Beyond the Stix (Warrior Black #2)

Chapter 13

THIRTEEN

John

Still balls deep in Connor, I don’t want to move from where we are anchored on the couch. I kiss his neck, then his shoulder before pulling all the way out, and disposing of the full condom into the small trash can next to the sofa.

It takes me a second to realize that whoever decided to put a couch and trash can inside the sound room had this very idea in mind. What a genius .

Connor is still hunched over, not moving. And for a second, his lack of movement worries me.

“Connor,” I whisper, reaching out to touch his sweat-slick back.

“Yeah?” He turns his head, and a single look into his beautiful green eyes tells me there’s nothing to worry about. The blissed-out expression on Connor’s face has me smiling. I want to kiss the shit out of him, but being caught with our dicks out won’t be good for either of us.

“Get dressed before we get caught.” I toss his pants to him.

The soft smile drops from his face as he quickly turns and pick up his pants and puts them on. He doesn’t say anything else as he snags his t-shirt and puts it on. Not once does he look at me. By the tenseness of his jawline, I must have said or did something to piss him off.

“What’s wrong now?” I ask, approaching him slowly.

“Nothing,” he clips. Yeah, he’s pissed.

“Connor—”

“I’m tired. I’m heading to bed.” With that parting shot, he rushes out of the room.

I stand there, my pants on but unzipped, shirtless, staring at Connor’s retreating back. Should I go after him and demand to know what’s up his ass? No. I shake that thought. Let him sleep it off. We have tomorrow to talk.

A vibration echoes in the silent room. I know that sound. Checking my pants pocket, I pull out my cell. It’s not mine.

It’s Connor’s phone .

I walk to the light switch panel and slide my finger upward. The light brightens and I can see the location of the cell.

As I retrieve the phone off the floor, several notifications pop up. Without having the password, I can’t open the message app. However, I can see who’s texting Connor.

“Fucking Jessup.”

As much as I want to confront Connor on why he’s talking to that bastard, I have to handle this situation in a more delicate manner. I’m still waiting on Lee to dig up more dirt on this guy. No one is that clean—no one.

Besides, I don’t want to break what trust I have with Connor by shoving his phone at him and demanding why he’s talking to his uncle. If anything, I want him to come to me.

But that doesn’t happen. For the next three days, he avoids me at every step. Anytime I approach him, he has one excuse or another to not talk to me. Between the band recording the last few songs for the album and practicing downstairs for the upcoming concert at Rocktoberfest, Connor is always unavailable.

Since he wasn’t talking to me, I gave him back his phone. At this point, Jessup’s text messages are the least of my worries. I want to know what the hell I did to piss Connor off so much that he’s ignoring me.

Well too fucking bad. Now that we’re getting on the bus for Black Rock, he can’t avoid me and will have to explain himself.

Once the team and Dante make sure the mansion is securely locked up, we climb onto the bus, but I don’t see Connor or the other band members.

“What’s going on between you and Connor?” Tobias asks as he takes a seat next to me. He too glances around the open area, then returns his scrutinizing eyes back to me.

I could make up some bullshit, and say there’s nothing, but my friend knows me too well and will spot the lie a mile away.

I blow out a breath, rake a hand through my hair before meeting Tobias’s stare and utter so only he can hear me, “I slept with Connor.”

He doesn’t even twitch. Crap. He knows. “I know.”

I furrow my brows. “How?”

“Know what?” Dante asks as they take the empty seat next to Pen.

Tobias lifts a hand, ignoring Dante’s question, and oh hell, there’s more.

“One. He told Danny. Two. You two were gone for way too long down in the sound room the first night we arrived. And three…” he pauses, giving the moment such a dramatic effect that Dante leans forward like there’s some juicy gossip to be had. Though, it’s preparing me for the worst. “We heard you.”

“How? It’s supposed to be sound proof. There’s no fucking way…” I don’t finish the sentence, and my attention shifts to a smiling Pen.

“We all heard the two of you fucking down there.” Pen leans back against the sofa. “Someone must have left the house intercom on,” he chuckles.

Finally, I glance around and see every single security member grinning at me.

“Fuck,” I quickly mutter in mortification.

“Who were you doing the dirty dancing with in the sound room?” Dante eyes me with a vexing glare. “Do I need to send in a cleaning crew?”

“No,” I shoot back irritably.

Tobias continues. “I don’t know what you did or said afterwards, but it had to be monumental for the entire band to be pissed off at you,” he confesses.

“Why are they pissed off? They have nothing to do with what’s between Connor and me.”

“Clueless,” Dom says as he drops into the empty seat on the other side of me. “You’re clueless.”

“Shut the fuck up,” I spit out and stand. I need to fix this. But without knowing what the hell I did wrong, I can’t correct the mistake. “I have to talk to Connor, and only Connor.”

The hairs on my arm rise, and I realize everyone is staring behind me. I turn my head and see Connor standing there watching me with a frown. He must have been in one of the bedrooms in the back of the bus.

“We need to talk,” he says, his eyes darting away, like looking at me hurts.

“Yes,” I agree solemnly and follow him to the back of the bus where the larger of the two bedrooms are. Granted, either room is small and the beds take up most of the space.

Once the door slides closed, Connor spins around and lets his words fly. “I’m only going to say this once and then I’m walking away from this—from you.”

“What did I do?” Connor’s hostility leaves me even more confused than before. I wish I could just walk away from this mess like Connor wants to. However, I won’t be able to get him out of my mind. I care—no, I’m falling for the drummer and I simply can’t leave him. Hearing him out is the only way to fix this between us.

His mouth drops open. “Are you fucking kidding me? Don’t you remember what you said to me back in the sound room?”

What I said in the sound room? I rack my brain remembering that night. We fucked and it was glorious. Then I told him to… “Shit. Are you mad that I told you to get dressed?”

Connor’s narrowed eyes widen, and his eyebrows disappear under his fallen bangs before he starts laughing. “Is that what you think? That I’d be mad at that? It’s what you said right after, asshole.”

I run the words over in my head again, and it finally hits me. “Before we get caught.”

“Bingo. Give the man a prize. If I had known you’d keep me a secret, your dick wouldn’t have been in my ass. But don’t worry, that won’t ever happen again.”

Connor moves around me to leave, but my anger finally hits the boiling point and I growl out, “I’ve listened to you, now you’re going to hear me out.”

The bus begins to move and he stumbles back until his legs hit the mattress. “Fine.” He folds his arms across his chest and angles his face up in defiance.

I take a calming breath and go on. “It was never my intention to hurt you, Connor. I only meant that I didn’t want anyone to see you in that compromising position except for me , and only me . Got that?” I take a step closer to him and stop. “I’m a very private person. I don’t go around flaunting my ass or the body of anyone I have sex with. Do you understand that? I don’t share either—ever.”

Connor’s shoulders relax, but I can still see the hurt in his eyes. “I hope you’re not having sex with someone else while you’re fucking me.” He tips his chin more, giving me a stern glare.

“No, I’m not having sex with anyone else. And apparently not with you either,” I say, assuming this is the end of us.

With a loud exhale, Connor drops his arms to his side and his face softens. “I’m sorry for misunderstanding your meaning. It’s just that… you’re so abrupt… I just assumed the worst.”

“You know what?—”

“I know,” he cuts me off with a smile that’s healing the ache in my chest.

“Well…” I look around the room contemplating if I should just say what’s in my head, when his cell phone pings.

Connor stiffens, like a concrete pillar. His cell pings again, and I eye the phone sticking out of his pocket. “Are you going to answer that?”

“Nope.”

“Who is it?” I ask, but I know exactly who’s texting him.

“Nobody.”

“Connor,” I warn.

“It’s nobody, John.”

Before I confront him on his outright lie, someone is knocking at the door.

Connor has no problem saying, “Who is it?”

“It’s me,” Danny calls out. “We’re turning back around and heading to Ron’s. He wants to talk to us first, before we take off to Black Rock.”

“We will be right out,” I reply, my eyes never leaving Connor’s face.

“Will you?” Danny counters with another knock. “I don’t trust you two alone. Connor.”

Connor chuffs. “He knows me all too well,” he whispers to me. Then he calls over his shoulder to his bandmate, “Fine, we’re coming out.”

I want to tell him that I know about Jessup’s text messages, and more. Tell him how I feel, but Connor sidles up to me and plants a kiss on my lips. “Later.”

That tender touch has me wanting to throw the man onto the mattress and show him that I do care about him. But I push that urge away, and stay professional. I clear my throat and agree, even though my dick says otherwise.