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“Gotcha. I think I’m going to put it in the music room when I get home, as a reminder of the trip, but also because I can see it inspiring a song at some point. There are already words floating around in my head, just waiting to be put together.”
Right before Zakk’s eyes, Tripp’s expression changed, eyebrows knitting together some, smile looking a bit pinched around the edges. “Hey, um, thanks for wandering the canyon with me. I know it took up the bulk of your day, so, it’s cool if you want to go work on….”
“Shhhhh!” Zakk hissed, slapping a hand over Tripp’s mouth and glancing back and forth, checking the corners of the room. “Don’t you know that’s a bad word here?”
It was comical, the way Tripp’s eyes widened as he tried to speak behind Zakk’s hand, lips tickling the skin there.
“What was that?” Zakk asked when Tripp’s grumbling only produced a series of unintelligible sounds. “Oh, guess it might help if I moved my hand, huh?”
“Ya think,” Tripp muttered once Zakk’s hand was out of the way. “Now what word inspired you to try and gag me?”
“Oh no, if I were trying to gag you, you’d know it, and you’d like every bit of what I had in store for you, too.”
“Is that a promise?”
“Do you want it to be?”
It was hard to get a read on the direction of Tripp’s thoughts when he sat there completely stone-faced, time ticking away in silent seconds, until Zakk fidgeted and reached for the next stone. Tripp’s hand shot out, encircling his wrist, tugging his hand back up so his fingers were skimming over Tripp’s lips.
“What if I do?” Tripp asked, his gaze never leaving Zakk’s.
“Then I’ll do my best to blow your mind,” Zakk murmured, already scanning the room for something that would work as a gag. His eyes landed on the edge of a multicolored bit of fabric peeking out from the edge of Tripp’s suitcase. In an instant, he was diving off the bed to grasp it, thrilled when it felt soft and cool in his hand.
Tripp licked his lips when he saw it, scooting back on the bed as Zakk crawled up beside him. Leaning in, Zakk kissed him, light, teasing, pressing his tongue past Tripp’s lips, licking over the upper one as he retreated. Strong hands ran up his back, hauling him closer while Tripp deepened the kiss. It was easy to lose himself to the sensation, press forward, crowd Tripp back against the headboard and feel the tension drain out of him.
Tripp didn’t open his eyes when Zakk eased away from him and pressed the silk scarf to his lips, watching Tripp’s tongue flick out before he parted them. Zakk took his time sweeping Tripp’s hair out of the way before tying the gag in place, wanting it tight enough that Tripp wouldn’t be able to spit it out, but loose enough it wouldn’t press into the side of his face. Zakk loved the way Tripp opened his eyes slowly, that moss green shimmering with excitement.
“I wonder what it is you don’t want the others to hear,” Zakk murmured, caressing along the edge of the gag. He tugged Tripp’s t-shirt off over his head, then discarded his own and snuggled up beside the man, his head pillowed on Tripp’s arm as he danced his fingers up and down Tripp’s abs. The way Tripp squirmed, just a little, reminded him that he was ticklish along his sides, so he shifted his attention there, trailing the back of his nails over Tripp’s skin. Even with the gag, snorting chuckles escaped.
“I love listening to you laugh,” Zakk told him, grateful for the gag because there were some things he’d been dying to say. “Maybe it’s the poet in me, but your laughter makes me think of summer; all that bright sunshine and dandelion fluff in the air.”
Tripp’s fingers found his hair and lightly stroked, while Zakk alternately caressed and tickled.
“I want you to hear me when I tell you this,” Zakk said. “The night we met, you were the only one I noticed. Not your brother, not the rest of your band, just you, standing there beneath a glittering glass chandelier, looking larger than life.”
Muttered sounds came from behind the gag, but whatever Tripp was attempting to say was lost in the fabric. Zakk hoped Tripp wasn’t putting himself down again. He needed to stop that shit, sooner rather than later, yet even as he thought it, he realized it was another similarity Tripp and Dez shared. It gave him pause. A moment to untangle feelings and emotions. He wasn’t with Tripp because of how alike the two were, was he?
No. That was stupid. He’d known Tripp first. Gravitated to him before there was ever a Tattered Angel. Hell, he remembered a cringy comment about twins being double the fun because if you got tired of one, you could always sample the other, only, Zakk had never had any desire to fuck around with Winter. It had been over a year since he’d taken a groupie up on one of the numerous offers that had been thrown his way, and he knew it was the same with Tripp. He trusted the man when he said he was faithful, despite the distance between them, and deep down, he wanted more. So much more.
He wanted a ring of his own like the two in the safe back home. Maybe they’d never see the light of day, what with Dez and Riley’s sometimes warm, occasionally cold, crazy electric explosions of passion and fury they still hadn’t completely worked out of their systems.
Did he want them to call it quits?
Leaning in, he licked a stripe down Tripp’s side, which only got him squirming more.
If they did, it wouldn’t change things. He was exactly where he wanted to be, of that, he was certain.
Sitting up a little, he stared down into Tripp’s sparkling eyes while deliberately tickling, just so he could watch the way they went heavy lidded as the man wiggled around and tried to escape his questing fingers. This was the face he wanted to fall asleep to in the moonlight and wake up to when the afternoon sky was bright.
Leaning over him, Zakk kissed his forehead, the tip of his nose and both eyelids, drawing away to gaze into them again. Even with the gag in place he could tell Tripp was smiling. Good, he wanted to keep him that way.
Sliding from the bed, Zakk managed to avoid the lunge Tripp made to haul him back. If he was going to get all grab happy, maybe they needed another piece of cloth. The purple bandana he spied on top of the dresser would be perfect for what he had in mind. It wasn’t as soft as the silk, but this one he wound around Tripp’s wrist, the man raising one eyebrow at him as he did but holding still until he had it secured.
Now for the surprise he had in store for him. Only…first…he stripped off Tripp’s pants and the boxers beneath, adding them to the growing pile of clothes on the floor. He consigned the remainder of his own garments to it as well, before reaching into the fridge to remove the shallow dish of water and rocks he’d shoved in there when Tripp was using the bathroom. He counted it a fortunate thing that Tripp hadn’t gone looking for a drink. Now, he held one of the gleaming purple rocks up to the sunlight, drops of water sliding down it as he held it poised over Tripp’s chest.
Zakk could see the curiosity blooming there, the sparkles of laughter as the cold water dripped onto Tripp’s warm skin. Later, he’d have to ask if anyone else had thought to use his beloved rocks this way, but for now, he traced patterns along Tripp’s sides, up his arms, and across his throat, pausing to rub circles just behind Tripp’s ear, loving the way he shivered.
Goosebumps spread down Tripp’s arms, his eyes crossing a little as Zakk drew the stone from Tripp’s hairline to the tip of his nose. The stone was just as smooth and beautiful dry as it had been slick. He left it resting on Tripp’s chest, right over his heart.
