Everything Changes (9 page)

“Oh my God,” Jase said, his face lighting up. “She wanted to tell me that she was getting married, and she’s pretty sure that she’s pregnant.”

“Wow,” Carey said slowly. “That’s great, Jase, but why did she come here just to tell you that?”

“She didn’t want to start a new life with the animosity hanging between us. She said that she realized blaming me for the miscarriage was wrong, and she wanted to let me know she’d forgiven me for the rest.”

Carey smiled, knowing how much Jase had needed to hear that, another step in putting that whole painful chapter behind him.

“So she asked me to forgive her for her part too, and hoped that we can be friends.”

“That’s so great, Jase,” Carey said sincerely, and he knew Jase and Mari would probably never speak again, but at least they’d made their peace with each other before moving on. Carey stood up and stiffened when Jase stepped forward and pulled him into an impulsive hug.

“I’m just so relieved, Carey,” Jase said into Carey’s hair. Carey wrapped his arms around Jase and hugged him tightly, trying to ignore the feel of Jase’s hard body against his. Oh Jesus, please don’t let him pop another boner right now. He
really
needed to get laid, he thought a little hysterically. How long had it fucking been?

Jase released him, taking a deep breath and moving to his dressing table to run a comb through his thick hair and spritz a light cologne on.

“Okay, I’m ready. I need to go work the room for a while, and then we’ll head out to the club.” He clapped Carey on the shoulder and breezed out of the room, leaving Carey to follow and pull the door shut behind him.

C
HAPTER
6

T
HE
CLUB
was busy but not overly so, and the music was a good mix of techno and contemporary pop. There was a little something for everyone, and it seemed everyone was having a good time. Carey sat at a small table and nursed his beer, watching Jase on the dance floor. The man was pure sex in motion, and Carey found he couldn’t keep his eyes off of him. Jase had always had an innate grace, but his dedicated yoga practice had given him lean, sexy muscles, and the natural performer in him had finally been unleashed due to his work with his band.

“Hey, babe!” Carey looked over and smiled as Layla bounced up, flushed and sweating, grabbing up her beer and taking a huge swallow.

“Having fun?” he said, talking loudly over the music. Quinn and Pete were outside grabbing a smoke, and Bryan had disappeared somewhere with a woman he’d met after the concert. Carey was content to sit for the moment and people watch, enjoying the eclectic mix of club patrons who surrounded him.

“Oh hell, yeah. I about fucked Jase on the dance floor, holy shit, that man can move.” Layla fanned herself, her eyes sparkling. “I think I might have come a little bit out there.”

“What?” Quinn said in mock outrage, winding his arms around his wife from behind. “I heard that.”

Layla shrugged. “What can I say? He’s sex on legs, honey.”

Carey could certainly agree with that statement. The memory of Jase in that thong underwear would forever be burned into his brain. He gulped more beer, realizing he’d actually had quite a bit to drink tonight and was feeling a little tipsy. He liked it; it had been a long time since he’d let loose and just had fun like this with friends. He grinned at Layla and Quinn as Quinn growled and pretended to gnaw on her neck.

Carey looked at the dance floor, his eyes locking on Jase again, watching how he moved to the thumping beat, his arms over his head and his hips moving in a sexy rhythm, a rhythm that made Carey think of fucking. It made him think of Jase, his eyes closed, mouth slack with pleasure, husky groans vibrating in his chest as his body spasmed and shook in Carey’s arms….

Suddenly he was aware of Layla staring at him, her eyes sharp and speculative. She’d obviously followed his line of sight and had taken in his reaction to watching Jase on the dance floor. He flushed, tearing his gaze from hers and looking into his beer glass. There was nowhere to hide, nothing he could say to explain the look on his face, which he was sure was hungry, desperate, wanting. He risked a glance back at her and was surprised to see a happy grin spreading over her face as she winked at him. He flushed again, tensing a little as she came up behind him and draped her arms around his neck, leaning down and speaking directly in his ear.

“Go for it, Gorgeous. The two of you would be fucking
epic
.”

“I don’t—I’m not—”

“The heart wants what it wants, Carey. There will never be any judgment here.” She waved her hand to encompass her husband and Pete, who had arrived back at their table with a fresh pitcher of beer. “All anyone would want is for Jase to be happy. I can’t believe I’ve never noticed it before, but he’s so different when he’s around you. He’s relaxed, he seems to light up from within. And the way you’re looking at him, Carey, my God.” She fanned herself, her gaze impish. “I think I got my fantasy material tonight, baby. The thought is turning me the fuck on.”

“Jesus, Layla,” Carey burst out. “Please stop!”

“Okay, sweets, I’d say I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable, but I totally do. Someone needs to light a fire under your asses.”

Carey snorted. “I can’t believe you! You’re lucky you’re so cute.”

“Yeah, well, the tension between you two, the chemistry, is off the fucking charts. Nothing wrong with it, Carey. Oh God, the two of you, so hot…. Can I just set up a chair in your bedroom? I promise I’ll stay in the corner and not say a word. I won’t say anything, but I may end up touching a little bit. How do you feel about threesomes? A Jase and Carey sandwich with me as the filling?”

Carey must have looked desperate and pleading because Quinn walked over and plucked his wife away from Carey, tucking her under his arm and leading her to the dance floor.

“Stop bothering the nice man, honey,” he said. “Let’s go dance.” Carey’s eyes telegraphed his relief as he mouthed, “Thank you” to Quinn, and Quinn grinned, giving Carey a knuckle bump before disappearing with his wife into the writhing crowd on the dance floor.

Carey’s eyes sought out Jase, noticing a woman in a bright red minidress was moving in on him, her long blonde hair falling over one shoulder. She was a good dancer too, and Jase smiled lazily at her as he put his hands on her hips and moved with her. She turned her back to his front, putting her arms up around his neck from behind and letting him direct her movement with his hands on her swaying hips.

Without thinking about it, Carey got up and moved onto the dance floor, letting the crowd absorb him, feeling the beat of the song fill his senses. He was buzzed, and his body felt antsy and hot, needing to move. He had always been a good dancer, and as long as he didn’t try to get too wild and crazy, his prosthetic leg didn’t hinder him.

He found himself dancing up to Jase and the woman, catching Jase’s gaze and holding it. Carey pressed himself close to the woman, who looked delighted to be sandwiched between two such attractive men. Carey skimmed his hands over her hips, enjoying the feel of the silky material of her dress under his fingertips. He spread his fingers wide, matching his movements with hers and Jase’s until it probably looked to others like the three of them were fucking on the dance floor.

The sexy, pounding beat, the press of bodies, the subtle flashing lights all seduced Carey’s senses, and he closed his eyes, moving his body, his hips. He smoothed his hands along the woman’s body, feeling, touching. Suddenly his fingers bumped into Jase’s, and Carey let their fingers tangle, lacing them together as they both held on to the woman at the same time as they held on to each other. Carey dragged his eyes open and met Jase’s vivid green gaze again. Jase’s lips were slightly parted with the exertion, full and moist, and Carey couldn’t help staring at them.

Slowly Jase pulled his fingers from Carey’s and glided them up Carey’s forearms, down his sides to Carey’s hips, where he lightly rested his fingertips, riding the movement of Carey’s hips instead of the woman’s. It was sexy and hot, and Carey tried not to think about the tingle of electricity he felt as Jase’s hands flexed and moved with the undulations of Carey’s body. The woman had one arm back around Jase’s neck, and one arm around Carey’s neck, holding the three of them together as they danced.

Jase’s hands tugged him closer until Carey’s groin was right up against the woman’s. She ground against him, so close Carey could feel her unfettered breasts against his chest as they bounced and swayed with her movements. Yet his focus wasn’t on those bouncing breasts, but on the way Jase’s hands felt as he moved them along Carey’s sides and lower back, rocking all three of their hips together as they danced.

Carey threw his head back and closed his eyes, letting the thump of the music move through his body, letting the sensations of soft feminine warmth and Jase’s stroking hands seduce him. The woman suddenly turned, pressing her back against Carey’s front, her arms going back up around his neck as she took her turn undulating against him. He could feel her ass moving in circles against his groin, and he wanted to push her away.

For a moment he didn’t see Jase, and then suddenly he felt heat along his back as Jase pressed in close behind him, sliding his hands once again along Carey’s hips. He could feel Jase’s hard body from chest to knee plastered against him. The three of them writhed in the dance, the crowd pressing close. The hot woman in front of him could have been a plastic lawn chair for all Carey took notice of her. His arms were around her, but all he could feel was Jase, the cold metal of his belt buckle pressing into Carey’s lower back, the lean muscles of his body moving against him.

Without thinking, Carey let go of the woman and reached back with one arm, his hand clutching Jase’s hip as he pulled him closer, dimly aware of Jase’s low groan in his ear. One of Jase’s hands came around and splayed across Carey’s abdomen, pulling him back, and they ground together there in the dark, the music throbbing through Carey’s body. His head tipped back onto Jase’s shoulder as they undulated, the woman totally forgotten even though she hadn’t gone anywhere.

Carey wasn’t thinking; he was just feeling. Jase dipped his fingertips lower, just underneath the waistband of Carey’s jeans, and Carey’s eyes snapped open and met Jase’s molten green gaze. There was so much heat there, and Carey couldn’t look away. He licked his lips and saw Jase’s eyes drop down to his mouth, following the movement of his tongue.

Jase leaned closer, his lips moist and parted, and Carey jolted as he realized he was about to kiss him. Sudden panic washed through him, and he tried to tell himself he was just reacting to the closeness of the attractive, scantily clad woman, not the sight of Jase dancing, not the feel of Jase’s hands on his body. It was the alcohol, it was the seductive music….

With an oath, Carey broke away from the other two, turned, and strode off the dance floor.

J
ASE
CURSED
himself for pushing Carey like that. Having him so close had been intoxicating. The blue of Carey’s T-shirt had made Carey’s sapphire eyes look almost purple, and watching his sexy body move on the dance floor like that, so graceful, so pure despite the missing leg, had caused emotion to well up in Jase until he thought it would choke him.

When Carey had danced up to him, even with the woman between them, it felt to Jase like it was just the two of them alone on the dance floor. The feel of Carey’s body heat, the hard planes of Carey’s hips, the movement of his body against him…. Jase was rock hard with desire, and the woman felt it against her as she pressed close to him again, understandably assuming it was for her, wiggling her hips back against Jase in unmistakable invitation. For a split second, Jase considered taking her up on her obvious offer; it wouldn’t be hard to find a dark corner and lift her dress, undo his pants, and take out his sexual frustration on a willing stranger.

The woman lifted up on her toes, leaning in.

“Hey, baby,” she shouted in his ear over the music. “Let’s get out of here. Bring your friend if you want, mmm.” Her look was salacious, predatory, and Jase was suddenly weary of the whole fucking thing.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” Jase shouted back at the blonde. “Not gonna happen tonight. Thanks for the dance, sexy lady.”

Jase raised her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers, hopefully letting her down easy, and loped off the dance floor, going in search of Carey. He was nowhere to be found, and even questioning their friends didn’t help; no one knew where he had gone.

Jase finally pushed through the front doors of the club, and he sighed with relief when he spotted Carey’s familiar figure leaning against a wall a few feet away from where the cigarette smokers had congregated.

Jase walked up and leaned next to him, leading with his left shoulder and facing Carey.

“Hey,” he said, his eyes searching Carey’s face.

“I’m sorry,” Carey whispered.

“For what, man?”

“For getting carried away like that. I don’t want to give you the wrong idea.”

“About what?” Jase narrowed his eyes.

Carey waved his hand back and forth between them. “You know—I think I’m a little drunk.”

Jase wanted to push it, but he gave Carey the out that he was so desperately looking for. “Me too, dude. And that chick was fucking hot.”

Carey rolled his head along the wall to look at Jase, relief in his eyes as he seized on the excuse. “She was smokin’ hot. And the way she was rubbing up against me—Jesus. It’s been a while for me. Too long, I guess.”

Let it go, DeSantis,
Jase told himself fiercely. “No worries, dude,” he said easily, though his fists were clenched at his side. “You wanna go back in there or just go home?”

“Let’s just get out of here, if that’s okay,” Carey said, pushing away from the wall, careful not to let any part of his body touch Jase’s. He stumbled a little as he took his first steps, but his body language was stiff and forbidding, so Jase didn’t move to offer support, even though he ached to wrap his arm around him and hold him up. After a few steps, Carey’s leg adjusted, and he only walked with a slight limp as they made their way to the front of the club to hail a cab for home.