Conquest (33 page)
Jesse panted for breath, his arms stretched up on the bed with his hands pressed flat against the headboard, bracing himself against Evan’s vigorous thrusts. His legs rested over Evan’s shoulders. He opened his eyes and looked at Evan, his torso glistening in sweat. The sight of Evan’s body, the feel of his strength in each thrust, drove Jesse closer to climax. He pressed his head against the mattress, moaning high and loud.
The sound of Jesse in pleasure took Evan’s passion to a fiercer level. He thrust harder and grabbed Jesse’s cock in his right hand. Jesse let out a sharp gasp at Evan’s forceful grip, yanking and pulling on it. He couldn’t hold back. He arched off the bed, squeezing Evan’s neck with his legs.
Evan continued to pound into him with each pulse of his orgasm, making it feel as though it lasted twice as long. Evan slammed into him a final time with a short yell. Jesse felt Evan’s cock throbbing as it filled him with cum.
Evan laid his head against Jesse’s right knee, his eyes closed as he caught his breath. It wasn’t until his breathing got closer to normal that he stirred. He eased Jesse’s legs from his shoulders and pulled out of him, then collapsed on his back beside him.
A deep chuckle sounded in Jesse’s throat. With effort, he rolled onto his side and draped one arm across Evan’s chest. “Just imagine how wild it’s going to be when we’re touring together. Of course, having me be your opening act isn’t going to help put the rumors about us to rest.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen anyway after your interview.”
Jesse glanced away from him. “I know you said you weren’t upset, but you are a little bit, aren’t you?”
Evan flipped toward Jesse. He gently held Jesse’s chin and turned his head to look into his eyes, his voice soft and warm. “No, I’m not upset. The media will eventually brush off what you said so long as we don’t give them any more ammunition. Sooner or later another big celeb will do something to take the attention off us and make the paparazzi see dollar signs. We just have to be extra careful until things quiet down.”
Jesse tried to give him a smile, but only a ghost of one came to his lips. “It’s not really
we
, though, is it? I’m the one with the big mouth. The thing is, I know what I was supposed to say, but when I was actually supposed to put it in action, I couldn’t. I felt like I was betraying you, and us. And I can’t do that.”
Evan gazed at him, not having any words to combat Jesse’s confession. He held Jesse closer. “I know. I don’t want to either.”
Jesse held onto him, his mind, his heart a turmoil of confusion and emotion. All his life, the only thing he wanted was to make music and share it with the world. He always felt nothing would ever mean more to him than conquering the masses with his gift. Now that he was on the edge of achieving his dream, when he had already won his first battles, the only thing that felt truly important was the man he had his arms around.
“I have something that’ll cheer you up,” Evan said. He sat up, pulled open the top drawer of the nightstand, retrieved an envelope, and handed it to Jesse.
Evan pulled the tickets out of Jesse’s hand and flung them over the edge of the bed. He pushed him to his back and climbed on top of him. “I thought a private suite would be nice if we wanted to invite everyone along, but now I’m thinking maybe it’d be better not to.”
“Great! At least I know where your priorities are!” Evan ground his hips and quickly rising cock against him. “I guess I’ll just have to get it all worked out before Sunday afternoon.”
Evan covered Jesse’s mouth with his hand. “Shhh, believe me, if it was the Giants, I wouldn’t have even thought of saying something like that. But it’s just the Bears.”
Jesse pulled Evan’s hand away. “
Just
the Bears? Haven’t you lived in this city long enough to know you don’t insult the Bears?”
Jesse sighed. “All those years ago, and it still won’t go away.”
“Even without that dark blemish, I’m sorry, gorgeous, I’ll always be a Giants fan. But don’t worry, I’ll be there to comfort you when they lose.”
“I can’t believe you said that.” Jesse pushed on Evan’s shoulders. “You’re denied.” He flipped onto his stomach and stretched over the edge of the bed to get the tickets.
Grabbing him by the shoulder and one hip, Evan yanked him back under him. “Is that so?”
Jesse smiled. “Yeah.”
Evan lowered his head and kissed the back of Jesse’s neck. He drifted lower, his lips gliding over his shoulder blades. Jesse closed his eyes as Evan’s tongue caressed down his spine to his tailbone and back up. He felt Evan’s silken arousal pressing against his ass and moaned deep in his throat as he pushed back toward it.
Jesse groaned loud and lifted his body to Evan’s thrust, letting him go deeper. Evan took hold of Jesse’s hip with one hand, seeking out his hand with the other, and clutched them together.
The sound of the buzzer echoed through the house, giving Jesse and Evan a brutal awakening that someone was outside the gates. Since it wasn’t the day for the housecleaners, gardeners, or pool cleaners to come, and only six other people knew where Evan’s house was, and of those, only Brandon had a code to get past the gates, Jesse decided as sad as it was, either Kenny, Julian, Trish, JJ, or Greg were going to have to die for waking them up. He felt Evan tense behind him and knew he was thinking the same thing, especially since they had made it clear to everyone the day before at the Bears game they wouldn’t be in on Monday.
Jesse took Evan’s hand and put it on his usual morning erection. “Do you think we can drown out the buzzer long enough the idiot will give up and go away?”
Evan tightened his fingers around Jesse’s solid shaft, tucked his hips tight against him, and kissed the back of his neck. “I’m positive we can.”
Jesse turned his head and found Evan’s lips. Evan’s cock filled against him and shifted so it nestled between his ass cheeks. Evan deepened the kiss, pushing against him at the same moment.
A deep growl shook Evan’s throat. Jesse could tell it was one of annoyance rather than aggressive passion.
Evan drew his lips away and flung the covers off. “You’ll have my back in case someone finds the body, right?”
“Of course,” Jesse said with a yawn. He yanked the blankets up around his neck. “But Lake Michigan is pretty deep, so I think we’ll be okay.”
Evan hopped into his black running pants and stormed out of the bedroom, turning away from the stairs and heading down to a closed door at the end of the hall. Opening it, he walked into the security room. He looked at the two monitors for the cameras by the entrance to the private road, swearing under his breath as Greg, in his silver Mercedes-Benz S-Class, repeatedly hit the call button. Evan pounded the keys to manually open the gates.
He opened the gates for the driveway, then stomped down the stairs. When Greg’s car stopped, Evan whipped open one of the doors and slammed it behind him as he stepped onto the porch. “What the fuck is the matter with you?”
Evan took the tabloids and looked down at them. One featured a picture on the cover of him and Jesse eating at a restaurant with a headline reading, “Evan Arden’s Special Dinner Date.” The second boasted a shot of them walking out of the studio with his arm over Jesse’s shoulders and the headline, “Evan Arden’s New Love?”
Evan handed the tabloids back to Greg. “Unless they show us kissing, groping, sucking, or screwing, I really don’t give a shit.”
“That’s real nice, Evan. I don’t think you appreciate how serious this is. Obviously the paparazzi have been slinking around with more stealth than usual looking to finally break a scandal on you since they could never nail you before, and now they’ve finally done it!”
“You’re overreacting. Those pictures are easily explained away as two friends hanging out together. And no one believes those stupid things, anyway.”
“Whether they believe them or not isn’t the issue. It’s enough to put the idea in people’s heads, not that it isn’t there already with Jesse’s little confession on TV. I’m less concerned about the damn media than I am about him.”
Evan stared at him for a second, then slowly lowered his gaze.
“You know I’m right, I can see it. He’s the hottest thing going right now and if it’s left up to him, he’s going to shoot his career right down the drain because he’s so enamored with you he won’t listen to reason about the need to keep your relationship under wraps. Your career could probably rebound if you came out, but this is the most delicate time for him and Conquest. Right now, they’re balancing on the line of being the next great super-group or becoming one hit wonders, and the loyalty they build in their fans now is what’s going to make or break them.”
“Talking isn’t enough anymore!” Greg grabbed Evan’s upper arm for emphasis. “He won’t listen. He doesn’t understand. Jesse’s dancing through life in his own little fairytale world where everything’s happy and perfect, and anything that disagrees with him, he either blows off or forces to his opinion. So unless you’ve got some trick up your sleeve to make him see the reality of the world around him, this can’t continue. Sooner or later he’s going to get a wakeup call, and if it doesn’t come from you, then it’s going to come in a way where everything he’s ever wanted is going to be lost forever.”
Evan turned his head, unable to look at Greg. With each beat of his heart coming faster, his blood chilled in fear. He took in a shaking breath, trying to loosen his choked throat. “What…do you want me to do?”
“I think you know what you have to do. If you care at all about him and his dreams.” Greg handed the tabloids back to Evan and turned for his car. He looked at him over the roof, then slid in and drove away.
Evan stood staring down at the ground, holding the tabloids loosely at his side. He sank down on the porch steps, his head in his hands.
Jesse reached out for Evan, his hand found only cold sheets beside him. He remembered someone ringing the buzzer and Evan leaving to see who it was. He must’ve dosed off again and Evan must still be stuck with whoever came by.
He rolled over to check the alarm clock and heard paper crinkling beside him. He wiggled his hand out from under the covers and smacked it down until it fell on the source of the sound. He picked up the two tabloids. His heart spiraled toward his stomach that churned with a sick flip. He sat up and opened one of the magazines to the article implying that he and Evan were lovers.
Jesse jerked his head toward the balcony. Evan stood outside with his back to him, staring out over the lake. He wore only a pair of jeans. Jesse gazed at his bare back for a moment before looking at the tabloids again.
“It’s cute you can find humor in this,” Evan said, pushing off the railing and turning into the bedroom. “Especially since it looks to me like the fun’s over.”
Evan veered toward his closet and stepped inside. “I told you we had to be careful. I can’t have these rumors flying around me while I’m trying to re-launch my career.”
Evan rested his hand on a black T-shirt and closed his eyes, trying to steel himself to continue. He took a deep breath and yanked the shirt off its hanger. “Yeah, the pictures are nothing more than innuendo, but there’s not much for people to question when you’re going on TV babbling how you love me.”
Jesse sat quiet for a moment. “But, you said you weren’t upset about that.”
Evan stepped back into the bedroom pulling the T-shirt over his head. “I just didn’t want you to get worked up thinking I was mad at you, and I thought it would eventually bother me less, but now I’m getting slammed with this. Personally, I think it was pretty goddamn selfish of you to act like that. Did you even think about me, or what I wanted?”
Evan moved to the foot of the bed, fixing him with a cold glare. “You obviously didn’t think hard enough. You really can be naïve, Jess. It’s no wonder Brandon’s always saying all you got are book smarts and no common sense, because if you had even a drop of common sense, you would’ve realized the damage you could have inflicted on my career.”
“I’m sorry! I’ll admit I wasn’t thinking of the harm it could do, but the last thing I want is to hurt your career. I thought you would be happy that I didn’t offer myself as available to the world. I guess I took it a step too far.”
Jesse slid across the bed to get closer to him. “But I’ll do better from now on. I won’t ever say anything like that again in public.”
Jesse stared at him, the ice in Evan’s eyes making him almost unrecognizable. Panic’s iron fingers began to close around his heart. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. “Are…are you…breaking up with me?”
