Page 15 of Pandora's Pain
“What did you guys play?”
He paused before bringing his lips closer until they brushed against my jaw. “What do you think we played? Guess.”
My heels shifted beneath me, my thighs rubbing together from his closeness. His body heat seared over my skin.
“I’m going to say Ashton played the drums.” Drums are pretty typical. He looked like he could be a drummer if the limelight didn’t soak right into him. “And you,” I studied Zavier’s long fingers, but his crisp button down and black rimmed glasses deterred my thoughts., “I’m going to say you played the trumpet.”
His eyes closed slowly before his teasing smirk widened. “We were both drummers. Sat side by side for four years.”
The overpowering beat of the band strummed down to a slow guitar solo. It was quieter. I could hear individual voices in the crowd screaming out. Even with the lack of noise, Zavier didn’t step away from me.
“Then what happened?”
His hair skimmed against my cheek. “We both went to the same college. Both dropped out. Both became successful for different reasons.”
An app made this man insanely wealthy and insanely greedy?So much so that his actions are harming the world somehow?
Ashton screamed out a goodnight to the crowd, and his farewell only made them chant louder.
He just played for two hours straight. He should have been exhausted, and yet he ran over to me. His palm was hot against my skin as his fingers toyed with the inside of my wrist.
“Did you have any fun?” Sweat dripped down the etched lines of his bare chest and I tried my best not to lean into him.
Suddenly Zavier was attached to his phone again. With quick fingers he tapped out a reply before shoving the device into his pocket.
“It was amazing.” The awe in my voice was genuine. I’d never met anyone like Ashton. He was this person you physically wanted to be close to. You wanted him to like you and you needed his nearness to feel complete.
Or maybe I just hadn’t been close to anyone in so long I was attaching myself to the first person who saw me as a real person again.
“You guys want to go do something after this?” His fingers still stroked along my wrist, making an intense feeling flood my chest.
“I’m going to call it a night. I have a conference call at eight tomorrow.” Zavier didn’t look at me once.
“A conference call. That sounds… Incredibly painful.” Ashton tried to hide his smirk, but it shone through against his beautiful face.
Zavier shoved off from his friend, planting his palm against Ashton’s shoulder before pushing away from us.
“Stay out of trouble, Ash. If you need me, I’ll be preparing for the pain of this conference call.”
Neither of these two men knew what real pain was.
And strangely, I wanted nothing more than to keep it that way.
***
The two of us stumbled through the quiet hotel lobby some time after four in the morning. The sky outside the glass walls was a fighting color of dense blues and dark purples. As if the morning might be overtaken by the night, letting this night last for eternity.
His boots scuffed the glossy tile, pulling me off balance as I clung to his lengthy frame. The receptionist glared at us with narrowed eyes, and it threw us into a fit of laughter all over again. I buried my face into his soft shirt, breathing him in as I tried to quiet the hum of happiness shaking through me.
The endless alcohol we’d consumed was hitting me hard.
“Don’t be ashamed to have fun, Hope.” It took me several seconds to realizeIwas Hope.
“I’m not ashamed. I have nothing to be ashamed of.” My time here might be limited. I wasn’t going to waste it.
I paused just outside my door, still clinging onto his hard body. My palm pushed down his chest before settling against his abdomen.
Suddenly I wanted him to come in more than I thought I would.
