Conquest (18 page)

“Wait. Since you weren’t playing around about him, then does that mean you really did meet with Phoenix Records yesterday?”

Jesse’s chin raised in pride. “That’s right. We’re all set to make our first album. Well, we will be after our producer finds us a drummer and keyboardist, but he said he’s already got a couple people who might be interested and he’d arrange for us all to meet down at the Phoenix Studios next Monday, so by this time next year the whole world will know my name.”

Brandon threw his arms around him. “I knew you could do it! Didn’t I always tell you that?”

“Yeah, you did,” Jesse laughed as he hugged Brandon with one arm while still maintaining a grip on his towel. He stepped from Brandon’s embrace and headed toward the bathroom. “I’m going to finish showering, then we’ll go out to breakfast. I’m starving and those donuts you brought aren’t going to cut it.”

“Hurry and get ready,” Brandon said, chuckling again. “I’ve got to show you guys this stripped out Escalade parked up the street before the owner finds it and has it towed away. The damn thing’s up on blocks, the whole front clip is gone, tires, everything! It got stripped right on the street! I almost died when I saw it! What moron leaves their Escalade parked on the street in this neighborhood?”

Jesse snapped his head toward Evan.
Evan stared at Brandon. He blinked once. “Was it black?”

Brandon’s laugh slowed, then stopped as he cleared his throat. “Yeah.”
Evan took in a long, deep breath and exhaled slowly.
Jesse put his hand on Evan’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”

Evan lifted Jesse’s hand to his lips and placed a soft kiss on his fingers. “Don’t worry about it. This just gives me an excuse to get a Porsche Cayenne.” He turned for Jesse’s bedroom. “Let’s get ready to go.”

Jesse faced Brandon and saw his eyes were focused on Evan’s ass as he disappeared into the bedroom. He punched him hard on the bicep. “Hey! Can you behave around him while I get a shower? You’re not going to try and compromise his honor or anything, are you?”

Exasperation fell across Brandon’s face. “Will you hurry and get ready?”

Jesse gave Brandon a final warning look before going back into the bathroom. When he finished his shower, he stepped out to Brandon rambling about theatre and his roles to Evan, having already forgotten about his humble routine. He ducked into his bedroom and was pulling on a shirt when Evan stepped in.

“Is he driving you nuts?” Jesse asked, sitting on the bed to put on his shoes.

Evan shook his head. “No, but he talks almost as much as you do when he’s excited.” He stood in front of him and placed his fingers under Jesse’s chin. “Why don’t you pack a few things and come stay with me for a while?”

Jesse’s expression glowed with a bright smile. “Really?” “Yeah.”

Jesse stood up and pulled Evan into a kiss. As Jesse’s tongue glided into his mouth, Evan tightened his hold on him, pressing Jesse’s hips against his.

Jesse caressed Evan’s cheek, then turned to pack his Chicago Bears duffel bag. Once finished, he left Kenny a note and they headed out of his building to where Evan had parked his Escalade.

Evan stumbled to a halt, a shocked cough slipped from his throat at the sight of it. The SUV sat stripped to the frame on the front end, mounted up on cinderblocks with the wheels and tires gone. The seats were missing and the instrument panel had been torn apart. Evan took a halting step toward it, then paced around it.

Jesse saw something on the SUV’s roof and pointed to it. “What’s that?”
Evan pulled it down. “My CD wallet.” He flipped through it. “Oh, how nice. They took the time to look through and only steal the ones they wanted.”
Jesse bit his bottom lip to keep from busting out in laughter. Brandon turned his back to Evan and rested one hand on Jesse’s shoulder, squeezing it as he struggled to keep his laugh under control.

“Well, we have pretty classy thieves here on the South Side,” Jesse said.

Evan glanced up at him. “I told you this was a bad neighborhood.”
“You did say it was your beater, though.”

A slow smile spread across Evan’s lips.

Brandon faced around, chuckling with each word he spoke. “If you need to go anywhere, Evan, I’d be happy to take you. I got my motorcycle parked up the street. You can ride behind me.”

Jesse jabbed his elbow into Brandon’s ribs. Brandon’s breath shot out of him, and he lost the last bit of control he had over keeping his laughter in check. Evan shook his head, chuckling softly as he pulled out his cell phone to call for a tow truck. Jesse took a seat on the steps to wait.

Brandon sat down beside him and leaned close to his ear. “Hey, is he really that good in bed?”
Jesse looked at him with a smirk that gave Brandon his answer.

Brandon huffed and reclined back on the steps. “Lucky little slut. It’s not fair. So you were really at his house? What’s it like? Is it a big ass mansion?”

“Yeah, it’s awesome,” Jesse said, and began filling Brandon in on details.

 

Evan finished his call and sat down on the step behind Jesse with his legs on either side of him.

During the hour it took for the tow truck to come, Brandon dominated the conversation by asking Evan questions, and Jesse noticed how Evan would deftly turn the topic away from himself and back to Brandon. When Brandon asked what Evan had been up to for the past three and a half years, Evan simply said traveling and talked about a few of the places he’d been. Then Brandon queried Evan as to what it was like being on tour, and Evan answered it wasn’t much different from being a stage actor in a traveling troupe and swung the dialogue back to Brandon’s acting career.

Listening to him, Jesse had to admit Evan’s mastery of conversation was impressive, if not a little unsettling. Evan was always honest in the answers he gave, but he didn’t give more than he had to, and now sitting back and paying attention made him realize all the more that Evan had been doing the same thing to him. Before, he’d been hurt by Evan’s refusal to open up to him, now his determination strengthened to get Evan to trust him.

When the tow truck arrived, Jesse overheard the conversation between Evan and the driver, the driver commenting how in his experience, insurance companies didn’t usually pay up unless there was a police report. Evan shrugged and told the guy to take the Escalade away.

Jesse stood as Evan returned. “Aren’t you going to call the cops?”

Evan shook his head. “The paparazzi have a knack for sniffing out stuff like this. I’ve been doing pretty good at staying below their radar for the past few years, I don’t need to send up a signal flare by reporting this. If I did, the next thing you know, there’d be articles in every tabloid about me being a burned-out has-been trolling bad neighborhoods looking to buy crack and a hooker.”

“But what about the insurance?” Jesse asked.

“It’s not like I need their money. Tomorrow we’ll go shopping for a Cayenne. Right now, I can’t even think I’m so hungry. It’s closer to lunch than breakfast. Let’s go get some food.”

Jesse and Brandon glanced at each, both in disbelief. Jesse could hardly fathom purchasing a vehicle the cost of an Escalade, let alone shrugging off the loss like it was a pair of ten-dollar sunglasses. He took a breath, doing his best to comprehend Evan’s reasoning, and focused on Evan’s food comment.

“If you’re that hungry, then let’s go to Uno’s. I guarantee you’ve never tasted anything so good in the world.”

Evan stepped close to Jesse and nuzzled next to his ear. “But I’ve already tasted the greatest thing in the world.”
Brandon watched Jesse glow under Evan’s attention and the affectionate way Evan whispered to him. Having never seen Jesse look or act in such a way with anyone, he was more than a little surprised, but he also couldn’t shake his concern about Evan. He noticed the way Evan gave virtually no information about himself, and though he played along as if oblivious, it made him uneasy that Evan was hiding something.

Brandon came out of his thoughts as Jesse walked away with Evan’s arm around his shoulders. He left them at Jesse’s truck and hopped onto his Suzuki motorcycle, leading the way down side streets and short cuts to get to Ohio Street and Uno’s. He headed in before them, as it was easier for him to find a place to park his bike, and put his name on the waiting list.

As the hostess called his name, the door opened with Jesse bouncing in at Evan’s side. They followed him to their table, and after ordering an appetizer of pizza skins and a deep-dish pizza with extra sausage and pepperoni, Jesse took a quick sip of his soda and excused himself to go to the restroom.

Brandon watched Evan smile at Jesse as he departed. Slowly, Evan brought his gaze to him. He met Evan’s eyes peering out from under the pulled down rim of his Yankees cap, amazed at their radiant beauty. He had been a fan of his since Evan’s first music video nine years ago and now he sat across from him in his favorite restaurant. If that wasn’t enough to blow his mind, Evan being his little brother’s new partner was, and that’s what dampened an otherwise fantastic moment for him.

Evan leaned back in the booth and stretched one arm across the top. “Well, we’re alone now, so get it off your chest.”
Evan’s astute perception came as no surprise to Brandon. One thing he had noticed about him was that those beautiful eyes of his were incredibly sharp, never missing the most subtle nuances around him, but at this moment, there was a coldness to them he found disquieting. Most men he knew would seek his approval and friendship if they wanted to be with Jesse, yet Evan sat with an air of detachment as if he couldn’t care less whether or not he liked him. Brandon glanced behind him to check for Jesse, then looked back to Evan, deciding he needed to make it clear to him that he wasn’t about to back out of Jesse’s life just because Evan had stepped in.
“I’m going to start this off by saying that I don’t have anything against you personally. In fact, from what I’ve seen of you so far you’re pretty cool, but you’ve gotta understand, Jess is my top priority. I’ve been watching out for him since the day he was born. I was there for him when he needed someone to talk to about the things he was feeling toward other guys. I was there for him when he kissed his first boy and freaked out about it later. When our father kicked him out like he did to me, I took him in and took care of him. And I’m the one who made sure no lowlife losers took advantage of him because they thought he was nothing but the hottest piece of ass to walk through the club door that night.

“I know how things work. You meet someone, hook up for a weekend or a few days, then move on. If he’s just a passing fling for you, then don’t lead him to believe you want something more. You have to understand one thing about him, Jess is ruled by his emotions. And from what I’m seeing, he already looks like he’s damn near smitten with you. So I just want to know what you want from him.”

Evan’s lips lifted with an amused smirk. “You mean, since you’ve already made it clear you think I’m a man whore, you want to know that I want more from him than just his ass, is that right?”

Evan’s condescending tone broke Brandon’s patience. He leaned forward on the table, his voice dropping to a growl as he glared into Evan’s eyes. “You may think you’re big shit sitting there with your arrogant little rock star attitude, but to me, you’re just the lucky one who beat out seventy-five percent of the gay populace of Chicago that would give their right nut to get him in bed. And I don’t give a rat’s ass how fat your bank account is, how many Ferraris you own, what your mansion looks like, or what celebrities have sucked you off, none of it proves to me you’re good enough to be with my brother.”

Brandon finished and stared at Evan, waiting for his retaliation.
Evan took a sip of his soda and casually glanced around the restaurant. “If you’re waiting for me to say something like, wow, Brandon, I’ve never been talked to like that before and now I really respect you, and then see me change from being the
arrogant little rock star
to a warm and compassionate person, then we’ll keep sitting here until one of us kicks it because that’s not going to happen.” He brought his eyes to Brandon’s, all amusement vanished from his expression and voice. “I don’t respect you for having the balls to stand up to me, and I can assure you, I was arrogant long before I ever stepped foot in a recording studio.”
He chuckled, his countenance shifting once again to light and nonchalant. “But I do respect the love you have for Jess and feel in your debt for acting as a barrier between him and so many men, so if there’s anything I can do to pay you back, let me know.”
Before Brandon could retort that Evan’s dancing around every question was really starting to piss him off, Jesse slid into the booth at Evan’s side, sitting so close there was no space between them.

“What’re you guys talking about?”

Evan raked his fingers through the back of Jesse’s hair and toyed with it. “Just how grateful I am to him for being your gallant protector.”

Jesse lightly kicked Brandon under the table. “Even though you made me want to choke you sometimes, considering how things have worked out, I’m pretty grateful, too. Thanks, jerkass.”

Brandon let out an indiscernible grunt for a response as he sipped his soda, feeling an even greater unease. Evan’s fortifications against showing his true self seemed impenetrable and he fiercely guarded his emotions. He wondered if Evan’s walls would be too much for even Jesse to breach.

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTEEN

Jesse waved to Brandon from the front porch as his brother coasted toward the gates. When Brandon passed through, Jesse turned inside, shut the one front door, and leaned back against it smiling at Evan, who was closing the gates from the security keypad by the door while watching the small monitor screen so as to open the second gates for Brandon.

“Thanks for letting him come over,” Jesse said.

“I could tell when we finished lunch that he wanted to spend more time with you. And I don’t want you to thank me. While you’re staying with me, I want you to look at my house as your house. If you want Brandon to come visit, then invite him whenever you want.”

“You might regret that. We’re used to hanging out together whenever we can. Even though our schedules would conflict with how I had to work during the day and he had his rehearsals and theatre stuff, on top of his performance nights and my gigs, we always made time for each other, and if we couldn’t get together, we called each other every day just to see what was going on.”