Keys to Love (20 page)

A grin pulled at his lips. It seemed Morgan was already showing him the world.

Morgan looked toward him. Remmy and the other roadies stopped talking to smile politely at him.

“Hey, Julian,” Remmy said. “How’s it going?”

Julian stepped toward the group. “It’d be going better if you all didn’t stop having fun just because I showed up. I’m not Kurt, you know.”

“Yeah, you’re a lot cuter,” Remmy said.

The others laughed, except Morgan who only managed a tight smile.

“Why thank you, Remmy, that’s sweet of you.” Julian looked
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at Morgan. “But I guess I
am
going to spoil your fun, because I need to borrow you. I was doing a sound check, and noticed when I try to play an A sharp I’m having to hit the sharp harder than usual to get it to sound. I think something might be wrong with the hammer.”

“Really?” Morgan said. “I’ll double check it.”

“Thank you.” Julian nodded to Remmy and the others as he turned to leave.

Morgan fell into stride beside him. He hushed his voice. “I could kiss you for rescuing me.”

Julian glanced at him. “It looked like you were having fun to me.”

“I’m a good faker.” Morgan exhaled a heavy sigh. “Working this concert isn’t that much different than when I was a teacher; angst and gossip abounds. I understood it from my students, they were teenagers trying to figure the whole life thing out, but these people are adults and still acting like they’re in high school. Of course, most of the other teachers acted like they had never left high school at all, so maybe’s it’s just the way people are.”

“A lot of people never fully grow up. You’re just a diamond in the rough.”

Julian glanced at Morgan with a grin, then noticed how tired he looked. The night before when Morgan made it up to his room, he fell asleep the instant he got in bed. When Morgan woke in the morning, he apologized over and over for crashing on him. He’d told Morgan not to worry about it, that they didn’t need to have sex every night. Truthfully, he got just as much pleasure out of simply sleeping beside him, and was just glad to have him close. Julian knew firsthand, just how draining the constant travel was, and in addition to all the physical labor Morgan did, it was amazing he had any energy left for sex at all.

Julian lightly touched Morgan’s hand. “You need more rest.”

Morgan brushed his fingers over Julian’s. “Easier said than done.”

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“I don’t understand why Kurt has you doing so many other duties. You’re in charge of my instruments, you’re to be a part of sound checks. All this extra work, helping to build the stage, loading trucks, aren’t part of your responsibilities.”

“They are according to Kurt. He doesn’t like me. Hasn’t since I started.”

“Maybe I should start letting him know how little I care for him.”

“I think you’re better than to lower yourself to his level.”

“I don’t know about that.”

They walked onto the stage where a handful of techs were working on finishing the setup. Julian took a seat at the black grand. Morgan moved to the right side of the keyboard and tapped every sharp and flat. All sounded clear and perfectly. He grinned at Julian. “Just as I thought.”

“Well of course. It’s tended to by the best.”

Morgan threw a quick glance from side to side, and seeing the others had left the stage, he placed a chaste, but sensual kiss on Julian’s lips.

Julian’s eyes remained closed for a moment even after Morgan pulled back. He opened his eyes to Morgan’s gaze and laid his hand over his. “You shouldn’t have risked that.”

“Some things are worth taking a risk for. Besides, you worry too much.”

“Maybe. And just so you know, I’m looking forward to our time alone together. Even if it does mean I have to pee outside.”

Morgan winked at him. “Keep making sacrifices like that and I’ll know just how much you really care about me.”

Julian laughed. “Some boys want their partners to express their feelings with gifts, some like quality time, some want it through sex, but not you.”

“What can I say? I march to my own drummer. But hey, I meant to tell you, I’ve got it all planned out, where we’ll hike, and
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renting some gear.”

Julian’s bright expression faded. “Renting? You don’t mean to rent a tent, do you?”

“Don’t have another choice. Mine’s at home.”

“Can I say I’m opposed to the idea of sleeping where who knows how many other people have?”

Morgan leaned down toward him again as if preparing to tell him a secret. “Jules, sweetheart, I hate to break it to you, but you do that every night in your hotel rooms.”

Julian blinked at him in silence for a moment. “I never thought of it like that. But it’s still not the same. The linens are cleaned daily on the beds.”

“We’ll be in a sleeping bag, not on the tent floor.”

Julian pulled in a deep breath. “I’ve never slept in a sleeping bag before.”

Morgan stared at him, then smiled and shook his head. “I don’t know why that surprises me.”

“Those won’t be rented too, will they?”

“No, I’ll buy us a new one.”

Confusion crossed Julian’s face. “Won’t we need two?”

Morgan moistened his smirking lips with a slip of his tongue.

“I thought we’d share.”

Julian’s face brightened once again. “Well then, this could be more fun than I was anticipating.”

“
And
since it’s your first time and I want it to be good for you, we’re only going to do it one night, then I’m taking you to the Biltmore for the rest of the week. I’ve already got the room booked.”

Julian exhaled a shocked breath. “You didn’t have to do that.”

Morgan rubbed the knuckles of Julian’s hand with his thumb.

“But it’ll make you happy, right?”

“Yes…well actually, no. Not if you’re going to pay. Let me Keys to Love
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cover the Biltmore.”

“Jules—”

“Either let me pay or I won’t go at all.”

Morgan sighed. “You really have a stubborn streak, you know that?”

Julian continued to stare at him with a hard expression.

Morgan held up his hands to signal defeat. “Alright, you pick up the Biltmore.”

A smile sprang to Julian’s lips. “Thank you!”

“Like I had a choice! Where’s Chopin, by the way?”

“With Jesse. He and Evan were going to take their dogs for a walk and asked if I’d like for them to take him. Do you mind?”

“No, it’s fine. From what I’ve seen, he seems to really like Jesse and—”

“Morgan! Just the man I was looking for.”

Julian looked over the top of the piano at Kurt walking briskly toward them. He glanced at Morgan, and thought Morgan looked as baffled as he felt by the odd cheeriness in Kurt’s voice.

Kurt slapped Morgan on the back. “You getting this thing ready to rock tonight?”

“Yeah,” Morgan said, his tone not matching Kurt’s jollity.

“We thought there was a problem with the A sharp, but it’s all set now.”

“Perfect! Then if you have a moment and if Mr. Forrester doesn’t need you anymore,” Kurt smiled at Julian before bringing his attention back to Morgan, “I need to borrow these muscles of yours to help move a couple crates.”

“That’s fine.” Morgan looked at Julian. “I’m glad it’s all worked out now.”

Julian nodded, catching he was meaning more than fixing an unbroken piano. “So am I.”

“Have a good show tonight, Mr. Forrester,” Kurt called over
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his shoulder as he escorted Morgan away.

Morgan glanced back and did a subtle shrug to show his further confusion.

Julian glowered at Kurt’s back. Just a few more days, then he’d have Morgan to himself with no interruptions.

As the stadium lights dimmed, Julian rushed across the stage from the keyboards to the piano to play the opening notes for the ballad, “Shattered.” They always rocked the crowds for the first few songs, then brought things to a slower pace with a couple ballads, only to lift them up again. For him, he wouldn’t be able to match the slower pace, on the inside at least. He was just four days away from his week with Morgan.

Julian slid onto the bench and turned his gaze to Jesse standing at the front of the stage. He waited for Jesse’s signal. His right hand at his hip, Jesse gave a subtle flick in Julian’s direction. Julian touched his fingers to the keys. He froze at the sound. It was completely flat. He snapped his gaze to Jesse. Jesse peered back at him out the corner of his eye. Julian’s gaze darted to the piano again and once more tried to sound the notes he needed. Again, the middle C was silent.

Soft guitar started to play the notes he should be playing, and he realized Jesse had signaled Kenny in an attempt to cover the error. Jesse’s voice lifted to an angelic pitch as he sang a scale, the crowd clapping, oblivious to the disaster happening on stage. Julian’s chest tightened with panic. Not for himself or the concert, but for Morgan. How could the note be dead? Morgan checked the instrument. He knew he did. Didn’t he?

Julian gave a quick shake of his head. Jesse couldn’t stall forever and he needed to think of something. He’d have to improvise. He was certain he could cover the loss of the middle C so long as all the other keys worked. He closed his eyes as Jesse’s voice hushed and Kenny’s guitar quieted. Julian lifted his hands, and the notes he wanted rang clear and pure.

As he worked his way through the song, all he could think of was Morgan, and Jesse’s wrath when he learned of the problem.

“Shattered” came to a soft conclusion and the stage lights blackened. Normally after the ballad, he’d remain on stage for
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his solo portion while the others took a quick break, but with the piano broken, he didn’t know what to do. He saw Jesse at Kenny’s side, then turn to hasten off stage. He realized Jesse was changing the set list on the fly and bumping Kenny’s solo up to buy some time. As Jesse moved to descend the stairs, he met Julian’s eyes and waved for him to follow.

Julian rushed down the stairs to chaos below the stage. Jesse stood drinking from a bottle of water while Evan laid a white towel around his shoulders. Julian stepped quickly toward him.

“Jesse—”

Jesse laid his hand on Julian’s arm. “Are you okay?”

Julian startled inside at the concern in Jesse’s face and voice.

“Yeah, I’m fine. There was a slight malfunction with the piano…”

His words trailed off, not knowing what else to say. He wanted to cover for Morgan, but it was so obvious something had gone wrong with the instrument.

Jesse marched in the direction of his dressing room. “Well that’s a relief. You scared me. You never screw up, so I was afraid something was wrong with you.”

Julian trotted to keep up with him. “You’re not mad?”

Jesse swung into his dressing room and tore his sweat soaked shirt over his head. “At you? Of course not. However,” he raised his voice to carry out the door, “I want the tech who’s in charge of the piano brought to me!”

“No!”

Jesse looked at Julian. Evan paused in wiping Jesse down to stare at him.

“There’s no time right now,” Julian added hastily. “We need to get back out there.”

Evan moved behind Jesse and held up a white, button down silk shirt for him. “He’s right, gorgeous. We’ll worry about it after the show. Right now, we need to get the piano changed out with the backup, and hope it’s ready to go.”

Jesse slid into the shirt with Evan adjusting it on his shoulders.

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“Alright, but I’m still going to talk to him later.”

Jesse and Evan moved toward the door. As they passed him, Julian made eye contact with Evan, and the way Evan looked at him made him feel as though he was made of crystal clear glass. He flicked his gaze away from Evan’s piercing blue one and followed after them.

Jesse’s shirt billowed behind him with his quick strides, having not bothered to button it. He called out orders as he walked. “We need the backup grand on the stage now! Black the lights and put a single spotlight on me. I’m going to do my solo portion so I can keep an eye on things up top. The set list is changed. After my part, we’re going to launch straight into ‘Euphoria,’ then Brad will do his solo to take us into ‘Vanish.’ From there we’ll do ‘Tomorrow’ and after it Jules will take the stage, followed by ‘No Fear.’ Let’s move, people! Go, go, go!”

Julian jogged up to Jesse’s side. “I was thinking about the piano, and I bet the wire snapped after sound check. It was probably already weak.”

Jesse glanced at him as he put in his earpiece that allowed him to hear himself and the music un-amplified without the crowd noise. He took an earplug for his other ear. “We’ll check it over after the show. Which reminds me,” he spun toward a cluster of roadies, “no one goes near that piano once it’s off stage.”

Evan clipped the receiver to the in-ear monitor on the back of Jesse’s black leather pants. “I’ll check it as soon as it comes off and put guards on it. You focus on what you need to do.”

Jesse nodded and gave him a light kiss, then bounded up the stairs to the stage, blasting out a greeting to the crowd timed with Kenny’s guitar solo ending.

Julian stared up at the opening Jesse disappeared through.

When he turned, he saw Morgan walking toward him. Julian gave a quick shake of his head. Morgan looked at him in confusion, but turned and went back the way he’d come. Julian put a hand over his heart. It raced so fast, yet felt so tense at the same moment. Somehow, he needed to find a way to appease Jesse
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before Morgan was brought to him.

  

Julian descended the stairs behind a laughing Jesse, hoping his bright spirits meant Morgan’s job could be salvaged. All things considered, the remainder of the concert went off flawlessly.

The pianos were swapped without incident, there wasn’t a single misstep in changing the order of the songs, and three encores later they finally said goodnight to a sold-out stadium still screaming for more.

Jesse jumped down the last two steps and into Evan’s arms.