Page 2 of Beautifully Damaged

“You fuck with my head.” Ben gripped the edge of the desk and stroked faster. “I want to be inside you. My lips want yours.”

“Come for me, Ben. I don’t have much time to talk. I need to hear you crying my name. You have to feed my addiction.”

Pressure climbed Ben’s shaft. He stared intently at Joey’s face. The flush on Joey’s cheeks made his light blue eyes look even bluer. He stroked faster. Ben needed to come for Joey. He had to blow while Joey watched. Nothing else mattered. The pressure exploded into pleasure. Hot cum arched through the air, hitting the desk.

“Joey. Fuck. I miss you. Goddamn.”

A gasp sounded through the phone. Joey looked every bit as leveled as Ben felt. Ben heard voices in the background and Joey visibly moved the phone closer to his chest, hiding Ben from the world.

Ben’s heart dropped. He wanted to go home. He hated this.

“Yeah, just give me a second, Gordon. I’ll be right there.” Joey growled. “I have to go.”

Ben’s shoulders heaved from the exertion. He hid his hurt behind a weary smile. “I know, baby. Duty calls. See you soon.”

Joey smiled. “Come home soon so I can keep my end of the bargain.”

“I’ll be there before you can miss me.”

Joey’s smile faltered. For nowhere near the first time, Joey didn’t look happy. Not really. There was something in his eyes that screamed this moment was fake. “Too late. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Ben kissed his fingers and pressed them to the screen. Then Joey was gone. With a sigh, he headed for the bathroom, found a hand towel, and cleaned up the mess. For a moment, he stared at his surroundings. He was only twenty-three and yet he felt old as hell in the empty hotel room. Joey had a concert this weekend and Ben had come ahead of time to set things up, but even when Joey got here, they wouldn’t be alone. It could be weeks before they got that chance again, and Ben needed to shake this feeling in his gut that things weren’t right. He needed to be with Joey. An idea hit. They had two days before the concert and Ben could sneak away. He was only an hour’s flight away. Ben could zip home and be back before breakfast tomorrow. No one would even know he had left.

A laugh burst from him and bounced from the walls. Ben scrambled into his clothes. He would leave everything so he wouldn’t arouse suspicion. With his shoes on and his wallet in his pocket, Ben made his way to the hotel lobby. He kept his head down, hoping he didn’t run into another member of the crew. Thankfully, a line of cabs already sat outside at the curb.

Ben jumped into the first one. “Airport.”

He chewed the side of his nail as the car carried him to the airport. For some reason he couldn’t explain, Ben almost felt like he was doing something wrong. He never did anything unexpected. Hopefully, Joey saw this as a spontaneous adventure. Ben knew Joey had a recording session this afternoon. That was why he hadn’t come along with the crew. But Joey should be free by tonight. Ben could steal a couple of hours, then be right back in his room before any of the crew came looking for him. He prayed he pulled off the feat.

The moment he stepped inside the airport, Ben headed for the closest airline. He didn’t care which one he flew with as long as they got him home.

“Good afternoon, sir. How may I help you?”

Ben glanced at the name tag. He knew from experience he got better results when using people’s name. “Hey, Grace. I have a family emergency and I need a ticket to L.A. for as soon as I can get there.”

With a smile, the blonde clicked around on her computer. “Let me see what I can do. Hmmm. There’s a flight leaving in an hour, if you’d like to try to dart through security. Crowds are pretty low this time of day.”

A smile exploded across Ben’s face. “Perfect. Thank you.”

Before Ben had time to reconsider, he had his boarding pass and was half running toward his gate. His flight left on time. The poor woman trapped in the seat next to him kept shooting him dirty looks each time his leg would start bouncing from his shot nerves. Ben kept flashing an apologetic smile her way. He nearly cried out in relief when he climbed from the cab in L.A. at the gate of Joey’s property. It felt like it took an eternity to get home. In reality, he was home in less than three hours. He quickly typed in the code and headed for the house. The door was unlocked, and the alarm wasn’t set. That was the first sign things weren’t right.

Ben checked the garage. All the cars were there. Joey’s expression, right before their call ended, flashed through Ben’s mind. His heart rate kicked up a notch. He could hear his pulse pounding in his ears as he headed for their bedroom. A trail of women’s clothing and underwear led down the hall. Ben’s throat swelled. His eyes burned. It was like all his worst fears and nightmares converged. He pushed open their bedroom door and froze. There were two women in their bed. They weren’t alone.

“Oh.”

Everyone froze and looked his way. There wasn’t an inch of nude skin Ben didn’t see. Joey stared back at him from the bed. It felt like an hour passed while they held each other’s gaze. The women ceased to exist, but not the betrayal. That would never go away. Ben wondered if his chest would cave. He swore he heard his heart shatter. Ben knew the truth now. He understood the real reason he had been kept a secret, and everything was over now.

ChapterOne

“Joey Kickstart was arrestedlast night after causing over twenty thousand dollars’ worth of damage to an L.A. hotel over the weekend. His arrest came after a two-night stay in the hospital for unspecified injuries sustained during the rampage. The charges were dropped early this morning after Kickstart and the hotel came to a private agreement.”

Ben rolled his eyes and turned off the TV. There was always something with Joey. Ben would know. He had been the guy’s roadie for two of the longest years of his life. Joey was… complicated. He was loud and bright. Larger than life. As the frontman for Cosmic Nightmare, a popular metal band, Joey was used to being king. Men and women fell at his feet. People paid hotel workers to let them sneak into his room. They broke into his house and climbed into bed with him nude. His life was a wild ride Ben couldn’t handle. That was why Ben had only lasted two years. There was a lot of pressure in being around someone that huge all the time, especially since Joey didn’t know how to turn off the stardom. Even during the quietest of times, Joey was a whirlwind. He did shit like cause twenty thousand dollars’ worth of damage to a hotel. It was exhausting.

Despite it being one in the afternoon, Ben headed for the kitchen and made coffee. It was the first day of summer break and this last year of college had kicked his ass. It was possible he had slept way later than what could be considered healthy. Fuck it. He planned to relax awhile. As he stirred sugar into his cup, Ben shook his head. Sometimes, he missed those roadie days. It was dumb. He had almost lost himself in that world. The only good that came of those days was it paid for his education so he could get the hell out before he ended up letting Joey destroy him in every way.

Ben scowled at nothing. He hated thinking about Joey. Nothing good could come of recalling their time together. His phone rang, saving him before he ran down a rabbit hole of unwanted memories. When he pulled his phone from his pocket, Ben’s mind blanked. A blast from the past rocked him on his heels when he spotted the name on the caller ID. It was as if thinking about his past conjured it. His ex-boss, Charlie, hadn’t called him in years. Even as dread roiled in his gut, Ben answered.

“Hello?”

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