Conquest (38 page)

“He moved,” Brandon said. “Did he wake up?”

 

“He was mumbling in his sleep, then he rolled over,” Trish said flatly. “I couldn’t understand what he was saying.”

Kenny yawned and stretched his arms over his head. “Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m ready to go home since we’ve got a tour bus to catch in six hours.”

“I’m with you,” Julian said, and laid his hand on Evan’s back. “See you soon?”
Evan gave him a weak smile and small, single nod.
Trish walked toward the bedroom door, her eyes averted from Evan as she followed Kenny and Julian. Brandon left to show them out.

With soft footsteps, Evan walked to the edge of the bed. He gazed at Jesse, then sat beside him. He reached over Jesse’s shoulder and gently stroked his hair near his temple.

Jesse stirred. He turned his head toward Evan’s touch. He looked up at him, and his eyes opened wider. “Ev, you’re here. Trish said you weren’t, but I knew you were.”

A soft smile graced Evan’s lips. “I’ve been with you all night, you just didn’t see me. Happy birthday, gorgeous.”

Jesse’s face glowed with a smile. He rolled over to lie on his side facing Evan and curled his body around him. He embraced Evan’s hips and laid his head on his thigh. Evan put one hand on Jesse’s side and continued to stroke his hair with the other. He looked up when Brandon stepped into the doorway.

Brandon folded his arms across his chest, disapproval written on his countenance. After he had left Jesse in Kenny’s and Julian’s care, he managed to track Evan through the club and cornered him by the doors. Never in his life had he seen anyone look so pained. He knew then how desperately Evan wanted to be close to Jesse, but was afraid of upsetting him. He told Evan he could come over to his apartment to see him, and even though Evan declined then, he knew the second his buzzer rang that he had changed his mind. Now as he stood looking at them together, he wondered if he had done the right thing, or when Jesse came out of his alcoholic stupor, would he suffer greater hurt?

“Everyone’s gone,” Brandon said, his tone making it clear he felt Evan should do the same.

 

“I’d like to stay with him a little longer.”

“Yeah well, I’d like to win a Tony, but that isn’t gonna happen anytime soon.”
Evan lowered his gaze and nodded. He shifted to slide out from under him, but the movement roused Jesse. He tightened his hold and buried his face against Evan’s abdomen. Evan closed his eyes.
Brandon could see he was searching for the strength to push Jesse away. He looked at his brother clinging to Evan and let out a frustrated sigh. “You can stay a little longer.” He turned and closed the door halfway, squinting at Evan. “I’m leaving the door open.”
A grin slipped onto Evan’s lips at Brandon’s parental tone. His attention moved back to Jesse when he felt one of Jesse’s hands slide up the back of his shirt to rest on his bare skin. That single soft touch was enough to make his cock fill at a record rate. He tried to adjust how he sat so Jesse wouldn’t notice, but he already had. Jesse tipped his head toward Evan’s lap and nuzzled his crotch.
Evan exhaled a fast breath, need surged through his body in a heated wave. Since their break-up, he had lived in celibacy. His mind rejected the thought of another man, his heart quivered in fear at letting anyone else get close to him, he felt repulsed at the idea of someone’s touch other than Jesse’s. He had known before, but now with even greater conviction, Jesse was the only one who would ever be able to fulfill him in body, mind, heart, and spirit. But he knew he couldn’t do this, not while Jesse was in such a state, and scooted back on the bed to put some space between them.

Jesse sat up and climbed onto Evan’s lap, straddling him.

Evan put both hands on Jesse’s shoulders in a half-hearted attempt to keep him back. “Jess, stop. You don’t know what you’re doing.”

Jesse chuckled and pressed firmer against him. “That’s something you’ve never said to me before.”
Evan swallowed hard. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he should have anticipated this. He knew how Jesse was when he drank, the stages he went through, first giddy, then wild, then sleepy, then ready to screw like hell, but he thought with everything that had happened between them Jesse wouldn’t want it, not to mention he seemed way too tanked to make it to the last stage. He should’ve known better than to have underestimated him.
Jesse put one hand behind Evan’s head and kissed him. A soft whimper sounded in Evan’s throat as the last bit of his feeble defense broke. He took Jesse’s face in both hands and deepened the kiss. The taste of alcohol told him what he was doing was wrong, that he needed to stop, he couldn’t take advantage of him, but under the alcohol was Jesse’s taste. He wanted to kiss him just a few seconds longer.
Jesse heaved his weight forward and knocked Evan to his back. Evan took a quick breath to protest, but before he could speak, Jesse claimed his mouth again. A groan rumbled deep in Jesse’s throat. He thrust his tongue into Evan’s mouth with more force and ground his hips against him. He left Evan’s lips and sat back to take his shirt off. He got it wrestled halfway over his head before his alcohol-induced un-coordination took over and he got stuck. Evan sat up and yanked it the rest of the way off for him, thinking that if Jesse was so lit he had trouble getting undressed, they really shouldn’t keep going.

“Jess,” he started, stopping as he watched Jesse unzip his pants.

Jesse pulled his own cock free and took Evan’s hands. He wrapped the fingers of one around his base, the fingers of the other around the middle so it was completely encased in Evan’s grip. He held Evan’s hands in place with his own over them and thrust into them. His head fell back on his shoulders, a loud moan passed over his lips.

Evan couldn’t take his eyes off him. Reveling in his pleasure, Jesse looked so beautiful, so powerful. The moonlight illuminated his nude torso to have a pearlescent shine, his black hair contrasting against his fair skin. Jesse rocked his hips, his leather pants hugging his thighs, the golden sun pendant hanging in the tender hollow at the base of his throat. Evan knew he had been hopelessly defeated.

He flung Jesse’s hands away, grabbed him by the waist, and tossed him to the side. Jesse gasped as he hit the mattress so hard he bounced up. Before he finished inhaling his next breath, Evan was on top of him, taking possession of his mouth. He gripped a handful of Evan’s hair and pushed his mouth against him, desperate to taste every part of Evan’s tongue.

Evan broke the kiss and sat back, tearing his shirt over his head. He kicked off his shoes and yanked Jesse’s off while Jesse arched his hips up and wiggled his pants down. Evan ripped them down Jesse’s legs the rest of the way, threw them aside, and pushed his jeans and boxer-briefs off together. Jesse slid back to the center of the bed and lay down on his back, his legs falling open wide to the sides.

At the sight of Jesse spread before him, Evan lost all control and climbed onto the bed. Jesse sat partially up to meet him and pulled him down on top of him with his arms wrapped around him. Both sighed at having their bare skin meet after being separated for so long. With his feet planted on the bed, Jesse snapped his hips up to Evan. Evan thrust down hard against him. Their cocks pressed together, unyielding flesh against unyielding flesh, dueling for pleasure from the other.

Grasping, clinging, clawing, their frantic movements made it impossible to keep their lips together, each panted his breath into the other. Jesse raked his fingers down Evan’s back to his ass and clamped them around the cheeks, his short nails sinking into Evan’s skin. A hard groan forced its way from Evan’s throat, and he ground his cock with more force on Jesse’s. He felt Jesse’s body shudder in ecstasy and knew he was seconds away.

“Ev, Ev,” Jesse said between fast breaths. “I love you. I love you, Evan. I love—”

He cried out, his hips jerking up to Evan in massive release. At the same instant, Evan let out a deep shout, adding his climax to Jesse’s.

Evan laid his forehead in the curve of Jesse’s neck, trying to catch his breath as he listened to Jesse do the same. Jesse’s breathing began to steady and deepen. He felt Jesse’s hold on him relax and one hand fell limp on the bed. Evan raised his head and looked down at him.

“Jess?”
Jesse lay silent, his lips parted in sleep.
Evan placed a whisper soft kiss on his forehead. “I love you

too, Jesse.”

 

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTY
-
THREE

Evan carefully lifted Jesse’s arm from across his chest and slid his leg out from under his. He eased out of the bed and collected his scattered clothing. Once dressed, he stood at the edge of the bed gazing down at him. He pulled the blankets up around Jesse’s neck and kissed his cheek one more time.

He walked out of the bedroom, closing the door softly behind, and heard the TV playing. He closed his eyes in a long blink. He had hoped he wouldn’t have to face Brandon, not only because he stayed the entire night, but also because after Jesse passed out, he realized he forgot about the bedroom door being open. He put on his jeans so he could get a towel to clean Jesse with, and when he stepped into the hall to go to the bathroom, he saw Brandon’s bedroom door closed tight. He didn’t hold much hope that Brandon didn’t know what had happened.

He took a deep breath and walked into the living room.

Brandon sat on the couch in a pair of sweat-shorts, eating cereal and watching Yu-Gi-Oh!. Achilles was on the couch beside him, begging, but when the puppy saw Evan, he bounded to him.

“Trying to sneak out before he wakes up?” Brandon said without taking his eyes off the TV. “That’s real brave.” Evan bent to pet Achilles. “It’s not exactly what you think.”

Brandon looked at him, his blue eyes dark with anger. “I’ve woken up alone enough in my life to know exactly what it is, so spare me the bullshit, Evan.” He shook his head in disgust and turned his gaze back to the TV. “Just get out. It’s my own stupid fault for letting you come over. But for some reason, I thought you were more of a man than to take advantage of him while he was drunk.”

Evan slunk toward the door with his head down. He paused, his hand on the knob, and looked back at Brandon. “I know what your answer will be, but I need to ask you a favor.”

Brandon slowly raised his eyes, looking at him in complete disbelief that he would dare ask something of him.

“I…” Evan began, “I was hoping you would take care of the house for me while I’m on the road. You can stay there if you want to, I’ll handle all the bills, of course, and—”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Brandon exclaimed. He flung his spoon into his bowl so hard milk splashed up. He set the bowl on the coffee table as he stood and advanced on Evan, stopping inches from him. “After everything you’ve done, after the way you’ve treated my brother, you’ve got the fucking balls to stand in my apartment and ask me to take care of your house? And to say I could stay there, in the house you and him lived in together, do you have any idea what that would do to him? Do you know how that would look? I knew when I met you that you were an arrogant son of bitch, but I never imagined you could be this heartless and I never would have guessed you were this goddamn stupid.”

Evan couldn’t bring himself to look into Brandon’s eyes, or at any part of him, and focused on the floor.

 

Brandon shoved Evan hard on the chest, making him stumble backward into the door. “Get out.”

With his eyes cast downward, Evan turned and opened the door. “I’m sorry, Brandon,” he said softly as the door clicked shut behind him.

Brandon spun away from the door and shook his fingers roughly through his hair. He stomped back to the couch and grabbed his cereal bowl, grimacing at the soggy Honey Nut Cheerios, then heard Jesse’s bedroom door open.

A second later, Jesse shuffled to the end of the hall and stood staring at the door leading out of the apartment. “He’s gone, isn’t he?”

“Yeah.”

 

“How long ago?”

 

C
ONQUEST
327
“Not long.”

Jesse sat in a dark blue recliner catty-cornered from the couch. Achilles trotted over to him, and he reached down to pet him.

After several minutes of silence, Brandon said, “He had the nerve to ask me to take care of his house while he was on tour. Can you believe that?”

“What’d you tell him?”
“I told him no, obviously.”
Confusion made Jesse shake his head. “Why?”

Brandon looked at him in greater bafflement. “What do you mean
why
?”

“He doesn’t have anyone else he can turn to, Brandon. He’s all alone. And he looks at you as family. You can’t say no to him.”

“Well I did. And if he looks at me as family, then he should’ve shown more respect in the way he treated you.” “What the hell are you talking about?” Jesse demanded.

Brandon rolled his eyes. “Don’t you remember anything from last night? I heard enough to know that asshole should’ve had more control and left you alone.” He softened his voice. “I’m sorry for letting him come over. I thought I was doing the right thing and it’d make you feel better if he told you happy birthday.”

Jesse fixed Brandon with a stern glare. “If you ever call him a name like that again, black belt or not, I’ll kick your ass.”
Brandon choked out a shocked gasp. “You’re joking, right? He crept out the freakin’ door this morning like a dog and that’s an insult to him!” He pointed at Achilles.
“If I’m not angry about it, then why the hell are you? I want you to call him this afternoon and tell him you’ll help with the house while he’s gone.”
Brandon snorted and looked away.
Jesse stood up and marched across the living room to him. “I’m serious, Brandon. If you won’t do it because he asked, then do it because I’m asking.”

Brandon folded his arms across his chest. “Fine,” he said grudgingly.

Jesse exhaled a relieved breath. “Thanks. I’m going to get a shower. The limo should be here in half an hour to take me to the bus.” He turned to go to the bathroom and paused at the entrance to the hall. “He did the right thing, Brandon. If he had stayed, I never would’ve been able to leave. He knows that. He’s the strong one, not me. And until I become stronger, I don’t deserve to be with him.”