Keys to Love (31 page)

Color rose to Remmy’s cheeks and deepened by the second until his face burned red. “I didn’t mean to act strange. It’s just…I had a crush on you, but I didn’t think you were into it, so I didn’t make a move. Then you told me you were gay and seeing someone, and I was kicking myself. I was thinking of trying to approach you, but then I saw who you were with.” He looked at Julian. A sad smile touched his lips. “I knew I couldn’t compare to you, so I’ve been working on moving forward and thought the best way to do it was to keep my distance.” He turned to Morgan.

“I’m sorry I acted weird, man. I was just so damn disappointed.”

“I had no idea,” Morgan said, his surprise revealed in his voice.

Remmy let out a couple soft chuckles. “Of course you didn’t.

I was too shy to let you know.”

Jesse jumped into the conversation. “But you’re over him now, right?”

Remmy nodded. “Yeah. It wasn’t like I was in love. It was just a crush. Or lust.” He blushed again and glanced at Julian. “Sorry.”

Julian smiled at him. “I can certainly relate to lusting after him, and if you’re over it now, then we’re fine.”

Jesse interrupted again. “You’re certain you’re over him? You don’t have anything like strands of his hair saved in a Ziploc, or jerk off while holding a tissue he sneezed in, right?”

“Okay, on both things, ew and no,” Remmy said.

252 S.J. Frost

“Great!” Jesse gave him a hard pat on the back.

“Congratulations, you’ve just been promoted to staff manager.”

For a second time, Remmy’s jaw dropped, this time leaving him speechless.

Evan sighed. “You might’ve wanted to discuss this with your manager before making a decision like that.”

Jesse turned to him. “Does my manager oppose?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Perfect!” Jesse patted Remmy on the back a couple more times. “Now gather your guys and get that piano unloaded before the gas fumes absorb into the wood.”

Remmy snapped out of his daze. “I don’t know how to thank you, Jesse. I…I’m in shock.”

“You can thank me by doing a good job,” Jesse said, leading the way into the stadium.

Julian gripped Morgan’s hand as they followed. When everyone walked into a dressing room, Morgan pulled him aside.

“I want you to really think about pressing charges against Kurt. For your own safety, he needs to be locked up. Then you can worry about how to get him help. We’ll talk to a lawyer and see what can be done. Maybe there’d be a way to send a shrink to him behind bars.”

Julian looked into his eyes. “I want you to be safe too, so I agree. I’ll let the police handle him.”

Morgan caressed Julian’s cheek. “You shouldn’t have gone after him.”

Julian laid his hand over Morgan’s heart. “Neither should you.”

“I only wanted to keep you safe.”

“And I wanted the same thing. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Julian tipped his head back to meet Morgan’s lips. Morgan Keys to Love
253

embraced him as Julian’s tongue glided into his mouth. Julian put his love, his joy, his relief into the kiss. Everyone and everything disappeared around them. As the kiss came to a slow end, Morgan rested his forehead on Julian’s; Julian kept his arms around him, neither wanting to loosen their hold on the other.

Julian walked out of the bathroom, rubbing a towel over his wet hair. He looked at Morgan sprawled across the bed on his stomach, his eyes closed, half his bare back uncovered, the towel from his own shower discarded on the floor. A soft smile rose to Julian’s lips. It took nothing more than to see Morgan lying there, peaceful and safe, to flood him with gratitude. After everything they’d gone through that day, he made a silent promise to himself to never take for granted having Morgan at his side.

He was still partly in disbelief at all that’d happened. Talking to the police should’ve made the reality sink in, but it still seemed unreal. Yet despite it all, the show had to go on. Jesse offered to cancel the concert for him, and he was grateful for the thought, but told him no. It was true he didn’t feel like performing. He wanted nothing more than to lie in Morgan’s arms. But with going on to perform, felt it would be a step toward healing, if not forgetting. He did have to admit, it felt amazing playing his cherished piano on stage. Though now that the culprit behind the vandalism was caught, he decided to send it back home. He didn’t want to risk it getting damaged on the road.

Julian patted Chopin on the head before moving toward the bed. He turned off the lights and slipped under the covers.

Rather than lie beside Morgan, he lay on top of him, his chest on Morgan’s back, and embraced him as much as he could.

A pleased groan rumbled in Morgan’s throat. “Is this how we’re going to sleep?”

“I was thinking so.” Julian placed a gentle kiss on Morgan’s bruised cheek. “I feel like I can’t get close enough to you.”

Morgan took Julian’s hand. “I feel the same way. It always felt good to have you touching me, but right now, it’s amazing.” He lay quiet for a moment. “Are you still thinking of getting Kurt help?”

“Yeah. I’m going to call my attorneys tomorrow and see what
256 S.J. Frost

they have to say. Don’t get me wrong, I want him to be punished for what he did, but simply punishing him isn’t going to help him get over whatever issues he has.”

“I have an idea what kind of therapy might help him, but you’d probably disagree with it, since it’d involve me with a baseball bat.”

Julian slapped him on the hip and Morgan’s body shook with laughter beneath him. Morgan shifted to flip over. Julian lifted up, then once Morgan was on his back, settled on top of him again.

Morgan wrapped his arms around him, clasping his hands behind Julian’s back. “I should warn you, I’ve been doing some thinking.”

“That
does
sound foreboding. What have you been thinking about?”

“Us, our relationship, the tour, our future.”

One of Julian’s slender eyebrows rose. “And here I thought I was joking when I said it sounded foreboding.”

Morgan gave Julian’s ass a sharp pat. “I’m being serious.”

Julian lowered his head and kissed Morgan’s neck. “Then continue.”

“I want to be with you, even more than we are now.”

Julian lifted his head to meet Morgan’s gaze.

Morgan touched the backs of his fingertips to Julian’s cheek.

“It’s a weird thing, working on the tour. We’re always close, but always so far apart. We’re together, but separate. And after today, that’s not going to work for me anymore. It wasn’t in the first place, but at least it was more tolerable after we started being open. Now, not even that is enough.”

“So what do you want?” Julian asked softly.

“I want to spend more time with you. I want to be at your side in everything you do.” Morgan grinned. “Or at least in everything you want me at your side for. But I don’t know how I can do that Keys to Love
257

while working. I know Remmy would let me travel with you and the guys, but then I’d always be arriving later for setup, and if I’m going to start doing more events with you, even just meet-andgreets, my work time will get cut into there, too. Then resentment really will start building between me and the other roadies.”

“There’s one way around it all.”

“What?”

A smirked quirked Julian’s lips. “I think you know.”

“I’d like it better if you said it.”

“Ah, but if I said it, that’d make things so easy on you.”

Morgan sighed. “You’re not going to make this easy on me, are you?”

“It’s called payback. Remember when you made me fumble my way through asking you for a committed relationship?”

“I should’ve known that’d come back to haunt me.”

“And it has. Now get on with spilling it.”

Morgan laughed softly. “Alright. I do know one way things could work out. I’d have to quit being a roadie. Which would mean…” he took a deep breath and let his words fly out on the exhale, “I’d need your help.” He cleared his throat. “Financially.”

He spoke more quickly. “But not fully. I have some savings and some more things I could liquidate at the store, which I’ll probably have to do if I really am going to go back to school.”

He paused. “Oh, I didn’t tell you I decided I really am going to do that, did I?”

Julian kissed him lightly on the lips. “No, you didn’t, but I’m glad to hear it. Which means, I’ll help you now.” He kissed him again. “I’ll help you through school.” He placed another kiss on him. “And I’ll beat you if you liquidate a single instrument.” He kissed him once more.

Morgan laughed. “And I believe you would since you keep that riding crop handy.” He exhaled a breath, letting out the last of his tension and embraced Julian tight, his voice coming softer.

“Thank you.”

258 S.J. Frost

“Don’t thank me.” Julian put his lips to Morgan’s cheek, letting him feel his smile. “I’m doing this for purely selfish reasons since it means I get to have you with me all the time.”

“Then I’m grateful for your selfishness.”

Julian brought their lips together. As he slid his tongue into Morgan’s mouth, Morgan sucked it deeper. He eased back, though wasn’t willing to take his lips from Morgan’s. “You don’t have to be grateful, you don’t have to thank me. You’re my partner, Morgan. I want to help you because I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Morgan squeezed Julian against him as he kissed him once more.

Julian stroked Morgan’s hair, his face, his neck, and shoulders.

His fingers traveled over every inch of him he could reach. To do nothing more than touch and kiss Morgan satisfied him in a way like he’d never known. This was his future, what his life would be every day from this moment forward. His joy at the thought made him smile through the kiss.

Morgan stopped kissing him. “What are you smiling about?”

“My future.” Julian gazed down at him. “It’s a beautiful thing to be able to see and touch it.”

Both smiled as their lips met again.

Morgan rubbed his legs along Julian’s. He wanted to embrace Julian, to cling to him, and know he was okay. When everything that had happened earlier, his only thought had been to protect Julian. He didn’t care about the piano or himself. He wanted to catch Kurt and beat him into the ground to ensure he’d never be able to hurt Julian again, whether physically, mentally, or emotionally.

When Kurt stunned him with the elbow to the cheek, he thought he’d failed. In that split second, he waited for Kurt to strike again, but then Julian had appeared. He strengthened his hold on him. His Julian, all fire and courage as he protected him.

How it was possible for his love to grow he didn’t know, but in that instant it did, and he knew all his days now belonged wholly to Julian.

Keys to Love
259

Morgan felt Julian shift his hips, pressing their hard cocks together. A husky groan left him. He raked his fingers down Julian’s back to his ass. Julian thrust on him, and at the friction of Julian’s cock grinding on his own, Morgan broke the kiss and arched his head back. Julian kissed down his throat and moved lower. Morgan’s breath fled as Julian sucked at one of his nipples and pinched the other. He needed Julian inside him. A moment before, he was content to hold him. Now that they’d pushed up their passion, he felt desperate to connect with Julian’s body.

Morgan combed his fingers through Julian’s hair. “Let’s cut the foreplay short tonight.”

Julian lifted his head, a smirk on his lips. “I think we’ve already been at that for some time.”

Julian kissed the center of Morgan’s chest, then moved off him to get the lube. Morgan flipped to his stomach again and kicked the blankets off. Julian turned back with the lube in hand, his gaze landing on Morgan’s beautifully sculpted ass. He moved over him and sat back on his heels between Morgan’s spread thighs. He ran one hand down Morgan’s back, over the lines of muscle. As he reached his tailbone, he drew the tip of his middle finger across it and lightly over the outside of his crack. Morgan rolled his hips at the gentle touch.

Julian bowed his head, kissing the backs of Morgan’s shoulders. He traced his spine with his tongue down to the tip of his tailbone, then followed the same path back up, ending his journey as Morgan turned his head for a kiss. He slowly pulled back to sit up again and slicked his fingers. He eased them between the solid ass cheeks and rubbed Morgan’s small hole.

Morgan parted his thighs still more and pushed up to his touch.

Julian lay beside him, kissing Morgan’s shoulder and the back of his neck as he stretched him. Morgan raised and lowered his hips with every thrust Julian made. Julian pushed a third finger into him. He heard Morgan’s breath leave him, saw Morgan’s hand grip the bottom sheet in a fist. He worked him a few moments more, then withdrew his fingers.

Julian brought his body over him. He guided his cock to
260 S.J. Frost

Morgan’s hole. As the head touched it, Morgan lifted his ass off the bed, silently showing his desire to take it in. Julian pushed down, his cock head pressing into him. Once his full length was buried inside Morgan’s heat, he relaxed his body on top of him and held him. He drifted one hand down Morgan’s arm and took his hand; Morgan locked their fingers together.

Julian started with slow, gentle thrusts. With all they had faced that day, having their bodies joined brought him comfort and peace. From the soft, purring moans Morgan made, he knew he felt the same way. He nuzzled into Morgan’s hair; his lips explored him in tender kisses.

A needy groan came from Morgan. He bumped his ass up against Julian’s body. Julian understood what he wanted. He thrust harder, faster. Morgan’s hold on his hand tightened.

Morgan spoke between quick breaths. “Jules…Julian…I love you. So much. So very much.”

Morgan’s body constricted, then released as he came with a loud moan. Hearing and feeling Morgan’s pleasure pushed Julian’s to the edge. He thrust of few more times, then clenched Morgan’s hand with painful force as he emptied his cum inside him. He dropped heavily on top of him. His body rose and fell with the deep breaths Morgan took.