End
For reasons none of us can really explain, Chicago always seems to be one of the best shows of the entire tour. That’s why we nearly always schedule back to back shows there, and this tour was no exception. It was, however, not one of the best shows of the tour.
Between the radio thing, the walk and soundcheck, I barely got to see Shay at all before the show. That put me in a bad mood that I’m pretty sure affected the entire show, and of course, Zac was still in the same bad mood he’d been in at the radio station. I knew I was to blame for it, but I didn’t know how to fix it – other than, of course, leaving Seamus for him. But that wasn’t really an option, was it? How could it be?
It was a struggle to keep up with Zac during the show; he set a breakneck pace that betrayed how angry he was and how quickly he wanted the show to end so he could get away from me. There was no doubt that everyone, including the audience most likely, could tell something was wrong. I noticed Will speaking to Zac several times, oblivious to the problem, but still trying to slow him down. It only barely helped; as soon as I caught Zac’s eye again, he resumed beating his drums like he was trying to murder them.
A wave of relief washed over me as we finished the last song of the encore. It was a short setlist that night, but it still had seemed to drag on forever. As soon as the last notes faded out, I was certain my agony was over. All I had left to do was take a bow and then I could be with Seamus for the rest of the night. Before the bow, though, was our traditional stage jump. Since I was actually in a pretty good mood, I leaped onto my piano bench with enthusiasm, planning to really make this jump count. Those few seconds that I hung in the air were perfect.
The crash landing… not so much.
I’m not exactly a graceful person, so I’ve had my share of stupid falls during concerts over the years. It doesn’t make them any less terrifying, though; that moment when you realize something has gone wrong – in this case, my foot getting wrapped around the piano bench – takes all your breath away. As soon as I realized what was happening, I reached my arm out to Zac in the hopes of latching onto him and breaking my fall a little bit.
Zac was having none of that. He yanked his arm away, landing much more gracefully a few feet outside of my grasp, while I crumpled into a heap on the stage.
For a moment, I was certain I had broken something… or everything. Once I remembered how to breath again, I decided that while I was definitely in pain, everything seemed to move as it was supposed to. It wasn’t Zac, but Isaac, who finally offered me a hand and helped pull me back to my stupid, clumsy feet. Zac, meanwhile, was completely oblivious, busy handing out his drumsticks to girls in the front row.
I was so angry with Zac that I pushed Isaac between us so that I didn’t have to hold Zac’s hand as we took our bow. It seemed pretty obvious that he didn’t want to touch me, anyway. I rushed from the stage as quickly as I could, not even sparing a single glance in his direction. Shay was waiting by the side of the stage, and he wrapped a cautious arm around me.
“That was a rough landing,” he said, rubbing my back. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. I just want to get you back to the hotel and relax.”
Shay stiffened a little. “Actually, I think a bunch of us are going out to drink.”
“Oh,” I replied, feeling a rush of anger and jealousy flare up inside me. “Fine. You can go on. I’ll just get some sleep. That’ll be better for me.”
“Are you sure? I’ll stay if you want me to.”
I shook my head. “It’s fine.”
It was anything but fine, but I hurt too much to fight with him. I couldn’t take another fight in one day. All I really wanted was to go to sleep and wake up not feeling like I’d gone skydiving with a parachute.
Quickly, I got my things from the green room and the bus and called a cab, not wanting to waste another moment in the venue. If I did, I knew I would end up running into Zac and punching him in the face. He was still nursing that one black eye, so I figured he really didn’t need another, and I didn’t need the one I would get in retaliation if I hit him. It was just better to put some distance between us.
I already had my hotel key card, so I found my room and headed straight for the shower. A nice, hot shower would do me some good, I thought. I had tried plenty of times to scrub away my sins, and I knew that didn’t work, but the hot water still seemed to scald some of the anger out of my body.
After my shower, I pulled on a pair of boxers and collapsed onto the bed. I didn’t care that it was still pretty early by tour standards; I really did just want to sleep. Before my shower, I’d popped a few aspirins that the hotel saw fit to provide in the hopes of staving off some of the aches and pains of my fall and I lay back on the bed, waiting for them to take effect so that I could rest.
I couldn’t be that lucky, of course. Instead, a knock came at the door just as I felt myself relaxing and almost drifting off.
I was pretty sure Shay had his own key card, so I had no clue who could possibly be looking for me. They were insistent, though. Whoever it was, they continued knocking the entire time it took me to walk from my bed to the door. I flipped the lock back and opened the door, then let out a groan as I found myself face to face with Zac.
“What the fuck do you want?”
“To apologize.”
“Yeah, right,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“I’m serious, Tay,” Zac said. “I didn’t realize you were actually falling. And I just… well, you grabbed me, and I freaked out.”
“Okay,” I replied, beginning to push the door together. “You apologized. Goodnight.”
Zac shoved his way into the room before I could completely the slam the door in his face. He grabbed my arm.
“Tay. I’m serious. I’m sorry about earlier… and the fight at the radio station.”
“Yeah, and I accepted your apology. What more do you want from me, Zac?”
He sighed and took a step closer to me, tightening his grip on my arm. “I don’t know…”
I had a feeling I knew exactly what he wanted from me. As usual, I didn’t think I had it in me to refuse him. I inched a little bit closer to Zac and brushed my hand down his arm.
“You sure you don’t know what else you want from me?”
“I thought we decided it shouldn’t happen again.”
Now he was turning me down? That was new. Why had he come to me, though, if he didn’t want it?
“We said that, yeah,” I replied, bringing my hand to rest on his waist. “Did you think that would really stop us, though?”
Zac shook his head. Any other thoughts I might have had about how much of a mistake we were making vanished as he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. Although we had barely kissed during any of these little… encounters… the feeling of his lips seemed to have already burned itself into my memory so that the moment I felt it again, I relaxed. My body went limp in his arms, making it easy for him to ease me back until my legs bumped into the bed and I fell onto it.
“Sorry,” Zac mumbled, but he didn’t really seem that sorry. A second later, his lips were on mine again, pushing for an even deeper kiss, as his hands worked their way down my sides to the waistband of my boxers.
I didn’t really mind being so much more naked than Zac, but as soon as his hand touched my bare ass, I realized just how mismatched we were. I made quick work of his shirt, and he took the hint and wiggled out of his jeans and underwear without my help. He looked nothing like Seamus or any of the sort of guys I usually went for, but I had to admit, he looked good. He wasn’t really muscular, except for those strong arms, but that was enough. I was pretty sure I could have gotten off just on watching the way the muscles in his arm flexed as he jerked me off.
I wasn’t content with just that, though. I wanted more from Zac. I wanted to feel everything I possibly could.
“Zac,” I breathed out, nudging his arm away from me. “In the pocket of my duffel bag.”
He blinked, then nodded, as he realized what I was telling him. I couldn’t resist the urge to stare at his ass in the air as he bent down to retrieve the tube of lube I’d stashed in my duffel bag earlier that day when I’d had slightly different plans for the night.
A moment later, he returned to the bed and handed the lube to me. I shook my head and passed the bottle back to him. Zac tilted his head to the side in confusion.
I pulled him back on top of me and and chuckled softly. “The lube isn’t for you, Zac.”
Realization washed over him and he nodded. He sat back and nudged my legs apart, then ducked between them to press a few surprisingly gentle kisses to my thigh. He only raised up for a moment to slick his fingers with lube before diving back down, his lips closing around my cock at the same time that he slid a finger into me.
I let out a loud moan. It didn’t matter that I’d been with Shay fairly recently, that first moment, feeling myself being stretched, is always the best. I knew it was only going to get better, too. I didn’t know if Zac had been on this end of the equation before, but I was practically drooling just imagining how good his cock would feel inside of me. The thought of it made me moan again, the sound coinciding perfectly with the moment Zac added a second finger.
He didn’t give me much more time to get accustomed to his fingers before pulling them out. That was fine by me, though. I could take it, and I didn’t really care if it hurt. If it did, I was sure that I deserved it. I shivered as I watched Zac stroke himself with his lube-coated hand, and my body was practically humming with anticipation as he leaned in and lined himself up.
“Zac, please…” I moaned out, sounding more desperate that even I expected.
That was all it took. He grasped my hips and thrust into me all at once. I winced a little at the feeling of it, stretched absolutely to my breaking point by his huge cock, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
For a moment, Zac just stayed there, his arms shaking on either side of my head, body not moving. Finally, when I could barely take it anymore, he pulled almost all the way out and thrust back in. After a few more tentative thrusts, he found a rhythm that had us moaning in sync.
As much as I loved the way he sounded, I couldn’t resist pulling him down for a kiss. He actually whimpered when our lips touched, and it only fueled my lust even more. I tangled my hands deep in his hair as we kissed, needing to feel him as close to me as I possibly could.
Zac seemed to grow bolder as the moments passed, his thrusts getting deeper and deeper each time, and pushing even more harried gasps and sighs from my lips. It did hurt, but I wasn’t going to tell him. I was absolutely certain that I deserved it. And even though it did hurt, it felt absolutely incredible, too.
I suppose we were both too wrapped up in each other to hear the door unlock and open, because neither of us paused at all. It was only when the sound of Shay’s voice hit Zac’s ears that he froze.
“Holy shit.”