Is it offensive if I jack off to that pic you sent?
I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Dane sighed and smiled, then went back to his model. He already had this one, but it didn’t matter. He’d needed that connection. Plus, it would be a little sliver of home while he was living on the lot here.
And a reminder of Aras until they could get back together.
Chapter forty-one
Aras
Atfirst,Arashadbalked at the guys’ insistence that someone spend every single night with him. They would leave if he growled enough, but after four nights of it, he’d grown used to it. If he was alone and no one could hear him, he’d even admit he enjoyed having some one-on-one time with them. It fell somewhere between reconnecting after too long a break and getting to know them all over again. The only pair that spent time with him was Ozzy and Evander, but even they were a decent time. A few drinks mixed with mocking home renovation content on VideoHead was a damn good time with those catty sons of bitches.
Mason was still just as nerdy. Robinson was quiet and pumped him up on some artsy drama that he was into, which Aras couldn’t say he loved, but it was god damn pretty to look at. Jake was far and away the most fun, which was good, since they had two separate nights. Enough to get drunk and watch crappy action movies until their eyes bled. That was the only time that Aras didn’t end up pushing his companion out. It was, frankly, a blast. He was sure he'd have a great time with Bunny, but she had her own stuff to handle. She was supposed to be on rotation for the next job, assuming her kid was okay enough not to call her every night. Aras didn't mind it—she'd helped him plenty already.
When hedidget the other guys out, he immediately started texting with Dane. Or sexting. They weremostlychaste pictures, but not all. And some of them were certainly stretching the definition of chaste. Aras had a brand new collection of pics of Dane in his underwear, bulge on full display. He liked those pictures.
As they were wrapping up the day before the big finale, Eliza waved him down on his way back out to the car. He looked over his shoulder at the guys piling in, then headed her way. “Everything all right?”
“Package showed up for you.” She pointed behind her to the hair and makeup trailer. “I’d think your hotel room would make a bit more sense, but—”
“I wouldn’t order something to the job site if that’s what you’re saying.”
“No. I don’t care if you do, anyway. But if you didn’t order it…” She wrung her hands down at her waist. “Any chance you have some stalker that would be sending a human head in a box or anthrax or something? We have security on staff.”
“Not that I know of.” Aras couldn’t even make himself worry about that. It was too far outside the realm of anything that made sense. “I should go check it out, huh?”
“You can ride back to the hotel with me and the crew.” She waved at the SUV packed with the rest of the Pine Point guys and it pulled away. Then Eliza waved for him to follow her. Aras tried a dozen ways to figure out what kind of package could be waiting for him. His mind immediately went to Dane, but he couldn’t think of anything Dane would be sending his way. Were they even at the stage where a gift was any sort of reasonable expectation?Even if we are, I’m not letting myself get my hopes up.
Corinne was packing up, but she gestured toward a sizable box tucked away in the corner of the trailer. “Kept it safe for you.”
“Thanks.” Aras approached, his confusion giving way to alittlepanic—to help promote the show, they’d been uploading little videos to their old channel, so it could be some new crazy fan with an obsession or a ‘calling from God’ to kill the sinful gays. He quashed that as best he could and turned the box around so he could read the label. Then his body flushed with heat, and all the worries melted off.
It was from Mariano Auctions, and there was only one person who would have had something shipped to him from that place. He turned to look at Eliza. “Is it going to make you too late if I open it here? I can always take it back to the hotel.”
“Are you kidding?” Corinne answered, not Eliza, with her hands on her hips and her eyes focused straight ahead. “That box has been taunting me for hours. If I don’t see what’s inside, I’m going to die. Clinical death, all on your hands. My kids will come up to your crying their eyes out, ‘why did you kill my mommy’ and all that.”
Eliza put a hand on Corinne’s shoulder. “Bit too intense.”
“No.” Aras had caught himself smiling—actuallysmiling—at Corinne’s antics.Maybe spending all this social time with the guys actually is helping. Or it was the fact that this was absolutely a gift from Dane. “I wouldn’t want to leave her children motherless.”
“Well, they’re in their twenties.” Corinne waved that away. “But the point still stands, I think it’s medically harmful to me if I don’t see you open that box.” She grabbed a pair of scissors from the table and handed them over. “Open. Go.”
Aras took the scissors, spreading them apart, and sliced through the brown packing tape holding the box closed. Inside was a whole mess of packing peanuts, nothing else in sight. So he started digging through, trying not to make a mess.
Then a second set of hands joined in. Corinne had walked up and was scooping handfuls of the white foam blobs into a small trash can. She raised an eyebrow at him. “Ineedto know.”
“Apparently.” He joined her, overfilling the trash can, until he finally saw bubble wrap. He wriggled the package out, noting how heavy it was. He used the scissors to cut into the bubble wrap until, finally, he could get to the glass.
And it wasdefinitelycarnival glass. Deep blues, purples, and a surprising amount of golds. He had opened it upside down, so he got to see the base first. It was purple, and a deep purple at that. A ruffled bowl. There were a couple big chips in the base, but that was almost a given. It wouldn’t matter for his display, and it would probably have brought the price down to make it more reasonable.
Aras turned it over and had to force his fingers to tighten so he didn’t drop it. “Poppy Show.” He’d mentioned itonceto Dane that he wanted to get his hands on a Poppy Show bowl or plate, and that had been enough.
“That is gorgeous.” Corinne stood back, arms folded. “Is it a nice piece? I don’t know anything about it.”
It was. Undeniably. “It’s my favorite.” That would be true whether he’d bought it himself or gotten it as a gift from Dane. But… “I don’t think anyone’s ever bought glass for me before.” His collection was personal, and now it would have a bit of Dane in it. For good.
“There’s a note.” Eliza had moved in closer to the box at some point, and now she stood behind him, holding out a strip of printer paper. Aras carefully set the bowl down on the table and took the paper. It was typed out, clearly something that Dane had them put in the box.
