Keys to Love (7 page)

With the bill taken care of, Julian headed out, holding the umbrella aloft to once again cover Morgan as well. They rode Keys to Love
47

back to the arena with Julian mostly making small talk about the food.

Morgan drove through the parking lot and up to one of the back entrances. “I’ll drop you off here so you don’t get soaked again.”

Julian smiled at him. “Thank you. And thank you for lunch, also.”

“I have to thank you for that. You’re the one who paid.”

“But you’re the one who provided the good company.”

Julian hopped out of the Jeep, waving over his shoulder as he disappeared inside.

Morgan gazed at the door even after it closed, breathing in Julian’s gentle scent still lingering in the car, his mind spinning with plans.

After not rehearsing the previous Friday because of his interview and photo shoot for
Keyboard Magazine
, then the whole band taking the weekend off, Julian walked quickly down the hall toward the dressing rooms. His eyes hadn’t stopped scanning for Morgan since he arrived. That weekend, rather than go out and find some intimate company, he was content to remain home and feed his fantasies about Morgan. He didn’t understand how his infatuation was growing, not lessening, but determined it must be Morgan’s fault. After all, Morgan was the one so damn attractive and personable.

Julian sighed, deciding it wasn’t his good fortune to see Morgan before rehearsing, and stepped into the dressing room.

Jesse stood in the center, stretching in preparation for dancing.

Brad lounged on the couch, flipping through a motorcycle magazine. Julian headed toward the refrigerator, glancing back at Brad. “Please don’t tell me you’re thinking of getting one of those things.”

Brad chuckled. “Okay, I won’t.”

Jesse shook his head and looked at Julian. “I told him if he crashes like he did before, I was going to pull an Ev on him and ditch him for a new drummer.”

Brad turned another page of the magazine. “Yeah, yeah, I hear your threat and I’ve already forgotten it.”

Julian smiled at the banter while raising a bottle of water to his lips. He paused, thinking he heard what sounded like running footsteps.

Kenny slid by the door, grabbing the doorframe to catch himself, and burst into the room, trying to speak and catch his breath at once. “Krista…Krista Hansen’s here!”

Jesse smirked at Kenny. “Oh, is she?”

Julian snickered under his breath. Everyone knew Kenny had
50 S.J. Frost

a huge crush on their producer Greg’s daughter ever since they met two Christmases ago. At that time, between Krista still being in college and her flirting with Jesse, Kenny kept quiet, albeit bitterly. It irked him to no end that she held more interest in Jesse, but her attraction toward Jesse also vanished once it was revealed who
Jesse
was interested in. At Jesse and Evan’s wedding, Kenny managed to collect enough courage to ask Krista to dance, which only fueled his crush further, even if he hadn’t told her.

“Dude, settle down,” Brad said. “She’s only a girl.”

“She’s only the hottest girl ever!” Kenny retorted.

“She’s twenty-two,” Jesse said. “I think that makes her a woman, not a girl.”

“Either way!” Kenny rushed toward Jesse, holding out his hand. “Give me a breath mint! Hurry! I had an onion bagel for breakfast on my way here.”

Jesse turned his face away, making a disgusted expression.

“Yeah, I can tell.”

“This isn’t the time for jokes! Just give me a damn mint!”

Jesse held up both hands in a helpless gesture. “Sorry. Don’t have any.”

Kenny reached for Jesse’s right front pocket, shoving his hand half inside. “Don’t lie to me! You always have Altoids on you!”

Jesse flinched away, laughing. “Whoa! Easy boy, that’s not a Tic Tac you’re grabbing.”

Kenny jumped back, holding his hand to his chest as if it’d gotten burned.

Julian lost all control and broke into hysterics, along with Brad.

Jesse winked at Kenny. “Just kidding. I hang to the left. And my Altoids are in my car.”

Kenny grabbed him by the upper arms. “Then let’s go so you can give me one!”

“Kenny, I know how irresistible he is, but could you please Keys to Love
51

refrain from propositioning my husband for a blowjob?”

Julian looked toward Evan’s voice, finding him standing in the doorway, smirking. Greg Hansen was next to Evan, wearing an unenthused expression, his giggling daughter, Krista, at his side.

It wasn’t surprising Kenny was so enamored with her. Her lush brunette hair cascaded past her shoulders in thick waves, her eyes were a lovely crystal blue, her features model perfect.

Kenny quickly shook his head. “That’s not what I was saying!

Even if I did want a guy to blow me, it sure as hell wouldn’t be him!”

Jesse’s laughter forced him to stumble to the couch and sit down. Julian saw Krista also laughing harder.

“That came out wrong!” Kenny said. “I only do that with girls! Women, I mean! But I do it with that many! I don’t with any! Hardly.”

Julian laid his hand on Kenny’s shoulder and whispered. “I think you’d do well to be quiet now.”

Kenny glanced at him.

Despite how funny he found the situation, Julian also felt a touch of pity for him. Kenny looked ready to faint from embarrassment. Julian slipped a hand into his own pocket and slid out a stick of gum. He subtly pressed it into Kenny’s palm and smiled as Kenny’s eyes widened in surprise and gratitude.

Greg sighed and looked at Krista. “I knew it was a bad idea to bring you here.”

Krista rolled her eyes. “Like I didn’t hear worse in school, Dad.”

“And probably did worse, too,” Evan said.

“Evan!” Greg bellowed.

Evan moved across the room toward Jesse. “I hate to break it to you, Greg, but she’s a grown woman. Not that it doesn’t hurt me also.” He sat next to Jesse, looking at Krista. “I still remember that young girl following me around backstage at my shows.”

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Krista smiled warmly at him. “And I still remember you putting more security around me than you did yourself.”

“Well, lots of not very nice people go to rock concerts.”

Greg took a seat in one of the chairs. “Keep saying things like that and I’ll be changing my mind on having her work for Phoenix.”

Julian looked to Krista. “You’re going to work for Phoenix?

That’s wonderful!” He gave Kenny a nudge with his elbow. “Isn’t that wonderful, Kenny?”

Kenny slapped one hand to his mouth in what Julian assumed was supposed to be surprise, but he really was popping the gum in. The poor boy, he was so not slick.

“That’s great, Krista!” Kenny said. “Congratulations!”

Krista stepped closer to him. “Thanks, Kenny. I’m really excited about it. My dad even said I might get to work with Black Heart Down, and I’m really excited about that. I’ve loved their music forever.”

“No!” Kenny blurted out, making her jump. He quieted his voice. “I mean, they wouldn’t be any fun to work. Their lead singer, Kyler Christenson, is a total jerk.”

“I thought you liked Kyler,” Jesse chimed in. “You’ve hung out with him before.”

Kenny shot Jesse a sharp glance. “I’ve hung out with Robbie.

Kyler just happened to show up.” He looked back to Krista, smiling. “Their guitar player, Robbie Russo, is a good friend of mine. He’d be okay to work for, but definitely not Kyler. You should work with us.”

Krista’s gaze went to Jesse, a playful smirk on her lips. “Well, from what I’ve heard, your lead singer can be a total jerk, too.”

Jesse let out an exaggerated sigh. “That’s what happens when you’re as famous as me. Tons of nasty rumors circulate around you.”

Julian chuckled. “And occasionally they’re correct.”

Keys to Love
53

Jesse pointed at him. “I’ve never been a jerk to you.”

“No, but I’ve felt the pain of others.”

“Like I was saying,” Kenny broke in. “You should work with us, Krista. I won’t let Jesse be a jerk to you. I promise.”

Krista laid her hand on Kenny’s forearm. “You’re so sweet, Kenny. Thank you.”

Julian glanced at Kenny. He’d never seen him glow in such a way.

Greg loudly cleared his throat. “The truth of it is, she’ll be working with you guys, along with BHD, and many other bands.

She’s my new assistant and over the next couple years, I’m going to work on getting her prepared to take over my job as I settle more into the VP position.”

Kenny snapped his head toward Krista. “How cool!”

“Yeah, but don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because I’m a girl, I mean, woman.” She winked at Kenny.

Kenny laughed, though his face colored again. “I won’t.”

“Congratulations, Krista,” Julian said, making his way toward the couch.

Krista nodded at him. “Thanks, Jules.”

Kenny sat in a plush chair near the couch; Krista took a seat on the arm. Kenny hopped up. “Here, you take the chair.”

She gave him another smile. “I’m fine, but thank you.”

“No really, you should take it.”

Krista nodded in acceptance and took a seat in the chair.

“Since you’re insisting so nicely. Thank you.”

Greg slowly turned his less-than-pleased expression from Kenny and Krista to Evan. “So how’re things going with the auction? I’ve heard a lot of advertising for it.”

“It’s going great. Interest in it is off the charts. I think it’s going to bring in a lot of money for the foundation.”

“What auction?” Krista asked.

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Evan filled her in on the details.

She turned to Kenny. “What are you putting up?”

Jesse spoke before Kenny could answer. “He’s whoring himself out.”

“I am not!” Kenny softened his voice as he spoke to Krista.

“I didn’t know what to put up, Jesse shot down my idea for my lucky pick, so I thought I’d offer a date with me. Just an innocent, good fun date, you know.”

Julian glanced to the side to hide his smirk, especially since Brad and Jesse were all but trembling to not burst out laughing.

He looked at Krista and saw though she wore a polite smile, she wasn’t buying Kenny’s claim to innocence either and from Kenny’s tentative grin, he seemed to realize it.

Deciding it’d be best to distract everyone, and it would also get them out where his chances increased of seeing Morgan, Julian stood and stretched. “Well, boys, we should probably get rehearsing, don’t you think?”

Jesse rose also. “Yeah, we should, considering today and tomorrow are going to be our last days.”

“Don’t we have the rest of the week?” Julian asked.

“We could, but I don’t really feel like it. We’ve got everything down, it’s the dancers and the rest of the staff who need this time, not us. I’m not going to bother with it the day of the auction, and I’d like to relax for the rest of the week before we head out.”

Julian nodded slowly. He had hoped he’d have the entire week to admire Morgan. He chuckled inside. It really was getting bad.

He would get to see the man every day for months, yet he felt sad at missing a few days.

As they stepped out to the hall, he saw Krista slip her arm through Jesse’s and whisper in his ear.

Jesse stopped and faced the others. “You guys go on ahead.

I’ll be right there.”

Kenny looked between him and Krista. “Is everything alright?”

Keys to Love
55

“Yeah. Just go on without me.”

Evan flicked his hand at Greg. “You too.”

Greg gave them a suspicious look, but turned to walk with the others.

Seeing Kenny’s crestfallen face, Julian moved to his side. “You know you don’t have anything to be concerned about when she’s with him.”

Kenny gave him a disheartened smile. “I know. It just sucks she likes talking to him more than me. Not that I don’t know why.

I fall apart and make an ass of myself whenever she’s around.”

“It happens to the best of us. All it means is your feelings for her are genuine.”

“Yeah,” Kenny said softly.

Before reaching the stage, the sound of a male voice pitched high with shouting carried to them. Julian couldn’t discern the words at first, but as they neared, he recognized the voice as Kurt’s.

“Does that look like where the piano goes? Well does it?”

Julian quickened his pace and bounded up the stairs to the stage. Kurt stood in front of Remmy, a couple other roadies, and Morgan. All stared down at the stage floor, hiding their eyes from Kurt, except Morgan who glared directly at him.

“I asked a question!” Kurt said.

“No,” Remmy mumbled.

Kurt cocked his head. “What was that? I didn’t quite catch it.”

Remmy glanced up at him. “I said no. But—”

“Well hallelujah, there is a brain between all of you.”

Morgan took a step toward Kurt. “The piano is sitting there for a reason, if you’d give anyone a chance to tell you.”

Kurt shoved his index finger toward Morgan. “Keep up with the attitude. I’ve about had it with you.”

Julian stormed across the stage. “Is there a problem?”

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Kurt spun around, flashing a smile at Julian. “There’s no problem at all, Mr. Forrester. Nothing I can’t handle, anyhow.”

Julian folded his arms across his chest. “Well it certainly sounds like there’s a problem, and I want to know what it is.”

“It’s nothing you need to concern yourself with. If I can ask for a just an extra moment, we’ll have the stage all set and ready for you guys.”

Morgan looked at Julian. “The problem is, Julian, that we—”

Kurt whirled toward Morgan. “What do I need to do to get you to listen to a damn thing I tell you?”

Julian’s rage hit its breaking point. “Who the hell do you think you are talking to him like that?”

Jesse’s booming voice followed, filling the arena. “Kurt! What the hell is going on?”

Everyone looked toward Jesse marching across the stage. He stopped inches from Kurt. “I don’t ever want to hear you talking to one of my staff like that! Yeah, I said
my
staff! They work for me, not you!” He snapped his hand out, pointing to the piano.