Page 36 of Dance With Me
Chapter Twenty
Seb
Seb watched Joe leave. He truly did have a lovely arse, and Seb admired the way his muscles moved beneath his tight suit trousers.
“Wow.” Just one comment from Dom. “You’ve got it bad, man.”
Seb turned to him. “What am I doing, Dom? I want him; I really want him. He lights me up like nobody else. When he hugged me earlier, I felt like I was home. His smile, those gorgeous blue eyes. I want him in my bed, maybe even in my heart.” Seb looked away. He didn’t want Dom to see how much this upset him.
“If it means anything, I think he has it bad for you too. He watches you when he thinks you’re not looking. He looks at your mouth when you talk, follows your every move. It’d be a shame if it never came to anything. But I know you, Seb. You’ll never make a move when there’s another involved, and I don’t blame you for that. Problem is, when he marries Clare, where does that leave you? Is it worth it, do you think? Do you want to put yourself through this?” Dom looked at him questioningly.
“I think I need all the friends I can get at the moment, and that’s how I’m going to treat him—as a friend, as difficult as it might be.” He glanced over to see Dom’s reaction. “Do you think I’m wrong? Do you think I should step away? I think once summer’s here and the studio closes for a while, we should go on holiday. What do you say? You and me, Dom.”
“Yeah, I think that’s a great idea. We’ll travel to somewhere exotic, swim with sharks, skinny dip in warm seas, fuck as many willing men as we can find. You’ll soon forget him once you’ve found a cute twink willing to suck your cock every time you look at him.”
“Seriously, you have some weird ideas, but they have merit. I like it.”
The only thing was, Seb didn’t think it was going to be that easy to forget Joe.
* * *
At six thirty, Seb was waiting outside his apartment, Rocco on his lead sitting next to him. Would Joe show, or would he stand him up?
He checked his phone, but no messages or missed calls. Not even a minute late, and he was panicking.
He pulled out his phone again just as Joe’s car pulled into the car park. Seb tried to look unaffected and managed a small wave.
Rocco seemed as excited to see Joe as he was, pulling on the lead to get to him as Joe stepped out of the car. He opened the back door of the car as Seb walked towards him. Joe bent to fuss over Rocco, rubbing his ears, and the dog licked his face with excitement.
“Hey, that’s enough, Rocco. Will he be alright in the back of your car? You don’t mind?”
“It’s all good. I’ve put a blanket on the seat, and I’ve bought a seatbelt attachment so he can be secured in the back. Is that OK?”
“Thanks, that’s great.” Seb was stunned. He couldn’t believe how thoughtful Joe was. Seb coaxed Rocco into the back of the car, fastened his seatbelt, and then got in the passenger seat as Joe started the car.
“I usually have the air conditioning on, but we’ll open the windows today, give him some air. Are you still OK with the beach? We can be there in about half an hour.”
“The beach is fine. Do you mind?” Seb asked, gesturing to the stereo. “Can I connect my phone and play some music?”
“No worries, as long as you play something decent. None of this modern stuff, I’m not good with that.”
“What, you like seventies or eighties music?”
“Well, eighties at a push, but the seventies is a bit early for me.”
“Here, this is my current playlist.” Seb pressed play. “You’ll like this one, guaranteed,” Seb said with a smile.
Sia’s Cheap Thrills blasted out of the speakers. Seb threw his head back and laughed as Joe groaned. This was going to be fun.
As the playlist continued, playing songs from all the decades, Seb sang along and Joe joined in with the ones he knew. He didn’t have a great voice, but it was good to see him so relaxed, and Seb couldn’t remember when he’d last had such a good time.
They eventually reached their destination, and Joe parked the car. Seb jumped out and made his way to the back of the car to let Rocco out. He opened the bottle of water he’d brought with him and put some in Rocco’s bowl. Rocco drank greedily, more water dribbling out of his mouth than he swallowed.
When he’d finished, Seb put the bowl back in the car, got out his backpack, and took Rocco’s lead.
“Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” Joe held out his hand, and Seb looked down expectantly. “Can I take the lead?” Joe asked.
