Love Me Tomorrow (16 page)

“Alrighty then,” Gregory reached across the table and took Julia’s drink away from her.

“Oh sure, make like I’m the crazy one,” she said, frowning.

“You said it, sister,” Jake said, as the three of them all began to laugh.

* * * *

“Wipe that cocky grin right off your face, Angelo,” Levi said, glancing back toward the bar to see Harold and Gloria heading up the stairs toward their room located on the second level. “Do not utter a single friggin’ word, so help me.”

“As your boyfriend, I have certain needs.”

Levi started laughing, completely mortified that he had looked both Jake and Julia in the face and flat out lied about he and Angelo being a couple. It was silly.

“The best thing about me, babe, is that I always make sure I’m meeting all your needs while in pursuit of my own.”

“You can stop now,” Levi said, “you’re my faux-boyfriend, so any sex we have will be imaginary as well.”

Angelo frowned. “This relationship isn’t working for me.”

He could tell Angelo was fully enjoying the teasing-torture he was inflicting upon Levi. “Well, you do work for me, and as humiliated as I feel for unwittingly dragging you into the insanity that is my personal life, let’s try not to confuse and muddle things up any more than they already are.”

“I’ll do my best, but I make no promises because the more you resist me, the more I find myself wanting to have you.”

Levi fanned his face, feeling himself begin to blush—something Angelo seemed pleased to see. “You’re a very bad man.”

“Your friend is headed this way.”

“The guy?” Levi asked, feeling his panic-sweat kick into high gear. “The Jake?”

Angelo cocked an eyebrow. “So that
is
what’s going on here.”

“Shut up, kiss me like you mean it… and then pretty please, go back to your car and drive
safely
to your parents’ house. Then I can call Valerie and tell her she’s dead to me.”

Angelo laughed under his breath before taking Levi into his arms and planting a searingly hot kiss upon his lips.

Levi was completely caught off-guard when Angelo thrust his tongue into his mouth, realizing that he and Angelo had different ideas about ‘kissing like you mean it’. For Levi, it meant in a ‘love and cherish me’ sort of way—for Angelo it apparently meant ‘porno tongue’.

Both fearing and hoping Jake was watching, Levi decided to roll with it, kissing Angelo back while hoping all the other complete strangers in the lobby didn’t think he was trashy. The instant his cock began to react favorably to the new stimuli, Levi jerked away, attempting to regain his composure as he gently patted Angelo on the cheek.

His face-patting got a little harder once the smirk of satisfaction made an appearance.

“You can go now,
honey
,” Levi growled under his breath.

Angelo laughed as he turned, making his way through the lobby toward the entrance.

“That was some kiss,” Jake said from behind him.

Levi took a few seconds to compose himself before turning to face him. He tried not to wince as that old familiar pain shot through his chest the instant Jake met his gaze.

“Angelo’s a passionate guy,” Levi said, smiling weakly. “In the short time we’ve been dating I’ve figured out it’s easier to go with his flow since he doesn’t seem to be capable of dialing things back to my pace.”

Jake folded his arms across his chest, something Levi had begun to realize was a defense mechanism he utilized when confronted with something that he found uncomfortable—like the time their hands had touched during their movie date or the time he met Jake’s afore unmentioned boyfriend in Julia’s apartment.

“You seem irritated by something?” Levi asked.

An incredulous expression came across his face as Jake shrugged. “Nope. Nothing bothering me.”

Levi could see that Julia was watching the two of them from her perch in the darkened, wood paneled lounge of the bar.

“Great. Good,” Levi said. “Because I’m gonna suggest something that I hope you’ll please not take the wrong way. I think it would be nice for Julia and Gregory to have some alone time. She was pretty disappointed when confronted with the realization that this place wasn’t going to work for her party.”

“Because deep down, she’d like for
her
anniversary to be more than a political device for my evil, imperialistic father,” Jake said, the tone in his voice getting all dark and angry sounding.

Hello, Daddy issues
.

Levi decided to steer clear of that particular land mine. “Maybe a romantic evening alone in their own room…”

Jake grinned in a way that made Levi believe he might attempt to twist this into something untoward.

“You wanna share your room with me?”

“The bed is enormous, though if that feels problematic, I’d be happy to crash on the sofa, it looked pretty comfy.” Levi glanced back into the bar at Julia who was all snuggled against her husband, both seated in an oversized leather chair next to the fireplace. Greg’s arm was around her shoulder and they looked adorable, relaxed, not worried about being watched or photographed.

“They look sweet, huh?” Jake asked, throwing his arm around Levi’s shoulders while letting out a long, melodramatic sigh. “
Please
tell me we’re gonna talk about boys and braid one another’s hair?”

“I’m already sorry I brought it up.”

“Is there a fireplace?” Jake asked excitedly, as Levi shrugged his arm off. “We can roast marshmallows and tell ghost stories!”

“You are totally weird, dude,” Levi said.

“What? I never had many sleepovers as a kid.”

“They have a five-star, award winning chef running all things culinary in this Gin Joint. I seriously doubt they have marshmallows lying around.”

“Well, this place sucks.”

Levi rolled his eyes, laughing when Jake shoved him playfully.

In truth, Levi never had many sleepovers when he was a child either, for obvious reasons. Most of the other moms didn’t trust Ruby to watch over their children, for one. Beyond that, Levi had also been a bit of a loner as a child, suddenly realizing that things hadn’t changed all that much over the years. In truth, he was more nervous about being alone in room all night with Jake than anything else.

“I wonder if they have any board games in the hotel?” Jake asked, pretty much talking to himself at this point.

“Something tells me after a long dinner with your parents, you’ll no longer be in the mood to play games.”

“You’re a cold, cruel man, Levi Goode.” Jake peered in toward the bar. “I should buy a bottle of brandy now to soothe the wounds that will no doubt be inflicted by my father’s forked tongue later.”

“Um, yeah… No hooch in the hotel room,” Levi said, able to imagine the atrocities the two of them would be likely to commit against one another locked in a hotel room with a bottle of brandy.

Jake appeared genuinely stung by the no-hooch rule, glaring at Levi like he’d just taken his favorite coping mechanism away. Then, the
why
dawned on him and he cleared his throat, visibly uncomfortable all of a sudden.

“Right then, no hooch it shall be.” He pointed into the bar. “We should go tell the happy couple?”

“After you, Captain Renault,” Levi said, motioning with his hand for Jake to go first.

“Please,” Jake said, looking shocked over the Casablanca reference. “You’re Mr. Anti-Hooch, pal. If one of us is the Louis in this relationship, it’s gonna be you.”

Levi laughed, following Jake back into the bar feeling a little less anxious about the new room assignments. They both had boyfriends now, well, Jake thought so at any rate, which placed an added layer of self-professed security over the situation.

One dinner and one night of self-restraint and he’d be back home, safe and sound and breaking up with his new faux-boyfriend.

Between Valerie and my own questionable, desperation-inspired behavior, it’ll be a miracle if I don’t get slapped with a sexual harassment suit before it’s all said and done
.

* * * *

“Oh my God,” Jake said, falling backward onto the bed, his face pale and his arms folded across his stomach, like he might be ill at any moment. “I feel shorter.”

Levi laughed, heading for the mini-fridge.

“Do I look shorter?” Jake asked. “I totally
feel
shorter.”

“No, don’t be silly,” Levi said, lying through his teeth. “You’re every bit the tall drink of water you were before heading down to dinner.”

“I don’t believe you,” Jake said, frowning. “But please continue with more ego strokage.”

He felt bad for Jake, having sat through an entire meal being passive-aggressively jabbed with barb after barb by the senator who was not-so-good to his own flesh and blood. He wanted to hug the man, but figured a mini bottle of liquor would be safer.

“There is no stroking allowed,” Levi said. “New rule.”

Jake looked up, staring warily at the tiny bottle Levi was holding out for him.

“What happened to the no-hooch rule?” he asked.

“After the night you’ve had, I can’t think of anyone who deserves to toss back a few more.” Levi wiggled the bottle at him. “Go on, Jake, seriously.”

Jake sat up and took the bottle from him. “So you picked up on it too?”

“I’d have to be a pretty big fucking moron not to.” Levi removed his jacket and tossed it over the back of a chair. “Never in all my life, have I heard that many back-handed compliments thrown about in such a short amount of time.”

“Thank you!” Jake fought for a moment, straining to get the tiny twist top off the bottle. “Vic always claims that I’m just imagining it.”

Levi scowled, realizing he’d just inadvertently called Jake’s boyfriend a fucking moron.

His discomfort was quickly replaced with shame-inducing glee over the fact Victor was turning out to be such a douche. The glee was short lived, however, realizing he was losing out on a totally great guy to a moronic douche.

“Well, perhaps Victor is right,” Levi offered, “he’s spent more time around them than I have.”

“Don’t do that.” Jake turned the bottle upside down and sucked down every last drop. “I need more people on my side. My father is the devil and my mom once again sat idly by, saying nothing.”

“Julia was there, though, and she and Gregory helped considerably by continually changing the subject.”

“As did you,” Jake said, this pleady, grateful expression taking over his face. “I wanted to kiss you for picking up on things and jumping in to help keep the conversation steered away from me as much as you did.”

“Kissing is also not allowed in the room,” Levi said, smirking when Jake scowled at him.

Levi felt bad for him, knowing full well he would still be lying on the dining room floor, completely reduced to a puddle if the shoes had been on the other feet. He was suddenly happier about the fact he would never know who his own father was. After witnessing Harold’s behavior it seemed like it might be a blessing.

Jake’s shoulders still appeared slouched over as he stared into the carpet like it was a crystal ball he hoped might offer answers to life’s greatest mysteries.

“I think you’re probably gonna need one more of those,” Levi nudged his head toward the empty bottle Jake was still clutching desperately in his hand. “I’m gonna hop in the shower,” Levi said, pointing to the bathroom.

“You feel dirty, no doubt,” Jake said wide-eyed. “I need a fucking
Silkwood
bath after that dinner.”

Levi laughed at the imagery, grabbing a pair of briefs and an undershirt from his bag. He hadn’t packed any sort of lounge wear or pajamas, intending to free-ball it as he hadn’t planned on sharing a room. Luckily he always brought along extra pairs of underwear and socks when he traveled—something Ruby had always insisted he do whenever they vacationed as a child. He wasn’t quite sure why to this day, but he still did it, as if traveling without them would be bad luck.

“Silly superstitions,” he muttered.

* * * *

Turning off the shower, Levi felt like a whole new man after being pelted by hot pulsating bursts of water from nearly every direction. Despite having not initially been a huge fan of the dark, pinkish-brown floor-to-ceiling marble in the bathroom, were it possible to fold this particular shower stall up and take it home with him, he totally would.

“I would fucking marry this shower I love it so much,” he said, lifting the chrome metal latch and pulling on the heavy glass door.

His head cocked to the side, confused when the door didn’t open. He shook his head and tried pushing on the door instead, more confused when it still didn’t budge. A closer inspection of the latch revealed the screw had come loose, so when he lifted the latch handle on the inside of the door, the other end on the outside didn’t move along with it. Since the door apparently only opened inward, he was trapped.

He stood there, completely naked and dripping wet, staring at the confounded thing for a moment, trying to work out how he might go about getting himself out of this mess. Jiggling the door didn’t seem to help, and he was afraid he might break the glass if he yanked on it too hard. While there was a slit-like opening between the two larger panels of glass, he hadn’t had the foresight to bring a credit card into the shower with him, and a quick inspection of the things he had brought revealed none of it would be useful in this particular instance.