Keys to Love (30 page)

Julian laughed. “You don’t have to pull a guilt trip on me to get that.”

“No, but it makes it more fun for me.”

Julian gave him a light shove, then grabbed the door handle as the limo drew to a halt. He jumped out, Morgan hastening after him.

Julian rushed around to the back of the truck and paused at seeing one of the doors slightly ajar. “Damn it! Everything that’s gone wrong and now someone leaves the doors open! Where the hell is Kurt? Where’s Remmy? Where’s the driver? Someone needs to be out here guarding it!”

Morgan stopped at his side. “You’ve been hanging out with Jesse too much. That was a near perfect prima donna impression.”

244 S.J. Frost

Julian grinned at him. “It was, wasn’t it?”

Julian reached for the door. It burst open from the inside. He sprang back, barely avoiding getting hit. A male figure in a black hooded sweatshirt leaped out, the hood covering his head and hiding his face. A booming crash came from inside. The scent of gasoline filled the air and a stream poured out from the back of the truck.

It took less than a millisecond for Julian to realize this was the person who’d vandalized his other piano. He whirled toward him, only to see Morgan chasing the culprit down.

“Morgan, no!” Julian raced through the parking lot after him.

What if the guy had a weapon? A knife or a gun? Panic spurred him to greater speed. He needed to get to Morgan, stop him, protect him.

Morgan closed the distance between him and the hooded figure. He leaped, tackling him from behind. They both crashed to the pavement. As soon as they hit, the other heaved his body up against Morgan’s larger one, scrambling to get to his feet.

Morgan grabbed the sweatshirt in two fistfuls. The hood fell down, revealing a head of buzz-cut blond hair. The man twisted and threw an elbow back, nailing Morgan in the cheekbone.

Morgan’s head snapped to the side, his hold loosened.

The other sprang free and to his feet. Morgan surged forward to stand, his movements a fraction too slow. Rather than run, the other faced around and swung, throwing a punch into Morgan’s cheek. Still unsteady from the first hit, Morgan crashed to one knee, catching himself from fully falling with a hand on the pavement.

A few strides away, Julian’s gaze met the attacker’s. Shock jolted through him at seeing Kurt, but only for an instant before rage pushed aside his panic from seconds before.

Car tires squealed. Julian looked beyond Kurt to a black Cadillac Escalade speeding through the parking lot toward them, a black van following. He knew Evan had rented one, and from the speed, it could only be him with Jesse and the others.

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Kurt spun away as if to run. Julian slammed into Kurt’s side, knocking him to the ground and falling after him. He landed on top and instantly shoved himself up. He gripped Kurt’s shirt and shook him, yelling into his face.

“Why did you do it?”

Powerful arms enclosed Julian’s waist and not only hauled him off Kurt, but lifted him from the ground, turned him, and set him down. Julian whirled around to go for Kurt once again, but found Morgan had moved him out of the way to have his turn.

As Kurt launched to his feet, Morgan smashed his fist into Kurt’s nose, shouting, “I should’ve known!”

Kurt reeled back, falling to the ground. The Escalade screeched to a stop. The doors flew open, Jesse, Evan, and the others pouring out. Security sprang from the van. Morgan grabbed Kurt and pulled him to his feet. He spun him, yanking one of Kurt’s arms up behind his back to restrain him.

“You’re the one!” Evan yelled. His arm cocked back to throw a punch.

Jesse grabbed Evan’s arm, wrapping his other one around Evan’s waist from behind. “Ev, stop! You’ll hurt yourself!

Morgan’s got it under control!”

Evan lowered his arm, but not without swearing and fixing Kurt with a lethal glare.

Two security staff grabbed Kurt from Morgan while a third relayed details into a cell phone to police. Charging footsteps came from behind. Julian turned to see a flood of security coming up on them, the back door to the stadium open with Remmy and other staff watching the scene with wide eyes.

Morgan turned to Julian and wrapped him in his arms. Julian laid his head on Morgan’s shoulder, though his gaze remained on Kurt. He tightened his hold on Morgan, needing to feel the firmness of him, the reality that he was unhurt. With his adrenaline lowering, shock at what happened started setting in.

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Jesse spun toward them. “Are you both alright?”

Julian nodded and lifted his head to meet Morgan’s gaze. “I am. Are you?”

“Yeah,” Morgan said softly.

Julian saw the redness on Morgan’s cheek was starting to darken with a bruise. He gently cupped it with his hand. Morgan closed his eyes at the touch, then pulled Julian against him.

Evan moved to stand by them. “What the hell happened?”

Julian looked at Evan. “You know Brandon called to say my piano arrived. When I went to check on it, Kurt jumped from the truck. There was gas…” he snapped his head up to Morgan. “We have to go back to the truck!”

Morgan glanced in the direction of the truck and saw Remmy.

“It’ll be fine. Remmy’s got it.”

Evan stabbed the air with his index finger toward Kurt. “And now I want to why the fuck you’ve been trashing his instruments!”

Kurt turned his head away. “Fuck off.”

Evan lunged for him.

Jesse grabbed him around the waist again, and when Evan halted, he leaped around him to stand between him and Kurt. He placed both hands on Evan’s chest. “I don’t think punching the shit out of him will help. There’s probably only one person he’ll talk to.” Jesse’s gaze went to Julian.

Julian met Jesse’s eyes. He slowly looked at Kurt. Kurt glanced at him, then lowered his gaze. Julian eased back from Morgan, who reluctantly to let him go. He stepped toward Kurt, stopping a few feet back when he felt Morgan rest his hands on his shoulders from behind. He willed his voice to come out calm and steady.

“Why did you do it, Kurt?”

Kurt kept his gaze lowered.

Julian gnashed his teeth. The urge to scream at him, punch him, knock him to the ground rose in him again. He battled it Keys to Love
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back and instead sought to find any patience left in him. “You might as well tell me, and all of us. Because I’ll tell you, I plan to prosecute you for the damage you did. Cutting the wire was bad. Smashing my piano, horrible. But planning to burn my most cherished instrument? That’s nothing less than loathsome and despicable. And if that was the step you were about to take, just what would’ve been the one to follow? Was I next? Was Morgan?”

“I never wanted to hurt you,” Kurt grumbled.

Julian’s voice rose with disbelief. “Never wanted to hurt me?

How could you not realize what you were doing
was
hurting me?”

His voice still a mumble, Kurt said, “I meant physically.”

Julian shook his head in confusion. He glanced at Morgan for help.

Morgan looked at Kurt. “Are you in love with him?”

“What?” Kurt snapped. “No, I’m not in love with him! I’m not queer like all of you!”

Anger flooded Julian. “Then why the hell did you do it?”

Kurt attempted to move toward him, but was the guards shoved him back. “Out of everyone and everything, I always made sure your instruments were treated like gold! But do you even give a shit? Do you care how hard I work to see that things are set so perfectly for you? I’ve admired your talent since I first heard you play. But you,” his expression turned disgusted, “you don’t even acknowledge I exist. You don’t even remember you promised to show me how to play!”

Julian startled back a step. “When?”

Kurt tried to lift an arm, only to have it wrenched by a guard.

“During the first tour!”

“I would remember if I had said something like that.”

“You obviously don’t and it’s proof of what kind of person you are! I bust my ass, and bust my ass, and bust my ass! But you don’t care! I even tried to win the auction!”

Julian’s eyes widened. “You were the one on the phone.”

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“Yeah, I was. I thought since I was staff, I might not be allowed to participate, so I was trying to not let anyone know.

But none of it matters because you don’t give a shit! Then he comes in,” Kurt’s gaze went to Morgan in a hateful glare, “and gets your praise, your respect, everything!” He returned his gaze to Julian. “But you know, I’m glad for it, because now I know you for what you really are. You’re not a great artist or great pianist.

You’re a liar and a slut.”

Morgan leaped around Julian.

Before Julian or the security staff could react, Morgan slammed Kurt with another fist to the face. Two of the guards grabbed Morgan and hauled him back.

“Fucking prick!” Morgan yelled.

Julian pushed one of the guards away and grabbed Morgan’s arm. “Stop before you get hurt. It’s over now.”

Morgan relaxed at Julian’s touch and words, but continued to glare at Kurt.

Julian faced Kurt. Blood streamed down Kurt’s face from his nose and over his lips. Julian motioned to one of the guards. “At least let him wipe his face.”

One guard grudgingly released Kurt’s arm, and Kurt cleaned the blood from his lips with his sleeve.

“Now tell me, honestly, did I really promise you I’d show you how to play piano?” Julian asked. “What did I say?”

Kurt pressed his sleeve to his nose. “It was when we first met.

I said to you, ‘I hope to learn more about playing piano from you.’ And you said, ‘I doubt I could show you much, but you may catch a trick or two from me.’”

Julian shook his head. “But that’s hardly me promising to show you to play. I’ll admit I don’t remember that conversation, but if those were our words, hearing them now, they sound like nothing more than niceties.”

Kurt’s eyes narrowed at him. “Maybe they were to you, but they were more than that to me.”

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Julian stared at him, his mouth slightly agape.

Morgan gently turned Julian away from Kurt. “Come on.

Let’s just get away from him.”

As they walked from him, two police cars rolled through the parking lot in their direction.

Jesse looked at the guards. “You guys let the cops know what happened and tell them when they need to talk to us, to come inside.” He caught up to Julian and Morgan. “Well, we always knew he was a bit nutty.”

“He seemed so dedicated to his job, though,” Julian said. “So proud of it, so devoted, so—”

“Obsessed,” Morgan finished.

“He’s right,” Evan said. “I never trusted him. The way he’d talk to everyone in the band, and how he treated staff clued me in that he had some issues going on. I told Greg I didn’t like him as a staff manager after I met him, but Greg insisted even if his personality was quirky, Kurt’s experience couldn’t be beat.”

Julian’s voice came out hushed. “He was pushed too far.

That’s all. And I’m the cause.”

“Hey.” Morgan stopped and gripped Julian’s shoulders, forcing him to look at him. “Don’t blame yourself. You and the guys aren’t the only band he works with. It could be he had more of a thing for you than some of the other artists, but if he didn’t erupt on you, he would’ve done it on someone else.”

Jesse nodded. “Yeah, Jules. I think it’s pretty clear he’s been rocking one wave short of a shipwreck for a while.”

“Yeah, but if that’s true, then maybe it’d be better to get him help rather than press charges.”

Morgan stared at him. He looked to Jesse, Evan, and the others, seeing they were all staring at Julian with the same expression of disbelief. He put his arm around Julian’s shoulders.

“We’ll talk about it later. Let’s get you inside for now.”

Julian nodded and looked back at Jesse as they started walking again. “I was surprised to see you guys. Why’d you come back
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early from lunch?”

“We ended up deciding to just get a couple pizzas and bring them back because we didn’t feel like getting pounced on by fans.” Jesse stopped and spun around to go back. “Shit! The pizzas! They’re still in the truck.”

Brandon held out his hand to stop him. “Shun and I will get them. I think it’d be better if all you guys stayed away from Kurt right now.”

“I agree,” Morgan said.

Kenny frowned at Jesse. “I can’t believe with everything that’s happened, you’re worried about food.”

“It’s comfort food,” Jesse said. “It’ll be good for Jules to eat.”

Brad stepped around everyone to go to Julian’s side. He laid his hand on Julian’s back. “I’m just glad you’re okay. When I saw you running through the parking lot, then going after him…” his words trailed off, as if he didn’t want to voice his thoughts of what he feared.

Julian smiled at him and touched Brad’s shoulder. “I’m okay, so there’s nothing to worry about now.”

“Yeah, thanks to him.” Brad nodded at Morgan.

Morgan turned a loving gaze on Julian. “Well, I’m only okay thanks to him, too. We protected each other.”

Brandon walked up carrying three pizza boxes. “As any couple who love each other should.”

Jesse laughed and looked at Julian. “I was just surprised to see you running so fast. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

Julian slapped him on the arm. “Not all of us feel it’s necessary to kill ourselves running five miles a day.”

“I don’t either. I just like keeping my endurance up.” Jesse winked at Evan.

Chuckling, Julian took Morgan’s hand and walked toward the truck and Remmy.

Remmy looked at them. “What’s going on?”

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Morgan told him all that happened.

Remmy’s jaw dropped halfway through the story and after Morgan finished, it took him several seconds before he could speak. “I…I just can’t believe.”

“Well, believe it and be grateful,” Jesse said. “You were one of our top suspects.”

Remmy gasped. “Why me?”

Morgan gave him an apologetic smile. “Because you acted so distant and odd with me after I told you I was gay. I thought maybe it made you uncomfortable and you could be retaliating.”