“I know. I was worried at the concert, and don’t think I won’t get on your ass if you do start down that path again. But I’m trusting you to know yourself. As long as you keep showing me you do.”
Reece was worried still, far more than he let on, but he was telling the truth. He’d let Angus be an adult, and the second he saw anything that concerned him, he’d bring the hammer down fast. Angus knew it.
“I won’t do that again. I was trying to drown out my life. I don’t think I want to do that anymore.”
“Good.”
IT WASN’T
very late when they finished dinner, so they decided to walk around a bit instead of going straight back to their rooms to change.
“I need to get a new shirt anyway, and some jeans, if you don’t mind. I don’t really have anything club suitable.”
“You look great,” Reece said. He’d always been a bit bewildered by Angus’s concern with his looks. Angus was so beautiful, and he really had no damn idea. Reece hated Brad so much.
“They’re just a bit, um, big. I’m kind of worried that they might not stand up to dancing.” Angus gave him a rueful smile, and Reece sighed. “Don’t worry, my ass is growing by the hour. I’ll be back in my old jeans before you know it.”
“Good,” Reece grumbled again.
“Hey, you want to see inside of Caesars Palace? It’s pretty cool, and there’s enough there that we could look at that, check out a store or two, and then get ready to go.”
“Yeah, of course.”
CAESAR’S WAS
more of the big and overwhelming. It had another painted sky ceiling like the Paris, but on a much bigger scale, with a ton of buildings styled to look like a Roman market, a big replica of the Trevi fountain, and about a gazillion tourists.
“I can’t believe someone decided to build all these places out in the middle of nowhere,” Reece said. “It’s really kind of incredible, but it makes no sense.”
“Don’t try to make sense of it.” Angus made a face. “That ruins the fun.”
Reece had a feeling Brad did a lot of “making sense of things.” It fit his personality, for sure. “You want to get some gelato?”
“Before we go dance?”
“Sure. We’ll dance it off.”
Angus shrugged but then followed Reece to the gelato stand. Reece loved sushi, but it never filled him up for very long, so he was happy to get a towering ice cream. It wasn’t the best he’d ever had, and it was a little pricey, but it was sweet and creamy.
“Hey, let me go check that shop out really quickly, okay? They have some jeans that look like they’d work for me.” Angus gestured at a shop across the huge indoor palazzo.
“Yeah. I’ll just sit here and eat my gelato. I doubt they’d let me in there with it.”
Angus brushed a brief kiss across Reece’s cheek and turned to wind his way through the crowd. Reece parked himself on a bench and ate his ice cream while he people watched. He imagined it got commonplace after a while, but he hadn’t gotten over the way they’d created entire outdoor spaces in the inside of a building. He could nearly forget that he
wasn’t
outside, especially since they’d dimmed the lights in the ceiling and thrown in pinks and purples so it looked like blushing twilight rather than the middle of day like it had in the other casinos they’d been in. The illusion of being outside really was impressive.
Reece had finished his gelato and was about to go join Angus, but Angus came bounding back across the square with a huge shopping bag in his hand.
“Hi!”
“Did you find something?” Obviously. Reece rolled his eyes at himself.
“Yep.” Angus flopped down on the bench and laid his head on Reece’s shoulder.
“You seem like you’re in a good mood.”
He shrugged. “Life still isn’t feeling real. I just… like that nothing feels real. Makes me a little happier, you know?”
Reece decided he’d watch out for that soon. For the moment, he was just happy Angus was smiling. “I guess I can see that. I’m totally lost. How the hell do we get out of here?”
“That’s not always the easiest thing, which I’m sure you’ve figured out.” Angus gave him a rueful smile. “Last time I was in here, I got lost, and it took me almost an hour to find a door out.”
It took them quite a while to find their way out of the maze that was Caesars Palace shopping area. They’d come in through the mall with the huge statues of Roman women, but by the time they got out of the mall, they were in the casino. They decided out was out, and it didn’t matter if it was the same out as the way they came in, so they started weaving their way through the slot machines toward what was hopefully the front door.
Reece was getting used to the incessant jangle of the slot machines, the people, and the lights. It made him a little tired, he thought, but for someone with Angus’s personality, a place like Vegas was almost restorative. Brought back some of his missing sparkle. They finally made it outside and turned back toward their hotel. Reece was struck again by the vast scale of everything. Half the time he had to keep from tripping, because it was hard to pay attention to where he was walking and not the spectacle around them.
They stopped briefly in front of the Bellagio fountain, as requested, and watched it for two songs. It was different standing right there instead of being removed in the restaurant. He could feel the booms in his chest, and the mist from the jets turned the atmosphere around the fountain a bit more humid than the rest of the town. Eventually the fountain stopped and went dark for the second time, and he and Angus turned to head back to their hotel.
“It’s such a maze to get anywhere,” Reece finally said with a laugh after they’d gone over two skybridges and through the inside of another casino to finally end up in front of their own hotel.
“I know,” Angus laughed. “We should find a place to go.”
“Actually, I was looking them up while you were in the shower, and this place seemed kind of cool.” He pulled out his phone and showed Angus the picture he’d downloaded earlier.
Angus’s mouth dropped open a little. “Um, hi swanky swank. What is that?”
“Gay bar, obviously, looks a little flashy, but we are in Vegas. Might as well live a little and pay some high cover charge.”
“You cool with hanging out at a gay bar all night?” Angus asked.
Reece sighed. “When have I ever not been?” Besides, he’d welcome not getting hit on by women. He adored women, really. But sometimes when he was near Angus, all he wanted to do was be near Angus. Having other people, women mostly, try to win his attention was more annoying than flattering.
“I know. You’re, just. You. And that’s awesome.”
Reece rolled his eyes and elbowed Angus in the side. “Come on. We still have a long walk across the casino before we get to the elevators. We’ll be lucky if we get to our rooms in time to change.”
“You like all the exercise.”
“Right. Love it.”
GLOW WAS
one of the swankiest places Reece had ever been. Maybe the swankiest. It was fun, though, filled with guys dancing, and lights, and not like Brad uptight. He had to admit he liked it. The ceiling was pink and purple, which seemed to be a popular theme, and it flashed onto the dance floor like some kind of erotic heartbeat. They were surrounded by plush leather VIP booths that probably cost half a month’s salary to rent. Reece wished he was high roller enough to rent one. It would be nice to have a place to sit every once in a while. Alas, he wasn’t. Nor would he ever be.
He and Angus had a couple of homemade drugstore mixed drinks before they left—Angus had warned him about the cost of drinks at a Vegas bar, so they were buzzed but not plastered by the time they walked in. Although Angus never needed a buzz to dance, unlike Reece.
Angus had already made it to the dance floor, which was filling up quickly. Angus, old Angus, had loved to dance more than just about anything. Reece had spent their first year of college dragging him out of clubs he most definitely didn’t belong in. It had been fun, though, and it was still fun to watch him in action.
Angus waved at Reece and beckoned him to come dance. Reece would. He just didn’t get to that place quite as easily as Angus did, and he needed to down another shot or two before he’d be ready. Angus giggled and let this guy dance up behind him. He’d always been popular at the clubs they went to. Hell, why wouldn’t he be? He was small but curvy, at least he used to be, his skin was so creamy and pale it made you want to suck on it, and the lights shone from his dark hair. He was born to be under colored lights. He looked magical.
The guy got closer, closer again. He slung an arm around Angus’s slim hips and ground up against him. Angus smiled and did a little shimmy, and it was like watching him come back from the dead, slowly but surely. Reece was happy, but he was also… jealous as hell. A white-hot shot of anger flashed through him at the thought of some other guy touching Angus, taking him back to his hotel room. Angus wasn’t ready for that. Or Reece. Ugh, he wasn’t going to let it happen.
He downed his two shots and weaved his way out to the dance floor.
“Reece’s pieces!” Angus called, once he was close enough. He waved and did his usual club wriggle, which meant he was happy to see Reece.
Dude on his ass looked annoyed, but Angus seemed to have forgotten about him, because he danced his way over and draped his arms around Reece’s neck.
“I’m glad you’re dancing. I don’t want you to get bored.”
“I’m not bored.” Reece smiled.
“Cool. I’ll protect you,” Angus said. “All these guys in here probably think you’re hot.”
He didn’t get Angus’s constant refrain of “everyone thinks Reece is hot.” His life probably would’ve been a hell of a lot different so far if people really thought he was that amazing. He decided to turn it around on Angus.
“All these guys in here think
you’re
hot.” Hell, it was most likely true anyway.
Angus rolled his eyes. “Let’s just say we appeal to different demographics. And you are hot. Dance.”
Reece felt the shots and the vodka and vitamin water they’d mixed back outside the CVS hit his blood. The lights got a lot less crisp, and Angus, well, he smelled like heaven and moved against Reece like he wasn’t protecting him… more like they were dancing together. With intention. He wove his little body around Reece’s and giggled up a storm, and it was hard not to get involved. To be fair, it was hard not to get
hard
. Reece found himself backing away from Angus’s narrow hips when Angus shimmied too close, or spinning Angus like they were ballroom dancing. Reece was about a half second and one more grind away from embarrassing the shit out of himself. He didn’t have enough drinks in his system not to care.
Angus, on the other hand, didn’t seem to want to adhere to the friend balloon when it came to personal space. He backed up against Reece one more time and flopped his head back against Reece’s shoulder.
“This is fun,” he breathed.
“It is.”
Don’t get hard. Don’t get hard.
“We should’ve come here together a long time ago. Stinky Brad wouldn’t have liked it.” Angus ground up against him, and Reece had to concentrate on breathing.
“S-Stinky Brad?” He tried to concentrate on what Angus was saying instead of the pressure of his ass in places it really shouldn’t have been.
Breathe….
“Yeah. He was convinced you were boning me.” Angus said it so casually, like it was nothing, but it was a good thing Reece didn’t have a drink. He would’ve spit it out all over the floor. As it was, a few of the guys close to them must’ve heard, because Reece got a couple of knowing looks.
“Babe. Do you want some water? Another drink?” Reece needed to take a break before he did something irreparably dumb. Like bend over and take a bite of Angus’s creamy, sexy white neck.
“Nah. Just want to dance.”
So dance they did. In the flashing lights, close enough that Reece found himself wishing they were without clothes. It got kinda sexy out there with Angus grinding on him and him breathing in Angus’s ear. They didn’t talk—conversation probably would’ve been too close to real life and nothing like the pulsating neon moment they were stuck in. Reece felt the heat rise from his chest, up his neck, and into his brain until he could barely concentrate on anything that wasn’t Angus. Dancing. Grinding.
So
damn hot.
Las Vegas
THEY’D BEEN
dancing for about an hour when a guy ran right into them and nearly knocked them over. It took a second for Angus to figure out what was going on—he’d been so lost in dancing and the heat of Reece’s body behind him, but when he nearly fell over, that was enough to break the spell. Angus was about to jump on the sassy horse that always seemed to find him after a few cocktails, but he noticed the guy had a huge grin and… a pink tiara? Instead of getting pissed, he kind of had to laugh.
“Sorry, man. Jungle juice got the best of me,” the guy said.
“Hey, Ryan, dude, you’ve probably got to sit for a second.”
Another guy, tall and excruciatingly straight-looking—like cargo shorts, polo shirt, and baseball hat straight—put his arm around Weavy’s shoulders.
“Sorry. He didn’t mean it, guys. He’s just excited.”
“Oh, it’s fine.” Angus was having too much fun to start shit, and the guys both looked pretty harmless—drunk, but harmless.
“Hey, you two want to come sit for a minute? We’ve got a VIP booth.”
“Really?” Angus loved to dance, but he wasn’t going to pass up a seat in one of the fancy tables with bottle service and everything.
“Yeah. It’s the least we could do. It’s his bachelor party. Fiancée’s a little jealous, so we promised her we’d hang out at a gay bar for the night.”
“So all of you are straight.”
White Hat chuckled. “That painfully obvious?”
“Kind of.” Angus grinned to take the sting out of his words. “We’d love a seat for a minute.”
Angus grabbed Reece’s hand and led him to the VIP table with…. “Hey, what’s your name?” He’d never been able to pass up a club friendship, even if it was the one-night besties who never see each other again sort. Nobody could accuse Angus of being unfriendly.