Page 14 of In the Shadows

“Busted!” I cackled before diving inside our bunk.

“Remember how shitty you got with me for even looking at him that one time?” Joey reminded me. “And now you strut your shit for all to see and expect it to be all right?”

“Oh, um, yeah. I’m jealous, so sue me.” I tried my best to cover up the huge ass mistake I’d just made.

“All I’m saying is that you’re lucky I’m not jealous, or insecure.”

He had me there, I was both when it came to Joey. Mostly because it was unbearable to be around when someone else was touching him. Seemed I had more things to add to the Stoli rehabilitation program.

Diamond was laughing his ass off from inside his bunk before he started singing Neil Diamond’s,“Love on the rocks, ain’t no surprise.”

Of course, Mickey joined in,“Just pour me a drink and I’ll tell you some lies.”

Shortly thereafter, the four of us were cracking up. Good thing Rob slept with headphones on.

We woke the next morning to the smell of someone nuking what smelled like a breakfast burrito. I was curled up behind Joey, nuzzling his neck. When he stirred, I pushed my morning wood between his thighs and bit his neck.

“Fuck,” he moaned, grinding back against me.

“Knock it off,” Diamond scolded as he hopped up into his bunk. The smell of his food wafted by.

“We need our own bus,” I informed Joey. “Let’s get some food.”

We dressed and met the rest of the crew in the common area of the bus.

“Hey guys,” Rob hollered over his shoulder to us. “We’ll be at the canyon in about an hour.”

“My dad was able to get us rooms at El Tovar, and they’ll let us park the bus nearby,” Easton added. “Diamond and Mickey, you guys are sharing. I’m sharing with Rob, and Joey and Stoli, you got your own room.”

The broad smile taking over my face was unavoidable. When I glanced over at Joey, he blushed, but smiled back.Finally,I know we were both thinking. Nervous and yet, so very excited at the same time.We finished eating while everyone took turns getting ready and had our bags packed before we crossed the entrance into the park.

“Where are the BOD guys staying?” Joey asked.

“They’re sharing one room, they have a smaller budget than you guys do,” Easton finished, closing his laptop before shoving it into his messenger bag.

We were guided around to the side of the hotel, to the employee entrance because hotel management didn’t want our presence to create any sort of panic among the guests. Seems they think we have a bigger fan base then we do. They already had us checked in with room keys in hand and led us up the service elevator to our rooms. I hadn’t told Joey that I’d asked Easton and Sal to put us in a suite and bill it to my personal credit card. Tonight, I needed everything to be perfect for us.

After sliding the keycard in the lock, I held the door open for Joey to enter ahead of me. Always the gentleman, if not my mom would beat my ass.

“Whoa,” he commented, crossing the foyer. “This room is, God. Sal really outdid himself.”

Gorgeous, hand painted portraits of the canyon in various stages adorned the walls. The king size bed took up most of the room itself, but in the corner sat a table for two, wardrobe armoire with a television inside. The closet doors were mirrored and ironically, faced the bed.Jesus, I could already see our naked bodies coupled in its reflection.Behind the table was a wall of windows, leading out to the balcony and a killer view of the canyon itself.

“Um,” I followed behind him, setting my bag down on the seat at the foot of the king size bed, “I asked Sal to help me get this set up. For us.” I wiped my sweaty palms off on my jeans.

“Wow, Stoli. I don’t know what to say.” He walked over, setting his bag beside mine. “You know I don’t need all of this, right?”

“I do, but I wanted tonight to be special. Too sappy?”Fuck, I hope he doesn’t think so because this is only the tip of the iceberg.

“Stoli.” Joey reached over, gliding his hand lightly across the exposed skin on my arm. “It’s you and me, so it will be. With or without the Taj Mahal of rooms. Plus, everyone likes a little sappy from time to time.”

He moved over to the windows, we had a view overlooking the canyon. “This is amazing. I can’t imagine how gorgeous this view will be at sunset.”

“I know how much you love watching sunsets. I ordered dinner in for us so we could watch it together.” I slid up behind him, taking his hand in mine and placed his palm against the glass while moving his hair aside. “Fuck,” I said, licking a stripe up his neck to his ear, he shivered. “How I’d love to take you against this glass as the sunset. Buried deep inside you, claiming you.”

He pushed his ass back against me. There was no way he couldn’t feel how fucking turned on I was. I reached around, knowing this had to be doing the same thing to him. I cupped his erection through his jeans, giving it a rough stroke.

“Stoli,” he groaned.

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