could hold on to that, bottle it even, to keep with him always. The phone stopped ringing for only a mere moment before it began once more. He shifted.
"Come back to bed," Ronin whispered, reaching for him.
"Ronin."
"Ten more minutes." Ronin pulled him back down and wrapped an arm around him.
"I know, baby, but my phone won't stop until I answer it."
Ronin groaned but his arm loosened so José
shimmied out. He found his phone underneath Ronin's pants, picked it up, and saw it was Savaro. He arched a brow and answered.
"Hey. Is everything all right?"
"Kinda… listen I need a favor."
José sat on the side of the bed. Ronin began caressing his lower back. José moaned. "What do you need?"
"Is this a bad time? Did you find someone to cheer you up?"
"Savaro Kendricks-Anatolis! Get to the point." José laughed as heat rushed to his cheeks.
"I will drop it… for now… Okay, so what I wanted.
Jamal is out of town for a game and everyone else is busy doing something or other. I was wondering if Leroy could come see you after school and you keep him for us for a couple of days. I want to surprise Jamal for his birthday in LA."
"Of course!" José cheered, arching into Ronin's inquisitive fingers. "You know I love having my godson around."
"All right. I'll stop by your place later with some of his things."
"He's allergic to milk, right?"
"Yes. Lactose intolerant. The doctors gave him some pills to take before eating any dairy but I don't know if they work or not. So if he's going to have any ice cream, he's to take one pill half an hour before he does and he can only have one scoop."
"All right. What time were you thinking of stopping by?"
"Well, I figured you're not home since your breathing is getting kind of hard—so I'm going to say not until end of day today."
"You're a jerk, you know that?"
"Dude, look who my brothers are! Believe me, I've been told."
Savaro was laughing too hard and though José was smiling, he still hung up on the man. He dropped the phone on Ronin's nightstand and crawled back into his lover's bed.
Sliding in really close, José kissed Ronin hard while snaking a hand beneath the covers to caress the perfect roundness of Ronin's ass.
"There's a guitar in the corner," José whispered, caressing. "You play?"
"A little." They kissed, Ronin moaned and sighed before pulling back. "My father taught both me and my brother Mack."
"Could you play me something?" José eased from
the bed and walked over to where the guitar stood on the stand and picked it up carefully. He held it like he would a newborn baby, afraid he would pull a José-moment and trip over his own feet. The last thing he wanted to do was break the beautiful instrument. When he made it to the bed, he beamed and handed it to Ronin who was now sitting up, so buff and beautifully naked.
Licking his lips, he sat across from Ronin and watched as he cradled the guitar. Ronin looked at ease holding the instrument as his fingers danced over the strings and a beautiful, familiar tune floated through the air.
Then to his shock, Ronin broke into a beautiful rendition of Always on My Mind by a singer Jamal had introduced José to called Da'Ville. José shivered. There was something about a man of Ronin's size and physique singing a love song in a voice that only could have come from heaven. When the song ended, José had no words. All he did was reach across and kiss Ronin, wrapping an arm around the back of his head and being careful not to press too close with the guitar.
"That was beautiful," José whispered.
"You're very welcome—it's been a while since I've played it. It used to be my father's."
"That's one of the best gifts a parent can ever give a child."
Ronin smiled softly and placed the guitar by the bed, leaning on the wall. "Music."
Chapter Seven
Two days had passed since Jose was last with Ronin. Though they spoke on the phone, José decided in order to get any work done he was going to have to go on a Ronin
Scott Andrew Selby, Greg Campbell