Indigo Knights: The Boxed Set

by Jet Mykles

  “Brent didn’t tell you everything, did he?”

  “No. Just that you had a falling-out in LA and you were back in town now. And”—he hesitated, eyes averted—“that I needed to talk to you.”

  Before Izzy could protest, Rabin grabbed his arm. He used it to draw Izzy closer to the building, out of the main traffic on the sidewalk. Once there, he slid his hand down to twine his fingers with Izzy’s. “Do you see my face?”

  “Yes.” The breathlessness in Izzy’s voice went straight to Rabin’s crotch, making his balls tingle, but he ignored that for now.

  “I got this because my bass player wouldn’t be in a band with a fag.”

  Izzy’s eyes stretched open to match the fall of his jaw.

  Rabin nodded. “He found out I’d slept with a guy, and went ballistic.” Not exactly true, but close enough. He’d tell Izzy about Danny later, after he’d made his point.

  The hand with the rose finally made its way to Rabin’s face, fingers lightly trailing his jaw just underneath the bruise. “Oh, Rabin, I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I’m glad it happened.” He laughed. “Okay, I kind of wish I didn’t get beat up, but the end result’s the same.”

  “What happened with Zane?”

  That one still kind of hurt. He hadn’t seen Zane since his friend had stormed out of the apartment. Zane had stayed elsewhere that night, and Rabin had escaped the City of Angels the next day. Since then, no calls, no nothing. “He knows. He’s not talking to me.”

  Izzy screwed his eyes shut. “Oh God, Rabin, I’m so sorry. I never meant for this to happen.”

  Rabin caught Izzy’s hand before it could fall away. He made sure to press that palm to his injury, welcoming the little throb of pain. The stem of the rose dug into his skin and bumped his ear, but he ignored it. “But it did. And I wouldn’t take it back.”

  Izzy stared into Rabin’s eyes, both hands caught. “What…are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that I missed you and I don’t want to be without you. I’m saying I love you.” God! That felt good.

  Breath caught, and finally dark chocolate eyes searched his face. “What?”

  “I love you so much, I can’t think about anyone else.”

  Izzy’s nostrils flared, and a bit of moisture pooled in the corners of his eyes. His quivering bottom lip worked twice before words could pass it. “What?”

  Smiling, Rabin released one of Izzy’s hands so he could reach forward to cup that beautiful face. He used a gentle hold to guide Izzy’s lips to his. “I love you.”

  A sweet, soft whimper bled from Izzy’s throat. The fingers of his free hand reached up to curl around Rabin’s upper arm, right under the hem of his T-shirt. “God, Rabin.” Izzy breathed when Rabin pulled back just a little. “Are you serious?”

  “I couldn’t be more serious.” He brushed their lips together again. “What can I do to prove it to you?”

  “I… I don’t know. I…”

  “I can take you to dinner.” He kissed the upper curve of Izzy’s cheek. “Or take you home so we can tell Brent and Hell.” Once started, he found it hard to stop brushing his lips over Izzy’s soft skin. “I’ll do anything you want.”

  Izzy’s fingers dug into the fabric of his T-shirt and yanked him close. “Take me to your place,” came the demand, breathed into Rabin’s open mouth. Then Izzy took a kiss with all the fierce pleasure Rabin could hope for while they still stood on a public street.

  But they could only do so much, so Rabin did pull back. But he stayed close, cradling Izzy’s neck with both hands. “With. Pleasure.” One last kiss, then he drew back, sliding one hand down Izzy’s neck, shoulder, and arm until he could twine their fingers together. Izzy watched his face with gentle astonishment, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

  “Let’s go.”

  Izzy giggled as they walked, poking the tip of his nose with the rose. “You’re really here.”

  Rabin squeezed Izzy’s hand. “I’m really here.”

  “Does it still hurt? Your face?”

  He smiled, only now realizing that Izzy was on his left side. “Yeah, but it’s better’n it was.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  He shook his head and pulled Izzy out of the way of an oncoming group of women. “It had to happen. Markus and I never really got on. I’m surprised we lasted as long as we did.” He smiled when he heard the women whispering furiously as they passed.

  Izzy didn’t even notice. “And Zane’s not talking to you?”

  “Nope.”

  “Because of me.”

  “No. Because of me.” Rabin shook Izzy’s hand so he’d look up. “I don’t regret this, Iz.”

  A wistful sigh. “Okay.”

  Rabin pulled Izzy between two buildings, just out of the foot traffic. “Listen to me. If Zane can’t accept who I am now, I don’t need him.”

  “He’s your best friend.”

  “Then he should understand.”

  Izzy nodded, but Rabin could tell that he still had his reservations.

  “Fine.” He drew Izzy back into the street, determined to make it home quickly so they could be alone. “I’ll just have to spend the rest of my life convincing you.”

  “The rest of your…?” Izzy laughed as Rabin tugged him along in his wake. “Rabin, you’re getting ahead of yourself.”

  “Am I?” Was he? It certainly didn’t feel like it. He couldn’t stand the thought of being without Izzy again.

  They didn’t speak for another block, each alone with their thoughts, connected by the press of their palms and the emotions ricocheting between them.

  It was Izzy who broke the silence. “What happens with the Knights now?”

  They’d reached the stairs leading up to a train platform. “I’m going to put together another band. The new Knights. And we’re going to do the music Brent and I were working on.”

  “Really?”

  “Absolutely. Writing music and performing it in front of a crowd is all I ever wanted to do. Studio work is great, but it’s not the same.”

  Izzy was quiet as they passed through the turnstiles and reached the platform to wait for the train.

  Rabin caught up his hand again to turn them face-to-face. “What?”

  Izzy blinked over the flower he held to his nose. “What?”

  “What are you thinking so hard about?”

  Perfect plump lips thinned in a grimace. “Nothing.”

  “Tell me.”

  Izzy sighed. He tried to slip his hand from Rabin’s, but Rabin wouldn’t let him. “Is it smart to do this when you’re thinking of a public career?”

  He knew what Izzy meant, but he wanted it said, so he played dumb. “Do what?”

  Izzy raised their linked hands. “This. Even Brent and his friends didn’t come out until they were already famous.”

  “Stop trying to push me away.”

  Gaze down and away, Izzy shrugged. “I’m just trying to be sensible.”

  Rabin wrapped his free hand around the back of Izzy’s neck and used it to draw him close. “Listen to me. I could give a shit what anyone else thinks. Keeping you and me a secret is just wrong, and I won’t do it. I want us to be open and out.”

  Izzy licked his lips. “You’re taking this coming-out thing rather well.”

  Rabin rubbed the back of Izzy’s neck. “You make it easy.”

  “Oh man.” Izzy tucked his head forward under Rabin’s chin, on the right side away from the bruise. “You say the sweetest things.”

  He held Izzy close until the train came. Then they boarded and sat beside each other, holding hands. He asked about school and listened with interest even as he was aware of the looks they got from other passengers. He counted. Of the two dozen people on the car with them, only five took notice, and four of the five smiled. It made it easy to totally disregard the one woman who scowled and sniffed in their direction.

  Izzy called Brent after they’d left the train and were walking to Rabin’s plac
e. “Hey, it’s me. I’m with Rabin. Yeah.” He glanced shyly at Rabin, grinning a little. “I think so. Yeah.” He laughed. “Okay, I’ll tell him.” Still chuckling, he shut his phone off.

  “What was that?”

  “Brent says this is your only chance. Don’t fuck it up.”

  Rabin laughed, sliding his arm around Izzy to pull him close. “I don’t plan to.” At the bottom of the stairs leading up to his building, he stopped, turning Izzy so he could kiss him again. “I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you.”

  Izzy smoothed a hand down the injured side of his face. “I know you didn’t. I knew that before.” He giggled again and waggled his eyebrows. “We’re not getting upstairs fast enough.”

  Laughing, Rabin unwrapped his arms, then pushed Izzy up the stairs ahead of him. He took advantage of his position to keep pinching the delectable ass before him, despite protests. Izzy paid him back, tickling and poking him while he unlocked the building’s front door. The light mood stayed with them up three flights of stairs to Rabin’s door.

  “Wow.” Izzy stumbled into the apartment and turned, taking a look at the barren surroundings. “This doesn’t look any different from the first day you moved in.”

  “No. Still can’t afford much.” He only had the basic utilities—this time with Internet—hooked back up so far, saving the purchase of furniture and a new television for a later date. Rabin had left the air unit running low when he left, so at least the temperature was bearable. He crooked his finger at Izzy, smiling as he backed down the short hall and into his bedroom. “Come with me.”

  “Oh, now this is much better.” Izzy stepped into the room that wasn’t anywhere near fully furnished, but Rabin had taken special care with his bed in the last few days. Still no headboard or footboard yet, but he’d taken pains to pick nice sheets, a smart-looking cover, and twice as many pillows as he needed. Izzy dropped his backpack just inside the door. “I like.”

  “Thanks.” Rabin drew the light-blocking curtains almost all the way shut, dimming the room. There was another building just across the street, and he wasn’t in the mood to give anyone a free show. “One of these days, I’ll get a nightstand.”

  Izzy laid his rose on top of the blue milk crate. “There’s time for that.”

  Rabin faced Izzy from the window. “Will you help me?”

  That made Izzy shy. He ducked his head. If his hair had been loose, it would have shielded his face. As it was, only a few loose tendrils fell forward. “If you want me to.”

  “I want you to.” He rounded the bed and plucked at Izzy’s shirt. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in black.”

  Izzy’s eyes were still downcast, but Rabin could see a shy smile. “I’ve been kind of gloomy lately.”

  Rabin slid a hand up Izzy’s side. “Can’t have that.” He leaned in to kiss Izzy’s neck. “Leave the black to me from now on.” He made Izzy laugh, so it was worth it. He nuzzled the soft spot underneath one ear, letting his hands roam down to Izzy’s waist. “I love you.”

  Lithe arms wrapped around his neck. “God, Rabin.”

  “I do.” He teased the hem of Izzy’s shirt up. “Couldn’t think about anyone but you.”

  “There was no one else in LA?”

  A fleeting thought of Danny that quickly dispersed. If anything, that interlude had convinced him that there was no one for him but Izzy. “No. There’s no one else.”

  “Me neither.”

  He found warm, satiny skin and caressed all that he could reach as he turned his lover and gently urged him to lie on the bed. Izzy loosened his ponytail and finger-combed his hair, while Rabin quickly pulled off his boots and socks, then crawled onto the mattress to straddle Izzy. So beautiful. He looked his fill, brushing black silk from Izzy’s face to let it fan the pillow beneath him. Soft lips, wide, dreamy eyes, just a hint of stubble on soft, rounded cheeks and jaw. They kissed, but Rabin’s hands kept wandering, pushing up Izzy’s shirt to bare his chest. He shifted to lick the line of Izzy’s neck, then skipped down to taste one hard nipple, loving the way Izzy’s back arched, pushing into him. He laved attention on that nipple, letting Izzy take care of the T-shirt that remained rucked up to his armpits. Rabin kissed his way down the ridges of Izzy’s ribs until he reached the softer landscape of belly. He kissed around the dip of navel, then pushed his tongue inside to make his lover giggle. He unbuttoned Izzy’s fly and nuzzled the sharp crease of his hip as he reached inside jeans and briefs to find the evidence of arousal.

  “Rabin.”

  He glanced up to find glittering dark eyes watching him. Tender fingers traced the bruises on the left side of his face. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.” He kissed the tip of Izzy’s cock. “More than fine.” He smiled, then opened his mouth and took the tip between his lips, letting Izzy watch. Those eyes narrowed but didn’t close, zeroed in on Rabin’s mouth even if he couldn’t see Rabin’s tongue rubbing underneath the head. He sure felt it, because the belly under Rabin’s palm shuddered, and Izzy’s grip on the bed cover brought it into a bunch at his sides. Wanting to concentrate, Rabin closed his eyes and let his mouth sink over Izzy’s erection, swallowing the sweet, salty tang that dribbled from the tip over his tongue. A brief cry, and Rabin glanced up to see Izzy had given up the effort to watch and let his head fall back. His bare torso twisted, a pale, gorgeous line of muscle and skin that writhed because of Rabin. Without removing his mouth, Rabin managed to yank pants and underwear from under Izzy’s ass and push them down his legs past his knees. It freed access to trim balls tucked up under Izzy’s cock, the only lure that could get Rabin’s mouth from the shaft. He wrapped a fist around Izzy’s wet cock as he drew a testicle into his mouth and rolled it over his tongue. Izzy groaned, legs pulling at the restraint of his pants, but he couldn’t get out because he still wore his shoes. Rabin made a mental note to take care of that…in a bit. Now, he was far too interested in licking and sucking Izzy’s sac to drive him crazy. When he slipped Izzy’s cock back into his mouth, Izzy cried out again and curled forward, gripping at Rabin’s back, pulling his shirt up to expose enough skin to scratch.

  “Rabin, please, God, Rabin…” Panted syllables spilled from that precious mouth, not begging for anything specific, just begging.

  Rabin wet two of his fingers and wiggled them down under Izzy’s sac until he found that tight, gripping little hole. He pushed in, and Izzy’s body accepted him easily, hips bearing down on his hand. He curled his fingers up, searching, finding that spot that gave Izzy so much pleasure.

  “Fuck! Rabin, God…”

  He kept sucking and pumping, two fingers now inside a grip so tight, it almost hurt. Half sitting up, Izzy rocked his hips between Rabin’s mouth and fingers, his grip on the back of Rabin’s head keeping his shaft deep in Rabin’s mouth.

  “Oh fuck. Oh fuck.”

  Rabin knew that tone. He wrapped his free hand around Izzy’s shaft and pulled his mouth up until his lips and tongue just tormented the tip. Jacking, pumping, and sucking, he played to the urgent rhythm of Izzy’s groans until Izzy’s dance beneath him froze for one suspended moment before rich, salty cream spurted up and into Rabin’s mouth.

  With one last whimpering sigh, Izzy slumped onto his back while Rabin lapped him clean. Absurdly proud of himself for bringing his partner to bliss, Rabin quietly pulled his hands free and knelt by the side of the bed to remove first Izzy’s shoes and socks, then the rest of his clothing.

  Once his legs were free, Izzy drew his knees up and spread them, exposing his crotch. Seductive eyes watched as Rabin stood. “You’re getting the lube now, right?”

  Chuckling, Rabin ripped his shirt up and over his head as he headed for the crate. “Got it right here.”

  “Good.”

  Rabin tossed lube and condom onto the mattress. As he shucked his remaining clothing, Izzy rolled onto his belly and tucked a pillow under his shoulders. He giggled at the size of the bottle. “Went for extra large, did we?”

 
“Hey.” Rabin tossed aside jeans and briefs. “I plan on using a lot of it in the near future.”

  Happily, Izzy tore the plastic off the top. “Works for me.”

  As Izzy wrestled with the two safety seals on the bottle, Rabin ripped open the condom and rolled it on. He knelt on the bed and accepted the open bottle from Izzy, but paused. Lovely as Izzy’s slim back and trim little ass were, that wasn’t the position he wanted. “Turn over.”

  “Huh?”

  “Turn over. On your back.”

  Izzy kept his eyes open wide and innocent, but Rabin saw him clutch the pillow beneath him. “Why?”

  He nudged Izzy. “I want to see you.”

  “Rabin, come on.” He swished his butt to draw attention to it. “Fuck me.”

  “I plan to.” Using his greater size and the element of surprise to his advantage, Rabin shoved a hand under Izzy’s side and flipped him. Before Izzy could much more than yelp, Rabin was straddling the smaller man’s thighs. “But I want to do it face-to-face.”

  Discomfort showed on Izzy’s face as Rabin caught his wrists and pinned them to the mattress.

  “What’s wrong with doing it this way?”

  Izzy licked his lips, gaze darting to the side. “Nothing.”

  “Iz, talk to me.”

  He grimaced. “Don’t want to talk.”

  Rabin lowered himself until he could press his forehead to Izzy’s temple. His cock pressed Izzy’s thigh. Truthfully, he didn’t want to talk either, but this felt important. “Please. Tell me why.”

  Izzy shivered, licked his lips. “It’s just… It’s embarrassing. I can’t…”

  “Can’t?”

  “I…” He huffed out a breath. “I’ve never done it this way.”

  “Never?”

  “No. Gre—” He hesitated but then barreled on. “Greggory always took me from behind.”

  “What about your other lovers?”

  Izzy shook his head, flushing from more than his recent orgasm. “I’ve never been with anyone else.”

  That took a second to sink in. “No one?”

  “No one.”

  He released Izzy’s wrists and propped himself on his elbows, freeing a hand to trace Izzy’s jaw. “You didn’t want me to know?”