by Z. Allora
“Got it in one. Donna’s brownies struck again.” Blaze opened his locked drawer. He grabbed his messenger bag and draped the leather strap around him in such a fluid movement, Drake had become sure the move was part of a dance routine.
Instead of finishing the graceful dance, Blaze glanced in the mirror. “I’m not taking off the makeup.”
“Makeup on or off, you’re the prettiest person I’ve ever seen.” Drake had to tell him that. Were those diamonds pasted to his face? Blaze had better not lose those sparkles. Diamonds were expensive.
“Who is he?” she growled and put her hands on her hips.
“I’m Drake.” He tried to stand straighter, then remembered he had sat down.
Anna stomped her foot while she glared at him. “How did he even get in here?”
That was simple. “If you walk like you know where you’re going, and you’d be surprised—”
“Blaze?” Her tone could cut through ice.
Blaze shrugged. “What? It’s true. He’s Drake Keys.”
She appeared more than a little bossy and kind of scary when she put her hands on her hips. “Donna needs to stop baking them for you. How many brownies did he eat?”
Blaze shrugged. “Probably three.”
Brownies? He ate a lot. For the sake of clarity, he added, “Though I think it may have been four… and a half. And some of those cookies over there… but no milk. Milk would be delicious right now.”
Anna chuckled. “Want me to take him to a hotel?”
“Hotel?” Who was she carting off to a hotel? How far was this hotel? And what were hotels anyway? Strangers coming together to sleep. Seemed like a dating app. He snorted.
Blaze shook his head, making his hair dance in the lights. He had pretty hair. “Um, nah. I don’t want to trouble you.”
“It’s no problem. Viktor isn’t home until later.” She studied Blaze. “Ah, okay. I’ve been with you too long not to be able to read your fuck-off expression.”
“Anna, I appreciate the offer, but I got this.”
Drake hoped Blaze had whatever it was he needed, because Blaze should have everything. He was amazing… wonderful, smart, and—
“Drake… Keys…? Where do I know that name?” She touched his guitar case with the Midnight Shadow sticker on the side. “Blaze!”
“It’s okay.” Blaze held his hands in front of him as if to ward off an attack.
“Blaze, you think they’d mind if I had just one more cookie? They’re delectable.” Drake made sure to keep his voice even on the especially hard words.
Anna winced and shhed him.
Was he yelling?
“Okay, huh? You got this?” She assessed Drake and then slowly turned back to Blaze. “You sure about that?”
Blaze rolled his eyes at Anna and smiled at Drake, who patiently waited at the cookie jar ’cause he had manners. “Yeah, Drake, have at ’em.”
Drake bit into the cookie and couldn’t stop a low, drawn-out moan that came out between chews.
“Well, at least we found someone willing to eat those veggie cookies. You think he’s a blade bunny?” Anna studied Drake a little too closely.
Blaze snorted. “Yes, because rock stars often line up after skating events for me.”
Drake nodded, swallowed his cookie bite, but he wanted to be clear. “Blaze, I’d stand in line for you.”
Anna snorted and shook her head. “Speaking of lines, the finale is about to finish. So you need to go sign some autographs. Luke told me to tell you he’ll be waiting at the table for you.”
“Good. Thanks, um, can you take him out to my car?” Blaze handed the keys to her.
Anna muttered, “You should ignore his pretty blue eyes and dreamy perma-grin. You’re creating drama for yourself, but far be it for you to actually listen to me.”
Turning to Drake, Blaze touched his cheek. He had soft hands. “Anna will take you to my car. I’ll be there in a few minutes, okay?”
Drake nodded happily. He wasn’t going to be away from Blaze for long. “Thank you, Blaze. Again, I’m really sorry.”
Blaze started to walk off but stopped and returned to Drake. He tucked a bit of Drake’s hair behind his ear, sending shivers through him. “I’ll see you in a bit. Okay?”
Drake smiled even bigger. His cheeks might break. “Yup. I’ll be waiting for you.”
Blaze turned on his heel and left.
The backside Drake had lusted over for years twitched out the door. Wow. Drake enjoyed the view until Anna cleared her throat. “Oh, hello. I’m going to wait for Blaze.”
“Yes, I know. I’m Anna, and I get to take you to Blaze’s car.” Anna grabbed his guitar and used her other hand on his elbow and led him outside.
At some point he’d be pissed about eating those brownies, but right now, for the first time in what seemed like weeks, he felt relaxed. He followed her out the door and trailed after her zigzag pattern through the parking lot around numerous vehicles, and all while he tried not to laugh.
“Edibles can give a stronger high than you might be used to, and four of Donna’s baked creations is a lot.” She made the car alarm beep and pointed in the direction of the horn.
Shit! She keeps staring at me. I need to speak. How do mind thoughts become mouth words? “And a half. Four and a half brownies. Not on purpose, though.”
“What do you mean? How did you accidentally get high?” Anna squinted at him.
“I wasn’t thinking. I haven’t slept in a couple of days, and I drove through the night so I’d make the exhibition.”
Anna scrunched her face. “You drove from where?”
“My last concert.” The conversation was getting easier.
“All the way from your last concert? Where was that?”
Drake needed to concentrate to make his lazy tongue force the meaning to come out of his brownie hole. He laughed. “New York City to here is a little over thirty hours if you add in a few quick stops.”
She unlocked a silver, environmentally friendly Chevrolet Volt. “You a big skating fan?”
Was he? “More like a huge Blaze Parker fan.”
“Wait, are you a stalker?” Anna clicked the fob and relocked the car door.
“No, no.” Drake tried to open the door and chuckled when he couldn’t. “Stalking takes too much effort.”
Anna studied him, then sighed as she unlocked the door. “Why are you here?”
“That’s a great question,” he muttered, more to himself as he opened the car door and collapsed into the passenger seat. “Insanity… but I felt like I needed to, you know?”
The “Hmm” encouraged him as she slipped his guitar into the back, then jumped into the driver’s seat.
“I’ve been following Blaze for a while… since I was a teenager.” Now, totally embarrassed by how long, maybe stalker could be considered the correct term? “I’ve never made it to one of his competitions or exhibitions—”
“So why now?”
Her questions came at a rapid-fire pace, and his brain couldn’t keep up. “Well, Brenda outed my interest in one of the guys she hooked us up with.”
“Your girlfriend?”
“Ex-girlfriend… if she even was my girlfriend. You know, the more I think about our relationship, I realize it wasn’t one. Since she never really talked to me. Didn’t care about me. Always invited other people to join us for sex. And hated kissing me.” How had he tolerated that?
“So your girlfriend dumped your kinky ass.”
“No, well, yes.” The weed ferreted out that truth. “I didn’t want to be with so many other people. She kept telling me we were polyamorous. I’m not. I mean, that’s fine if someone wants relationships with more than one person. I’m not that person. You know?”
“And?” Anna had the same look Summer got when his lyrics didn’t work with the melody.
“I want one person to love and share my life with.” Drake really wished he could stop smiling ’cause his face had started to hurt. “But that
doesn’t matter now.”
Anna sat back. “Why not?”
“You’re good at questions.” Drake admired her conversational skills.
“Why not?”
Did she need to repeat herself? Probably. “Why not what?” He tried to piece together what she asked.
Her gaze tinted with frustration. “Why doesn’t it matter now?”
Yeah, the way she bit out her words meant Drake’s lack of response must have made her repeat the question. He tried to answer quickly. “Bigger problems. The band, well, the manager, sleazy Frank, and Dixon, the asshole, kicked me out.”
“You’re out of Midnight Shadow?” Anna made it sound like a convictable offense.
“Yeah. I’d been warned I could be out as bisexual, just not allowed to be with men.” Not sure why he kept rambling, other than pot did that to him if it didn’t put him to sleep.
“But isn’t that the bi part?”
“Exactly!” He brushed away the single piece of lint off Blaze’s pristine dashboard. “I grabbed my guitar and took an Uber to the nearest rental car place. The band is on hiatus for the next two and a half months—though that no longer matters.”
“So you came here?”
He shrugged. “I wasn’t ready to go home, and after all the YouTube videos and Twitter clips, I got a notification that he liked my post, and saw an interview where Blaze mentioned the exhibition. I decided I wanted to finally see Blaze Parker skate live. And I can’t believe he did a Bonaly. He’s fantastic!”
Anna shook her head and frowned. “I discouraged him from doing that stunt, but she’s always been his hero.”
“I understand why. Both strive for perfection and let nothing get in their way. Like the way Blaze wiped the floor with that asshole Trent at World’s.”
Even high, Drake saw the lightbulb go off over her head. “Oh, so you know about the videotape.”
“Trent Richards was and is a played-out wannabe who should never be allowed to share the ice with the likes of Blaze Parker.”
Anna pressed her lips together. Was she suppressing a smile? Did she agree with him, or was she laughing at him?
“I’m serious. He’s terrible. His routines are boring, and most of his landings are sloppy.” Drake tilted his head and chuckled. “Maybe I do follow skating.”
“You’re right, but we’re not talking about him. I still don’t know why you’re here.”
Why was he here? “I don’t know. I guess I felt connected—”
“To Blaze?”
“Sounds stupid when you say it out loud. But yeah. A few times over Twitter, he and I…. That’s pretty creepy.” Drake covered his face. How had he gone from guitar player in Midnight Shadow to ice skating stalker?
She clapped a hand on his shoulder, which forced him to drop his hands. “Look, the fact he didn’t send you away means he probably wants to fuck you before he curbs you.”
“Fuck me.” That made him feel hot and cold, worried and excited, and maybe a bit confused.
“Yes. Sex.” Anna used her finger to poke the circle made by her other hand. “But Blaze swipes right beyond Grindr, so don’t get your hopes sky-high for a love connection.”
Well, it wasn’t that Drake had ever been opposed to a one-off, but when Blaze first saw him, something sparked between them. He felt a connection, or maybe that was just the brownies mixed with lust. What the hell had he been hoping for?
“Guess you’re not a blade bunny. You don’t look like the prospect of getting laid is appealing.” Anna nodded sagely. “Or is it you don’t like to bottom?”
“Oh no, I prefer it.” He slapped a hand over his mouth and laughed. There was truth in pot. He enjoyed getting fucked more than he liked fucking. Sue him! He couldn’t deny he found something enticing about taking the burning stretch as the thrusting morphed into incredible pleasure.
Blaze waltzed over to the car. He still wore his clingy, sparkly red skating costume. The way the material clung to his muscles stole Drake’s breath away.
Drake pulled down his leather jacket, hoping he wasn’t being indecent because he got a giant boner.
Anna must have noticed, and she snorted as she got out of the car. “Blaze, you do know all your inconveniences would be solved with a simple ‘Yes, take him to a hotel.’ Let me ask you one more time. Shall I take him to a hotel?”
Oh! Anna wanted to take Drake to a hotel. Right. That would make sense. Blaze shouldn’t have to babysit his stoned ass, but Drake selfishly prayed Blaze wouldn’t send him away. Now that he finally got here, he wanted to spend time with him.
Blaze stared at him through the windshield. “No, it’s my fault he got this way.”
“Oh please. You just want to fuck him.” Anna shook her head.
Glaring at her, Blaze said, “There will be no fucking. He’s high, and consent matters.”
Did that mean Blaze didn’t want him? Drake pushed aside the crushing loss of having sex shoved off the table by his greedy stomach.
Anna put her hands on her hips.
Blaze looked away from her silent interrogation and smiled at Drake, making his heart do a little flip.
Drake grinned and waved at him.
Smiling bigger, Blaze waved back. Then he turned to Anna and added, “Besides, I need to make sure he doesn’t die.”
Ow! Way to cut a guy.
Anna stepped closer to Blaze, and Drake couldn’t make out what she said, though he couldn’t miss the warning was about him.
“I will.” Blaze pulled Anna into a quick embrace.
When Anna stepped back, she groaned and shook her head. “See you tomorrow at the rink.”
Pursing his lips, Blaze nodded and got into the car.
He looked over at Drake with a crooked smile. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Drake’s smile turned into a grin. “I don’t want to be trouble.”
Blaze pulled out of the spot. “You’re no trouble.”
“Not yet.”
Giving him a quick glance, Blaze agreed, “Not yet.”
Chapter 5
GRIPPING THE steering wheel of his car didn’t help give Blaze a stronger handle on his reality. What was he doing? Why didn’t he let Anna deposit the sexy guitar player into a hotel? Nope, not him.
The guy had appeared out of nowhere, like Blaze would be happy to see him. Fuck, if he wasn’t over the moon about having a stoned guitar player riding shotgun. Full stop!
Maybe his libido took control of his world. After a skating event, he usually needed to fuck off the tension, but that wasn’t possible in this case.
Not because Drake Keys wasn’t fuck-a-licious, but he was high, and Blaze would never take advantage of someone in that condition. His usual mode of fuck-and-move-on wouldn’t work, since they were friends, kind of, or as much as one could be friends on social media without meeting… and now they’d met.
Which brought him back to why didn’t he let Anna do the more reasonable thing.
He glanced over at the wrinkled, rumpled, tangled-hair, sexy, grinning rock star—God, this already seemed too weird and they hadn’t done anything.
Drake had practically stuck his head out the window, looking at the houses they passed. “Wow, this neighborhood looks so normal.”
Blaze glanced at him to gauge if Drake had been toying with him. “Where did you think I lived?”
“A castle.” Drake covered his mouth and chuckled. “No, I mean, I knew you didn’t actually live there, but—”
“What?”
Drake sighed. “Watching you on the ice, you belong in one.”
Blaze tried not to be utterly charmed by Drake’s rock-star charisma, which morphed into cuteness held together by so much sincerity it soothed as much as the sweetness ripped at Blaze’s heart. It couldn’t be real.
Besides, this was the weed, not Drake. Guys weren’t sweet.
A subject change was needed, so Blaze grasped at information he could share while keeping his distance. “Um, so I have a puppy. Well, he’s se
ven.”
“Oh! Is that the dog you hold in some of your pictures? What kind is he?” Drake bounced in his seat.
“Yes, he’s a Lhaffon. He’s a Lhasa Apso and Griffon mix.”
Drake tilted his head left, then right. “He’s very cute.”
“The breeder thought he was too small.” Blaze turned down onto his street.
“Too small?”
“He’s got too much Lhasa in him. The breeder didn’t want the dog, so Luke, my brother, rescued him from being sent to the shelter when we first moved to Colorado.”
“What’s his name again?” Drake’s stunning smile and dreamy face distracted Blaze.
Eyes on the road. Eyes on the road.
“Ice… though Luke calls him Jack the Nipper. My Ice has no awareness of his tiny size, because he tries to take on the world, teeth first.” Blaze parked on the left side of the driveway, leaving Luke room to get his car in and out.
Damn, this is weird. He didn’t really bring guys home. When he hooked up with someone from an app, he’d usually go to their place or a hotel, trying to be as careful as he could to reduce the risk a little. Blaze’s afterplay had always been executing an escape.
When Drake didn’t emerge from the car, Blaze opened the car door.
“Oops. I’m stuck.” Drake pulled at the seat belt.
“Here. Let me.” Blaze leaned over him to press the button.
Drake wrapped his arms around Blaze in a…. Was this a hug?
“Hey, I’m sorry I’m causing all these problems.” Drake’s voice cracked.
Instead of reading him the riot act and taking him to a hotel, Blaze hugged him back. Drake had been through the wringer, according to Anna. Being kicked out of his band, driving all night—he had to be losing it. “No worries.”
Unfamiliar feelings of warmth and care swirled through Blaze. Other than a few back-slapping man hugs, he wasn’t really a hugger.
Drake melted into him.
Mmmmm, maybe he could change that.
Maybe inviting Drake home had been a mistake, not that Drake and he…. That wouldn’t be happening. The few times he’d tried to have a guy over, Ice went on the warpath and tried to gnaw on them. But this hug….
Again, this wasn’t for sex or hugging! Blaze simply wanted to be sure Drake didn’t die. After all, his fan had gotten Drake too high to be left alone, so it became his responsibility. Otherwise the headline would read: Guitar Player Drake Keys Dead Because Blaze Parker is a Selfish Irresponsible Ass. That wouldn’t play well for his brand.
