Catch My Breath (16 page)

Elliot looked at him for a minute before he got it. “Um, I think I’m going to go out too. See you guys after lunch?”

The other three nodded tiredly, apparently unable to even move. Suited Elliot just fine. He stood and followed Danny into the hallway, where Danny laughed softly and grabbed his hand.

“C’mon. This way.”

“H
OW
long has it been since this morning?” Elliot whispered. He couldn’t believe they were in a freaking closet—with mops and brooms and stuff. A closet. The irony wasn’t lost on him, not that he cared. He was with Danny. Nothing else mattered.

“Five hundred years.” Danny groaned and pulled him closer, like Elliot was going to object. They crashed together desperately, biting, breathing hard, licking into each other’s mouths. The hunger never seemed to get any easier to bear, at least not for Elliot. Apparently not for Danny either.

“I’ve wanted to do that all day. God, your
voice
,” Danny breathed. “Do you have any idea what it does to me?”

Danny raked his fingers up Elliot’s spine, his touch dragging the rough fabric of Elliot’s polo over his skin. Elliot shivered and leaned forward, burying his face in Danny’s neck. “Your voice too. I love listening to you sing.”

“Mmmhmm.” Danny kissed him again, sliding his fingers under the hem of Elliot’s shirt until he came to bare skin.

Elliot nearly melted into a pool on the floor. Danny’s fingers on his skin, his kisses, his smell, the way he tasted…. Elliot groaned, about ready to explode. “We’d better get back before Keller comes looking for us.”

“Don’t want to.” Danny kissed him again. It was hard for Elliot to be rational when he didn’t want to go either.

“We’re gonna get in trouble.” For another kiss it might be worth it. Might? It was so worth it. They had to be more careful though. He’d already noticed a few stern looks from the producers back at the house. A little jokey stage gay was more than fine apparently, but they couldn’t look like they actually wanted each other. Problem was, Elliot didn’t know how not to look like he wanted Danny—wanted to kiss him, touch him, suction-cup his lips to Danny’s skin like a needy little sea anemone and never let go.

“
Shit
…. We need to stop before we can’t. It’s almost time to get back.” Danny tore his mouth from Elliot’s and backed away a few inches.

It just took a second. Elliot already missed Danny’s body, warm and solid. He wanted to pull him close again, start the kisses all over. Danny raked his hands through his hair and wiped his mouth. Didn’t do much good. Even in the darkness of the closet, his lips were glossy and pinker than they had any right to be. His eyes were glassy, pupils blown wide, his shirt was rumpled where Elliot had grabbed it. They were screwed.

“We’d better stop. You go first, okay?” Danny mumbled.

Elliot didn’t want to go out there. Everyone would know. They had to, even if they’d been clueless so far. How could they miss his red cheeks, his own swollen lips, the way every damn feeling he couldn’t possibly contain had to be seeping out of his pores?
Elliot nodded and stepped toward the door, preparing himself to look normal, whatever that was. He took a slow breath and was about to turn the knob when the door burst outward, flooding the closet with bright hallway light. Elliot blinked hard and flew into panic mode until he saw it was only Reece, standing with his guitar slung over his back and his hip cocked. Reece rolled his eyes.

“Are you guys, like, in here planning how to freeze Tate’s underwear again?”

Elliot thanked his lucky stars for Reece’s oblivious nature. “Maybe,” he drawled. “Or maybe it’s yours we’re after this time.”

“Don’t even think about it. And you might want to work on being a little quieter.” Reece smirked at them. “C’mon. Keller and James are ready for us again. Let’s get this done so I can get my dinner.”

Danny flicked Reece in the stomach, which managed to stay flat and muscular despite the rather spectacular amount of food Reece put down daily. “We just ate lunch. Do you ever stop thinking about eating?”

“Nope.” Reece grinned as they started down the hallway. “Some day I’m going to take you boys home with me. You people out here with your egg-white omelets and fruit smoothies. You don’t know food until you’ve had it bayou style.”

“I’ll take your word for it, bro.” Danny clapped Reece on the back as they turned back into the recording studio.

Keller snorted when he saw that the two lost sheep had returned to the herd… again. “Do I even want to know what you two are always off doing, wherever you go?” Danny had earned the reputation of instigator in the past month or so, and Elliot was usually all too happy to go along with his plans. It was nice to use their reputation for pulling pranks when they’d been doing nothing of the sort. Convenient. Danny grinned. Elliot loved that evil little grin of his.

“Probably not,” Elliot said.

“S
WEETIE
, can you pass the spring rolls?” Savannah held her hand out to Danny. A camera followed his movement. It was awkward still, when they were outside of the house, to have cameras following them, people staring.

He picked up the plate and passed it to her. It had taken Danny a while to start liking Savannah again, as irrational as it was. He
knew
Elliot hadn’t been into her, and he knew she wasn’t into him either, but jealousy wasn’t ever rational and Danny had spent weeks fighting it down. Especially since the producers seemed determined to make something out of nothing where Elliot and Savannah were concerned.

Danny sat quietly and ate his food, checking out the inside of the restaurant and letting The Pixies’ chatter wash over him. Despite the cameras, it was comfortable, not as comfortable as he was with the guys, but nice. Pleasant.

“Oi, Danny.” Andrea poked at him with her chopstick. “You dreaming of Elliot over there?”

The other three girls giggled, and Danny rolled his eyes.

“Yeah. You caught me. Did you ask me something?”

“I said you’ve been getting a lot of attention from the fans ever since you and Katie broke it off. I think they like that you’re single.”

Andrea was right. They’d been all over him online, leaving suggestive messages and tweeting him things that made his ears burn. “Yeah,” he mumbled. It wasn’t something he wanted to discuss on camera. Or at all.

Thing was, Danny didn’t
feel
single. Sure, he didn’t have a girlfriend anymore, but he’d woken up in the same bed for days with lean arms wrapped around him and sleepy good-morning kisses on the back of his neck. It didn’t feel like single when his stomach melted every time Elliot threaded their fingers together right before they fell asleep or when they stole kisses, hiding from the cameras and the producers’ judgmental eyes. It felt like….

It felt like nothing Danny could’ve ever prepared himself for. His love for Katie had been comfortable and easy. Whatever it was he had with Elliot was big and scary and so intensely beautiful it almost hurt. Danny didn’t even know how to begin dealing with how much Elliot affected him. He just couldn’t talk about it. Especially not with a camera lens staring him in the face.

He thought he caught Savannah looking at him, a small knowing smile on her face.

Wonder if she knows….

Sometimes Danny wondered how anyone
didn’t
know. It was so obvious to him, how he couldn’t stay away from Elliot for ten minutes in a row, how Elliot’s eyes and hands and body never left his either. Maybe if one of them was a girl, then people would have noticed, wouldn’t just assume they were “close friends.” As irrational as it was, that annoyed Danny too. He wished Elliot was there to cuddle up to in the big red booth. Danny hated his insecurity. Maybe it was time for them to talk.

“Hey, hon. It’s really not a big deal what the girls are saying. They can’t actually
do
anything about it.” Gracie, whose big brown curls reminded Danny a little of Elliot, reached across the table and put her hand over his. She’d misinterpreted his discomfort, but Danny figured that was probably for the best.

“I know,” he sighed. “It just seems a little… disrespectful. To Katie, you know?” Or to Elliot. Even though officially he and Elliot were no more than friends (with secret benefits) it sure as hell didn’t feel like that to Danny. It hadn’t even before, when they’d never done a thing.

“I’m sure she gets it, D. She has to know you can’t control the fans.”

Danny nodded. He didn’t want to talk about it anymore. He was afraid that if the conversation went on any longer, it would get painfully obvious pretty quickly that it wasn’t Katie’s feelings he was protecting. And as far as Elliot, he didn’t even know what feelings there were to protect.

They
definitely
needed to talk.

D
ANNY
and The Pixies were just paying the bill and about to leave when a nervous group of young girls approached the table. He smiled expectantly at them. One of the girls was pushed forward from their little pack. She had a pen and a small notebook in her hand.

“Um, hi,” she muttered. “I, uh, we were hoping you guys could sign this. And maybe take a picture with us?” She held up her phone and smiled.

“Of course,” Danny said. He was a little flabbergasted. Sure, they had fans online, but to be approached in person for an autograph was still really rare. He and The Pixies posed for pictures with the girls and signed their notebook, passed out hugs and kisses on cheeks. It was hard not to grin, even if he wished his boys were there too.

As they were leaving, one of the girls came up to him and shyly tapped him on the arm.

“What’s up, love?” Danny asked. The girl couldn’t have been more than about twelve.

“Danny? Can you tell Elliot that I love him?” she asked quietly. Her cheeks were pink and she hid an embarrassed smile. Again, the jealousy shot through him, white hot and intense. Because of a goddamned little girl. One who would never meet Elliot. He forced himself to smile and pat her on the shoulder.

“Sure, sweetie. I will.”

“You’ll never love Elliot as much as Danny does,” one of the other girls whispered.

At that Danny burst out laughing. “Yep,” he agreed. “Nobody does.”

“See?” the second girl said. “I told you they were totally into each other.”

That got laughter from The Pixies and another knowing look from Savannah. Danny tried to smile casually and hoped the truth didn’t show on his face.

She totally knows.

As much as he knew he should, Danny didn’t even care.

“H
EY
.”
Danny sat on the edge of Elliot’s bed, just as he’d been doing most nights lately.

Elliot scooted over. “Hey, yourself. How was dinner with the girls?”

Danny shrugged. “It was okay. You should’ve come.” He didn’t know how to say that nothing was as fun if Elliot wasn’t there without sounding like a total sap. Danny hadn’t ever been good at saying what he needed to say without making a joke out of it. This wasn’t a joke. Not anymore… maybe not ever.

“It was better for me to stay here. I’m still dodging cameras every time I so much as smile at Savannah. That interview was nearly a month ago. Aren’t they going to give up?” Elliot reached for Danny and pulled him close.

Danny smiled. “Probably not.”

It felt good in Elliot’s arms, even if he ended up being the little spoon half the time, which wasn’t a position Danny had ever been used to before. Elliot’s body was warm and lanky, soft and angular in all the right places. Danny’s body fit perfectly against his. He knew he should worry about one of the other guys coming in some time, finding them in the same bed, but Danny liked it too much to care. They were safe for the moment. The door was locked.

Elliot kissed the back of Danny’s neck and found his hand so he could curl their fingers together as he always did. He slid one long leg between Danny’s thighs and hugged him closer.

“El?” Danny whispered.

“Mmmhmm?” Elliot kissed his neck again and let go of Danny’s hand to run his fingers up under Danny’s shirt. It killed Danny how casually Elliot touched him, like they’d been doing it for years instead of a couple of heady weeks. It was crazy good and new and achingly familiar all at the same time. Danny couldn’t get enough of it. He rolled over to face Elliot.

“What’s going on with us?” Elliot’s eyes flew open. He stared at Danny silently. Poor guy had to be afraid to answer. Danny would’ve been afraid if Elliot had asked him the same thing. “I mean, you’re my best friend. But I can’t stop doing this. I don’t
want
to stop.”

“I don’t want to stop either,” Elliot admitted quietly.

“And it’s not just the touching or the kissing, as much as I like that. I….” Danny cupped Elliot’s face. He didn’t know how to say it without scaring Elliot away. So he just did. “I have feelings for you. Way more than just friendship. I don’t feel like we’re just friends anymore. Maybe we never were.”

Elliot, who’d been holding his breath, released it with a radiant smile. “God, Danny, I was scared you were going to end this. Don’t you know I have feelings for you too? I mean, I’m about as obvious as it gets. Even if I try not to be.”

“Still not very good at poker, huh?”

Elliot let out a nervous giggle. “Not at all.”

Danny cupped his face and leaned in for a small kiss, nothing deep but still enough to set shivers running down his back. He loved Elliot’s kisses. “So back to my question. What are we?”

“I know what I want to be,” Elliot said. He put his hand over Danny’s and returned the kiss.

“What’s that?”

“
Together
.” Elliot looked embarrassed, like maybe he thought he’d said too much. Danny went to reassure him, but Elliot shook his head. “I know our situation is… difficult, but I’ve never felt like this about anyone before. Have you?”

“Of course not.
No
.”

“Not even Katie?”

He felt like an asshole, but well…. “No. Not even Katie.”