Page 4 of Beck

That day, he would stand alongside the Life in Ink crew, helping to design tattoos and whatever else Ethan and Ani needed him to do. It wasn’t something he’d ever envisaged for himself, but he was excited to stretch his design muscles. It had been a long time since he’d done anything with them—college, to be exact.

His second alarm rang. He’d always been one of those people who needed at least two, sometimes three, alarms to get him moving in the morning. It wouldn’t faze Ethan or Christi if someone told them Kole had ten alarms to wake up. The main thing was that he would never be late because, despite having so many alarms, he was always on time or early.

He swung his legs out of the bed and rubbed his hands over his face and through his hair, his fingers tangling in the knots. Exhaling away the leftover sleepiness, he headed for the bathroom and switched the shower on while he used the toilet. Then he jumped right in, moaning at the heat of the water. He let the spray pound down on his shoulders, easing the ache fromhow he’d slept, and then tilted his head back to wet his hair. There was something about the feel of the water drenching his strands that loosened his muscles further. Like he was washing something away, becoming new again.

He snorted at his fanciful thoughts and squirted shampoo into his hand. As he massaged it into his hair and scalp, his thoughts drifted back to the previous night and what happened with Beck. When that guy had startled Kole, he’d only found the courage to say yes to dancing with him because Beck was there. When Beck had tried to leave him, Kole couldn’t cope, and he’d grabbed for him to stay. But after a few minutes, Beck had frozen and then pushed Kole into the guy and faced off with another one. Despite Kole’s panic, he’d seen the flash of fear in Beck’s eyes. There was no way he could’ve left him to fend for himself at that point, even though Kole had been terrified about what was happening.

After that, Beck had been distant but fronting hard. Kole could relate. It was one reason he’d asked Beck about walking back to the hotel. Yes, Kole hadn’t wanted to walk back by himself, but he could see Beck was struggling. But despite that, Beck had still protected Kole in the lift. The man was a conundrum. He hadn’t believed there were still people around like that. Except for his friends, of course. Though, thinking about it, the Life in Ink crew were becoming his friends, too. He just didn’t know them as well, yet.

He finished in the shower, ignoring his hard-on, and dried off. Wrapping the towel around his waist, he strode for the chest of drawers he filled with his belongings when they’d arrived the previous day. He’d already chosen what he was going to wear, so he grabbed the briefs, skinny jeans and T-shirt, and dressed quickly. Then he took the purple shirt from the hanger and slipped it over his shoulders. It was chilly outside, but he wasn’t sure if the event would be air-conditioned like it had been theprevious day. He’d prefer to wear layers he could take off if he needed to.

Someone pounded at his door, and he checked the clock. Right on time. He shoved his wallet, keys and phone into his pockets, lifted his coat from the hook and opened the door.

“Ready?” Beck said.

“Yep.” He followed Beck down the hallway while shrugging on his coat.

“Did you sleep okay?” Beck asked.

“Yes, thanks. I might just have to steal the bed and take it home,” Kole joked.

Beck laughed. “This hotel is definitely worth their weight in gold.”

The lift deposited them on the ground floor, and they met up with the rest of the crew with hugs and back slaps all around before they left the hotel for the early morning walk to the event, which was being held right around the corner from the hotel.

Ethan dropped into step beside him, hooking his arm through Kole’s. “Did you have a good night?”

Kole understood the undercurrent of his question. “I did, and I’m fine. As I said to Beck, I might need to steal the bed. It was damn comfortable.”

Ethan chuckled. “They spare no expense when it comes to comfort.”

“I can see that. I daren’t look at the prices of the rooms. I’m scared I’ll have a heart attack.”

“Yeah, definitely don’t do that. Either of them.”

Kole studied him. “You seem unusually chipper for such an early morning.”

Ethan hit his arm. “I’m always chipper. I used to get up at an ungodly hour, remember?”

“Just because you had to doesn’t mean you were chipper.”

“Shut up!” Ethan whined. “It’s true, though. I’ve been spoilt since moving here and not having to get up that early.” He rested his head on Kole’s arm. “Do you think you’ll join me one day?”

Kole snorted, knowing Ethan had been keeping those words in for their entire conversation. “If I leave Whitby, poor Christi will be on her own.”

“She’s got Di.”

“My family is there.”

“So is mine.”

“I have a job I love.”

“You could get a similar job here or you could work with us.”

Kole sighed. “You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”

“I try.” Ethan tightened his hold on his arm. “I just want you happy, Kole,” he murmured. “And you don’t seem particularly happy right now. I’m worried about my best friend.”

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