VIP Room Page 2

  Lucas moved forward, then hesitated again. “How does this work?”

  “Get on the back.”

  After a moment, the seat shook slightly and Lucas’s arms wrapped around Elijah from behind. The heat of the guy’s body was enough to send a slight tremor through his body. Lucas was only about an inch shorter than Elijah’s six foot one, and he was built. Feeling him there made the blood in Elijah’s head rush downwards.

  “Um, do you have a helmet?” Lucas asked.

  “Nope.” Did this guy even know who he was talking to? “It’s only a few minutes from here.”

  Once the bike was on the road, there was no chance to talk. Someone else might have been able to yell at him, but Elijah never would have been able to hear Lucas’s quiet voice.

  Elijah was silently amazed that he was hanging out with Lucas. In all the time they had known each other, he had never made an effort to reach out to him. Of course, Lucas hadn’t either. He’d even been a little combative when Elijah had first spoken to him earlier. But the more Elijah talked to him, the more he found he liked the guy.

  He leaned into the handlebars, his eyes on the road but his mind on the hard body pressed up against his. It was hard not to think about what Lucas would feel like under him in bed. He would be shy, of course. But maybe he had some passion in him as well.

  What kind of experience did Lucas have? He was so good-looking, but he never spoke to anyone. Surely some guy out there had devirginized Lucas by now. Of course, none of the strippers had gotten involved with him – as far as Elijah knew. He frowned as he considered the idea of it. He hoped none of the others had touched Lucas.

  Gripping the handlebars, he tried to focus on the road. He didn’t take other people around often. Riding was slightly different, a little wobblier, with two people on the bike. He could feel the tension in Lucas’s body. Had Lucas even ridden on a motorcycle before?

  Elijah parked outside the house. When they dismounted, his question was answered. “That was pretty cool for my first motorcycle ride,” Lucas said.

  For a first timer, his calmness was actually impressive. Elijah wished he’d had a helmet for Lucas. It would have made the ride much easier for him. Lucas must have been scared shitless, and he hadn’t even shown that he was nervous.

  “You did good,” Elijah said, pointing him toward the door.

  Hopefully it wouldn’t be too messy inside. He cleaned when it was absolutely necessary. It rarely mattered because the only people who came over were booty calls. Even then, he normally found it more efficient to go to their place so he could leave as soon as he was done. When they came here, they sometimes tried to stick around.

  Elijah led Lucas inside and kicked off his shoes quietly. He glanced around, knowing that the fading curtains and torn up furniture wouldn’t look great to an outsider. It was Deena’s house. He and Jazmin rented from her. He would have liked for her to spruce it up a little, but he was going to move as soon as he could anyway. He deserved better than this.

  Although Lucas pushed up his glasses, he made no judgments about the place. Whether he liked it or not, he made no comments about it. Elijah wondered if he would go silent again. Now that he’d heard Lucas’s voice, he hated the idea of losing it.

  They could have sat at the kitchen table, but Elijah figured Lucas would feel more relaxed in his room. “Come with me. All my shit’s in there.” Lucas bit his lip, but he followed.

  In Elijah’s room, he sat Lucas in front of his desk. Taking a seat opposite on his bed, he pulled rolling papers out of the desk drawer. They were close enough for their knees to almost touch as Elijah leaned over to the desk. When he pulled back, he was conscious of the lack of that body heat. It emanated off Lucas, making Elijah crave more.

  Once he’d placed the rolling papers perpendicularly on his lap, he looked at Lucas expectantly. Lucas looked back at him in confusion. His innocence was definitely cute.

  “What?” Lucas asked.

  “I’m going to need the weed if you want to smoke it.”

  “Oh!”

  His fumble to pull the baggie back out was even cuter. Elijah liked catching Lucas off guard. He would have liked to make him blush, too. Maybe that could come next.

  With the drugs back in his hand, he crumbled about a gram and began to roll the papers together with practiced familiarity. “I have to admit, I didn’t think you would want to buy this.”

  Lucas stiffened. “You have a lot to learn about me.”

  “I’ll bet I do. Have you done a lot of drugs before?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “It’s your first time?”

  Although Lucas cringed, he told the truth. “Yes.”

  Elijah nodded. He’d figured as much. Why exactly had Lucas decided to make tonight his first night? Could it simply be that no one had offered them to him before?

  For now, he would try not to interrogate Lucas too much. The guy was in his house, and he should try to set him at ease. “You’re going to like this,” he said. He finished rolling and licked the papers to stick them together, staring Lucas in the eye.

  “Pot in general?”

  “Yeah,” Elijah leaned back, settling the joint on his leg. “It calms you down. Makes everything seem okay. It’ll probably hit you hard this time, too – that’s if you feel it at all.”

  Lucas shifted in the chair. “Why wouldn’t it?”

  “Sometimes it takes a few tries before you start feeling it. Course, it helps if you know what you’re doing. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you how to do it right.”

  “Okay.”

  Damn, Lucas was cute. He sounded so nervous, like he was trying to be brave and barely managing it. He did have a personality when Elijah could get him to talk. He was plucky and sweet and a little sarcastic. Elijah liked the combination more and more. His resolution not to interrogate Lucas faltered as his curiosity swelled.

  “What about other things?” he asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “If this is your first time. Does that mean you haven’t done other things, either?”

  Lucas glanced at him, and Elijah was again aware of how close they were. “Are you asking if I’m a… a virgin?”

  Elijah raised an eyebrow. “Guess I am.”

  “Not at all,” Lucas said a little too quickly.

  What did that mean? Elijah was definitely intrigued.

  Not for the first time, he was glad he’d stopped to talk to Lucas.

  Three

  What had Lucas gotten himself into? His heartbeat felt like it was going in double time. Being at Elijah’s place, sitting here in his room, was nerve-racking in a way that made stripping seem easy. The room’s compactness forced them to sit close to each other. From his spot in the desk chair, Lucas could smell Elijah’s sandalwood shampoo.

  His heart had been racing for about an hour straight. At least he hadn’t frozen up and gone silent the way that he so often did. It happened less when he was one on one with someone. Elijah made him even more nervous than most people, but he was still managing to talk.

  Elijah didn’t immediately respond to his inane answer. Not at all? It wasn’t completely accurate, and Lucas knew he had practically squeaked out the words. By all rights, Elijah should have been looking at him funny.

  As Lucas worried, he glanced at the window. The sun was already peeking over the horizon. It had to be close to five now. He was never up this late, even on work nights. He was going to be exhausted for his shift tomorrow… or today, rather. He had to be back at the club at nine-thirty tonight. Somehow, being here with Elijah was worth it.

  His eyes drifted back to Elijah, who was still focused on the joint in his hand. Elijah was kind of rude and cynical, but Lucas was beginning to see that there was more to him than that. After all, Elijah had been friendlier to him tonight than most of the other guys put together. Only Cooper had made this kind of effort to include him, and that was because they went so far back.

  Lucas didn’t blame anyone for not reaching out to him. He didn’t reach out to them either. But it still felt good when someone put in the work to get to know him. The other strippers had never asked him many personal questions. Although he understood, he still left out.

  At last Elijah looked up at him, toying with the joint in his hand. His attractiveness was overwhelming. “Not at all, huh?”

  “That’s right,” Lucas said. He wanted to sound confident, but his voice came out as quiet as usual. He wasn’t about to tell Elijah that his experiences had all involved massive amounts of alcohol. As long as Elijah didn’t guess, Lucas would keep that to himself.

  “Getting laid all the time, are you?”

  “I wouldn’t put it quite like that.”

  Elijah raised his eyebrows. Lucas noted they were a few shades darker than his auburn hair, the same color as his thick stubble. Then he told himself to stop analyzing Elijah’s face.

  “How would you put it?” Elijah asked.

  Biting his lip, Lucas looked at the ground. He was going to get hard if he kept looking at his coworker’s strong jaw. “I don’t feel like telling you that.”

  “Hmm.”

  Since Elijah seemed satisfied for the moment, Lucas tried to regain his calm. He was just thankful that Elijah wasn’t pushing the question. Those nights were something he didn’t want to discuss with anyone, especially Elijah.

  Truth be told, those experiences had barely been better than masturbating. Lucas had been eager to do it, waiting until he was twenty-one and could go to the bars. He’d gone out on the very night of his birthday.

  Since he had no friends he could trust enough to go with, he had gone on his own. With his looks, it had been easy enough to get attention. But there was still talking involved. Feeling like the man was judging h
im the whole time, he hadn’t been able to relax and enjoy the experience.

  He’d done it two or three times, letting guys take him back to their place or suck him off in an alley. On every occasion, Lucas was too drunk to enjoy anything. Finally he resolved to stay celibate until he found someone he could feel comfortable with.

  Abstinence was better, and much less risky, than that kind of unsatisfying sex. Never mind that he was never going to find someone like that, and that he’d probably go the rest of his life without getting laid again…

  Elijah held a joint out to Lucas, who blinked back at him. Lucas had almost forgotten the reason they were there. He was tired, and he didn’t know how the weed would affect him. From what he’d heard, the drug made people paranoid. His anxiety was already at an all-time high, and he didn’t feel like experimenting anymore. He wished he could be back home playing with his cat or lifting weights in his home gym – anywhere that wasn’t this strange new situation.

  “I don’t think I want to smoke right now,” he said.

  Although he braced himself for an unpleasant reaction, Elijah didn’t complain or even laugh at him. Instead, he set the joint and the baggie aside. Lucas tensed slightly as Elijah patted the bed next to him. Lucas moved over hesitantly, not knowing what the guy wanted.

  Elijah placed his hand on Lucas’s knee. The gesture was casual enough that Lucas could have imagined he’d done it without thinking. But the way Elijah kept his hand there let him know it was no accident.

  “You don’t feel like smoking,” Elijah said, his voice low and meaningful. “What do you feel like doing?”

  Lucas’s throat went dry. Was he imagining what Elijah meant by that? There were any number of possible interpretations, and the one he was thinking of was the least likely. Elijah wouldn’t be into him like that. He only meant that they could do something else if Lucas wanted.

  “Hey,” Elijah repeated. “If you don’t want to smoke, what would you like to do instead?” His hand tightened on Lucas’s knee.

  Lucas stared into Elijah’s gray eyes. No, he wasn’t imagining this. Elijah was seriously hitting on him. This was happening so fast, and it was so unexpected. He sat there for a moment, barely able to breathe. What might happen if he said yes?

  He pushed up his glasses with shaky fingers, imagining kissing Elijah. They were only inches apart. If he leaned forward, or gave Elijah the go-ahead to do so, it could actually happen. His cock twitched at the mere idea of it. They were alone in Elijah’s place, and it was late at night. A lot more than kissing could potentially happen.

  Lucas had no idea what to say, not that he could have gotten the words out anyway. Words had completely failed him. Maybe he’d have been able to come up with some if he had any clue of what he wanted. Elijah was almost insanely attractive, but he terrified Lucas. What was Lucas supposed to do?

  Since he just sat there dumbly, Elijah eventually withdrew his hand. “No worries,” Elijah said.

  Lucas’s legs were unsteady as he stood up. He hoped his growing hard-on wouldn’t show through his jeans. Clearing his throat, he managed to formulate a sentence. “I better get home.”

  “There’s no rush,” Elijah said, looking strange. “We can hang out if you want. You’re here anyway.”

  Lucas prayed he didn’t think he was rejecting him. Surely Elijah would be able to tell that he was too nervous to continue. If he knew anything about Lucas, he should be able to guess that much.

  “You want to hang out with me?”

  “Sure, why wouldn’t I? You’re a cool dude.”

  Although Lucas wasn’t sure what he was doing, he sat down again. If he hadn’t been so nervous, they could have been making out right now. He could almost feel Elijah’s hands roaming over his body. Would he grope wildly like one of the guys from the gay club? Or might his touch be gentle?

  “Sorry, I just felt like it was getting late.”

  “It is,” Elijah said.

  As Lucas glanced around, his eyes landed on an alarm clock. It was past six in the morning! “Are you sure you want to hang out now? You don’t want to sleep?”

  Elijah gave a languorous shrug. “I can sleep whenever.”

  “That’s true.”

  Hanging out was a foreign concept to Lucas. It had been ages since he’d hung out with anyone outside his family. He only had a few people he was comfortable talking to, like Cooper, and he was aware that they considered him more of an acquaintance than an actual friend. What did a guy like Elijah even do when he hung out with his friends?

  “So, you’re going to stay and chill?”

  “Um, maybe another time.” Lucas’s heart was pounding too hard for him to do anything but go home.

  Jumping up, Lucas moved toward the bedroom door. He had to get out of here. Had to get back to a safe place where things made sense and no one confused him.

  Elijah was one step ahead of him, opening the door to let him into the hall. He glanced around until Elijah pointed him toward the front entrance.

  “I’m really sorry,” Lucas said, speeding away as fast as he could. “I need to feed my cat. He must be hungry.”

  Behind him, Elijah sounded almost annoyingly calm. “I told you, man, no worries. Do you want a ride?”

  There was no way that Lucas could deal with a ride from him right now. Being pressed up against him on his motorcycle again sounded more like torture. Why couldn’t he stay and see where this was going to go? He cursed himself for his cowardice. He wanted Elijah badly, but he was terrified. If he stayed, he’d be sure to do the wrong thing and make Elijah hate him. At least he’d keep his pride if he left.

  As he opened the front door, Elijah stood behind him with his hands in his pockets, slumped over slightly as if regretting that Lucas had to leave.

  “This was… fun,” he said. “I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

  “Sure, sure,” Elijah said. “We can talk at work.”

  Elijah wanted to talk to him again. “That sounds good.”

  He put his hand on the doorknob, but Elijah stopped him before he opened it. “Here.” He held out the wad of bills from earlier.

  Lucas glanced from his hand to his face. Elijah was giving him his money back? If anything, he should be giving him the drugs he had bought. He supposed Elijah had figured out he no longer wanted them.

  “You can have the joint too if you want,” Elijah said as if reading his mind. “I feel bad for charging you a couple times the normal amount.”

  Lucas gaped at him. Elijah was trying to rip him off earlier?

  “A guy’s gotta turn a profit.”

  Wordless, Lucas waved off the proffered joint. If Elijah was trying to put one over on him before, he had changed his mind now. Why? Did he like him that much? Had they actually bonded?

  “Okay,” Elijah said, putting it back in his pocket. “I’ll smoke you up anytime you decide you want to try it. No cost, of course. Just for fun.”

  As much as Lucas wanted to respond, he had completely lost his voice. Everything Elijah said or did was adding up to leave him with no sense of his bearings. All he could do was nod as he pulled open the door. He walked away with his head spinning.

  In the light of dawn, Lucas paced toward his parents’ house. His feet were heavy, his stride slow, his mind in a fog. He had a long walk ahead of him. Hopefully the journey would help him straighten his thoughts. God knew he needed it. Things could have been worse

  He couldn’t have predicted what would happen after Elijah first spoke to him in that parking lot. He might have made a new friend tonight.

  As he took each step, the growing erection that pressed at his zipper made it hard to even walk.

  He might have made a new friend… or he could have found something more.

  Four

  Pretty much all the guys were in the change room when Elijah arrived. He had come a minute late intentionally in case Lucas wanted to avoid him. When he looked back at other nights, he recalled that Lucas usually finished changing before anyone else.

  Tonight, though, he was lacing up his shoes in his usual corner as Elijah entered.

  “Hey, Elijah!” Jesse said. A few of the others greeted him enthusiastically.

  “Hey, Jesse. Hey, Ace.” He glanced around, saying hello to most of them. “Hey, Lucas.”