U-N-I Ch. 29

As an opening gambit for suggesting we all go skinny-dipping, it was about as subtle as a flying brick but as I couldn't think of any kind of 'in' I'd work with it.

"Um, actually I think I might have," I replied.

"Damn!" Rob exclaimed dramatically.

"You'll just have to go and dig them out, they're in your case I think."

"Not on my account," Nick said quietly from where he sat on top of one of my AC30 amps strumming my Majesty Monarchy, another gift to me from Rob, I winked at Rob - it looked like it was game on.

He'd been playing"A Skyfull of Stars" and he segued perfectly into"A Head Full Of Dreams."

"That was real good dude," Rob commented.

"It's how I've got them mixed in my music library."

We talked ate and laughed, played a game of 'Guess the Song' with the questions based on either a few lyrics or a few bars of music, happily passing the time until Rob said we'd waited long enough since we'd eaten to go swimming.

"I'll go grab some towels then, shall I?" Rob said by way of firing the starting gun.

"Thanks babe, seeing as there's loads, bring a couple of extras," I cast a swift glance towards Nick. Rob left by the door to the corridor leading to our suite.

"How likely is he to actually bring trunks back with him?" Nick asked.

"He probably will but he possibly won't say that he has."

"As in he'll be trying to see if I meant what I said about not bothering on my account?"

"Or to find out if you want to wear them," I smirked.

"Shall we disabuse him of that idea?" Nick smiled and yes, there it was - that totally cute dimple.

"He's got to find out about you sometime."

"Well yes and no, I'm not exactly at attention twenty-four seven."

Nick stood and pulled off his polo shirt then undid and dropped his cargos.

"In for a penny," I thought, "can't back out now," so I followed his lead.

He strode towards the pool around five metres away and, I had to admit, very gracefully dived in, not coming up until he was almost halfway along its length; while he'd had his back to me, I got in simply by sliding off the edge. Sooner than I was expecting Nick was reaching out to catch the pool's edge beside me.

"How much swimming do you do?" I asked; Rob and I had found out months ago that Nick's physique came mainly from swimming not gym-work like Rob, me and the rest of the band.

"At home I do fifty lengths a day minimum, on the road I do as much as I can when I can."

"You know what we've forgotten, don't you?"

"Drinks, the staff left a few coloured unbreakable glasses so we could bring them to the pool," he told me.

"I'll get Rob to bring them."

"How're we actually going to explain being naked?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Depends on how and when he asks."

"He's back," Nick nodded towards where Rob now stood between the loungers we'd been on after we'd eaten.

"Before you get in swap the drinks to different glasses babe," I called.

"There's some coloured ones that're good for using over here, they're on the far end of the buffet table," Nick added.

When Rob re-appeared, Nick still hadn't moved from my side,

"If you're interested, my phone's in the side pocket of my cargos, there's a ton of music on there, see if anything takes your fancy."

Rob cast a wickedly sinful smirk in Nick's direction,

"Something already has."

"Same here," Nick retorted.

"Whose idea was it to go for the naturist look?" Rob asked.

"Him!" Nick and I both said at once.

"Joint decision then," Nick chuckled and began swimming again.

Rob looked at me wide-eyed, his brows raised in surprise as he knelt to put down the tray on which he'd put our drinks and Nick's device.

"Something wrong?" I asked, trying to sound innocent, I had my forearms on the edge of the pool looking up at him.

"He really went for it!" he whispered.

"Didn't you want him to?"

"Well yeah, but I wasn't sure he would."

"Come on get in, you're wasting time," I smirked.

He walked just far enough towards the nearest lounger to be able to throw his shorts onto it. The thought struck me that Nick had seen both Rob and I naked, me twice now, but I'd only seen him partially undressed and Rob hadn't even had that.

"Fucking hell," Rob murmured, when he was in the water beside me, "it was worth the wait to see that body."

Nick came back to stand at my left as Rob was to my right and he took a quick swig from his drink.

"Mark said your wife didn't go postal when you told her you'd be working with us for longer."

"No, but I do have to abide by our T.'s and C.'s."

"Come again," Rob said, "you have terms and conditions with your wife?!" he chuckled.

"Yeah, depending on how long I've been away, I either have to take Liz away for a long weekend or I have to do thatand arrange a family holiday. When I got home from the first part of the tour, I took Liz to Norway and we did the whole ice hotel Northern Lights thing. I'd love to bring her here but it's hardly ideal for a weekend getaway and definitelynot suitable for bringing a two-year-old."

"What sort of family holidays do you go on?" Rob asked.

"The classic sandcastles on the beach for now, Zander's too young for anything else really as yet but we avoid big touristy places."

"Such as where?"

For a moment I was puzzled about Rob's interest in Nick's family - was Rob getting broody again? I was so keeping out of this.

"He was about six months old when we went to the west coast of Ireland and just before I got the call to join you guys in Tokyo, we'd been to Santo Porto - funnily enough not far from where you had your short honeymoon in Madeira. By the time she's added up all the time I've been travelling and then in your studio, I'll have to come up with something pretty spectacular," he laughed.

"Ever been to the Caribbean?"

I breathed a sigh of relief - I'd suddenly understood where Rob was going with this!

"We went to Tobago the year before Zander was born."

"How d'you fancy the Turks and Caicos?"

"Yeah, that could do it, but I hear it's one the most expensive Carribbean islands, good hotels are very pricey."

"You won't need a hotel, you can stay at our place," Rob finally told him.

"You're joking!" Nick exclaimed.

"I think it's the least we can do after all the time we'll have kept you away from home," Rob replied.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely," I put in, hoping Rob wouldn't hear any note of relief in my voice.

Every so often I picked up that Rob was thinking about us having a family, although he'd yet to say anything specific about it. I had given it some thought, but just like when Rob had first expressed his desire for us to marry, I wasn't sure I was ready for that next step.

"Zander's going to love your pool, he's a real water-baby," Nick grinned, "you are giving me so many Brownie points, it's untrue," he laughed.

"There are actually three different pools and a direct access to the beach."

Nick smiled happily.

"Zander, that's an unusual name," I commented.

"It's short for Alexander."

"That's what your ink says," I said.

High on each bicep Nick had a band of ink - not something we'd seen before - the writing was Gothic in style and although it wasn't as heavily embellished what it said hadn't been immediately obvious.

"The other one's Elizabeth with the date we got married, Zander's has his birth date."

"Any plans for more?"

"Don't intend getting married again and we were told we were lucky to have our boy, so no."

We carried on chatting about tattoos, mine and Rob's and what they meant, films, cars, the tour, music, anything that took our fancy until Nick said he was going to do a few more laps of the pool,

"Are either of you actually going to do any swimming?" he asked before setting off.

"Come on, how about we all do four!" Rob suggested.

"Alright. And then I've had a bit of a fun idea, see you back here in four," Nick chuckled as he pushed himself forward.

"Cheat!" I laughed as Rob and I did the same trying to catch up with him.

We didn't and it had quickly become clear that we wouldn't; Nick was an exceedingly good swimmer, he cut through the water like I'd seen Olympic competitors do.

"So what's this idea you've had?" Rob asked when we'd finished our own four laps - Nick was waiting for us with his drink already in his hand.

"Ok, adaptation of Ellen's Newlywed Game," Nick suggested. "We ask one question each in turn and we all answer, first one to ask a question somebody won't answer wins."

"Works for me," I answered.

"Me too," Rob added.

"Ok, we'll start with an easy one," Nick began. "First crush whether they knew or not."

"You," Rob said, looking at me with a brief but seductive grin.

I smiled. "Geography teacher, second year of high school," I put in.

"I remember a girl at school, Isobel," Nick said, "and about the same time I had a bit of a thing for the actress Renée Russo."

"Who and where was your first date?" Nick asked.

"Christy Walker, we went to the fair," I answered immediately.

"Emma Rayman, we went bowling."

Rob said nothing, then carried on saying nothing.

"You're not telling me I win that easy," Nick said, some seconds later, sounding amazed.

"The guys I knew before we," Rob briefly moved a hand between the two of us, "got together, I didn't have that kinda thing with them and," he paused, "well we never needed to."

His words took me aback but it was true we hadn't needed to, not in the truest sense, dating is when two people get to know each other after they get together, Rob and I got together because we alreadydid.

"Mark, come on mate, Rob's never taken you on a date?"

"When we first got together? Come to think of it you didn't," I told Rob.

"Well, we were hiding from everyone! To me, it was even better than dating."

"I hope you do go on dates now," Nick said.

"Sure," I said, "although we don't go for the flowers and chocolates if that's what you're thinking,"

Rob laughed,

"No, we go for the 300k supercars, five-starred Michelin restaurants, five-thousand-dollar guitars, yachts, ten-million-dollar mansion!"

Nick and I both laughed.

"Lucky bastards," Nick said, shaking his head.

"First kiss?" I said asking an obvious one.

"Erica Grűnwald, I was in Germany to spend the fourth form Easter school holiday with my parents."

"Quick worker," Rob sniggered.

"Well she was, she thought I was older than I was so I think she sort of expected it."

"The previously mentioned Christy Walker, but not on the first date."

"Paul, no Niall, actually I don't remember what his name was."

"Didn't you kiss Sarah...," I couldn't remember her last name so I paused, "when we were like, twelve!" I giggled.

"Yeah, maybe. Yeah sure, my first kiss was with a girl but I dunno, just doesn't seem important."

"But real first kiss was with a bloke whose name you can't even remember," I laughed.

"You've made me forget about him!" he smiled at me.

"Remember Charlie?" I asked him.

"Oh yeah, I remember Charlie, first fuck buddy, I wonder what he's up to, and what he looks like now."

"He must be telling everyone he knows that he used to sleep with you!"

Rob laughed,

"He would've liked us to be much more than just fuck buddies but," he paused, "he knew I was only interested in having sex with him. First, because I didn't want to come out toanyone and second, because of you."

"Because of me?"

"Yeah, he knew he didn't have a chance because of you."

"What? You never told me that. You used to talk to him about me?"

"Yeah, he knew," he smiled with a soft nod, "and he thought you were hot as fuck!"

I huffed a laugh,

"He could've been our first threesome!" I joked

We carried on asking ridiculously silly questions of each other.

"How old the first time?" Rob asked.

"Fifteen," Nick and I said simultaneously.

"I was," Rob stopped and looked at me, "hang on, has Rachel been telling porkies all this time? She's always said she was sixteen and you're a couple of months older than her."

"She was," I replied, lowering my head and trying not to smile.

Everybody - including Rachel - had always assumed that as we'd got together relatively young she'd been my first, and only, until Rob.

"So?" Rob queried.

"In France, her name was Céleste."

"And was she, heavenly I mean?" Nick said immediately understanding the meaning of her name.

"Um, too little experience to say," I said.

"You didn't answer," Nick pointed out, looking at Rob.

"Almost sixteen, with Paul, or Niall, or whatever his name was," Rob said and I laughed out loud, "as soon as I looked old enough to get into a gay club and get it on with a guy."

"Most reckless thing you've ever done?" Nick asked.

"Oh God, it might be hard to pick one!" Rob said.

"There are so many to choose from," I joked.

"Probably the one time I decided to jump off the ramp at that festival in Spain and they all chased after me, I thought I would never get out of it alive!"

"I've seen that video," Nick chuckled.

"Yeah, it was a tremendous error," Rob said and we laughed.

"What about you?" Nick asked me.

"I don't do reckless things unless he makes me do them."

He let out a short laugh and cast a swift, smirking, glance towards Rob, then he looked at me again.

"You mean, like having sex in the press box at the Rose Bowl?"

"Wha," I stopped and simply looked at him. Had he watched us? Well the frosted glass in the press suite doors wouldn't have given him a great view but even so, it would've been pretty easy to work out who was doing what to who.

"Yeah, I guess that would be a good example."

Nick carried on smiling at me.

"So, itwas you, I knew I'd seen someone," I said, looking at Rob who was trying not to laugh.

"Idid tell you I'd asked him to keep guard for me," he smiled and it was true, he had.

I gazed at Nick seductively, raising an eyebrow. "So, did we put on a good show?"

He smirked. "Would you know how to put on a bad one?" he giggled. "Put it this way, I daren't think about it when I'm in your company - or anybody else's for that matter," he finished with quite a lecherous laugh.

I looked at Rob to see if he would add something. He didn't. None of us said anything for a few short seconds.

"Two lengths of the pool and we start again?" Nick said, changing the subject. "Otherwise we may as well have not bothered getting in the water!"

"Just how many laps do you swim in a day?" Rob asked in a repeat of my earlier question just before Nick launched himself away from us.

"Minimum of fifty, when I'm at home and I amso lagging behind on the schedule."

He was waiting for us when we'd completed our own couple of lengths, this time he was facing away from the wall and I wondered if Rob's would notice how Nick was built - even at rest his cock was pretty impressive.

"How about," Nick began when we were holding our drinks, "best and worst pick up line you've ever used and had used towards you?"

"Erm, not sure my favourite counts as a pick-up line but I'm having it, it was Mark saying Icould kiss him, the worst? Probably the guy I didn't know who came up behind me when I was stood at a bar, he grabbed my hips, pulled us together and said something like I'm really gonna have fun with you."

"Can I take it he didn't?" Nick chuckled.

"You can take it to the bank," Rob laughed.

"The worst was probably a girl at a friend's party who really didn't believe I'm gay, she came out with the female version of 'but you've never had anyone like me' crap, gotta say I wasn't very complimentary in reply," I smiled.

"What d'you tell her?"

I winced,

"I told her to go to weight watchers."

Rob clapped his hands together, threw his head back and laughed,

"I love you," he said.

"That's just cruel," Nick laughed with us, "and the best?"

"Well I'm with Rob on this one, that first night we got together, whatever it was he said that had me saying he could kiss me," I looked at Rob and saw his eyes gazing intently back at me at the memory.

"Yours?" Rob asked.

"Don't tend to go for the one-liner, I'm more of a get them laughing kind of bloke, you know, charm them into my bed. Despite what you may think from our last conversation about girls, my mate Phil and I were actually quite selective. Turns out Phil had a very different reason to me for being that way. Just like you Rob, he wouldn't entertain anyone who wanted more than just fun until he plucked up the courage to actually tell the object of his affection that she was."

"Yeah, I bet you have to be careful," Rob sniggered, casting a swift look down Nick's torso and back - so he had noticed.

"Yeah, well I'm not the only one," he laughed, "I know for a fact that he managed to dissuade all bar two of a clutch of girls from making him their first."

It took a moment for the both of us to take in what he'd meant, that his friend, who we'd met at an after party in New Zealand where he worked as a music journalist, must be made in the same way as he was.

"Did you ever do the same, dissuade someone?" I asked.

"I did the same three times, doesn't mean we didn't have fun though," Nick smiled.

"So the one seemingly straight man here's the only one who doesn't have that particular notch on his bed post," Rob laughed.

"Did I say that?"

"Well yeah, you pretty much did," Rob replied.

I was having fun watching this, Rob had left the semi-flirting behind, the original q and a was long abandoned, by keeping out of it I could watch both sides of this conversation and Nick had Rob right where he wanted him.

"Did I? No, I don't think so."

"You said you'd had to dissuade three women from making you their first."

"No, I actually said I'd dissuaded three."

I roared with laughter, Rob lost his hold of the pool edge and went under making me laugh harder, Nick never flinched. Note to self don't ever play poker with this guy.

Rob looked at me as he surfaced,

"He's fucking good," I laughed.

"Good? Good! As fucking good as Rihanna on the performance stakes."

"And of my vanilla friends only Phil knows - and no he and I never have. Oh, and like my best friend, I have two such notches on my bedpost, one on either side you could say. Questions asked and answered I think," he smirked, as took the final swig of his wine.

I looked at Rob who was still shaking his head and laughing at how Nick had reeled him in.

"Hook, line and sinkered my friend, I had you as soon as you made the unspoken dare about us getting in here naked. What you don't know is that my parents are psychiatrists, dad specialises in Neuro Linguistic Programming and I've read their books, to make sure they weren't using their skills on me, more wine anyone?" he said as he pulled himself from the water.

I was still laughing as he strode to the table, having picked up all the glasses on the way, Rob was shaking his head, chuckling,

"Come on, if you still can, let's do some more actual swimming shall we, first one to four laps," I said already pushing away from the wall.

"You cheat," Rob called as he tried to catch me.

We were watched by Nick as he filled the glasses. On the return lap, I managed to get a few decent glances at him and fuck, even if he got no longer or thicker - which I knew he did - he was a singularly impressive specimen. And my guess was he was all top - but he'd already surprised the fuck out of me so who knew?

"I'll give you two time alone to relax, you've earned it," he said.

"You don't have to. I mean if we'd wanted to be alone, we wouldn't be here, would we?" Rob replied.

"Well if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna do a few more le," he stopped, smirked and began again, "laps of the pool."

This time he dived in a few feet to Rob's right and didn't surface until he was a fair way from us.