Page 24 of Syncopation
No reply, just a knowing twist of the lips, and Zavier reclaimed his seat next to Ray. Mish played with her phone.
Once again, Ray wished Zavier’s eyes weren’t thatblue, because he ended up staring into them too long.
“What will you do?” Zavier’s voice curled into Ray’s belly and ignited lust and heat.
If he could, he’d do Zav. Any way he wanted. Such a bad idea. “Probably take a nap.”
Maybe he could jack off quietly. He’d done that before on tour. Pretty sure they’d all masturbated on the bus, even Mish. Something about the energy of touringand the throbbing rumble beneath them.
“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Dom peered at him over the edge of his glasses. Made him look like the somewhat stuffy bookworm he really was.
Ray’s cheeks heated. Yeah, maybe he was obvious, but he didn’t need his best friend pointing that out.
Zavier raised an eyebrow. “As I recall, you’re the kid, kid.”
“Two years youngerthan you isn’t that much,” Dom said.
“Not anymore, no,”
“Get off my lawn,” Mish muttered, and they all laughed, even Zavier.
With the tension broken, the bus picking up speed, and the coffee brewing, Ray made good on his words. He crawled into a berth and closed his eyes. He hadn’t planned on sleeping, but his thoughts twisted and jumbled around Zavier’s smile, and then slid into nothingness.
* * *
Traveling this way wasn’t bad. Zavier propped his feet up on the leather couch and watched the world go by. They were heading to Detroit for their next show and would arrive sometime tomorrow. He wasn’t sure how the whole driver thing worked. Shifts, he guessed. Like driving across country with friends. There certainly was more than one driver for the two buses—this one and the crewbus.
The coffeemaker had brewed a perfect pot. Even Dom had been pleased, and so had Ray when he’d emerged from behind the berth curtain, blinking and bleary-eyed, some two hours later.
Looked like someone had actually napped and not just slipped away to get off.
Ray clutched his mug and drank, and Zavier watched him in the reflection of the window. While Ray had been out, Dom hadclaimed the bunk above Mish, which left the one under Ray for Zavier, and didn’t that do wicked things to his lust.
He closed his eyes and swallowed the snort. He had more control than this, but Ray was so delightful in so many ways. Even when Ray was at his most stressed and grumpy, there were these buttons Zavier could push, and did. Mostly to direct Ray away from the anger eating at him,but Zavier wasn’t entirely altruistic—he got too much of a rush from playing with Ray’s obvious submissive side—but at least he could use his own lust to help.
He studied the scenery and then Ray’s reflection—and caught Ray watching him. Wasn’t unpleasant, that inspection. A little wonder, a little calculation. Ray shook himself, and finished his coffee. When he rose, Zavier readjusted himselfon the couch so he could peer across the aisle at him when he settled back with a notebook.
Mish wandered up from the back and scooped Zavier’s legs off the couch. “You’re like a freaking cat, taking up all the space.”
Accurate. He just smiled and sat back, feet firmly on the bus floor.
Dom put away his book, and that was what keyed Zavier in that something was up. “Is this a meeting?”
“Yes,” Ray said.
“More like a ritual.” That from Dom.
Mish rolled her eyes. “Ray’s gonna figure out the playlist for tomorrow night. He likes our input.”
The journal Ray held was worn and scuffed, meaning it probably held all of Twisted Wishes’s song lists. Maybe more besides. A little wash of sparks ran up Zavier’s back. Hewaspart of this band. Playing the festival had been onething. Rehearsals another. But this...was Ray sharing himself.
Ray slipped the cord off the notebook and flipped through the pages. From what Zavier spied, some had sparse writing on them, others were packed with text. The page Ray stopped at already had writing on it. “I was thinking about a similar list to the festival, though we’ll need to add songs, since we’ll have about thirty more minutesto play.”
They also had several more tracks from the third album down well enough to perform. And wouldn’t you know, Dom suggested adding two of them to the middle of the show. “We’ll be warmed up, and they’ll be expecting newer stuff about then.”
Ray nodded.
“Encores?” Mish asked.
