18. What’s After After Rehab

eighteen

What’s After After Rehab

B eing back from rehab was an almost surreal experience. Landing in Coleman’s arms that first day was amazing. He kissed me like he needed my mouth to breathe. And I’m pretty sure I needed his. It brought new meaning to mouth-to-mouth but was every bit as lifesaving. He took me to a nice hotel after that. Swanky, for sure. It was near the airport, where we would be flying out the next day. I wanted to get home because it was almost Christmas, and I wanted to spend the holiday with Coleman and the guys from Midnight Hunt. They were my family, after all.

Malibu Bluff Rehab was a five-star center. It was a super nice facility that felt more like a luxury home but still had all the counseling needed. And the first few days were not nice. Actually, it was sheer agony, and the décor of the facility did nothing to help that. Afterward, though, it was a catering and kind environment. I got to meet a few celebrities and the heir to the Melton dynasty. Of course, I hadn’t even heard of that, but Sheffield Melton informed me that their family was extremely wealthy and owned some of the country's biggest companies in banking, gas, steel, and other industries. But Sheff was pretty down to earth despite that. I figured getting over a heroine addiction would do that to you. It made me feel my issues were so much smaller than his. But I learned not to compare.

We were flying out of Van Nuys. They guys all agreed to let us have the Midnight Hunt jet, which I thought was incredibly supportive. We got a hotel close by, so it was a fifteen-minute drive from the rehab facility. Once we got there, I tossed myself on the soft bed, starfishing across the king mattress. “Where you going to sleep, Cole?”

He didn’t miss a beat. Coleman dropped the luggage and climbed on top of me. “Here.”

I wrapped my arms and legs around him. “Perfect.”

“I’ve missed you. You seem good, yeah?”

“I’ll be better if you kiss my neck…yeah, right there.” Coleman nibbled along my throat, biting down on the spot that made me crazy. He stuck his tongue under the collar of my T-shirt. “Yeah, Cole. Let’s get naked.”

“Yes. Right now.”

The flurry of clothes was like a tornado of material, until our naked bodies rubbed against each other. I needed to feel as much of his skin as possible. I climbed on top of him and held his always well-manicured hands over his head. Staring into his eyes was a different experience. This time, when I looked into those dark, intelligent hazel eyes, I saw the future—our future. Together. And it didn’t terrify me. “You thrill me, Cole. I don’t want to take you for granted.”

“So don’t.”

“Mmm…I won’t. I love you, and I’m going to fucking show you.” I squeezed his hands for a moment before sliding down his body, dragging my hands along all that bare skin of his chest and sides. I rubbed his hairy legs before leaning over and lapping at the crown of his dick, ready to get right to the heart of the showing part.

“Zig…”

“Yeah. Just enjoy this.” I sucked his cock like a strawberry lemonade popsicle. Up and down, using my tongue, hollowing my cheeks. Lots of slurping noise echoing through the room. I paused only long enough to lap his balls. I massaged them with my fingers while I worshipped his beautiful, hard cock with my mouth. Coleman added the sounds of his moans to the music of the blow job. An erotic sympathy that I loved. I hoped the encore would be slapping skin as I fucked him senseless.

My cock was so fucking hard, after thinking about fucking him, I had to have it. I pulled away and jumped off the bed.

“Hey! Where you going?” Coleman propped himself up on one elbow to watch me.

“Getting lube. I need to be inside you. Like now.”

“Okay. I can get behind that.”

“No, I’m getting behind that.” I pointed to him, then opened his suitcase and pulled out his toiletry bag. “You better have lube in here. Oh, and no more fucking condoms. You know I tested going in and coming out of rehab.”

“I tested while you were in there.”

He didn’t need to say anything else. We’d thought about this, and neither of us had been with any other partners in the two-plus years that we’d been messing around with this thing. This thing . It was a relationship. And one that I wanted. I’d done a lot of thinking about that over the past month or so. “I’m ready.” I meant so much in those two words. But I grabbed the lube and stalked across the room.

“Me too.” Coleman lay back on the bed and spread his legs.

“This is going to be so good.”

I worked him open, taking my time, rubbing lube on up my cock, and lined him up. This time when I pushed into Coleman’s hole, it was so much more than fucking. I was completely sober. Completely sound. And completely in love.

Once I was fully seated, I leaned down and took his mouth. He tasted sweet, like the soda he’d drank in the car on the way here. But behind that was something warm, like spiced honey. It was something I recognized was how he always tasted. Maybe it was his toothpaste, but why hadn’t I realized it before? I didn’t know or care. I only wanted more of it. I wanted to taste his flavor every day for the rest of my fucking life.

I didn’t know how to say that to him, but I could fucking show him…by fucking him like he’d never been fucked before. With love. I snickered at that thought.

“What?” Coleman dug a hand into my hair.

“I’m getting sappy.”

He winked at me. “I like a sappy Ziggy.”

“Do you, now? How do you like this?” I flexed my hips, pulling out, slamming back in.

Coleman closed his eyes and moaned. “More. I’d like more of that.”

“You got it, babe.”

I played with my rhythm between fast and slow and something in between, and Coleman danced to the beat. He wiggled and thrust, moving his body in time with mine. It was a song I wanted to play over and over again. Making love with Coleman was a work of art.

He reached up and tweaked one of my nipples. His other hand was gripping his cock between us. I wanted to see him come apart but feared I was going first. When he pinched it again, I knew it. I felt it in my dick and balls and up my spine. I exploded into his warm heat that gripped me better than any hand. “Feels so good, gah…” Oh yeah, I saw the entire universe of stars.

But Coleman’s grunting brought me back to earth, and I peered down at him in time to see his face scrunch up and cum eased out over the grip of his knuckles.

“Love your cum-face, Cole.”

He laughed. “Yeah? Well, feeling you like this made me come hard and fast.”

“So you like no condoms?”

He shook his head. “No. Love it.”

I swooped down for a quick kiss. “Me too.”

The week after Christmas, we were in our studio in Miami. I felt so much better. But I was still nowhere near ready to record. Instead, we’d invited Bramble Punk to come in and maybe lay down some new tracks since they’d finished the rest of our tour with Blacksmith Sugar. And guess who showed up with them?

Pierce.

“What are you doing here?” Miami asked, not totally rude but it was close. It was no secret that he didn’t care for the other singer much. Mostly because he’d jerked us around a lot on the collaboration. Fun while we were actually recording Dip and Grind , not so much when the business end of it came up. “I don’t think we’re up for any more partnerships here.”

Pierce smirked. “Come on, guys. That song did a lot for you and me. Who wouldn’t want more?” He held his hands up as if he was innocent.

I put my fist over my mouth and fake-coughed. “Bullshit.” Pierce glared at me and flipped me the bird, but all that got him was my wide smile.

Kay sipped on a bottle of water and sat on the couch in our common room, where we were all hanging out, before heading to the sound rooms. “I don’t know. Maybe Bramble Punk could do something with him.” He looked around, wide-eyed. “Hey. I want to play more guitar. I mean, I like being the front man, but I miss laying down some killer licks. And Pierce is all front man with that voice.” He gestured, open-handed, to Pierce.

Joe, the lead guitarist, scowled hard enough to break his face. “What about me?”

But I was liking the idea a lot. “I mean, like fucking Scorpions had two guitarists.” Back in the eighties, a lot of hard rock bands had multiple guitarists. If that sound was what you were going for, it could be a hard-punching track.

Everyone argued about it.

But it came down to Kay. “Hey, I don’t give a fuck what anyone else does or thinks. I play well with these two guys, so let’s just do it. Two leads, off and on, playing against each other, and a rhythm guitar providing depth. It could be cool as hell as long as we don’t get too muddy with it. Come on. Can we try it out and see what it sounds like?”

Jinx got that sly look on his face, which meant he had a plan. I knew it was a done deal because once Jinx pulled out that expression, he wasn’t backing down. “I agree, Kay. Let’s see if we can find something that would kick ass.” They were sold.

Jinx seemed to have a knack with them anyway. Maybe if he could keep Pierce’s big head reeled in, this could be something good. Jinx had put them together in the first place. He should probably manage them, too. The band all went into the sound booth, and I grabbed Jinx’s arm. “Hey, wait up.”

“What’s up?”

“You know, you should totally be Bramble’s manager. You have a lot of sway with them. Could be good to cut your teeth on that. I mean, let’s be real. Hunt isn’t going to last forever.” That was another thing I had to deal with in Rehab. It had been a big black worry that I could never voice in the back of my head. My back proved this wasn’t going to be forever. I had to deal with it, and before rehab, I couldn’t even face it.

Jinx kind of shrugged it off. “We have a few more years, yeah?”

But Miami came up behind us, the nosey fucker. “You should talk to the band about it. They don’t have a manager, and they’re not at the level Hunt is. I mean, we don’t have a manager. We have a Marci. But they need a manager. And a producer.” They started playing, and we heard Kay and Joe shredding against each other, circling around, and returning to the main rhythm. “They sound fucking good. Let’s get Cat in here.” He dashed off, presumably to call Cat.

Jinx stared at me hard.

“I’m thinking long-term, Jinx. I want to be prepared, and I want all of us to be prepared. When Hunt does end. Not now, in the future, who knows how long. Five years? Less?” I shrugged. “I want it to be on our terms.” I pointed to each of us, one by one. “Not in a fit of passion, no offense, but we do it right this time. And let’s not sit here and pretend that day will never come. You know it will.”

Wolf threw his arm over my shoulder. “Bro, you’ve gotten stoic.”

“I’ve gotten practical.”

“Okay.” Jinx gave me a nod. “Now, I’m going to take that call with Cat before Miami fucks it up. We’ll see when she can get here for these guys. Let’s find a song for them.”

It was my turn for the sly smile. “I think I have something.” I grabbed my folder off the coffee table. “Look at this.” It was time to share the song I’d been working on. At that moment, I couldn’t help but think Pierce would sound good singing it. It wasn’t a Midnight Hunt song, but it could work for this new version of Bramble Punk.

“Hmm…” Miami snagged the notebook since Jinx had taken the phone from him. “Yeah, not our style.”

Wolf took it from Miami. “No, but it could work for them. Let’s get in there and help them work it up.”

We showed Pierce and Bramble Punk the lyrics, and we all pitched in to get the music down. Cat couldn’t come until the next day, but we wanted something recorded before we left for the day, so Wolf got behind the consul. He’d produced others before. I wasn’t sure we needed Cat if Wolf could do it, but maybe they could collaborate on it as well.

“Okay, guys. From the top.” Wolf’s voice sounded husky coming from the speakers. The Midnight Hunt crew stood behind him, looking in on the sound room where Randy tapped out the intro to Pine Box .

Pierce sang my words, “You threw my heart in a pine box…My love went deep, six feet. Can’t claw my way back—nowhere left to dance…”

It was a little surreal hearing my thoughts come out of his mouth, but I also recognized it was good. We were seeing something come together. History being made. With Pierce taking the mic, they might have a hit. I wasn’t sure how that would go over with his band, Surf Sons, but I had a feeling he’d already left them. The last time we saw them together, it was nothing but fighting.

We laid down Pine Box , and it wasn’t bad. After that, we messed with a rework of one of their most popular songs they played on the tour. After a few hours, we were done, and I drove home. Well, home to Coleman’s place.

Coleman bought the house while I was in rehab. It felt more like home than my place did, for sure. I didn’t want to go back to mine at all. I felt like it was more about Coleman than anything, though. He was now home. Wherever he was.

I walked into the foyer and into the living room. “Coleman?” He wasn’t there or in the kitchen. The floor plan was open, so I could see all the main living areas. “Where are you?” I went to the sliders that spanned the dining room to the side of the kitchen. It led out to a monster patio with an outdoor kitchen. I wondered if Coleman even knew how to cook. I looked out, but he wasn’t there or in the pool beyond.

I huffed and headed down the short hall to the main bedroom and pushed the door open. Coleman was on the bed, curled up asleep. It wasn’t that late, but if he was tired, fine. He wore shorts made out of sweats material and one of my old Midnight Hunt T-shirts. I kicked off my sneakers and crawled up on the bed behind him, making the big spoon. I nuzzled his short, dark hair. It was always so perfect, but I loved messing it up. I ruffled it before pulling him closer. “You okay, babe?”

“Yeah. Just thinking about things.”

“Oh? What kind of things?”

“Well…I know you’re not supposed to start new things so soon after rehab, but I feel like we’ve been together a long time.”

“We’re not new, Cole.”

“No, but I don’t want you to go to your place. Maybe you can sell it and move in with me. Officially.”

“Permanently?”

“Yes.”

I flipped him over on his back and hovered over him. I kissed him gently. “I want that too.”

“Yeah?”

“Fuck yeah.”

He pounced on me, shoving me to the other side of the bed and attacking my mouth like he had a mission. I let him, loving a forceful and aggressive Coleman.

“Need you, babe.”

“You got me. Anytime. I love you, Coleman.” Since rehab, those three words came easier and easier.

“I love you too. Now get naked.”

If you liked Ziggy’s story, you should check out the rest of this year’s collection and visit Road to Rocktoberfest 2024 .

And if you want more Midnight Hunt, go back to the beginning with Midnight Reunion , or check out Wolf’s story with Midnight Riff .