Page 11 of Friendly Skies
Luis’ eyes flicked to Darius, then to Reed. “Yeah,” he said with a slight nod. “That…that would be good.” He turned to Reed. “Okay?”
“Whatever.” Reed shrugged.
Darius wanted to punch the asshole because he knew as soon as they turned toward the bar, he’d hang back and disappear into the crowd. Luis didn’t deserve to be treated like this by anyone. His best friend was amazing and perfect and should always be treated like the treasure he was, but he smiled at Reed and said, “Great.”
As predicted, by the time they got to the bar, Reed was gone. No loss. Darius was more concerned about Luis and happy to see his friend smile as they tried to find a place in the crowd to order drinks.
“How about if you guys find a spot, and I’ll get the order,” Ash said.
“You sure?” Darius asked.
“Yeah. No worries. Promise I’m not going to ghost you like…” He jerked his head toward the dance floor and smiled when Darius laughed. “What do you guys want?”
Luis asked for water, and Darius did the same then steered Luis toward an open space along the wall, making sure that Luis’ back was to the wall and he was positioned to shield his friend from any unwanted attention.
“You okay, chico?” he asked.
“Yeah.” Luis shook his head. “Why do the assholes always come to me?”
“It’s not just you. I get my share of them.”
Luis nodded toward the bar, and Darius turned his head to see Ash making his way over to them with three bottles of water. “That man is not an asshole, and he came to you. Just saying.” With a one-shouldered shrug, Luis crossed his arms and turned away from Darius to watch the guys on the floor. Reed, Darius noted, had already moved on to someone else.
“Was it okay that I came over?” Darius asked and got another one-shoulder shrug in response. “Chico?”
“Yeah. It was fine. He wasn’t listening when I said I wanted to dance some more.”
“And rule number one—”
“—if he’s not gonna listen on the small stuff, he won’t listen on the big stuff.”
“Who’s the big stuff?” Ash asked as he reached them and held out the water.
Darius laughed and gave him a playful once-over. “You might be. What do you think, chico?”
The smile Luis gave him was tiny, but it was there. That was what Darius had been hoping for, and he knocked his water against Luis’ and then Ash’s for good measure. “Let’s drink up and get back out there.”
Luis’ smile faded. “I might head home.”
“No. Chico. Stay and dance with us, okay?”
“I don’t want to ruin your night.”
“You won’t,” Ash said. He winked at Luis. “Unless I’m misreading things, and then you can tell me to get lost.”
Darius looked at Luis who shrugged back at him. There was a bit of unspoken back-and-forth between the two of them, and then Luis cast a wistful glance at Ash, which was all Darius needed. He looped an arm through Ash’s and cocked his hip against the other man.
“We’re not telling you to get lost,” he said and put his empty water bottle on the closest table, then took hold of Luis’ hand and led both men back to the dance floor.
It took a couple of songs for Luis to loosen up again, but when he did, he was glorious to watch. Darius and Ash kept him sandwiched between them, and Luis flirted with both of them, letting Ash grind against his ass while he played with Darius’ shirt.
Despite the ache in Darius’ heart when Luis looped his arms around his neck and straddled his thigh, despite wishing the kiss Luis gave him was born of desire rather than gratitude, despite how much he wanted to be the reason for Luis’ beautiful smile, Darius loved seeing his best friend like this. When Luis was happy, it was like the sunniest day in LA, his best birthday party, and the Fourth of July combined, and he never wanted it to end. When they were together like this, he could almost believe they were truly a couple.
Eventually, Luis left their trio to use the restroom. He declined their offers to accompany him—Reed had danced near them at one point but left the club right after that—and told them he’d be right back.
“You sure?” Darius asked, and Luis rolled his eyes before turning on his heel and sashaying off the dance floor with an extra swing in his hips.
“Your boyfriend’s really cute,” Ash said as he looped his arms around Darius and pulled him back into an embrace so they could dance some more.
