by Z. Allora
Sighing with irritation, Indigo huffed, “Do you want in or not?”
“Yeah, I want in.” To his credit, Tian Di didn’t turn his triumph into a way to hit on Li. “What are the terms?”
Indigo stood and took papers out of his back pocket. Instead of pulling a power play, he said, “This is a simple contract. Please read it and only sign if you’re comfortable with it. We’re splitting everything equally, but what you contribute stays with the group if you leave us. It’s the contract my father usually uses for new bands. I had it translated.”
Styx frowned. “We didn’t sign anything.”
“Actually, we all should. Any one of us might fuck this up beyond repair. Let me get you guys copies.”
Styx was shocked at how easily Indigo turned into another person when the business end of music came up. He was mature, knowledgeable, and thorough. It was not difficult to tell he’d been around the music business his entire life.
“Who’s your daddy?” Tian Di asked in an offhand manner, as though the answer didn’t matter to him one way or the other.
“Song Young,” Indigo mumbled.
Tian Di’s eyes widened. “Really?” He gave a low whistle. Clearly, Indigo’s father’s name meant something to Tian Di, which made Indigo twitchy.
“We’re not using my father’s name. This band isn’t my father’s. Got it?”
Tian Di held up his hands in surrender. “Sure. Whatever. Let’s listen to us one more time.”
Listening to the hastily made playback, Styx realized this sound shouldn’t be changed. They were each pieces of this musical puzzle, and each member was necessary. And they deserved to be heard.
THEY PRACTICED for several more hours. Tian Di and Indigo got along quite well when it came to music, which was a huge relief to Styx. Each musician had strengths, and that gave the music depth and a unique quality. Styx tried not to get his hopes too high, but they sounded exceptional. This might work.
Tian Di stayed for dinner. Indigo decided he didn’t want to cook and called in for Sherpa’s delivery service. He ordered Mexican. Styx and Jin had never had this type of food before, but Styx found the spicy food tasty.
“Have you told your boyfriend we’ve met before?” Tian Di asked innocently as he batted his eyes at Li.
Li pointed his face to the ceiling, eyes closed as he shook his head.
“You met him before?” Indigo demanded.
Li sighed and frowned at Tian Di for a second before turning to focus on Indigo. “Yeah, in Shanghai about two months ago.”
Indigo stared blankly as though trying to figure out what Li was talking about.
“No memory.” Tian Di donned a pout. “I should be hurt, but I guess I was just another guy in the dark to you.”
“What?” Indigo was catching on and didn’t seem to like what he was putting together.
Li groaned. “You didn’t have that much to drink, did you? It was a few days before the fight.”
Styx glanced over at Jin, who shook his head, indicating he didn’t have a clue what was unfolding. The drama was almost as interesting as Indigo’s American reality shows, but more disturbing since Styx’s world hung in the balance.
Jin grabbed Styx’s hand as if reading the unrest in his mind. His deceptively delicate hand massaged Styx’s, instantly helping to relieve the building tension.
Tian Di rolled his eyes. “You suggested I join the two of you for a little bit of… what did you call it? Fun, I believe.”
“But you didn’t.” Indigo focused on the far wall as he searched his memory to put the pieces together.
Well, now Styx understood Li’s reaction to Tian Di last night. Li had remembered him.
“No. I didn’t.” Tian Di leaned forward. “Do you remember why?”
“Yeah.” Indigo’s voice dropped as he glanced away from all of them. It appeared he didn’t like the memory.
“Why?” Jin asked.
Styx turned to stare at Jin, who must have gotten caught up to be so nosy.
Jin squeezed his hand and shrugged. His cheeks went pink. “Sorry, this is none of my business.”
The quiet echoed off the white walls.
“No, why is a great question?” Tian Di seemed to want everyone to be privy to the reason.
“Don’t,” Li said sharply, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes.
Indigo caressed the back of Li’s hand and softly said, “It’s okay.” Glaring at Tian Di, his voice dropped low. “You said people who were in love as we were shouldn’t include others because someone is liable to get hurt.”
Li ran his hands over his face. He took his plate of half-eaten food to the kitchen.
“You’re such an asshole,” Indigo hissed at Tian Di.
“Am I the one who’s the asshole, Indigo?” Tian Di asked as he turned toward the kitchen.
Shaking his head, Indigo exhaled a loud sigh. “You don’t know anything. Let’s stick to the music, fuckhead. Okay?”
“Anything you say,” Tian Di said with exaggerated politeness.
Indigo stomped to his room without another word.
Tian Di stared at Jin, then at Styx. “I promise I’m not a fuckhead.”
Jin leaned forward and quite seriously asked, “What exactly is a fuckhead?”
Tian Di followed his visual attempt at humor and chuckled. “A head that fucks?”
“Or is it the head of a dick?” Jin asked the obvious question making Styx laugh.
“Either-or, I think.” Tian Di chuckled some more. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand how the guy can treat Li the way he does.”
Li slid the glass kitchen doors open all the way. The expression he wore said he’d heard the conversation. “He doesn’t treat me poorly. Stop suggesting he does. He has issues, and I understand them.”
“The question I’ve had is, why do you accept them?” Tian Di asked without censure, only concern.
Li cleared his throat. “This topic is closed. If you want to be a part of the band, you need to not bring it up again.”
Tian Di appeared to want to say more, but he simply inclined his head, submitting to the stipulation. He carried his plate toward the kitchen. Halfway there, he stopped to smile over his shoulder. “I reserve the right to flirt.”
Li ran a hand through his hair. He eyed Styx and then focused on Jin as if waiting for one of them to say something.
“It’ll be fine,” Jin said, with no confidence at all.
“Yeah,” Styx added, hoping like hell it was true.
Chapter 11
STYX NEVER dreamed he’d actually visit the capital. Along with Jin, Li, and Indigo, he was on his way to Beijing. The train rumbled down the tracks, feeling like a small earthquake, and it must have rocked Styx to sleep.
A low groan woke him. His eyes slowly adjusted to the night that colored the train compartment a soft black. The realization that they were on the night train speeding toward Beijing seeped into his sleepy disorientation.
Another gasp broke the silence as the rustling of a blanket drew his eyes to the upper berth across the confined compartment. The cramped space made it impossible to miss the sound of a button popping open followed by a zipper being drawn down.
“Shhh,” Li hushed Indigo moans.
When Styx’s eyes adjusted, he glanced over at Jin, who lay on his back staring at the bottom of the top bunk. His golden head turned to meet Styx’s gaze. His mouth opened, but he didn’t say anything. Their attention was pulled back to the heated whispers in the upper berth.
“Yeah. Fuck. Please, Li. Please. I can’t wait.” Indigo’s breathless begging seemed to echo through the sweltering compartment as the train chugged down the tracks.
Hearing Indigo’s desperate plea made Styx wish Jin would join him in his berth. He wanted them to make those kinds of sounds too.
As if Jin had heard his desire, he appeared. He carried his blanket to Styx’s bed. He tucked the blanket into Indigo’s abandoned top bunk and draped them in a curtain of privacy.
Styx automatically pulled back the thin blanket to invite Jin onto his hard mattress. He pushed his ass against the cold wall, allowing Jin a place to lie next to him in the confined space. Jin moved in beside him as they both pulled the worn blanket toward their chins.
In the dim light filtering through the snow on the silent LCD screen at the foot of his berth, Styx could see Jin’s smile.
Another needy moan drifted down. Styx should make a joke to put his emotions in perspective, but with Jin’s erection pressed against his leg and his own shaft trying to outsmart the rings that bound him, kidding was impossible. Even with the knowledge that they weren’t alone, he moved toward the heat of Jin’s body.
Jin rested a tentative hand on Styx’s chest right over his heart. He must have felt the wild beating. “Do you want me to…?” Jin’s soft whispered voice trailed off.
“I, um….” Styx couldn’t form the words. He’d learned that sometimes physical gestures replaced words when he was incapable of saying something meaningful. Instead of speaking, he simply leaned forward to cover Jin’s mouth with his own. The kiss started at sizzling hot, and as his mouth glided over Jin’s plush, petal-soft lips, it moved to scorching heat.
Jin returned the kiss with equal passion, his raw need melting Styx. Jin’s hands skimmed over Styx’s body, leaving gooseflesh in their wake. His confident caress sent sparks through Styx, and prickles of aroused sensation raced over Styx’s skin.
Jin ran his talented hands lower and hovered at the waistband of Styx’s pajama bottoms. He hesitated, studying Styx in the dim light.
The desperate “yes please” must have been easily read; Jin pulled the material down to the middle of Styx’s thighs along with his underwear and the thin blanket.
Long fingers gently traced the exposed rings, which locked Styx in place. Hot, wet kisses dragged along Styx’s chin to his neck, pushing aside any lingering hesitation. The delicious teasing drove Styx mad.
On a harsh exhale, Styx begged, “Please.” The plea was the only verbal admission he gave, and he didn’t care if his voice carried through the car.
Jin unlocked the rings imprisoning Styx.
Once the little lock clicked open, Jin slowly undid the device, allowing Styx’s cock to fill with blood. The instant his shaft became free, he sprang to hardness, begging for Jin’s loving attention.
Another groan from the upper berth reminded Styx they weren’t alone. How could he do sexual things with other people being aware of exactly what he was doing? Would he ever be able to face them again? What was wrong with him?
In the past, the questions and concerns would have spiraled out of control, but Jin ducked his head and trailed his tongue down Styx’s body. God! He was headed to where nothing mattered but Jin. When Jin’s mouth touched Styx’s cock, all thought stopped.
“Oh!” Styx hadn’t meant to make any more noise, but his dick being enclosed in the wet, hot space of Jin’s mouth was too much.
In the faint light, Jin studied him. Then he wrapped his lips tightly around Styx’s cock and eased halfway down. The pleasure was insane, but having Jin provide the intensity magnified everything Styx felt.
Doing this with anyone had seemed unlikely, but doing this with Jin had been out of the realm of possibility. Styx had never fantasized about how incredible it might be, though his imagination could not have competed with the reality.
The sight of Jin’s lips sliding along his cock to the tip before slowly pushing back down on him mesmerized Styx. Then Jin hollowed his cheeks and sucked, drawing Styx closer to completion and making him gasp for air. The physical sensation turned into bursts of affection.
The train’s progress rattled their tiny world as it clattered down the track, vibrating the bunk. Jin’s big gray eyes stared at him with what could only be called adoration. Jin wrapped his fist around the base while he continued the slide of his lips.
Styx wrapped his hand in Jin’s wild hair to gently pull him closer. The action forced more of his shaft into the heavenly moist heat, and he should stuff something in his mouth before he spurted out words of forever. Overwhelmed with pure love, devotion, and hopeless desperation, words threatened to tumble out.
To be connected with Jin made him whole. But his body wouldn’t comply.
His balls tingled and ached. Everything seemed to be winding itself tighter and tighter. By the light barely filtering into their private haven, Jin smiled around his cock, and Styx lost control. Jin transported him to heaven.
Wave after wave of ecstasy seized him as cum poured out of him and right into Jin’s mouth. Styx’s hand covered his mouth, but muffled sounds of surrender escaped.
Jin hungrily swallowed all of Styx’s seed.
Once the intensity of his orgasm calmed, his body collapsed with a sigh of completion.
Jin licked around the tip of his cock to gather every drop. When Styx’s aftershocks of pleasure stopped, Jin crawled to the head of the berth.
Styx was sure the love trying to bust out of his heart could be seen in his eyes. And in that moment, he wanted Jin to see, to know, to understand the depths of his worship, even if the future prevented him from ever saying the words.
Jin held Styx tight as they caught their breath. There was much Styx wanted to say, but it was all without meaning. His family had made decisions and he’d be a responsible son… unless the band worked out. That hope allowed him to live day to day.
However, no one made decisions for him right now. Wanting to capture the rush of happy independence a little longer, he took Jin’s lips, surprising him. The taste of his own cum flavoring Jin’s lips didn’t bother Styx. If anything, it made him ravenous to try Jin’s.
When he broke the kiss, Jin whined softly at the loss but quieted as Styx began a slow, sensuous slide down to Jin’s middle, trailing his tongue to wetly mark Jin. His heart raced as he contemplated what he was about to do. This really could not be written off as anything other than what it was. He was about to take the man who meant everything to him into his mouth.
Jin must have read his hesitation as reluctance. “You don’t have to…,” he whispered into the dark.
Li’s quiet begging echoed through the compartment. “Come on. Stop being a tease, Indigo. Faster.”
“I know.” Styx breathed as he pulled down the material separating him from Jin. He carefully ran his fingertips over the silky smoothness of Jin’s impossibly hard cock.
Jin’s appreciative intake of breath added fuel to Styx’s libido. The words Jin uttered excited him further. “Stroke it.”
Styx licked his palm before closing his fist around the heated flesh of Jin’s shaft, and tugged. His fist glided the extra skin over the top and back down over the tip.
Jin must have been extremely close to the edge because within a minute his body started to tense.
The drummer in him allowed Styx to stroke a faster rhythm. Without contemplation he licked across the erection’s tip to taste Jin. The sweetness he found seeping from the slit surprised him.
He almost went back for another lick, but Jin bowed off the thin mattress. Styx focused on keeping a steady rhythm and witnessing the miracle of Jin crying out his relief.
Styx kept stroking. He glanced around to make sure the makeshift curtain was still in place, and that their noise hadn’t drawn Li and Indigo’s attention. Obviously it didn’t, because Li’s groans indicated he was enjoying a climax. Styx watched the final shots of cream erupt from Jin’s cock to splash onto his belly. He licked experimentally at the wetness.
It came from Jin, making Styx try a little more. Tasting the saltiness, he took another small lick, and another, and before he realized what he was doing, he’d tongued Jin clean. When there was no more, he focused on tending to the tip of Jin’s cock. Apparently he did it right, because Jin purred in contentment.
He heard quiet laughter coming from Li and Indigo. “Mm, now maybe we can all go to sleep.” Indigo’s amusement embarrassed Styx but not as much as expected.
Jin tenderly combed his fingers through Styx’s hair as Styx lost conscious thought.
“WAKEY-WAKEY. HANDS off your boyfriend’s snakey,” Indigo’s voice chirped.
Styx lifted his head off the warm body snuggled into him to see Indigo peeking under their makeshift curtain. “What is he talking about?”
Jin laughed, and Li assured him, “You don’t want to know.”
“The train will arrive at the station in about thirty minutes. We’re going to hunt down some tea. Be back in five minutes.” Li and Indigo hurried out of the cabin.
Styx eyed Jin. “Well, I guess you need to get dressed.” He sighed. It seemed a real shame to put Jin away aroused.
Jin bit his lip and blushed. His eyes darted away. “Yeah.”
Styx didn’t move, but his breath came a bit faster as he watched Jin’s cock throb. His body responded by hardening. His cock seemed to be begging him to do something. He badly wanted to do exactly what they did last night, but in the bright light of day, he lacked the confidence to try.
Jin opened his mouth to say something, but the door slammed open. Styx groaned and dropped his head back down on top of Jin’s chest.
“Come on you two! Stop fooling around. We have to go,” Indigo said, lifting the blanket again. He must have seen Jin’s erection. “Oh, wait. Do you want us to go stand outside while you finish?” he asked like that was a typical question.
Styx closed his eyes, hoping Indigo would disappear.
Jin started to chuckle and covered himself. “We’ll get dressed.”
“Are you sure?” Indigo persisted. “I don’t want two bitchy bandmates ’cause I cock-blocked you.”
“Cock-blocked?” Styx stupidly asked. He kicked himself before he read the gleeful anticipation on Indigo’s face at having to explain it to them.
“Yes, when you’re going to score and someone gets in your way.”
“Score?” Jin asked.
Styx shook his head and frowned at him for asking.
“Home run,” Indigo supplied with a grin.
Li poked his head in to translate. “Someone standing in the way of you having sex.”
