Chapter Eleven
G abriel stood just offstage and worked on breathing and staying in the moment. It was the last night of the tour, and though he was well prepared for the next two hours of singing, he was not ready for what came after that. Mainly because he did not know what would happen once Sam drove them back to Kansas in the morning.
Sam stood beside him but maintained a six-inch distance between them. It had become an unspoken agreement that there would be no PDA, no handholding or hugging or touching of any kind. Not that he worried about whether people thought he was straight or not, but he did not want his relationship with Sam to take away from attention the album was getting.
So there they stood, together, but separate, and not talking about whether their relationship would continue once they returned home.
Gabriel knew he stood on the edge of renewed fame. But did he want to return to the world where every move he made was captured by paparazzi and every person he came in contact with wanted something from him?
Turning his head, he looked at the man beside him. “Sam,” he said loud enough for the man to hear, but hopefully not so loud that anyone else could.
Sam turned his head, and from his expression, Gabriel knew he felt the same sort of anxiety for the future. The man did not speak, so he figured it was up to him to add a few more threads to the rope that had been building between them for the past five weeks.
He was not the man he had been two years earlier. His rock star ego had been crushed in prison and he loved these smaller venue concerts where he could actually see all the people in the audience. As long as Sam was beside him, he would enjoy traveling the country in the trailer with no advertising on it. He could play a new church or school auditorium each night, no matter how much Alan was now nagging him to move into bigger and bigger venues for the next phase of his comeback tour.
Leaning in so his lips were close to Sam’s ear, he said, “I love you, trucker man. I’m sorry about two years ago. I can’t lose you this time. I want to marry you, if that’s okay with you.”
Before Sam could respond, the pastor announced him and the audience broke into loud applause, screams and whistles.
Brushing a kiss on his cheek, Gabriel quickly walked onto the stage. His heart was in his throat as he picked up his guitar.
“Good evening and thank you for helping to make the Redeemed album a hit,” he said to the audience. “I received word from my agent this afternoon that the song has climbed into the top ten on Spotify, and several other bestselling charts. And it’s all because of people like you who are giving me and my music a chance.”
Taking a deep breath, Gabriel began to sing, forcing himself to focus strictly on the next two hours and not worry about Sam’s answer. Shoving it into the box at the back of his mind, he slammed the door closed and tried not to look to the backstage area.
That lasted until the end of the second song when he put down the guitar and moved to the piano. A glance showed him that Sam was no longer standing just offstage, as he had for the last five weeks.
Gabriel blinked several times to keep sudden tears at bay as he settled on the piano bench for his next song.
Sam had left.
He could only hope that the trucker did not get in his truck and drive away, leaving him stranded in Abilene. For now there was nothing to do about it, so he just kept singing and sharing the story behind the new album, and his change in musical genre.
He forced himself not to look for Sam until he was singing the next to the last song. The one he wrote especially for the big trucker and had added to the lineup just the week before. When he saw Sam standing back in the spot where he always stood, Gabriel finally felt the knots in his shoulder muscles relax.
Sam had not left him.
When he finished, the audience went wild, as each crowd who heard it did. Gabriel had already decided “Loving” would be the title of his next album.
Once the applause died away, he was surprised to see Sam step onto the stage with a single sunflower in one hand. The audience went silent as the big man crossed the stage.
Sam grabbed the wireless microphone from the stand on the piano and then joined him at the front of the stage. That was when he noticed that Sam had changed clothes, into his black dress jeans, cowboy boots, and a black Henley shirt that matched the one he was wearing.
“You’ll have to excuse me folks, but Gabriel said something just before coming out on stage tonight, but didn’t wait for me to respond.”
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“... I want to marry you , if that’s okay with you.”
Gabriel’s words had rocked Sam’s world off its axis. He wanted to scream his response, but after last time, when he proposed and Gabriel ran and ended up in jail, he wanted to do it right this time. He watched silently as his rock star walked out onto stage and went to work.
He didn’t just want to say yes, he wanted this to be something people would talk about for years to come. He also wanted to make sure the world knew that Gabriel belonged to him. A public display here, at his last concert, would be just the thing.
Looking down at himself, he knew he needed to change. His work t-shirt and faded jeans were not appropriate for what he had in mind. He needed to change and get the ring out of his truck. The ring he’d bought two years before and had been carrying even though he had convinced himself he hated Gabriel.
Slipping out the back door, he went to his truck. Changing clothes and getting the ring, he then went on the hunt for flowers. There were no stores nearby, but several blocks away was a house with a yard full of sunflowers. He snuck around to the side yard and cut a single flower.
As he was walking away, a dog began to bark, scaring him into running to the end of the block. He then slowed and walked the rest of the way back to the church. As he did, he tried to come up with the words that would convince Gabriel he meant business, and proved to the world that Sam Myles was worthy of the singing sensation’s love.
Slipping in the back door, he stopped and listened, trying to determine how close to the end of the concert Gabriel was. The song he was singing was not one he had ever sung before. Was he doing encores already? Or had he decided to switch things up for this last scheduled public appearance.
Moving closer to the stage, he waited until Gabriel finished the song and applause died away. Only then did he make his move, walking on stage clutching the sunflower.
From watching the show so many times over the past five weeks, Sam knew the microphone on the piano was wireless and with the flip of a switch, would allow the world to hear what he had to say, though he still wasn’t exactly sure what he was about to say.
He kept his eyes glued to Gabriel who looked stunned at his appearance. When he stood beside the man, he turned to the SRO crowd. “You’ll have to excuse me folks, but Gabriel said something just before coming out on stage tonight, but didn’t wait for me to respond.”
Sam took a deep breath before turning to face Gabriel. He thought about going down on one knee, but decided to do this face to face. Later, when they were alone, he would kneel and suck his man off, as long as Gabriel agreed now.
Gabriel’s eyes were wide, his expression shocked and hopeful at the same time.
Taking a deep breath, Sam launched into the part of the speech he knew. He would wing the rest. “Once upon a time, you were a wild, rowdy rock star with a band and entourage who fed your ego, but I fell in love with the man behind the image. And you said you’d fallen for me, only when I proposed a different life, you ran and we ended up apart for the last two years.”
Not sure what else to say, Sam opened his mouth and let his heart speak. “For the last six weeks, I have watched you and see the man who cleaned up his life and changed the trajectory of his career. I still see the man behind the image and I still love you and want to spend the rest of my life by your side. The question is, will you be happy being the husband of a trucker who lives on the family farm in Kansas and doesn’t care about being cool, or hip, or whatever the in word is these days?”
At that point, Sam forced himself to stop talking and lower the microphone. The crowd was going wild as they waited for Gabriel to respond. Sam could see the answer in the singer’s eyes, but refused to guess and simply waited.
“Yes,” Sam mouthed at the same time he nodded.
In the next moment, Sam had his arms full of Gabriel kissing every part of his face he could reach.
When they finally broke apart, Sam turned to the audience and spoke into the microphone. “He said yes.”
The crowd went wild as they exchanged one more kiss before Sam walked back the way he’d come just minutes before.
He watched as Gabriel picked up his guitar for the last song. It took several minutes before the crowd settled enough for him to sing the last song. Five encores later, Sam grabbed the man when he came backstage and held him.
“Enough. Otherwise they’ll never go home and we’ll never be alone to celebrate.”
Gabriel looked up at him and grinned. “I love you, trucker man.”
“I love you, too, Comet. For now and for always. And I will always be waiting for you backstage, no matter how big a rock star you get to be.”
The End
BONUS SAMPLE CHAPTER
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HIGHLAND HART
Vampire Hart, prequel
Cooper McKenzie
Copyright ? 2015
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