet. He laid kisses on my neck as his hands swept up and down my chest. I stepped forward so the hot water would wash over him, then turned around and kissed him. It took some movement to stop our cocks fighting before he rested on my belly, and me on his. His hands continued their sweep up and down my back as we kissed under the hot water. His lips left mine and trailed down my neck, chest and to my belly.