He spent the time filling the cherrywood barrister cabinets with the seemingly millions of CDs Kane discovered in stacks of boxes in one of the upstairs bedrooms. With the furniture finally in place and the sectional returned to a glory it’d never known, the warehouse was an eclectic blend of old and new pieces.
Neither of them spoke about the storage boxes with Damien’s name scribbled on with black markers. Instead, Kane designated the smallest upstairs bedroom as a storage area and stacked the unopened boxes carefully against the wall. Dusty guitar cases, laden with memories and loose-stringed instruments, joined the boxes. Kane was about to close the room up when Miki stopped and walked to the middle of the room, breathing in the dusty memories of his dearest friend. After grabbing one of the guitar cases from its place against the wall, Miki headed downstairs without a word, leaving Kane to shut the door behind him.
The acoustic guitar was as battered as the sectional had been. It showed its age by its wood and the stickers from various diners and dives across the country covering its back. Resurrected from its tomb, the guitar now spent half of its time in Miki’s ink-stained hands, a soft, murmuring refrain of music coming from its strings while Kane cooked in the kitchen or lounged on the couch next to Miki’s feet.
Most of the time, Miki played songs Kane knew from the Sinner’s Gin CDs he’d scavenged from the piles of extras in the studio next to the garage, but sometimes there were others, unfamiliar and faltering. Miki alternated stroking the chords from the acoustic and scribbling in one of his notebooks, the cheap ballpoint pens he favored smearing globs while he wrote. There were a few tentative ventures of love songs, but mostly Miki wrote of a bit of pain he couldn’t shake. Kane grinned when Miki sang to him of wickedly sinful nights, and kissed him soundly during the times he mourned his best friend.
Dude was often Miki’s audience, especially when Kane groaned at Miki’s mocking rhymes.
With the door checked out, Kane had just reached for a hand towel when Dude’s ears perked up at the sound of a car’s tires pulling up in front of the warehouse. The terrier was pawing at the jamb before Kane could put down the drill. Barking in a high pitched yip, Dude shuffled back quickly as the front door swung open.
Seeing Miki never failed to take Kane’s breath away.
“God, I fucking hate learning how to drive,” Miki growled at his dog, bending over slightly to pet the undulating terrier. “At least this guy hasn’t quit on me yet.”
And as usual, right after his breath was taken away by the singer’s pretty face and lithe body, Miki’s off-kilter brain and loose mouth brought a laugh to Kane’s lips.
“How was it?” Kane brushed a few curls of wood from his jeans and crooked his finger at his lover.
“I didn’t run into anything this time,” Miki grumbled under his breath. “And I can’t be blamed if someone walks into the car, right? It’s kind of like he hit me.”
“Were you moving at the time?” Kane shook his head. Miki was on his third driving instructor, and not for the first time since the singer took it into his head to get his license, he was glad they decided Kane wouldn’t teach him how to drive.
“I was starting to,” Miki confessed. “He walked into the side of the car. By the passenger door. Totally not on me.”
Chuckling as Miki approached him, Kane caught the man by the waist and pulled him in to cup Miki’s ass in his palms. He loved the feel of his lover’s ass. The round, muscular curves fit perfectly in his hands, and Kane kneaded Miki’s jeans as he took Miki’s mouth. Their kiss began as a tender exploration, their tongues teasing one another until Kane felt Miki’s hands slide under his T-shirt. The man’s fingers should be declared lethal weapons, because the delicate brush of his fingertips on Kane’s ribcage was enough to drive him wild. When Miki sucked on the tip of Kane’s invading tongue, Kane decided it was time to take even more.
Kane turned him around, introduced Miki’s back to the newly installed doors, and hoisted the slender man up as an invitation for Miki to wrap his legs around Kane’s hips. When Miki’s legs were secure around him, he pressed in and took as much of Miki’s kiss as he could, slanting his mouth to savor his lover’s taste.
There was nothing more sensual for Kane than the slide of Miki’s velvety tongue along the roof of his mouth. The nip of the man’s teeth along his lower lip was a close second. With a satisfied smirk, he leaned in, supporting Miki’s weight with one hand on the man’s pert ass while he wrapped his other hand into the silken chestnut hair at the base of Miki’s neck.