The harsh steel in his voice didn’t bring the warm and fuzzies to Ethan’s shivering nerves. “I didn’t mean to do what you think. I was trying to pay you back.” He quickly opened the door and slid inside. The warm car was a relief. He swore the wetness from his T-shirt had seeped into his bones.
Niko slid into the driver’s seat. “I know you weren’t trying to grab my dick.” Niko twisted to lay the bags on the back seat. “My dick—Jesus Christ, Ethan jumped when Niko grabbed his hand and pressed it to his crotch—“is on this side.”
Oh God, his palm perfectly cupped the bulge under Niko’s zipper. “You’ve…um…” Ethan tested the waters and gently squeezed, feeling the mound grow. “Your cock is so…”
“So what?” He slowly lifted his hips only to plant them back on the seat. Ethan rubbed faster, knowing his own cock was reacting to the tension. When Niko pressed the back of his skull on the headrest, Ethan’s lips parted at the sight of the rose tattoo on the side of his neck. He wanted to taste the colorful skin, to slide the tip of his moist tongue along the gently faded red petals.
He was leaning in, hand increasing pace, when the seat belt tightened against his chest. The pressure wouldn’t let him get in closer. Silently cursing the tight strap, he reluctantly left Niko’s hips pushing in an agonizing rhythm. The click of the seat belt must’ve brought Niko out of his dream state because he shook his head, running the palm of his hand over his face. “Shit,” he mumbled then sighed. “Put your belt back on.”
Niko fumbled with the key before finally sliding it into the ignition.
No hum of the radio to drown out the silence, no small talk, just the tap of Niko’s thumb on the steering wheel filled the void as they turned off the highway onto a road leading to one of the old neighborhoods. The once cozy car now felt sterile.
Niko drove past the theater. The building was obviously in multiple stages of repair, but the ambiance of the vintage marquee radiated onto the street. “This place is cool. You live here?”
Niko slowed the car to turn onto the next street. They pulled into a small gravel parking lot behind the theater. “Yeah, the neighborhood isn’t the greatest, but it’s home. People like your asshole ex-boyfriend want to come in and rehab everything, even the people.”
The grip on Ethan’s chest tightened. He hadn’t grown up in the “neighborhoods” as he’d heard the area called so many times since he’d started at the university. Living in a make-shift museum furnished with white carpets and expensive artwork made him look like a primped house boy, but the truth was he had been a rainbow of colors living in a colorless canvas.
“I think it’s cool the owners are reno-ing the place.”
“Yeah.” Niko leaned behind the console to grab the bags. “We’ll leave your stuff in the trunk. You’re going to move into your place tomorrow so we’ll unload them there. Come on. I’m starving.”
Ethan hurried to open the car door and hopped out. Niko slung the black duffle bag over one shoulder and started toward an entrance that, if Ethan wasn’t following him, he’d never have known was there.
“This was the backstage entrance when they had plays and shit.” Niko opened the door, holding it for Ethan to pass. “I’m on the third floor.” They walked down a long corridor, maroon paint peeling from the walls and the smell of his grandma’s trunk in the attic permeating his nose. “That’s the elevator, but I take the stairs. You good to climb?”
Ethan smirked. “I may look like a wimp, but I’m in shape.”
Niko’s dark brow rose. The emerald irises scanned the yellow shirt covering Ethan’s chest. The fabric didn’t stretch over his pecs like Niko’s did. Being that big wasn’t an option no matter how much weight he lifted or how many protein supplements he took. At least being fit came naturally. He couldn’t complain.
“I can tell. You’re...you’ve got a nice—shit, come on.”
God, he wanted Niko to finish the thought. He’d been told many times, by many men at the club, that he had a nice body. Hearing the compliment come from Niko would feel different, like he wasn’t just saying the words to get into bed.
When they reached the third floor, Ethan peered through the winding shapes of the massive stained glass window. “Oh my God, this is beautiful. I can see why this place is named The Palace.”
The shrill of the metal door sliding across tracks brought his attention to where Niko had opened the gateway to his apartment. A pup came bouncing out of the dimly lit space. “This is Casper.”