Chapter 2
1036 Words
Noah ordered a second drink.
Reid noticed, even though he told himself he wasn't going to notice anything else about this man, he still noticed immediately.
The bar had filled up slightly since Noah sat down, small groups gathered at tables behind them, low conversations, someone laughing too loud near the entrance but their corner of the bar stayed separate from all of it somehow, like the noise had agreed to keep some distance.
Noah turned on his stool to face Reid fully and comfortably as if they'd known each other long enough for that to be acceptable.
"You know," Noah said, looking at him the way someone looked at something in a museum, "you look like an expensive painting."
Reid kept his eyes straight, "don't."
"I'm just saying," Noah bent his head slightly. "The shirt, the watch, the whole..." he gestured vaguely at all of Reid, "...thing you have going on, it's a lot."
"Are you done?"
"The jawline alone is doing too much honestly."
Reid picked up his glass and said nothing, his jaw tightened slightly but he kept his face completely blank.
Noah watched him do it and smiled to himself, turning back to his own drink.
A few minutes passed quietly, then Reid felt it.
A light pressure against his ankle, slow and intentional.
He didn't move, he just kept his hand steady on his glass, his eyes fixed on the wall of bottles at the counter.
The pressure moved slightly, Noah's foot moving as casual as anything like he was just getting comfortable on the barstool rungs and not deliberately dismantling a man's composure one inch at a time.
Reid's jaw tightened again.
He felt the fabric of his pants pull uncomfortably at his hips and that irritated him more than anything else in the room.
"So do you live in the city or are you just here for something?" Noah asked.
His voice was completely normal like his foot wasn't doing what it was doing.
"That's not your business," Reid said.
"True," Noah took a sip of his blue drink without moving his foot away.
Reid shifted his leg slightly, just a subtle repositioning.
Noah's foot moved without missing at all.
Reid stared straight ahead and breathed through his nose slowly.
"You come here a lot?" Noah asked.
"Why."
"The bartender knows your drink without you asking. That means you're either a regular or it's a one time thing."
Reid glanced at him just briefly.
Noah was pressing his bottom lip between his teeth again and looking at Reid with that same mild curiosity that had no business being as affecting as it was.
"Regular," Reid said and looked away.
"I thought so," Noah nodded.
His foot moved in a slow small circle against Reid's ankle and Reid put his glass down on the counter with a little more control than was natural.
"Do you always drink alone?"
"I prefer to."
"You preferred to," Noah corrected lightly. "Well...before I sat down."
Reid looked at him again. Noah looked him in the eyes without blinking, that small curve at the corner of his lips just sitting there, patient and unbothered.
"You should finish your drink," Reid said.
"I'm on it," Noah lifted his glass slowly and took the longest most unhurried sip in history.
Reid looked at his throat then looked away immediately.
The foot moved a little more firmly against his ankle then moved up slowly to his knees and back to his ankle.
Reid's hand on the table curled slightly.
He was aware of every point of contact from the person beside him. The cool glass under his fingers, that one small intentional movement on his leg that Noah was maintaining like it cost him nothing.
Because to Noah it clearly did cost nothing.
He was sitting there completely relaxed, one elbow on the table, chatting like they were old friends sharing a quiet evening. Meanwhile Reid was thinking of every possible reason this needed to stop and finding out that none of them were moving him off this stool.
He had a room upstairs, he had an early morning, he had every reason to finish his drink, stand up and walk to that elevator alone.
But he still didn't leave.
Noah glanced at him and Reid caught him looking at that moment. Noah's face was filled with satisfaction before he hid it behind his glass.
Reid looked away first.
Some minutes later, Noah straightened up on his stool and stretched his arms above his head slowly.
His foot dropped from Reid's ankle.
The absence of it was somehow worse than the presence.
"Okay," Noah said simply.
He caught jade's attention and pointed to his empty glass and then to Reid's.
"Both of these please," he pulled out his card before Reid could react.
"You don't need to do that," Reid said.
"I know," Noah tapped his card on the reader jade held out and slipped it back into his pocket.
Then he stood up, straightened his clothes and picked up his phone from the table.
He looked good while standing. Reid noticed that too, against his will.
"It was nice not being ignored by you," Noah said.
Reid kept quiet.
Noah smiled, put his phone in his pocket and turned like he was about to walk away.
Reid looked back at his drink then Noah leaned down.
Close enough that his mouth was near Reid's ear, close enough that Reid could smell whatever he was wearing, his voice just above a whisper.
"Your room or mine, either works for me."
He stepped back.
His face was completely calm, hands in his pockets, like he'd just commented on the weather and Reid was free to respond however he liked.
Reid looked at him for a long moment.
Then he stood up.
He didn't say anything, he just picked up his jacket from the stool, straightened it over his arm and walked towards the elevator.
He heard Noah walk beside him very quietly.
The elevator opened, they entered and the doors closed.
When the door to room 3402 shut behind them, the city glittered through the floor to ceiling window and Noah turned around to face Reid in the dark.
- Writer
