Chapter Twenty-six
The sound of the buzzer echoed through the house, giving Jesse and Evan a brutal awakening that someone was outside the gates.
Since it wasn’t the day for the housecleaners, gardeners, or pool cleaners to come, and only six other people knew where Evan’s house was, and of those, only Brandon had a code to get past the gates, Jesse decided as sad as it was, either Kenny, Julian, Trish, JJ, or Greg were going to have to die for waking them up.
He felt Evan tense behind him and knew he was thinking the same thing, especially since they had made it clear to everyone the day before at the Bears game they wouldn’t be in on Monday.
Jesse took Evan’s hand and put it on his usual morning erection. “Do you think we can drown out the buzzer long enough the idiot will give up and go away?”
Evan tightened his fingers around Jesse’s solid shaft, tucked his hips tight against him, and kissed the back of his neck. “I’m positive we can.”
Jesse turned his head and found Evan’s lips. Evan’s cock filled against him and shifted so it nestled between his ass cheeks. Evan deepened the kiss, pushing against him at the same moment.
The buzzer continued its harsh cry.
A deep growl shook Evan’s throat. Jesse could tell it was one of annoyance rather than aggressive passion.
Evan drew his lips away and flung the covers off. “You’ll have my back in case someone finds the body, right?”
“Of course,” Jesse said with a yawn. He yanked the blankets up around his neck. “But Lake Michigan is pretty deep, so I think we’ll be okay.”
Evan hopped into his black running pants and stormed out of the bedroom, turning away from the stairs and heading down to a closed door at the end of the hall.
Opening it, he walked into the security room.
He looked at the two monitors for the cameras by the entrance to the private road, swearing under his breath as Greg, in his silver Mercedes-Benz S-Class, repeatedly hit the call button.
Evan pounded the keys to manually open the gates.
He opened the gates for the driveway, then stomped down the stairs. When Greg’s car stopped, Evan whipped open one of the doors and slammed it behind him as he stepped onto the porch. “What the fuck is the matter with you?”
Greg marched around his car and shoved two magazines against Evan’s chest. “This.”
Evan took the tabloids and looked down at them.
One featured a picture on the cover of him and Jesse eating at a restaurant with a headline reading, “Evan Arden’s Special Dinner Date.
” The second boasted a shot of them walking out of the studio with his arm over Jesse’s shoulders and the headline, “Evan Arden’s New Love? ”
“So what,” Evan said.
“That’s all you can say? There are more pictures inside of you two!”
Evan handed the tabloids back to Greg. “Unless they show us kissing, groping, sucking, or screwing, I really don’t give a shit.”
“That’s real nice, Evan. I don’t think you appreciate how serious this is. Obviously the paparazzi have been slinking around with more stealth than usual looking to finally break a scandal on you since they could never nail you before, and now they’ve finally done it!”
“You’re overreacting. Those pictures are easily explained away as two friends hanging out together. And no one believes those stupid things, anyway.”
“Whether they believe them or not isn’t the issue. It’s enough to put the idea in people’s heads, not that it isn’t there already with Jesse’s little confession on TV. I’m less concerned about the damn media than I am about him.”
Evan stared at him for a second, then slowly lowered his gaze.
“You know I’m right, I can see it. He’s the hottest thing going right now and if it’s left up to him, he’s going to shoot his career right down the drain because he’s so enamored with you he won’t listen to reason about the need to keep your relationship under wraps.
Your career could probably rebound if you came out, but this is the most delicate time for him and Conquest. Right now, they’re balancing on the line of being the next great super-group or becoming one hit wonders, and the loyalty they build in their fans now is what’s going to make or break them. ”
“Alright! I get it! I’ll talk to him—”
“Talking isn’t enough anymore!” Greg grabbed Evan’s upper arm for emphasis.
“He won’t listen. He doesn’t understand.
Jesse’s dancing through life in his own little fairytale world where everything’s happy and perfect, and anything that disagrees with him, he either blows off or forces to his opinion.
So unless you’ve got some trick up your sleeve to make him see the reality of the world around him, this can’t continue.
Sooner or later he’s going to get a wakeup call, and if it doesn’t come from you, then it’s going to come in a way where everything he’s ever wanted is going to be lost forever. ”
Evan turned his head, unable to look at Greg. With each beat of his heart coming faster, his blood chilled in fear. He took in a shaking breath, trying to loosen his choked throat. “What…do you want me to do?”
“I think you know what you have to do. If you care at all about him and his dreams.” Greg handed the tabloids back to Evan and turned for his car. He looked at him over the roof, then slid in and drove away.
Evan stood staring down at the ground, holding the tabloids loosely at his side. He sank down on the porch steps, his head in his hands.
? ? ?
Jesse reached out for Evan, his hand found only cold sheets beside him. He remembered someone ringing the buzzer and Evan leaving to see who it was. He must’ve dosed off again and Evan must still be stuck with whoever came by.
He rolled over to check the alarm clock and heard paper crinkling beside him.
He wiggled his hand out from under the covers and smacked it down until it fell on the source of the sound.
He picked up the two tabloids. His heart spiraled toward his stomach that churned with a sick flip.
He sat up and opened one of the magazines to the article implying that he and Evan were lovers.
“Pretty good pictures, huh?”
Jesse jerked his head toward the balcony. Evan stood outside with his back to him, staring out over the lake. He wore only a pair of jeans. Jesse gazed at his bare back for a moment before looking at the tabloids again.
“Well, we both are extremely photogenic.”
“It’s cute you can find humor in this,” Evan said, pushing off the railing and turning into the bedroom. “Especially since it looks to me like the fun’s over.”
Jesse gave a confused shake of his head. “What do you mean?”
Evan veered toward his closet and stepped inside. “I told you we had to be careful. I can’t have these rumors flying around me while I’m trying to re-launch my career.”
“Your career? What are you talking about? These pictures don’t prove anything other than we hang out.”
Evan rested his hand on a black T-shirt and closed his eyes, trying to steel himself to continue.
He took a deep breath and yanked the shirt off its hanger.
“Yeah, the pictures are nothing more than innuendo, but there’s not much for people to question when you’re going on TV babbling how you love me. ”
Jesse sat quiet for a moment. “But, you said you weren’t upset about that.”
Evan stepped back into the bedroom pulling the T-shirt over his head.
“I just didn’t want you to get worked up thinking I was mad at you, and I thought it would eventually bother me less, but now I’m getting slammed with this.
Personally, I think it was pretty goddamn selfish of you to act like that.
Did you even think about me, or what I wanted? ”
“Of course I did!” Jesse said, his tone turning desperate. “It’s because I was thinking of you I said that!”
Evan moved to the foot of the bed, fixing him with a cold glare.
“You obviously didn’t think hard enough.
You really can be na?ve, Jess. It’s no wonder Brandon’s always saying all you got are book smarts and no common sense, because if you had even a drop of common sense, you would’ve realized the damage you could have inflicted on my career. ”
“I’m sorry! I’ll admit I wasn’t thinking of the harm it could do, but the last thing I want is to hurt your career. I thought you would be happy that I didn’t offer myself as available to the world. I guess I took it a step too far.”
“You’re damn right you did,” Evan growled.
Jesse slid across the bed to get closer to him. “But I’ll do better from now on. I won’t ever say anything like that again in public.”
“You won’t have a reason to.”
Jesse stared at him, the ice in Evan’s eyes making him almost unrecognizable. Panic’s iron fingers began to close around his heart. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. “Are…are you…breaking up with me?”
Evan answered him with a silent stare.
“Y-you’re not serious,” Jesse stuttered. “You can’t be.”
Evan spun for the bedroom door. “I’m going into the city for the rest of the day. That should give you enough time to get your shit and get out.”
“Ev, no! There’s no reason for this! Fuck your career! Fuck my career! I don’t give a shit about any of it if it means I can’t have you!”
Evan paused in the doorway. He kept his back to Jesse and closed his eyes again.
He swallowed hard, forcing resolve into his waning willpower.
“That’s easy for you to say. You’ve never stood under the burning glow of stage lights with thousands of people screaming for you.
It’s easy to give up what you’ve never known.
“If you need to use the Cayenne to move your crap, that’s fine. But don’t play any stupid games like leaving something behind as an excuse to come back over and get it.” On his last word, he walked out of the bedroom.
Jesse leaped out of bed and ran after him. At the bottom of the stairs, he caught him and threw his arms around him from behind. “Please, Ev, don’t do this. We can explain those pictures. It’ll be easy. Just don’t break this off. I love you.”
“Let go of me,” Evan snapped. He pried Jesse’s arms from around his waist and flung them away. “Try to be out by nine o’clock tonight. That should give you plenty of time. You don’t have shit of your own, anyway.”
Jesse stood frozen, watching Evan walk away.
He heard the access door to the garage open, then slam close.
A moment later, the 612 squealed out of the garage.
His legs trembled under him, his strength beaten from him by Evan.
He felt like he was going to either pass out or be sick.
His head spun, and he dropped to the ground, his body, his mind, his spirit, drowning in loss.