Indigo Knights: The Boxed Set

by Jet Mykles

  “No, seriously.” He reached up to cup Cash’s chin, effectively stilling him. He wanted to pull off the thick-rimmed glasses but was afraid it would spoil the momentary hold he had on the other man. “You have the most gorgeous eyes.” He kept his voice low, hypnotic. This he knew how to do. “I could get lost in them for hours.” He let his thumb stroke the sparse stubble on Cash’s chin. There was that spark again, fanned by a hitched breath. Both very brief, but Danny saw them because he knew what to look for. He had to admit being surprised to see it on Cash’s face. Surprised and very intrigued. He let his gaze fall to Cash’s lips, moved his thumb to stroke the bottom one. “And I’ve wanted to kiss those lips ever since I saw them.”

  Cash shut his mouth with a click and edged back toward the arm of the couch. “All right, stop.”

  “Can’t.” Not when he could hear the tiny quake in Cash’s breathing. Like a predator, Danny moved with him, leaning one arm on the back of the couch so he could hover over Cash. He was careful not to crowd too close, to leave Cash an avenue of escape. The fact that Cash didn’t take the chance was telling. “Every time I get near you, it’s harder and harder to move away. I’m drawn, like a moth to flame.”

  Cash placed a palm on Danny’s chest to stop his forward progress. “Okay, that’s hokey.”

  “Maybe. But that doesn’t make it not true.” Danny put his hand over Cash’s to trap it against his heart. “Can’t you feel my heart racing?”

  Cash opened his mouth to protest, but nothing came out. He must have really felt Danny’s heart beating. Danny pushed against Cash’s hand, knowing he was taking a big risk. He’d backed off Cash for months. If Cash hadn’t reacted, he probably would have backed off again, but that spark of interest spurred him on.

  “Th-this isn’t…” Cash managed to stammer, his gaze glued to Danny’s. “That’s not what…”

  Danny noted a few things other than that Cash couldn’t finish his sentences. His eyes were wide. His lips were parted, and Danny could almost feel the caress of his breath. The tips of the fingers that were spread over Danny’s heart curled, digging into Danny’s flesh in what had to be an unconscious gesture. Danny didn’t want to be accused of taking where he wasn’t wanted, but how the hell was he supposed to pull away from this?

  He couldn’t.

  Instead of letting Cash off the hook, he dived in against Cash’s token resistance and pressed his lips to Cash’s. Cash didn’t move or reciprocate, but once Danny touched him, he couldn’t stop. Leaning heavily on the arm he had over the back of the couch, he lowered himself farther and angled his head for a better fit to Cash’s parted lips. A tiny yelp that might have been a moan squeezed from Cash’s throat, but he didn’t pull away. Danny took advantage and slid his free hand back behind Cash’s ear, holding him as he opened.

  But that’s when Cash reacted. Before their tongues could touch, he jerked his head back, trapping Danny’s hand between his skull and the padded arm of the couch. “Wait.”

  Wait, not stop. Hopeful. Danny kept his face close and kneaded softly at the top of Cash’s neck. He noted some fogging on Cash’s glasses, but it didn’t completely obscure the daze in Cash’s eyes. “You sure?”

  He watched Cash start to blink himself back to reason and didn’t fight the urge that made him kiss Cash again. He kept it to lips. Mostly. A soft brushing of skin to skin with just a little bit of his tongue tracing Cash’s bottom lip. So delicious. He could do this for days.

  Cash’s eyes almost closed again, but another jerk had him pushing at Danny’s chest, for real this time. “Stop.”

  Danny sighed and sank back onto his heels, cursing himself for not pushing anyway. But he’d been raised by a strong woman and taught manners by equally strong sisters. He was already guilty of ignoring one stop; he’d be pushing if he ignored it twice.

  As soon as Danny was clear, Cash rolled off the couch, stood, and took himself around the coffee table to stand beside the television. His eyes were wild, his lips wet. He looked positively edible. “What was that?”

  Danny tried to be casual, but he was now aware of an aching erection that wanted Cash back where he’d been, on the couch, beneath him, preferably naked. What had they been doing? Why had he…? Oh, right. “I was just trying to show you what romance felt like.”

  “That wasn’t romance.” Jerky head movement, wide eyes. Both very unlike Cash. “Romance is candles and dinner. That…that was…”

  Interesting distinction. Danny made a show of checking a watch he didn’t wear. “It’s kind of late, but I think there’s an all-night diner a couple blocks over. I can take you—”

  “Shut up. That’s not what I meant. I meant…” Cash shook his head and raised one hand halfway, fingers aiming for his lips, but then he stopped and yanked it down to his side. “Why’d you kiss me?” Breath whooshed through flared nostrils.

  “Because I wanted to.” And I want to again. And again. This unsettled Cash was more intriguing than any other incarnation Danny had seen.

  “You kiss all the guys you want to?”

  “Obviously not. Else I’d have kissed you ages ago.”

  Cash jerked back but didn’t have any more room to go, so he bumped into the television. He wasted a few minutes in catching the TV and righting it before it fell on the floor. It was enough time for Danny to get his erection under control. It wasn’t going away anytime soon, but he could think a little clearer. Enough to unfold himself from his knees and sit properly on the couch. If Cash noticed the bulge in his pants, so be it.

  “I thought you knew…” Cash rattled, still messing with the TV. “I mean, I thought you figured out I’m not gay.”

  “Well, that’s what I thought. But…”

  “But what?”

  Danny laughed. “Jesus, Cash, you all but put out an invitation.”

  “I did not!” Even though it had a shrill quality, Cash’s voice got deeper in anxiety.

  “Well, you didn’t see what I saw. And you took a hell of a long time to stop me.”

  Cash ran a hand over the top of the television, watching himself do it. No verbal answer. Clearly, he was compartmentalizing, thinking it all through so he could calm down.

  Danny didn’t want him to calm down. “Did you like it?”

  “No.” Too fast.

  Danny laughed. “I’m supposed to believe that?”

  “Yes!”

  With a sigh, Danny pushed to his feet. To keep himself from lunging for Cash, he picked up the pizza box and the errant paper towels. “I’m sorry I took you off guard.” Not. “And I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.” He would not, he decided as he took the trash to the kitchen, apologize for the kisses. Not in a million years. There was silence behind him. He dumped the trash and turned to find Cash still in the hall to the bedrooms, watching him. Because the only thing I want to do is do it again, he admitted to himself as he watched the flush fade from Cash’s neck. “We still friends?”

  Cash scowled. “I don’t know.”

  Danny held up his hands, palms out. “Look, I won’t do it again.” Unless you ask me. Unless you tempt me. Shit, this was going to be hard.

  Cash’s eyes narrowed as though he heard the unspoken thought. “I’ll have to think about it.”

  Danny’s happy buzz faded as he watched Cash turn on his heel and disappear into his bedroom. For one of the first times since they’d been living together, Cash’s bedroom door closed before it was time to bed down for the night. Danny slumped against the kitchen counter and ran a hand through his hair. “Good job, idiot. Now what?”

  Chapter Four

  “Earth to Champion.”

  A hand decked with silver rings passed in front of his eyes, and Danny jerked out of staring at the blank wall across the studio from where he sat.

  “Come in, Champion.” The body that belonged to the hand dropped onto the couch beside him. Hazel eyes that looked like they were lined with kohl but were just surrounded by thick, dark lashes focused on him under a frin
ge of bright green hair. “Such deep thoughts.” Noble pursed his lips and shook his head, clucking his tongue. “That is a no-no. How might I help to expel such danger?”

  Blinking to clear his thoughts, Danny glanced around the empty studio. He must have been in a daze for a while. The paper towels and Styrofoam containers from dinner were gone, as were Rabin and Lance. Their guitars still rested on stands from earlier rehearsal, so Danny’s best guess was they’d taken the trash down the hall to the kitchen. “Are we ready to go?”

  “We’re still waiting on Gordon.” Noble tapped Danny’s skull with a finger to regain his attention. “What were you thinking about?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Nosey.”

  “Fuckin’-A.”

  Danny grinned and sank into the deep cushion of the couch. “I kissed my roommate last night.”

  Noble took a moment to think. They’d never met, but Danny had told him about Cash, even that he thought his roommate was adorable. “Isn’t he straight?”

  Danny’s eyes unfocused and gazed inward, back to the memories he kept reliving of the previous night. He brought his hand up to pinch his bottom lip between forefinger and thumb. “That’s what we thought.”

  “Mmm, sounds intriguing. Was this just one kiss? Or a makeout session?”

  “More than one kiss but not a session.”

  “And how did he react?”

  “Not entirely…bad.”

  “Elaborate.”

  “He didn’t haul off and punch me or kick me out of the apartment. But he did bolt down in his bedroom and was gone when I left today.”

  “Ah yes. Avoidance. A typical reaction.”

  Danny rolled his head to the side to look at Noble. “You’re an expert on this?”

  “Somewhat. I’ve done my share of turning. Straight guys can be fun to play with.” Noble studied the black polish on his nails. “Doesn’t always stick, but it’s usually interesting.”

  Danny sighed, thumping his head against the back of the couch. “I think I screwed up.”

  “Possible. You gonna talk to him?”

  “I have to. I live with the guy.”

  “What do you want to happen?”

  Danny let his grin say it all. “What do you think?”

  Noble laughed. “But after you fuck, what then? We’re headed out of town soon.”

  Danny held up a finger. “Which means the timing might actually be perfect.”

  “So you have thought about this.”

  “All fucking night.”

  “Continue.”

  Excited to discuss his theory, Danny drew his knee up so he could face Noble on the couch. “If he really is curious, we could fool around, then part as friends when I leave.”

  “And your living situation?”

  “Hell, I’ll be on the ropes once we get going anyway. No way I can afford rent while we’re gone.”

  “He know this?”

  Danny frowned. “Uh… Well, I guess not.”

  “Perhaps you should mention it.”

  “Perhaps I should.”

  They were interrupted by voices in the hall getting louder. Gordon led the way, his ever-present leather messenger bag slung over his shoulder. Their manager was a force to be reckoned with. To Danny, he always seemed like polished marble—smooth, solid, and strong. Cold? Kind of, but not in a way that made him inaccessible. With black hair shorn on the sides and longer on top, hazel eyes, a killer smile, and a body that showed dedication to a gym, Gordon was good-looking, and he knew it. He knew what he wanted, and that became immediately apparent as soon as you started to talk to him. At the same time, Gordon laughed a lot and wasn’t afraid to admit the few times he was wrong. It was the fortune of the Indigo Knights to have that kind of force working for them.

  Lance and Rabin chatted as they followed him into the room. Lance closed the door.

  “All right, guys,” Gordon began, setting his bag on the table before he unfolded it to get to his laptop. “I hope you’re all recovered from your time at Genesis.”

  “I’m a new man,” Lance murmured, turning a chair around so he could be seated in it two feet away from Gordon.

  “Hope he’s an improvement on the old one,” Noble said.

  In looks and demeanor, Lance Hoff was all that his best friend and roommate, Noble, was not. Where Noble was bright and flashy, Lance was almost monochrome. He wore his light blond hair long, often pulled back into a tail. His face was almost triangular save for the jut of strong jawbones underneath each ear. His pointed chin was shaded with light brown stubble, and his thin pink lips always looked slightly pursed, like he was thinking about something. Which he usually was, since he didn’t talk much. Black was the foundation of his wardrobe, and he wore colors reluctantly. For all their differences, however, Lance and Noble were fast friends and had a lot of respect for each other. By the way their rhythms worked together, one would think they shared the same heartbeat.

  Rabin stretched out on the couch on Danny’s other side, feet up on the coffee table, hands folded behind his head. “I’m gonna get spoilt. That’s two New Years I’ve spent in a row there.”

  Danny poked his side. “Maybe next year it’ll be you and Iz getting married there.”

  Rabin’s eyes went wide, but Danny didn’t think the panic was genuine. “Bite your tongue.”

  “There are better things in the world to bite.”

  “Mmm…” Noble leaned a shoulder against Danny’s and talked across him. “Amen to that. At least a dozen Izzy places spring to mind.”

  Rabin pointed at him. “Watch it, whore.”

  Noble grabbed Rabin’s wrist and wrapped his lips around Rabin’s finger for a quick suck. “What should I watch?” He laughed after Rabin jerked his hand back.

  Laughing, Danny swatted both their hands away. Such girls, really. But he loved them. They were an unlikely quartet—quintet with Gordon. And it was strange fate that they were all gay—or bisexual for Rabin and Noble—but Danny took it in stride, attributing the coincidence to yet another sign they were destined to be together.

  “Ladies, ladies.” By now, Gordon had the laptop out and was perched on the table beside it. He wore a black sweater with the blue-and-white-striped collar of a dress shirt folded neatly at his throat. He would have looked very businesslike if it weren’t for the small feather earring dangling from his right ear. “Let’s get to the business at hand.” He grinned. “You have your first club date next weekend.”

  A general cheer filled the room. Rabin sat forward, elbows on knees. “Where?”

  “Club’s called Jefferson Douglas. Don’t ask me where the name came from. Gretchen knows the owner and pulled some strings to get us two weekends, two nights each, two sets a night.” Gretchen not only owned the management company for which Gordon worked, she was also Heaven Sent’s manager. If she recommended it, there was every reason to believe Jefferson Douglas was worth their time. “I checked it out last night. Not a bad size. Full bar and a dance floor, although the stage is minuscule.”

  “Is it a pay gig?” Danny asked.

  “Respectable. We get the door, and club gets the bar. We’re responsible for our own promotion, but there’s typically a good crowd there. College not too far away, so I’ve already set up some marketing. Mainly this’ll be practice in front of a live audience.”

  “Fuckin’-A,” Noble murmured, bouncing in his seat.

  Gordon nodded agreement. “Now, about space. Today’s our last here. Hell’s got a band renting the studio starting this weekend. But he and Brent continue their generosity. They’ve said we’re welcome to use their private studio at their place.” He grinned at Rabin. “It’s nice to have a man on the inside.”

  Rabin chuckled. “Hell’s promised me they’ll take it out of our hides eventually.”

  “Well, until then, we luck out because of them. Lance, Noble, you remember how to get there?”

  Lance nodded, or as much as he could nod
with his chin resting on the backs of his hands. “Sure thing.”

  Noble shrugged. “I’m catching a ride with him.”

  Lance looked at Danny. “You need transportation?”

  “Would be nice,” Danny accepted. Noble and Lance were living together in a much nicer apartment building that wasn’t all that far away from Danny’s. Brent and Hell lived far enough off the grid that he couldn’t just take a train.

  “We’re all set, then,” Gordon decided, closing the laptop. “I talked to Bruce Noche, and he’s available for sound. Gretchen’s agreed to loan us two interns as roadies. You can meet them next week.” He nodded toward the equipment along the walls. “Hell’s got a guy who’ll come to transport the instruments to their place, so if you want anything with you before it goes, tonight’s the night to take it. Anything else?”

  “How’s the club tour stacking up?” Noble asked.

  “Still working on it. I’ve got feelers out from here down to Atlanta and out to New York. Nothing solid yet, but it’s looking good. Made some good contacts at the wedding, so that helps.”

  “Any idea on dates?” Danny was going to have to give notice at the pizza place. And let Cash know he’d need a new roommate.

  “We’re looking at March through May. Maybe June.”

  “Heaven Sent goes back to the studio when Luc gets back from his honeymoon. End of the month.” Rabin announced this needlessly. Everyone in the room was keenly aware of Heaven Sent’s schedule. Current plans were to start the tour late summer or fall. Kind of fast considering the big band didn’t have any new music recorded, but Brent was Heaven Sent’s musical head, and he had plenty of raw material ready to go. He’d already been sharing some of the ideas with his bandmates remotely. All they really needed was a month or two to be in the same room to solidify the music.

  “Right, then,” Gordon hopped to his feet. “The Web site’s up and running, so make sure you point people to that when you can. Our Jefferson Douglas dates are all up there. And I’ve put a lot of thought into it, and I think our best bet for a video is to shoot some footage of you onstage. Talked to the manager at JD, and he’s good with it.”