Don't Read in the Closet volume one (46 page)

Jackson leaned
over Ash’s back. He slipped a hand under him, pulling Ash’s off his cock. “I
want to make you come completely.”

Ash spoke
between quick breaths. “It’s not going to take much more.”

Jackson pulled
at Ash’s cock, Ash’s moans growing louder. Ash shuddered and heaved back
against him, his body constricting and releasing as he came. Warm cum slicked
Jackson’s hand and sent him into his own orgasm.

He rested a
hand on Ash’s back, giving them both a moment to catch their breath before
slowly pulling out of him. He let out a groan at leaving Ash’s warmth, but
climbed off the bed and went to the small bathroom to discard the condom. He
stepped back out from the bathroom, stopping in place to admire Ash.

Ash had flipped
over to his back, lying with his legs wide apart, one arm tossed above his
head. His softening cock rested toward his left hip, still wet with cum. He
looked spent, relaxed, satisfied, and so very beautiful.

Jackson slid
onto the bed, bowing his head and sucking Ash’s cock into his mouth. They both
needed recovery time, but he still couldn’t resist tasting him. Ash groaned,
placing his hand on Jackson’s head. Jackson slowly drew up and let Ash’s cock
gently fall back to his body. He kissed up Ash’s stomach to his chest, pausing
to tease each nipple ring with his tongue. He kissed higher to Ash’s
collarbone, and Ash tipped his head back, giving his throat to him. Jackson
licked up it and reached Ash’s lips. They met in a languid kiss, Jackson lying
down beside him as it drew to a slow end.

Ash exhaled a
contented sigh. “I really don’t feel like performing now.”

“You got a
couple hours to rest before you have to.”

“Yeah, but in a
couple hours, I’ll want sex again. And I always get lazy after being fucked. I
just want to sleep,
then
get it again.”

Jackson rubbed
his hand across Ash’s chest. “We can still do that.”

Ash rolled his
head to the side, looking at him, his voice soft as he spoke. “Hey, I really am
sorry for earlier. I shouldn’t have blown up like that.”

“It’s alright.
But I didn’t take your spot on purpose. When I was told about the change,
things weren’t the way they are now between us.”

“I know. I
never looked at the lineup, so it was my own fault for not knowing.” Ash
flipped onto his side toward him. His fingertips moved over Jackson’s cheek in
a light caress. “I have a tendency to explode over little crap…and big crap,
too. Well, pretty much any kind of crap.”

Jackson
chuckled. “Yeah, I kind of already figured that out about you.”

“Even knowing
that, you still want to hang around me? Because for a lot of people, it wears
on them.”

Jackson took
Ash’s hand in his, a serious tone entering his voice. “Yeah, I do. I don’t see
it wearing on me. It might get frustrating at times, but,” he touched his
smiling lips to Ash’s hand, “it’ll take more than temper tantrums to scare me
off.”

Ash slid closer
to him, tangling his legs with Jackson’s. “I guess there’s some truth to the
strong, silent cowboy thing. Well, except you’re not very silent. Like, at
all.”

“I’m silent a
lot. I have to be because your lips are always moving.”

Ash brought his
lips a fraction from touching Jackson’s. “Sometimes they’re moving in a good
way, though, right?”

Jackson
answered him with a kiss.

As it ended,
Ash tucked his head against him. Wrapped in Jackson’s warmth, one thought
fluttered through Ash’s mind; he wished he could hold off tomorrow, because
when it came, he and Jackson would be going their separate ways.

CHAPTER 9

Ash stood front
and center on stage before the erupting crowd. He flung his arms up,
encouraging more, and the crowd responded in a deafening roar. Devin pounded
the drums in a single, deep beat. Ash pumped his fist in the air on each one.
He took a breath and lifted his mic, his voice leaving him in a low, long note,
getting louder, going higher, until his baritone voice pitched up to his rocker
scream. Jeremy’s guitar, Chad’s bass, and Devin’s drums jumped into their hard
rock song, “Not This Time,” and Ash launched into singing.

Jackson stood
offstage, focused on Ash. They were so different in their performance styles.
Whereas he just walked the stage, occasionally jogged across it for his higher
energy songs, Ash never stopped moving. Ash stood so close to the stage’s edge
he seemed in danger of slipping off,
then
he spun back
around, his hips, his body, moving with the music as he strutted toward Jeremy,
throwing his arm around the guitarist. Through it all, not once did Ash’s voice
waver off-key or did he miss a note. It amazed Jackson, like so many things
about Ash did.

Jackson took a
deep breath, hoping to loosen the tightness in his chest. As captivated as he
was by the performance, his thoughts kept distracting him. He needed to talk to
Ash and finally ask him something he’d been holding in since before Ash’s anger
spell that morning. After they’d smoothed everything over in the afternoon,
things felt so
good
between them, he didn’t want to
risk upsetting it. Even now he wondered if he was crazy for considering what he
was.

What if he was
taking things too much to heart? What if the things he was starting to feel
weren’t even close to what Ash was? It wasn’t like he was a stranger to flings.
If anything, he was more of a stranger to a real long-term relationship. But
for some reason, what he felt when he was with Ash made him want to believe it
was more than a fling. They came from different lifestyles, different
backgrounds, different music styles, but when he looked into Ash’s eyes, he’d
never met anyone who seemed so familiar.

From Ashes
finished their set with Ash flinging the microphone behind him and it falling
to the stage with a boom. Jackson headed down the stairs to meet him at the
bottom. Ash reached the stairs, jogged down half and jumped. He landed on the
ground and spun.

“Fuck yeah! Now
that’s how you kick ass!” Ash spied Clint Murray standing near by and jabbed
his index finger toward him. “Try following that!”

Clint rolled
his eyes in a disgusted look and turned away.

Jackson
laughed. “Just because we’ve made peace doesn’t mean you gotta go starting a
feud with another country artist.”

“The hell it
doesn’t,” Ash said. “He’s done nothing but give me shitty looks every time I
walk by him.” He lifted his voice, looking in Clint’s direction. “But now he
sees how the big boys play!”

Jeremy shoved
Ash on the back to get him walking. “Seriously, man, let’s have a little bit of
peace.”

Ash slowed so
Jackson walked at his side. “So what’d you think of our set?”

“You were
incredible. All of you were. But I already knew you were a hell of a
performer.” Jackson pointed to Ash’s steel belt buckle of a large skull. “I’m
not sure about that, though. You sat there making fun of my big belt buckle and
look at you.”

Ash touched the
skull buckle. “Yeah, but look at the difference between them. A skull versus a
bull’s ass. Which is cooler?”

Devin glanced
back at them. “I kinda like
Jackson’s
better.”

Ash snorted.
“Figures.”

Chad spoke up.
“Either way, you like big ass belt buckles, too. You wear a lot of them.”

“Because they
add a little flash to my outfits.”

Jackson leaned
toward him as they walked. “Maybe it means you’ve got a little country in you,
after all.”

Ash turned a
smirk on him. “Well, I did enjoy the country that was in me earlier.” He
lightly touched Jackson’s hand. “Let’s go to your trailer again.”

“Alright.”

Ash lifted his
voice for his band members. “I’ll catch you guys back at the bus in a little
bit.”

His band
members nodded and waved, all seeming to know what he was going off to do.

They reached
Jackson’s trailer. Jackson climbed the steps behind him. Now was the time. He’d
have Ash alone. All he had to do was ask him. What was the worst that could
happen? Ash would say no. As matter-of-factly as Jackson tried to reason it,
his heart still tightened at the thought.

Ash moved
toward him, concern on his face. “Is everything alright? You’re not mad that I
was taunting Clint, are you?”

“No, I don’t
care about that.” Jackson took Ash’s hand and pulled him toward the couch.
“Listen, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Ash sat next to
him, giving him a smile. “You always do. Don’t you remember what I told you to
say you wanted to do instead?”

“Yeah, but what
I want to talk about will probably determine whether or not much more of that
happens.”

The humor faded
from Ash’s expression. “This can’t be good.”

Jackson sat
forward, resting his elbows on his knees, letting his hat hide his face. “Well,
it might be good. But judging from your reaction just now, I don’t think it
will be. Not for me, anyhow.”

Ash laid a hand
on Jackson’s thigh. “What’s going on?”

Jackson glanced
toward him. “What were you planning on doing after tonight?”

“We’re going
back to L.A. And once I get home, I’m planning on not getting out of bed for at
least a week other than to eat, shower, and use the bathroom. We’ve been on the
road a long time, and I’m feeling a little burned out. Why?”

“It’s just,
there’s a lot about each other we don’t know. And I don’t know how you feel,
but I’d like to get to know you better, spend some time with you away from all
this craziness. So I was wondering if you’d maybe like to come home with me. It
wouldn’t have to be long. A couple days, a week, whatever you wanted. I just
thought, maybe, we could see if there might be something here, between us.”

Ash stared at
him, silent for a moment. “Come home with you? To Texas?”

“Yeah.”

“To your
ranch?”

Jackson cleared
his throat. “Yeah.”

Ash nodded
slowly, as if he was finally clear on what Jackson was saying.

Jackson glanced
away from him. Ash didn’t have to speak for him to know what his answer was. He
should’ve realized what was happening between them was nothing more than two
guys having a good time.

Ash took a
breath. “Well, that’s not really what I had in mind to do.”

Jackson nodded.
“That’s alright. I kind of already knew you’d rather just go home.”

“Yeah, I do.
That’s why I was going to invite you back with me, but I’ve never been to a
ranch before, so it could be…
interesting
. I guess we could go to your
place first, spend some time there, then you could come to L.A. with me.”

Jackson snapped
his head toward him. “You’re serious?”

“Yeah, I’m
serious. If you’re going to make me tiptoe around horse shit for a week, you
better believe I’m going to drag you out to my turf.”

“I meant
,
you’re serious about wanting to spend more time with me?”

Ash looked at
him in confusion. “That’s what you just invited me to do, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, but I
didn’t think you’d really accept.”

“So, is that
your way of saying you didn’t want me to?”

“Hell no! I’m
just surprised, that’s all. I didn’t think you’d want…” Jackson stopped his
words, not wanting to voice how he thought Ash wouldn’t want to spend more time
with him. From how Ash’s expression softened, it seemed Ash knew his thoughts,
anyway. He pulled Ash into a tight embrace. “I’m not going to say anything
else. Just that I’m glad you’re going to come home with me.”

Ash rested his
head against Jackson’s, his arms wrapped around him. “We really need to work on
this communication thing, you know?”

Jackson sat
back and cupped Ash’s cheek. “We’ll have some time to work on that.”

A grin shone
over Ash’s lips. He pushed on Jackson’s shoulders to get him to lean back and
slid onto his lap, straddling him. “I was hoping we could work on it now, using
what we seem to communicate best on as a starting point.”