More of the same
If "the same" is "pretending that Logan and Weevil are gay and hot for each other."
I just can't help myself.
Part Three
Neptune was experiencing a rare day of rain. The pavement steamed and a balmy mist was drifting over the town. The heavy drill noises issuing from 5205 24th St. sounded doubly loud, clanging and buzzing through the white film that hung in the air. It was just starting to get dark and the water on the street was reflecting the neon signs above, the color refracting through the fog.
Eli pulled himself out from under a cherry red Alfa Romeo and stood up, wiping his hands on a rag. He walked into the office, which stood as a lone square of light in the dim shop. Dropping into the rolling chair, Eli pulled out some paperwork and set about filling it out. He was just about through when someone called out, “Hello! Who do I have to know to get some service around here?”
Leaning back in his chair, Eli glanced out the window, but couldn’t see anyone in the shop. So, putting the last couple zeros on the amount due, Eli stashed the papers away and went to the doorway of the office. From this vantage, he could see a lean figure resolved standing in the bay, backlit by bright mist.
“What can I do for you?” Eli called back, pulling the rag from his pocket and working it over his hands again.
“Oh, so many things.”
And that was when Eli recognized the voice-or, more accurately, recognized the smug delivery of the words. “Echolls.”
“How ever did you guess?”
“Something in the bloated sense of self-worth, I guess.”
Logan laughed. “Is that the best you got, ese?”
“Gimme some time, I’ll think of something better.”
“I’m not sure I can wait around that long. I have to get home some time this decade.”
Eli rolled his eyes. “So what exactly did you want, Echolls? I can’t believe you came all this way just to insult my intelligence. You could probably find some other unsuspecting brown boy much closer to home.”
“Well, I’m sorry to let you down, but it’s true-I do have an ulterior motive.” Logan made a pathetic face, but Eli wasn’t buying it.
“So talk.”
Logan nodded. “I got my Porsche out there, seems to be starting kinda slow. I was hoping someone could take a look at it.”
“Hate to tell you, but these ain’t strictly business hours.”
“So, what, me and my gold bullion can take our business elsewhere?”
“If you’re gonna pay in solid gold,” Eli said, lifting his eyebrows, “maybe I could pencil you in.”
“Well, gold-or plastic. I haven’t quite decided.”
Eli glanced sideways and lets out a short sigh. He had to admit to himself that there was a problem with the whole “it’s OK to entertain unwholesome ideas about Logan Echolls as long as they’re just ideas” line of thinking: Eli didn’t want it to stop there. “All right, I’ll take a look at it. But I’ll probably have to keep it a coupla days-I’ve got a pretty full plate.”
Logan fixed him with a sharp look for a second, then lifted his head up in acquiescence. “Fine.”
“Fine. Come into the office, I’ll take your information.”
Eli led the way into the office and pulled up a client information sheet. He took down Logan’s information, keenly aware of Logan behind him, standing much too close. It sent a small ripple through the muscles of his back.
“So a coupla days,” he said, filing away the paper. When he turned around, Logan was right there, towering over him, so close they were nearly touching, and Eli could hardly stop his breath from catching in his throat. Logan did nothing to acknowledge their proximity at all.
“Fantastic,” Logan said.
For a moment, they just stood there, breathing in tandem. Eli could feel himself gravitating towards Logan, slowly inching closer and closer. Eli glanced away, breaking Logan’s pull, and said, “Yeah, I’ll bet you just can’t wait.”
“I was holding my breath-should I stop?”
“No, no, by all means . . .”
Logan chuckled, shaking his head. Eli looked the office window. It was fully dark outside, the mist had mostly resolved itself, and the neon shone bright in the humid air.
“So we’re done here?” Logan asked.
“Yeah. Someone’ll give you a call when the car’s ready. Just drive it into the bay. I’ll get the keys.”
Logan nodded, and slipped out of the office. It felt like all the tension in Eli’s body dissipated as soon as Logan stepped through the doorway. Eli let out a heavy breath, leaning on the tabletop. As he watched Logan walk out onto the street, he admired the way Logan moved, self-assured but not too graceful. The Porsche appeared in the mouth of the bay, and Logan parked it. He got out with a little leap and approached the office again, jingling his keys.
He came in and leaned on the doorframe, extending the keys towards Eli. He retracted them quickly, a smile playing on his mouth. “No taking my baby for any joyrides, now,” he said.
Eli snatched the keys and hung them delicately in a case on the wall, which he locked after himself. “Happy?”
“Ecstatic.”
There was another pause. Eli knew an opening when he saw one, and so he said, “You need a ride?”
Logan looked at him for a moment, his eyes slightly narrowed, and then said, “I’ve got a better idea. Let’s go for a drink.”
This surprised Eli. He was pleased, but shocked.
“What?” Logan said. “You like tequila, I like tequila. We’ll bond over your people’s liquor of choice.”
Eli snorted. “Yeah, all right.”
The bar Eli had in mind was just a few blocks away, near his apartment. He led the way in and they settled down at the bar. Once they each had a shot in them, Eli turned to Logan and fixed him with a critical look. “So what’ve you been doing all these years?” Eli asked.
“Oh, who cares?” Logan said. “It’s dull.”
“You may be an asshole, Echolls, but no one would ever dream of calling your life dull.”
“You flatterer.” Logan shot him a sidelong glance and said, “Well, if you really must know . . . I guess I did just what you’d expect. Had a couple of gap years, following Veronica around. We broke up, I went to UCLA. We tried it again, didn’t work out too well, so I went out East and had my little crack-up, all very F. Scott Fitzgerald.”
“A ‘crack-up’?”
Logan shrugged. “I’ll never understand it. You bash in the window of one restaurant and they call it a psychotic episode. That’s just what I call a good time.” He signaled for a refill. “But anyway. After that was over, I came back to California and dabbled around with some lifestyle choices. Did a little Kabbalah study, a little S&M, a little rehab, but none of it stuck. I finally got myself a job writing a society column for a paper up in Sacramento. And now here I am, the handsome fellow you see sitting before you.”
Eli laughed incredulously. “You know, sometimes it amazes me how much of what comes out of your mouth is pure bullshit.”
Logan gave him a crooked smile. “Not as much as you’d think, I’ll bet.”
“No doubt.”
“Try me,” Logan said, holding out his hands magnanimously. “We’ll play a game. I’ll tell you something. You guess if it’s true or false. If you’re right, I’ll buy you a drink. If you’re wrong, you buy.”
“All right,” Eli said, shaking his head, “but prepare to be cleaned out.”
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Logan replied, and downed his second shot. “Ready?”
Over the course of the next couple of hours, Eli discovered many things. For one, Logan really did spend four months in an outpatient psychiatric program. To hear him tell it, he’d just come out of his final break-up with Veronica Mars, and one night when he was out to dinner with some friends, all the stress just got to be too much and he snapped, threatening a waiter with a steak knife before throwing a chair through a floor-to-ceiling window. He once “borrowed” a yacht and returned it without the owners ever noticing. His father put a cigar out on the inside of his knee when he was six. He crashed Lindsay Lohan’s twenty-first birthday party with Conner Larkin. He hadn’t actually met Laird Hamilton, although he did once climb into an active volcano in Hawaii. The first time he ever made out with anyone was when he was thirteen on the set of “Beyond the Breaking Point,” with the second unit director’s seventeen-year-old daughter. He insisted that the whole thing with Paris Hilton had been blown very much out of proportion by People magazine, and he’d never, lusted after Duncan Kane, no, really, never. He’d never failed a class, and had toyed with the idea of majoring in architecture but had decided on business.
It was a game that worked almost singularly to Logan’s advantage, since Eli had to take Logan’s word on the truth of the stories that were spilling from his lips. Eli didn’t mind, though. It was interesting material, whether it was true or not. Besides, he was doing pretty well, considering that Logan could have cheated himself into a drunken stupor if he’d wanted to. As things stood, they were both teetering on the edge of being solidly drunk.
“Try me again,” Weevil said, setting his shot glass down forcefully on the bar.
Logan laughed, shaking his head. “Man, you just don’t know when to quit, do you?”
“I can take it for as long as you can dish it out.”
“Fine,” Logan said. “Ah-” He curled his lip while he considered. “OK. During my junior year at UCLA, I had an affair with my economics professor that lasted two years. On and off.”
“No way,” Eli pronounced. “There’s no economics teacher in the world who’d be up to your standards, man.”
Logan chuckled. “Sorry, wrong answer.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Nope.”
“Must’ve been a real looker.”
“Trust me. I learned things you wouldn’t believe.”
Eli shook his head and ordered Logan another drink, which he downed in one smooth motion. Logan let out a satisfied breath, smacked his lips and said, “Speaking of things you wouldn’t believe-Want another one?”
“Hit me.”
Logan fixed Eli with a surprisingly sharp gaze and said, “That professor was the first man I ever slept with.”
Eli met Logan’s eyes, and in that moment he decided the game was over. He didn’t need Logan to confirm that this fact was true-nor did he need a clearer invitation to say, “I think it’s maybe time to call it a night. You need a ride back to your hotel?”
“I’ll call us a cab,” Logan said.
While Logan called the cab, Eli wondered what this meant. He did not ask, just followed Logan out onto the street and stood with him in the light rain without speaking. The cab arrived only a few minutes later, and Eli expected Logan to slip inside with another of his pithy remarks. But instead, he leaned in close to Eli and his breath ghosted over the back of Eli’s neck when he said, “Come back with me.”
Eli knew he couldn’t say no, couldn’t fight the warm wash of arousal that followed Logan’s words. He found himself ducking into the cab and sitting next to Logan on the leather seat, their knees brushing. Still they did not talk, just sat in the cool cab, swaying with the motion of the car. Eli felt like the whole world was revolving too slowly, the way things sometimes looked in movies.
He followed Logan out of the cab and into the Grand. Once the elevator doors closed, Logan leaned down and kissed Eli, sliding his hands around to the back of his head, tongue slipping inside his mouth. When they reached their floor, Logan pulled away from him, leaving Eli almost embarrassingly breathless.
Logan unlocked the door to his room and finally the world seemed to pick up speed again, moving at a relatively normal pace as Logan ushered him inside.
“It’s not exactly the presidential suite, but it suits me all right.”
“Damn, this’d suit me more than just all right,” Eli said, less awed by the handsome room than by the fact that he was here with Logan Echolls.
“Feel free to gawk all you want,” Logan said magnanimously, “but if I find anything missing, I’m gonna be pissed.”
“I’d stop worrying about me stealing your cufflinks if I were you,” he replied.
“Is that so?” Logan was slowly guiding him towards the bedroom, and Eli was happy to take the bait, stepping forward to match every step Logan took back.
“Yeah.”
“How come?”
“Cause I think you’ve got more important things to worry about.” The bedroom door came open behind Logan, and they stepped through the threshold.
“Such as?”
Eli slid one hand up over Logan’s chest, and was gratified to feel the muscles in his abdomen flutter in response. “Such as-what I’m gonna be doing to you once I’ve got you in that bed.”
Logan smiled before claiming Eli’s lips again. “Big words,” he murmured against Eli’s mouth. “I think I like the sound of them.”
They ran up against the bed, and Eli bent forward, forcing Logan to lean back against the mattress. He brushed his mouth over the coarse skin of Logan’s throat, fingers working at the buttons of his jeans. “Trust me, you will.”
As he lowered himself between Logan’s thighs and slipped his mouth around Logan’s cock, he had to admit to himself that this wasn’t exactly what he’d been anticipating. He thought he’d wanted Logan at his command, but this, he was realizing, was infinitely better. The longer Eli worked his mouth around Logan’s erection, the more Logan squirmed against the bed, the faster his breath came. This was how Eli wanted Logan-not submissive but pliant with desire, taking deep, shuddering breaths as Eli smoothed his hands over Logan’s taut thighs.
“Stop, stop,” Logan was gasping, pulling at Eli’s shoulders. Eli let himself be pulled, and was rewarded when Logan held him close for a scathing kiss, rubbing his erection against Eli’s hip. “Let’s not end this up too quickly,” he breathed, reaching down to grab Eli’s ass and crush their bodies together.
“I don’t intend to,” Eli said, and began work Logan’s shirt up and off his body.
Logan responded in kind, pulling Eli’s shirt off, throwing it halfway across the room. Then Logan shimmied out of the rest of his clothes, pressing his body closer to Eli’s body as he did so. Eli pulled back to shuck off the last of his clothing, and when he turned back, he was met with the sight of Logan lying on the bed, hand wrapped around his cock, stroking himself indulgently, mouth slightly open, eyes fixed on Eli’s body with attentive hunger. It was a sight too good to pass up, and Eli climbed atop Logan’s supine body, replacing Logan’s hand with his own. Logan arched perfectly under him, groaning, hands sliding up Eli’s arms.
It wasn’t long before Logan was pulling him down for a kiss, and they wrestled, shoving their hips together, groping. Eli scraped his teeth over the skin behind Logan’s ear and said, “I want to fuck you,” recalling the spectacular effect Logan’s breath had had over his skin.
“Oh, hell, yes,” Logan hissed, shuddering. “There’s-uhn-In the bedside table.”
He retrieved Logan’s lube and proceeded to slide his fingers inside Logan, who spread his legs and lifted his hips instinctively, thrusting against the digits. Leaning back on his elbows, eyes half closed, he let loose a harsh litany of profanity, “Fuck, God, oh, shit, fuck. Fuck, fuck-oh, fuck.” This last was uttered when Eli withdrew his hand.
Having prepared himself, Eli settled between Logan’s legs and slid into him, a tremor wracking its way up his spine as he came to rest inside Logan’s body. After a few experimental strokes, Eli slid his arms behind Logan’s back and flipped them over. Logan grunted in surprise, but quickly recovered, letting out a low moan as he settled further onto Eli’s cock. As Logan rocked over him, Eli began to piston his hips. He gripped Logan’s hips and started fucking him properly, unable to do anything more than grunt breathlessly as he slammed into Logan’s body.
Above him, Logan was shuddering, one hand tugging desperately on his erection. His voice caught in his throat and he choked for breath as his ass clenched around Eli’s cock as he came. Eli’s climax hit him by surprise, but come he did, held there as he was by the force of Logan’s orgasm, wracked by a sharp gale of heat breaking over his body.
It was only when he felt himself drop back onto the bed that he realized he’d been arching up off the mattress. Logan collapsed against his chest, panting. His lips grazed Eli’s chest, shifting slightly with every breath he took.
Eli stared up at the ceiling as he caught his breath, one hand resting on Logan’s smooth back, a sense of awe resting in his tired chest.
Finally, Logan rolled off him with a long groan and dropped onto the bed with a murmured, “Oh, fuck, yeah.”
Eli couldn’t help laughing, the awe he felt growing into a sort of giddy wonder.
Logan chuckled. “Seriously,” he said. “I haven’t been fucked like that since I don’t know when.”
Eli just shook his head. Another moment passed before he had the presence of mind to pull off his condom and toss it into the trash can by the bed. He laughed again, still a little in shock. He turned over, resting one arm comfortably on Logan’s chest.
“I really never figured you for-you know.”
“Yeah, well, you either,” Logan replied. “What’s up with that?”
“I asked first.”
Logan laughed. “Nice. Very first grade.”
“The fact remains-”
“Yeah, well, you know,” Logan said. “It’s the damnedest thing. You get intimate with Josh Hartnett via the pages of GQ once or twice and things’re never really the same.” Eli snorted. “Why, what’s your excuse?”
Eli glanced up at his face, which was relaxed and shining with sweat. He licked his lips briefly before saying, “You remember Felix Toombs?”
Logan was quiet for a moment. “Ouch,” he said.
“Yeah.”
“I-”
“Hey, whatever. It was a long time ago. We were friends, that’s all. But, yeah, let’s just say . . . he got me thinking.”
“Hm,” Logan said. “And a good thing for me that he did.”
“Glad you appreciate my work,”
“Infinitely, maestro,” Logan said. “Certainly some of your best.”
“Well, good work is exhausting,” Eli replied. “So shut the fuck up so I can get some shut-eye.”
“Mm. Blankets.”
They wormed their way under the covers and promptly fell into a deep sleep.
I just can't help myself.
Part Three
Neptune was experiencing a rare day of rain. The pavement steamed and a balmy mist was drifting over the town. The heavy drill noises issuing from 5205 24th St. sounded doubly loud, clanging and buzzing through the white film that hung in the air. It was just starting to get dark and the water on the street was reflecting the neon signs above, the color refracting through the fog.
Eli pulled himself out from under a cherry red Alfa Romeo and stood up, wiping his hands on a rag. He walked into the office, which stood as a lone square of light in the dim shop. Dropping into the rolling chair, Eli pulled out some paperwork and set about filling it out. He was just about through when someone called out, “Hello! Who do I have to know to get some service around here?”
Leaning back in his chair, Eli glanced out the window, but couldn’t see anyone in the shop. So, putting the last couple zeros on the amount due, Eli stashed the papers away and went to the doorway of the office. From this vantage, he could see a lean figure resolved standing in the bay, backlit by bright mist.
“What can I do for you?” Eli called back, pulling the rag from his pocket and working it over his hands again.
“Oh, so many things.”
And that was when Eli recognized the voice-or, more accurately, recognized the smug delivery of the words. “Echolls.”
“How ever did you guess?”
“Something in the bloated sense of self-worth, I guess.”
Logan laughed. “Is that the best you got, ese?”
“Gimme some time, I’ll think of something better.”
“I’m not sure I can wait around that long. I have to get home some time this decade.”
Eli rolled his eyes. “So what exactly did you want, Echolls? I can’t believe you came all this way just to insult my intelligence. You could probably find some other unsuspecting brown boy much closer to home.”
“Well, I’m sorry to let you down, but it’s true-I do have an ulterior motive.” Logan made a pathetic face, but Eli wasn’t buying it.
“So talk.”
Logan nodded. “I got my Porsche out there, seems to be starting kinda slow. I was hoping someone could take a look at it.”
“Hate to tell you, but these ain’t strictly business hours.”
“So, what, me and my gold bullion can take our business elsewhere?”
“If you’re gonna pay in solid gold,” Eli said, lifting his eyebrows, “maybe I could pencil you in.”
“Well, gold-or plastic. I haven’t quite decided.”
Eli glanced sideways and lets out a short sigh. He had to admit to himself that there was a problem with the whole “it’s OK to entertain unwholesome ideas about Logan Echolls as long as they’re just ideas” line of thinking: Eli didn’t want it to stop there. “All right, I’ll take a look at it. But I’ll probably have to keep it a coupla days-I’ve got a pretty full plate.”
Logan fixed him with a sharp look for a second, then lifted his head up in acquiescence. “Fine.”
“Fine. Come into the office, I’ll take your information.”
Eli led the way into the office and pulled up a client information sheet. He took down Logan’s information, keenly aware of Logan behind him, standing much too close. It sent a small ripple through the muscles of his back.
“So a coupla days,” he said, filing away the paper. When he turned around, Logan was right there, towering over him, so close they were nearly touching, and Eli could hardly stop his breath from catching in his throat. Logan did nothing to acknowledge their proximity at all.
“Fantastic,” Logan said.
For a moment, they just stood there, breathing in tandem. Eli could feel himself gravitating towards Logan, slowly inching closer and closer. Eli glanced away, breaking Logan’s pull, and said, “Yeah, I’ll bet you just can’t wait.”
“I was holding my breath-should I stop?”
“No, no, by all means . . .”
Logan chuckled, shaking his head. Eli looked the office window. It was fully dark outside, the mist had mostly resolved itself, and the neon shone bright in the humid air.
“So we’re done here?” Logan asked.
“Yeah. Someone’ll give you a call when the car’s ready. Just drive it into the bay. I’ll get the keys.”
Logan nodded, and slipped out of the office. It felt like all the tension in Eli’s body dissipated as soon as Logan stepped through the doorway. Eli let out a heavy breath, leaning on the tabletop. As he watched Logan walk out onto the street, he admired the way Logan moved, self-assured but not too graceful. The Porsche appeared in the mouth of the bay, and Logan parked it. He got out with a little leap and approached the office again, jingling his keys.
He came in and leaned on the doorframe, extending the keys towards Eli. He retracted them quickly, a smile playing on his mouth. “No taking my baby for any joyrides, now,” he said.
Eli snatched the keys and hung them delicately in a case on the wall, which he locked after himself. “Happy?”
“Ecstatic.”
There was another pause. Eli knew an opening when he saw one, and so he said, “You need a ride?”
Logan looked at him for a moment, his eyes slightly narrowed, and then said, “I’ve got a better idea. Let’s go for a drink.”
This surprised Eli. He was pleased, but shocked.
“What?” Logan said. “You like tequila, I like tequila. We’ll bond over your people’s liquor of choice.”
Eli snorted. “Yeah, all right.”
The bar Eli had in mind was just a few blocks away, near his apartment. He led the way in and they settled down at the bar. Once they each had a shot in them, Eli turned to Logan and fixed him with a critical look. “So what’ve you been doing all these years?” Eli asked.
“Oh, who cares?” Logan said. “It’s dull.”
“You may be an asshole, Echolls, but no one would ever dream of calling your life dull.”
“You flatterer.” Logan shot him a sidelong glance and said, “Well, if you really must know . . . I guess I did just what you’d expect. Had a couple of gap years, following Veronica around. We broke up, I went to UCLA. We tried it again, didn’t work out too well, so I went out East and had my little crack-up, all very F. Scott Fitzgerald.”
“A ‘crack-up’?”
Logan shrugged. “I’ll never understand it. You bash in the window of one restaurant and they call it a psychotic episode. That’s just what I call a good time.” He signaled for a refill. “But anyway. After that was over, I came back to California and dabbled around with some lifestyle choices. Did a little Kabbalah study, a little S&M, a little rehab, but none of it stuck. I finally got myself a job writing a society column for a paper up in Sacramento. And now here I am, the handsome fellow you see sitting before you.”
Eli laughed incredulously. “You know, sometimes it amazes me how much of what comes out of your mouth is pure bullshit.”
Logan gave him a crooked smile. “Not as much as you’d think, I’ll bet.”
“No doubt.”
“Try me,” Logan said, holding out his hands magnanimously. “We’ll play a game. I’ll tell you something. You guess if it’s true or false. If you’re right, I’ll buy you a drink. If you’re wrong, you buy.”
“All right,” Eli said, shaking his head, “but prepare to be cleaned out.”
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Logan replied, and downed his second shot. “Ready?”
Over the course of the next couple of hours, Eli discovered many things. For one, Logan really did spend four months in an outpatient psychiatric program. To hear him tell it, he’d just come out of his final break-up with Veronica Mars, and one night when he was out to dinner with some friends, all the stress just got to be too much and he snapped, threatening a waiter with a steak knife before throwing a chair through a floor-to-ceiling window. He once “borrowed” a yacht and returned it without the owners ever noticing. His father put a cigar out on the inside of his knee when he was six. He crashed Lindsay Lohan’s twenty-first birthday party with Conner Larkin. He hadn’t actually met Laird Hamilton, although he did once climb into an active volcano in Hawaii. The first time he ever made out with anyone was when he was thirteen on the set of “Beyond the Breaking Point,” with the second unit director’s seventeen-year-old daughter. He insisted that the whole thing with Paris Hilton had been blown very much out of proportion by People magazine, and he’d never, lusted after Duncan Kane, no, really, never. He’d never failed a class, and had toyed with the idea of majoring in architecture but had decided on business.
It was a game that worked almost singularly to Logan’s advantage, since Eli had to take Logan’s word on the truth of the stories that were spilling from his lips. Eli didn’t mind, though. It was interesting material, whether it was true or not. Besides, he was doing pretty well, considering that Logan could have cheated himself into a drunken stupor if he’d wanted to. As things stood, they were both teetering on the edge of being solidly drunk.
“Try me again,” Weevil said, setting his shot glass down forcefully on the bar.
Logan laughed, shaking his head. “Man, you just don’t know when to quit, do you?”
“I can take it for as long as you can dish it out.”
“Fine,” Logan said. “Ah-” He curled his lip while he considered. “OK. During my junior year at UCLA, I had an affair with my economics professor that lasted two years. On and off.”
“No way,” Eli pronounced. “There’s no economics teacher in the world who’d be up to your standards, man.”
Logan chuckled. “Sorry, wrong answer.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Nope.”
“Must’ve been a real looker.”
“Trust me. I learned things you wouldn’t believe.”
Eli shook his head and ordered Logan another drink, which he downed in one smooth motion. Logan let out a satisfied breath, smacked his lips and said, “Speaking of things you wouldn’t believe-Want another one?”
“Hit me.”
Logan fixed Eli with a surprisingly sharp gaze and said, “That professor was the first man I ever slept with.”
Eli met Logan’s eyes, and in that moment he decided the game was over. He didn’t need Logan to confirm that this fact was true-nor did he need a clearer invitation to say, “I think it’s maybe time to call it a night. You need a ride back to your hotel?”
“I’ll call us a cab,” Logan said.
While Logan called the cab, Eli wondered what this meant. He did not ask, just followed Logan out onto the street and stood with him in the light rain without speaking. The cab arrived only a few minutes later, and Eli expected Logan to slip inside with another of his pithy remarks. But instead, he leaned in close to Eli and his breath ghosted over the back of Eli’s neck when he said, “Come back with me.”
Eli knew he couldn’t say no, couldn’t fight the warm wash of arousal that followed Logan’s words. He found himself ducking into the cab and sitting next to Logan on the leather seat, their knees brushing. Still they did not talk, just sat in the cool cab, swaying with the motion of the car. Eli felt like the whole world was revolving too slowly, the way things sometimes looked in movies.
He followed Logan out of the cab and into the Grand. Once the elevator doors closed, Logan leaned down and kissed Eli, sliding his hands around to the back of his head, tongue slipping inside his mouth. When they reached their floor, Logan pulled away from him, leaving Eli almost embarrassingly breathless.
Logan unlocked the door to his room and finally the world seemed to pick up speed again, moving at a relatively normal pace as Logan ushered him inside.
“It’s not exactly the presidential suite, but it suits me all right.”
“Damn, this’d suit me more than just all right,” Eli said, less awed by the handsome room than by the fact that he was here with Logan Echolls.
“Feel free to gawk all you want,” Logan said magnanimously, “but if I find anything missing, I’m gonna be pissed.”
“I’d stop worrying about me stealing your cufflinks if I were you,” he replied.
“Is that so?” Logan was slowly guiding him towards the bedroom, and Eli was happy to take the bait, stepping forward to match every step Logan took back.
“Yeah.”
“How come?”
“Cause I think you’ve got more important things to worry about.” The bedroom door came open behind Logan, and they stepped through the threshold.
“Such as?”
Eli slid one hand up over Logan’s chest, and was gratified to feel the muscles in his abdomen flutter in response. “Such as-what I’m gonna be doing to you once I’ve got you in that bed.”
Logan smiled before claiming Eli’s lips again. “Big words,” he murmured against Eli’s mouth. “I think I like the sound of them.”
They ran up against the bed, and Eli bent forward, forcing Logan to lean back against the mattress. He brushed his mouth over the coarse skin of Logan’s throat, fingers working at the buttons of his jeans. “Trust me, you will.”
As he lowered himself between Logan’s thighs and slipped his mouth around Logan’s cock, he had to admit to himself that this wasn’t exactly what he’d been anticipating. He thought he’d wanted Logan at his command, but this, he was realizing, was infinitely better. The longer Eli worked his mouth around Logan’s erection, the more Logan squirmed against the bed, the faster his breath came. This was how Eli wanted Logan-not submissive but pliant with desire, taking deep, shuddering breaths as Eli smoothed his hands over Logan’s taut thighs.
“Stop, stop,” Logan was gasping, pulling at Eli’s shoulders. Eli let himself be pulled, and was rewarded when Logan held him close for a scathing kiss, rubbing his erection against Eli’s hip. “Let’s not end this up too quickly,” he breathed, reaching down to grab Eli’s ass and crush their bodies together.
“I don’t intend to,” Eli said, and began work Logan’s shirt up and off his body.
Logan responded in kind, pulling Eli’s shirt off, throwing it halfway across the room. Then Logan shimmied out of the rest of his clothes, pressing his body closer to Eli’s body as he did so. Eli pulled back to shuck off the last of his clothing, and when he turned back, he was met with the sight of Logan lying on the bed, hand wrapped around his cock, stroking himself indulgently, mouth slightly open, eyes fixed on Eli’s body with attentive hunger. It was a sight too good to pass up, and Eli climbed atop Logan’s supine body, replacing Logan’s hand with his own. Logan arched perfectly under him, groaning, hands sliding up Eli’s arms.
It wasn’t long before Logan was pulling him down for a kiss, and they wrestled, shoving their hips together, groping. Eli scraped his teeth over the skin behind Logan’s ear and said, “I want to fuck you,” recalling the spectacular effect Logan’s breath had had over his skin.
“Oh, hell, yes,” Logan hissed, shuddering. “There’s-uhn-In the bedside table.”
He retrieved Logan’s lube and proceeded to slide his fingers inside Logan, who spread his legs and lifted his hips instinctively, thrusting against the digits. Leaning back on his elbows, eyes half closed, he let loose a harsh litany of profanity, “Fuck, God, oh, shit, fuck. Fuck, fuck-oh, fuck.” This last was uttered when Eli withdrew his hand.
Having prepared himself, Eli settled between Logan’s legs and slid into him, a tremor wracking its way up his spine as he came to rest inside Logan’s body. After a few experimental strokes, Eli slid his arms behind Logan’s back and flipped them over. Logan grunted in surprise, but quickly recovered, letting out a low moan as he settled further onto Eli’s cock. As Logan rocked over him, Eli began to piston his hips. He gripped Logan’s hips and started fucking him properly, unable to do anything more than grunt breathlessly as he slammed into Logan’s body.
Above him, Logan was shuddering, one hand tugging desperately on his erection. His voice caught in his throat and he choked for breath as his ass clenched around Eli’s cock as he came. Eli’s climax hit him by surprise, but come he did, held there as he was by the force of Logan’s orgasm, wracked by a sharp gale of heat breaking over his body.
It was only when he felt himself drop back onto the bed that he realized he’d been arching up off the mattress. Logan collapsed against his chest, panting. His lips grazed Eli’s chest, shifting slightly with every breath he took.
Eli stared up at the ceiling as he caught his breath, one hand resting on Logan’s smooth back, a sense of awe resting in his tired chest.
Finally, Logan rolled off him with a long groan and dropped onto the bed with a murmured, “Oh, fuck, yeah.”
Eli couldn’t help laughing, the awe he felt growing into a sort of giddy wonder.
Logan chuckled. “Seriously,” he said. “I haven’t been fucked like that since I don’t know when.”
Eli just shook his head. Another moment passed before he had the presence of mind to pull off his condom and toss it into the trash can by the bed. He laughed again, still a little in shock. He turned over, resting one arm comfortably on Logan’s chest.
“I really never figured you for-you know.”
“Yeah, well, you either,” Logan replied. “What’s up with that?”
“I asked first.”
Logan laughed. “Nice. Very first grade.”
“The fact remains-”
“Yeah, well, you know,” Logan said. “It’s the damnedest thing. You get intimate with Josh Hartnett via the pages of GQ once or twice and things’re never really the same.” Eli snorted. “Why, what’s your excuse?”
Eli glanced up at his face, which was relaxed and shining with sweat. He licked his lips briefly before saying, “You remember Felix Toombs?”
Logan was quiet for a moment. “Ouch,” he said.
“Yeah.”
“I-”
“Hey, whatever. It was a long time ago. We were friends, that’s all. But, yeah, let’s just say . . . he got me thinking.”
“Hm,” Logan said. “And a good thing for me that he did.”
“Glad you appreciate my work,”
“Infinitely, maestro,” Logan said. “Certainly some of your best.”
“Well, good work is exhausting,” Eli replied. “So shut the fuck up so I can get some shut-eye.”
“Mm. Blankets.”
They wormed their way under the covers and promptly fell into a deep sleep.