Conquest (17 page)

Jesse met Evan’s eyes. Whether it was the worry he saw there or the warmth in Evan’s voice, he wasn’t sure, but he found himself spilling everything that had happened, from Tim’s accusations to his argument with Kenny, and even Greg’s comments about trying to convince Evan to come down to the studio to visit him, which looking back on he found it pretty hilarious, though if Evan did no humor entered his expression. Evan stood silent, focused on his every word while he sat on the kitchen counter delivering the events like a skilled orator.

Evan gazed down at the kitchen floor, his somber face set with a frown as Jesse finished. “Why didn’t you call me when all that happened?”

Jesse let out a sarcastic huff. “Yeah, that would’ve looked real cool. I could’ve jumped up, brandished my cell phone, and yelled, you better stop picking on me or else I’ll call my boyfriend, and he’ll come down here and kick your ass!”

Evan looked at him from under his eyelashes, one corner of his lips turned up in a grin. “Your boyfriend, huh?”
Jesse lifted his chin and gave Evan a smirk. “That’s right. I assume you don’t have a problem being called that since it basically means you’re mine.”
Evan wrapped his arms around Jesse’s waist. “None whatsoever.”

Jesse cupped Evan’s face in both hands and covered his mouth in a kiss he put all his happiness behind. As the kiss ended, Evan reached for his glass of champagne. He lifted it and paused, his head tilted to the side as he gave it a curious look.

“What’s the matter?” Jesse said teasingly. “Not used to drinking Dom from a seventy-five cent glass bought at the dollar store?”

Evan laughed and shook his head. “It’s a first.” He looked at Jesse. “But I’ve had a lot of those the past few days.” He raised his glass to him. “Here’s to you, commander of Conquest. The world is your battlefield. Now all you have to do is conquer it, a feat I have total faith that you can do.”

Jesse touched his glass against Evan’s. Both drank at the same time and lowered their glasses to bring their lips together.

 

C
HAPTER
T
WELVE

The sound of jewel cases clinking together pulled Jesse awake. He opened his eyes, waited a moment for the haze of sleep to clear, then looked toward the sound and saw Evan sitting naked on his bedroom floor, flipping through his CDs.

“That has to be some kind of sickness you have,” Jesse said. “I know, I can’t help it. I see discs and I have to know what ones they are.”

Jesse swung his legs over the edge of the bed and grabbed his iPod off the nightstand. “Here. You should like playing with this. It’s got the stuff I listen to the most on it.” He tossed it, Evan caught it. He yawned, stretching his arms over his head. “I can’t believe we drank that whole bottle of Dom last night.”

“Drank, licked, sucked.” Evan smirked with his eyes on the iPod as he scrolled through the songs.

Jesse grinned at the memory of leaning against the kitchen counter while Evan dribbled champagne down his body and followed the rivulets with his tongue. As his cock showed appreciation for his thoughts, he got out of bed and walked over to him. Evan placed a tender kiss on the inside of Jesse’s thigh.

Jesse combed his fingers through Evan’s hair. “I was thinking we could do something fun today, like go down to Navy Pier, or the Field Museum, or Shedd Aquarium.”

Evan lowered his eyes back to the iPod. “If I want to look at fish, I’ll get sushi.”

Jesse shoved him on his shoulder. “C’mon, it’ll be fun! I’ll even load your walker in the Escalade for you so you can outrun the two fans you have left, geezer.”

Evan looked up at him with a playful grin. “Okay, let’s go. It’ll be a cheap date since I can get the kids’ discount on you.”

Jesse burst out a fake laugh and cracked open his bedroom door to find the kitchen and living room empty. He stepped out and crept over to Kenny’s room. The door was open, the bed empty. He couldn’t tell if it had been slept in since Kenny never made it, but he imagined he would have heard him and Carrie if they had come back. Then again, maybe he and Evan drowned them out.

Jesse sighed. After all they had been through together, when the time came their dream was in reach, they didn’t even celebrate together. He hadn’t meant to ditch him. It just happened, and if Kenny kept his attitude over him and Evan, they probably would have ended up bitching at each other again.

“Looks like we have the place to ourselves,” he said.

“Great. I’m getting a shower, then we can get out of this shit-hole,” Evan said, walking to the bathroom, his clothes tucked under his arm.

Jesse gazed at Evan’s elegant form and felt a little less guilty about ditching Kenny.

 

“Any extra toothbrushes?” Evan called from the bathroom. “Use mine. It’s the blue one,” Jesse said, heading into the kitchen.

 

“Gross!”

 

“Think about our past three days together and say that again!”

 

“That’s different! I don’t get off on your nasty ass tooth plaque!”

Jesse laughed and took a few drinks of orange juice from the container. He walked into the bathroom, stopping to admire Evan’s foggy figure from the other side of the shower curtain. He looked at his toothbrush, saw it was wet, and chuckled to himself as he globbed it with toothpaste. When he finished brushing his teeth, he pulled back the shower curtain and climbed in behind Evan. He wrapped his arms around his waist and kissed the back of his shoulder. “I think I prefer your shower. It’s a lot bigger.”
“Everything I have is.”

Jesse slid his hand down Evan’s abdomen. “Mmm, we’re pretty close with some things.”

A booming knock on the apartment door stopped Jesse’s actions. Exhaling a hard sigh, he dropped his forehead against Evan’s back. “If Kenny forgot his keys again, I’m going to kick his idiot ass.”

He ripped open the shower curtain, snatched a towel off the rack, and stormed out of the bathroom, trying to adjust the towel to somewhat hide his erection. As he whipped open the door, he bellowed, “Listen, moron!”

Brandon stomped into the apartment, nearly slamming into Jesse. “Don’t you call me a moron, you little bastard! Thanks a lot for leaving me hangin’ last night! But I guess it’s my own stupid fault for believing you could be considerate!” He shoved a white paper bag against Jesse’s chest as he passed by. “Here! I brought donuts!”

Jesse couldn’t help but laugh at the last sentence and the anger it tried to keep, and closed the door behind him. “I’m sorry. Ev and I got wrapped up last night.”

Brandon faced him, running his fingers through his windblown black hair. “
Ev
?”

 

Jesse fixed Brandon with an are-you-stupid look and pointed toward the bathroom where the shower was still running.

Brandon leaned toward him, his blue eyes squinting in a scrutinizing stare. “So lover boy’s in the shower, is he? Maybe I should peek in and say hello.”

“Don’t you dare,” Jesse snarled under his breath. “Actually, why don’t you take off and come back in a little bit? I don’t want him to feel weird coming out of the shower and having a stranger standing in his face.”

“I’m not a stranger, I’m your brother!” Brandon snapped. He paced away from Jesse in an attempt to collect his patience. “What’s his name?”

“I already told you.”

Brandon spun toward him, ready to unleash another tirade, then stopped and forced his voice to be as calm as it could with his impatience. “Jess, stop this already. If you’re not willing to tell me his name, then all that shows is you’re not very proud to be with him. How far have you gone with him?”

Jesse smiled, his eyes glazed over in a dreamy look. “All the way. I know you told me how good it can be, but I don’t think even you’ve experienced anything like what he’s capable of. He’s got skills you wouldn’t believe!”

Brandon stared at him in stunned silence for a moment. “You’re being careful, right? You’re using protection?”

Jesse heard the water turn off in the bathroom and glanced toward it. He looked back to Brandon, his smile dimmed to tentative. “Here’s the thing, I know I’m clean, and he said he was, so—”

“Idiot! What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I trust him.”

“You trust him?” Brandon roared in disbelief. “How stupid can you be? If he had any respect for you, he would’ve wrapped it!”

“Can you tone it down, mouth?” Jesse said in a low voice. “He can probably hear you.”

“Good! Let Johnny No Condom hear me!” Brandon snatched Jesse by his upper arm and dragged him toward his bedroom. “Get your ass dressed and kiss lover boy goodbye. I’m taking you to get checked out.”

Jesse staggered behind Brandon, trying to keep his towel in place and free himself from Brandon’s viselike grip. “You’re not taking me anywhere, psycho! Let go!”

“This is the last time we do this at your place. Your hot water sucks,” Evan said, walking out of the bathroom wearing only his jeans and a towel over his head as he dried his hair. He brought the towel down, draping it over his shoulders, and looked at Brandon.

Brandon gasped and released his hold on Jesse. “You’re…you’re really him! I don’t believe it! You’re really Evan Arden!”

“Shit,” Jesse muttered, flopping down on the arm of the couch.
Evan startled back a step, peering at Brandon with a wary expression as he spoke to Jesse. “Is he okay?”
“Yeah, but remember how I told you that he’s a freaky big fan of yours?”

Brandon raced toward Evan. Evan held out one hand to slow him down. Brandon snatched it with both of his. “I can’t believe this! I love your music! I actually saw you in concert for the
Allegro
Tour!”

Jesse scowled at Brandon. “Settle down, jerk-ass. You’re having a conniption and you’re creepin’
me
out, so I can’t imagine what you’re doing to him.”

Evan met Brandon’s eyes, a smirk playing across his lips. “It’s Brandon, right? Jess has talked so much about you, I’ve been really looking forward to meeting you. And please, just call me Evan, or Johnny No Condom. Whichever you’re most comfortable with.”

“Yeah, about that—”

Evan held up his hand to silence him. “It’s alright. Jess told me how protective you are of him, and I think that’s awesome, so you don’t have to apologize.”

“I wasn’t going to,” Brandon said, his gaze unflinching from Evan. “You should’ve wrapped it, especially considering what you do for a living, I’m sure you’ve been with a few more people than the average guy.”

Jesse sprang to his feet toward Brandon. “What the hell’s the matter with you, asshole!”
“No, he’s right,” Evan said, looking at Jesse before turning back to Brandon. “But it wasn’t an issue of not respecting him. It was an issue of getting carried away in the moment. It happens to everybody, and I’m sure it’s happened to you. Regardless, I can assure you that Jess’s wellbeing is in better care with me than
anyone
else. So let’s move on, shall we?”
Jesse looked from Evan to Brandon. By Brandon’s expression, he could tell Evan’s less than subtle way of telling him to back off had slapped the last bit of star-struck daze from him. He knew this was difficult for his brother. Brandon had always been the number one person in his life, and he was the last person he wanted to have tension with Evan. It was bad enough Kenny was distant because of their relationship, he couldn’t let that happen with his brother. He smacked Brandon on the arm to get his attention and break the tense moment. “I guess now you know to believe me when I tell you who I’m hangin’ with.”
Brandon slowly turned his sharpened gaze from Evan to Jesse. “You can’t blame me for not believing you. Who would’ve thought that someone like him would put up with you for long enough to get your clothes off?”

“Well, I do have incredible patience,” Evan said. “So you saw me for the
Allegro
Tour. I hope I put on a good show for you.”

“It was an amazing performance. You were on stage for two and a half hours, then came back for two encores.”

“It was all he could talk about for days,” Jesse said. Evan turned to Jesse. “Why didn’t you go?”
Brandon laughed. “Our parents wouldn’t let him. They said

he was too young. And when you came around again for the
One More Time
Tour, the tickets sold out so fast we couldn’t get any and the scalped prices were ridiculous. It’s pretty hilarious when you think about it. When you were on your third concert tour, he was just starting high school.”

Evan’s smile shared none of Brandon’s humor. “Yeah, that’s pretty funny.” At the sound of Jesse sniggering, he glanced at him.

“Just so you know, even back then I had a crush on you,” Jesse said.

Evan smirked at Jesse. “And just so you know, I’m glad I didn’t meet you back then since I have a feeling prison life would cramp my style.” He looked back to Brandon. “Jess tells me you’re one hell of an actor and dancer.”

Producing a shy smile, Brandon lowered his eyes. “I do okay, I guess. There are far better actors out there than me. And my dancing is nothing compared to what you used to do on stage.”

Jesse rolled his eyes at Brandon’s feigned humility, then caught Brandon’s gaze drifting down Evan’s body, blatantly checking out his lean, fit torso. Obviously Brandon wasn’t too upset over Evan usurping his position in Jesse’s life.

“Well, that was a long time ago,” Evan said. “I doubt I could pull half those moves anymore, and I’m way behind on the latest trends.”

Brandon waved Evan’s excuses away. “You talk like it’s been decades. Dancing’s like riding a bike. If you’re free tonight, we should go to dinner, I know the best Italian restaurant, then we could go back to my place and I’ll show you all my best moves.”

Evan opened his mouth in as much shock as to protest the offer, but before he could get a word out, Jesse lunged at Brandon and shoved him back a step.

“I can’t believe you! I’m right here, and you’re hitting on him!”

 

Brandon rebounded and retaliated with a hard push to Jesse’s chest. “All I did was ask him out to dinner!”

Jesse stepped up to Brandon’s face. “And invite him to your apartment for ‘
all your best moves’
! What a lame ass line!”
“It’s better than making him stay here! You should be ashamed of yourself for making him come to this dump!”
Evan looked back and forth between the two of them, barely restraining from breaking into hysterics. “Wow. I’ve never had two brothers fight over me before. This is hot. We can move it into the bedroom if you boys like.”
Jesse sucked in a horrified gasp. Brandon started snickering. Jesse spun to walk away from him, but Brandon snatched his arm.