Keys to Love (26 page)

“Nothing. I thought you were playing a game.”

“It got boring.” Jesse raised his voice. “Since I had no competition.”

Kenny and Brad answered with a round of, “yeah, yeah” and “whatever.”

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Jesse turned back to Julian. “So now I’m bored and thought I’d see what you’re doing.” His smirk returned with a mischievous edge. “You were texting someone, weren’t you? Who was it? Tell me.”

Julian opted to ignore Jesse’s questions. “If you’re bored, why don’t you read a book?”

“I’m not in a reading mood. It was a guy, wasn’t it? Is he the same one you were seeing before we hit the road?”

Julian gave him an exasperated look. “Must you be so nosey?

Why don’t you go write a new song?”

“Maybe I will later.” Jesse leaned toward him. “A
love
song.”

Chuckles at Jesse’s playful teasing escaped Julian despite his attempt to remain serious. “Well if you’re so bored, then go have sex with Evan. I know you’re always in the mood for that.”

Jesse glanced across the aisle at Evan sprawled out on the couch, a car magazine lying over his face as he napped. “Now that’s a possibility.” He snapped his gaze back to Julian. “But first I want to know about this mystery man of yours. Why won’t you tell me his name?”

“Because he wants to wait until we can all be together.”

“So it’s really serious?”

Julian met his gaze. “It’s extremely serious.”

“Then I need to meet him! If I guess his name, will you tell me?”

“You’re not going to guess his name.”

“But if I do, will you tell me?”

Julian chuckled. “Yeah, I will.”

Jesse brought his hands together in a loud clap. “Alright!

This’ll be fun. I’m going to start by trying to guess the first letter of his name.”

“Go for it.”

Jesse looked up in a thoughtful expression. “Does it begin
210 S.J. Frost

with a…” he held the “a” in a single pure note until he blurted out, “B?”

Julian shook his head. “No.”

Jesse tapped a finger on the back of the seat. “Okay. Does it begin with a…Q?”

Laughing softly, Julian said, “Sorry.”

Jesse leaned over the seat, putting his lips near Julian’s ear, though he didn’t hush his voice and it came out with a more serious tone. “Does it being with an M?”

Julian tensed. He slowly turned his head to look at him.

Jesse’s smirk returned full force. “So it begins with an M.

Now, what male names start with M?”

Evan’s voice sounded from under the magazine. “Michael. As in Jesse Michael Alexander, get your cute ass over here and quit teasing him.”

Jesse looked toward Evan. “I thought you were sleeping.”

“And I thought you were supposed to be killing your boredom by seducing me.”

“Well, if you insist.” Jesse moved to walk toward him, but paused to glance back at Julian. “We’ll finish this game later.”

Julian managed a tense smile. “I’ll look forward to it.”

He watched as Jesse crawled onto the couch to straddle Evan’s legs on his hands and knees. Jesse lowered to his elbows as he caught the bottom of Evan’s shirt in his teeth. He slowly raised himself and crept up Evan’s body, drawing the shirt with him. Evan arched his back to let it slide up. Jesse released it from his teeth as it reached Evan’s chest, revealing his taut stomach.

He lifted the magazine, flinging it to the floor. As Jesse bowed his head to meet Evan’s smiling lips, Evan opened his mouth, their tongues gliding over each other before their mouths closed together.

Julian shook his head at them. He held up his phone and snapped a picture of them right as Jesse licked up Evan’s throat.

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Jesse looked at him. “Did you just take our picture?”

“Yes. To show you how you both look more like porn stars than rock stars right now.”

“Send it to my phone.” Jesse smiled down at Evan. “I’ll make it my wallpaper.”

Julian sent the picture to Jesse’s phone, then in a separate message to Morgan, he added the words,
Do you see what I deal
with? It’s like watching live porn everyday.

He glanced at Jesse as he hopped up, holding both hands down to Evan and bringing him to his feet. He extended his hands back and Evan took them as they walked back to the bunks, closing the curtain behind them.

Julian exhaled a sigh, both of relief at Jesse being occupied and of remorse for missing Morgan. He looked at his phone and a new message from Morgan.
Yeah, I see. You poor thing, having
to look at one hot guy licking another.

I thought you said Jesse wasn’t your type!

He’s not. But just like with watching any porn, does type
matter?

Perverted boy.
Just as Julian hit send, Brad dropped into the seat beside him.

“Hey,” Brad said.

“Hey. Did you get bored with the game, too?”

“No, I wanted to talk to you.”

Anxiety swelled in Julian’s chest, a feeling he was getting far too familiar with lately, and worse, it was always caused when talking with Brad or Jesse since no matter what the conversation would start as, he’d worry they’d start questioning him about Morgan at any moment.

Julian took a deep breath and looked at Brad with a smile.

“What’d you want to talk about?”

Brad flicked his hand toward Julian’s phone. “Why won’t you tell anyone his name?”

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“Because like I told you and just told Jesse, he wants to wait until he can meet you guys in person.”

“Is he famous or something?”

Julian felt his phone vibrate with another message. He saw Brad’s gaze go to it, but with it turned over, knew Brad couldn’t see who it was. “No, it’s just the way he likes to do things.”

Brad’s voice sharpened. “Well it’s pretty shitty of him to be like that. If he wants to meet us, then tell him to get off his ass and say hi.”

Julian startled back at the anger in Brad’s voice. “There’s no reason to get so upset about it.”

“The hell there isn’t. He’s pushing you around.”

“No he isn’t.”

“Whether you see it or not, he is. And when I do finally meet him, he’ll be damn lucky if I don’t pun—”

“Brad!”

Julian jumped at Evan’s powerful baritone filling the bus with the one word. He glanced back to see a shirtless Evan holding the curtain halfway open.

“You need to cool it,” Evan said. “When Jules wants to talk about his relationship, he will. It’s not any of our business until he’s ready for it to be.”

“I’m just trying to make sure he’s okay,” Brad said.

“Look at him. He’s fine. And he was happy until you started attacking him.”

Jesse’s voice rang out, “You guys better play nice because if he has to come out again wearing any less clothes than he is now, he’s going to be really pissed.”

Evan laughed. “That’s right.” He let the curtain drop shut.

Brad stared forward, his jaw visibly tight.

Julian laid his hand on Brad’s arm. “I’m sorry I can’t tell you more about him yet. But I promise very, very soon, you’re going Keys to Love
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to learn why. I’m not doing this to hurt anyone or because he’s asking me to. Really, he’s wanted to be more open about our relationship since the start, but I have some concerns on how it could affect him, so he’s the one who’s bent to doing what I want, not the other way around. I can’t ask you to understand, but just to be patient with me for a little while longer.”

Brad’s head barely moved in a nod. “Fine.” As he said the word, he stood up and went back to sit by Kenny.

Julian sighed. His phone vibrated again, and he flipped it over to two messages. The first in reply to the last one he sent,
I can’t
argue with being a perverted boy since I do like the way you
handle a crop.
And the most recent and second,
Where’d you
go?
Julian typed in his reply.
I’m still here. Jesse and Brad were
just asking about who I’m seeing. This is getting more difficult
by the minute.

Then the sooner we talk to everyone the bet er.

Couldn’t agree more.
Julian hit send and reclined in the seat.

Tonight. They had to confess their relationship tonight. He wasn’t going to live another day hiding.

Julian tipped the young man who carried his bags into his room, then sighed as he looked around the empty space with only Chopin for company. He dropped onto the bed. Once they arrived at the stadium, he’d find Morgan and they’d go to the guys before the concert.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out, surprised to see Morgan was calling rather than texting, and answered.

“And now who’s the antsy one?”

Morgan’s tense voice sounded. “Me, since there’s been an accident.”

Julian bolted upright. “Are you okay?”

Morgan exhaled a deep breath into the phone. “Yeah, I’m fine. It wasn’t an accident with me. It’s your primary piano.”

Julian remained silent.

“It wasn’t secured in the truck, neither were some of the crates. It’s…it’s broken.”

Julian cleared his throat to help in finding his voice. “What do you mean,
it’s broken
? How broken is it?”

“It’s ruined, Jules. The back leg and left front leg are completely broken. The side panel on the left side of the case is smashed.

The strings, the soundboard, it’s all ruined. All of it.”

Through his shock, Julian heard the pain in Morgan’s voice.

“I’m so sorry. It’s my fault. I was the one who secured it.”

A burst of anger entered his tone. “I told Kurt before the first show, it and the backup needed to be put in crates. He said it was extra work and would add too much time to the loading and unloading.” Sorrow softened his voice again. “But it doesn’t matter. It’s still my fault for not locking it down properly. The thing is, I thought it was. I triple checked the straps. I don’t understand how it came loose.”

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Julian worked to comprehend all Morgan was saying, but a single thought blocked his mind, his piano was ruined.

“Jules? Are you still there?”

Julian blinked and took a breath. “Yeah, I’m just…I’m just trying to understand everything.”

“I don’t even know how to tell you how sorry I am. Simply saying it isn’t anywhere near enough. I’ll do whatever I can to replace it. I don’t care what the cost is.”

Julian’s mind started functioning again. He caught up to all Morgan had said and put some humor into his own tone. “There you go being frivolous again.”

Morgan’s voice took on shock. “What?”

“It’s just a piano. Not even my favorite, that one’s at home.

Yes, I loved my concert piano, but it can be replaced. The backup is undamaged, right?”

“Yeah, but—”

“No buts about it. Everything will be fine and the show will go on.”

Morgan took his turn to be silent for a moment. “I’m glad you’re taking this so well. I thought you’d want to kill me.”

“I love you, Morgan. A piano is nothing compared to that.”

Morgan’s voice trembled as he spoke. “I love you too, Jules.”

“So you see, everything is fine.”

“The most important thing is, at least. But it looks like I’m going to lose my job. Kurt was so pissed, he couldn’t even talk, except to tell me to get away from him until he decided he wanted to see me again. He’s going to fire me.”

“The hell he is!” Julian paused. “Wait, you said you secured it, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Just like you had sound checked it the night the wire was cut.”

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Julian could tell as Morgan spoke again, it was through clenched teeth.

“Fuck! I was so upset over the piano, I wasn’t thinking. We need to talk to Jesse and Evan.”

Julian sprang off the bed and grabbed Chopin’s leash. “We will, but first I’m coming to the stadium. I’m sure Kurt’s already tried to get a hold of Evan. But since I don’t have either of them pounding on my door, I’m assuming he hasn’t reached him yet.”

“Be careful. We don’t know who this psycho is or what he’s after.”

“I’ll be careful, but not waiting on guards. I’ll be there in a few.”

“Alright. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Julian hung up and left with Chopin. He had the concierge call around a limo. The ride to the stadium felt like it took longer than the entire trip that morning. He marched inside through one of the back exits, expecting he’d have to hunt for Morgan, but saw him walking toward him. Stress darkened Morgan’s features.

Julian gave him a reassuring smile. “Are you doing better?”

Morgan walked beside him. “Now that I have you with me.”

“We need to find a place to talk. Where the hell are the dressing rooms in this place?”

“We’re coming up on them. Do you want to see your piano?”

Julian took a deep breath. “I think it’d be best if I waited a little longer. I’m not sure I’m ready to see it yet from how you described it.”

Morgan lightly touched Julian’s hand. He guided him into one of the dressing rooms and closed the door behind them. “So what are we going to do? We have to find out who’s doing this.”

Julian let Chopin off his leash and started pacing. “I don’t know. I was thinking on the ride over here, and what if it isn’t me or the band someone is trying to sabotage? What if it’s you?”

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Morgan shook his head slightly. “Why would someone want to sabotage me?”

Julian shrugged. “Why would someone want to sabotage the band?”

“But that’s the thing. I don’t think it’s targeted toward all of you guys. I really believe it’s just toward you. Why haven’t any of the other instruments been damaged? Kenny’s guitars, Brad’s drums, Jesse’s guitars and basses. Even though Jesse plays your piano during the shows, he’s not the one who everyone first connects with it. You are.”

“I haven’t done anything to make myself a target.”

Morgan moved close to him and took his hand. “If this person is as much of a psycho as I think, they’re the type where you don’t even have to have said hi to them. Look at how things progressed from cutting the piano string, then damaging the body of it. Your piano is something close to you, something personal.