Orion: Vacation: Ajax & Orion, #3

By L. Loryn

Every good employee needs a vacation.

After "the Brody situation", Orion is in desperate need for sun on his skin, sand in his toes, and a good book to take his mind off his work. With Ajax and best friends, Trav and Raine along, his vacation plans include all the fun and none of the drama.

Ajax is ready for a break, too, but with everything he and Orion have been through, he doesn't know where to go next. He's hoping this little vacation can put their relationship on the right track.

This is a short story that can be read alone, but makes a lot more since if read with Star-Crossed, Ajax & Orion book 2.

• Language: English
• Publisher: L. Loryn
• Release date: Jan 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386416616

Book preview

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Join L. Loryn’s mailing list and receive a free short story. http://eepurl.com/dnVcSP

His sun-kissed toes shrank away from the midday heat as he moved his laptop from printing a lattice pattern over his lap to resting on the wire side table. Nimble fingers plucked a melted margarita off the table and brought it to his lips. Orion downed the last of his drink and relaxed into his curved poolside chair, folding his legs until the outstretched umbrella shaded his entire body.

Can I get you another one of those? A bronze man approached, balancing a platter of empty drinks in his left hand and reaching for Orion’s drink with his right.

Orion lifted square sunglasses from over his eyes, propping them atop his head, and flashed the shirtless employee a smirk. Please, but virgin this time.

No problem. The man’s lips quirked as he placed Orion’s drink with the others. Be back in a second.

Thanks. Orion nodded, studying the muscled globes of the man’s ass as he sauntered past two vacant chairs and stopped beside a wrinkled older woman. Her laughter pierced the salty beach air, and Orion dropped his glasses to his nose again, closing his eyes.

After the Brody incident, Ajax had insisted on a vacation. He packed their belongings the second they arrived back at Kai and Ellis’ Inn, leaving Trav and Raine in charge of the place. Orion had sat in silence during the drive to the airport, and Ajax guided him through the check-in process, carrying his bags and his fake passport. At the security checkpoint, Ajax helped him out of an oversized hooded jacket and boots. He handed Orion his passport, and Orion’s trembling fingers presented the stern officer his identification.

After dragging moments of scrutinization, the officer handed the information back to him. Weak hands clutched the plastic identification card and paper passport as he glided through the metal detector. His socked feet tripped over the threshold, and he fell face first into the ground. He burst into inconsolable tears, and Ajax stood beside him, clutching his boots, his jacket, and their carry-on bags as the officer frowned at them. After ten minutes, he gathered himself and continued through the airport

The flight, the off-boarding, and the hotel check-in were a blur of moments where he drowned in his own reservoir of guilt, moments where his mind conjured images of Brody’s lifeless body and his glassy, soulless eyes.

Orion woke up in the second week of their vacation when they picked Trav and Raine up from the airport. His best friend breathed life into him with shopping trips, dinner dates, and mornings lying prostrate in the white sandy beaches with foamy saltwater washing their