Chapter Seventeen #4
Jesse’s gaze moved slowly over him. Evan wore black leather pants pulled over a pair of black snakeskin boots.
His dark blue shirt clung tight to his torso, the front cut open from the collar to mid-chest to resemble a cross.
Small blue mesh crosses hinting at his skin beneath patterned the shirt.
Silver and thin black leather bracelets dangled from his wrists, and each finger was adorned with silver rings, some set with blue gemstones.
He had changed out the two gold hoops he wore in his left ear for two large diamond studs, and in addition, up on the cartilage of his right he had a silver cuff with a cross hanging from it and a blue sapphire in the center.
Resting on top of his head was a pair of silver-rimmed, blue lens sunglasses.
Jesse stepped close to him and wrapped his arms around his neck. The instant their bodies met in the embrace, heat rolled through his groin. “Did you get all rock-starred out just for me?”
“Yeah. I remember you telling me how hot you always thought I was done up and how fine my ass looked in leather pants. Do I still look good dressed like this?”
Jesse pushed his hips toward him. “Everyone’s left us for a moment. Let’s lock the door and I’ll show you how good I think you look.”
Evan grazed his lips over Jesse’s. “Your first day in the studio and you already want to do naughty things here. How about we drive to lunch separate from the others and I make sure we hit all the red lights so we can play a little bit along the way?”
Jesse looked at him with a pouting expression. “I guess that will tide me over.”
Evan laughed softly. “Horny little brat.” He slipped his fingertips under the black leather chords of the sun choker around Jesse’s neck, gently touching his throat. “You sounded incredible.”
“Would you expect anything less?” Jesse snickered.
Evan tousled Jesse’s hair and handed him the bottle of water, then slipped his arm around his waist and led him toward the chill-out room.
They walked in to a discussion of what to have for lunch.
Jesse tensed when he saw Tim, knowing his and Evan’s relationship was now fully revealed, but Tim kept his back to them and his mouth shut.
Kenny left the group to stand by them and rolled his eyes. “I suggested Uno’s, but apparently no one wants to listen to the Chicago native on restaurant ideas.”
“Maybe tonight the three of us can go,” Jesse said. “Oh, and Carrie, if you want to invite her.”
Kenny shook his head. “We can go, but since I broke up with her two days ago, I doubt she’d want to come.”
“That’s awesome!” Jesse blurted out, then quickly softened his voice and forced some sympathy into it. “I’m sorry, man.”
Kenny laughed and shoved him. “No you’re not! You couldn’t stand her.”
“Yeah, but you seemed to like her, for some inexplicable reason. Why’d you break up with her?”
“Ever since I told her about the contract, all she could talk about was money this and money that. She kept pestering me to buy her a new outfit, asking when I was going to get a new car, and crap like that. And I thought, damn, if she’s grubbing for cash this bad now, what’s she gonna be like when we hit it really big?
Not to mention, why the hell would I want to tie myself down to one girl when there’s gonna be hundreds, thousands, of so much hotter ones to sleep with? ”
“Very logical reasoning,” Evan said. “And at least you’re lucky that you don’t have to compete with a hot lead singer for the ladies.”
Kenny looked at Evan, his eyes slowly widening as his words sank in. “You’re right. That’s never even hit me. And Julian’s gay too, so I wouldn’t have to compete with him, either. And Trish seems like a really straight chick since she was looking pretty hot for Jess when we all met.”
Evan aimed a sharp look at Jesse.
Jesse forced out a chuckle and waved his hand at Kenny’s words. “She was not.”
Lost in his fantasy, Kenny continued, “I’ll be the only straight guy in the band, so all the women will be mine.
All the models, actresses, fan girls, big boobs, little boobs, long legs, blondes, brunettes, younger, older, all races, all colors, they’ll all be mine.
” He grabbed Jesse’s shoulders, shouting his elation. “They’ll all be mine!”
“Yeah, freak!” Jesse laughed. “They’ll all be yours, and everyone here knows it.”
Kenny glanced over his shoulder at the others, who from the entertained expressions seemed to have caught a fair bit of the conversation. He let go of Jesse and shifted his weight from one foot to the other in his embarrassment.
Evan flicked his head toward the door. “You guys decided on Lawry’s, right? Let’s go, I’m starving.”
Kenny gave Evan a grateful smile for taking the attention off him and sped for the door. Evan kept his arm around Jesse’s waist and followed Kenny’s lead out of the studio.
Greg caught Evan’s shoulder as he stepped outside. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Yeah, sure.” Evan dug in his front pocket for his car keys and handed them to Jesse. “I drove the Cayenne here. Let’s take that instead of the Enzo.”
Jesse started across the street. “Don’t keep me waiting.”
“Don’t worry, gorgeous. I’ll be coming soon.”
Greg waited until Jesse disappeared into the parking garage, then leaned toward Evan, his voice just above a hiss. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Going to lunch,” Evan said, putting on his sunglasses. “Prime rib sounds really good, don’t you think?”
“Don’t pull your little question dodging bullshit with me.
I guess now I know the real reason you canceled coming over to have dinner at my house last week.
Are you insane? Have you completely lost it?
Why don’t you go to the tabloids and pose with your tongue down his throat and end both your careers right now! ”
“I think you’re overacting. These people would have to know about our relationship if they’re going to be in a band with him.”
“No they wouldn’t. No one who played for you ever knew about your sexuality except for JJ and Brad Delfini.
Not to mention, these are people I’m not yet one hundred percent certain can be trusted with this information.
It’s not like you to be so reckless. But besides that, how the hell can you be sleeping with that kid? ”
“He’s not a kid and lighten up.” Evan moved to walk away, but Greg yanked him back by his shoulder.
“I should’ve known better than to think you were interested in his career because of his talent. I know you don’t give a damn about your own career, but don’t go screwing up his just because you want to have a fling.”
Evan slapped Greg’s hand off him and stabbed his index finger into Greg’s chest. “I care for you greatly, but if you ever say something like that to me again, I will lay you the fuck out. What I do in my personal life is my business.”
“If only you could keep it your business.” When the last word left his mouth, Greg thought Evan really was going to hit him.
He saw Evan’s arm twitch, his fingers balled into a fist, but somehow, Evan restrained himself at the last second.
He had seen Evan’s temper unleash at less provocation than what he just gave him, and felt a pang of guilt that Evan’s words had been true about caring for him.
Greg softened his voice. “I’m only trying to protect you. Both of you. And after what I saw of Jesse today, I’m not sure I’ll be able to.”
Evan shook his head slightly. “What do you mean?”
“He announced being gay to a room full of strangers with such brash and basically told everyone they had no choice but to accept it.”
Evan laughed under his breath. “He’s a confident little thing, isn’t he?”
“This isn’t funny, Evan. I’m not sure he’ll be able to hide it when he hits the public eye.”
“Who says he has to?”
Greg frowned at him. “You know firsthand how these things work. It’s not that there aren’t gay or bi performers out there, but most of them only come out after they’ve been around for a few years, and let’s face it, in this country it’s safer to start out pretending to be a straight entertainer to build up your fan base.
With Jesse, I could almost believe his talent would carry him past the prejudices, but add him singing to the world that he’s Evan Arden’s lover and it’d be a disaster.
You may not have released new material in a while, but you’re still one of the most loved singers in the world, and for this new singer to come out saying you’re a couple, can you even begin to imagine the consequences?
” He paused, and spoke his next words cautiously.
“That is, if you’re genuinely serious about him. ”
“I’m real serious about him.” Evan sighed and turned to walk across the street toward the parking garage, talking more to himself than to Greg. “It’d figure I’d fall in love with someone who wanted a life in the spotlight.”
Greg stopped walking when he heard Evan’s words.
Evan reached the sidewalk on the other side of the street and turned around. “I know this is a surprising revelation, but you should probably get out of the road before you get run over.”
Greg blinked his shock away and hurried across the street. He walked beside him into the parking garage and put his arm around Evan’s shoulders. “You’re going to be the death of me, I know it. The next thing you’re going to tell me is you want to start recording again.”
“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that.”
Greg stopped, his arm dropped off Evan’s shoulders.
Evan faced him. “How long would it take you to get me a band? I’ve got some new material I want to lay down.”