FOURTEEN

 

It had been less than a month since Aaron and Brad had tried to claim the same taxi. Less than a month, but how much had his life changed, even in such a short time? He had been alone for so long, taking people into his bed only on a temporary basis, and only when the need for pleasure, for companionship, became so strong that he couldn’t resist anymore.

It was so different with Aaron, though. That was the really incredible thing about it, how Aaron gave him both pleasure and companionship, like no one else ever had. It was like, his whole life, Brad had been content with something that was no more than a pale imitation of what he needed. Like he’d been fed beef jerky his whole life and told that it was steak.

Now he knew the difference, and it was actually sort of terrifying, if he let it be. What would happen when he and Aaron inevitably broke it off? When Aaron came to his senses, maybe found someone younger, his own age. Or he disappeared off into the sunset with that sister of his, which Aaron hadn’t made a secret about wanting to do.

But even with all of that in his mind, being with Aaron was the best thing that had ever happened to him, and he had decided to let it be what it was. Maybe he would lose it, maybe that was inevitable, but he wasn’t going to lose out on these moments here. He could hold on to them when it all ended.

Aaron was over at Brad’s house more often than not these days, to the point where Brad had jokingly—maybe—made a comment about giving Aaron a key and having him move his stuff over. Brad had expected Aaron to do nothing more than laugh, or maybe just give him a pitying look, which would be much worse, but instead, Aaron had just given him a secret, thoughtful little smile, one which seemed to make the late fall sun shine brighter than it did in the hottest, clearest days of August.

Not that he was ready to share his space, of course. Not that Aaron would really accept it if Brad offered. But at the end of this tour, which was going to be nearly six months long. Really, it could have gone on a lot longer, but Aaron’s insistence on a six-month contract made that impossible.

Besides, Brad had been in this business for a long time. He had never managed a band as major as this one, but he had watched, and he had seen many acts crash and burn after being on tour for too long. The truth was, he felt a little bit guilty about the whole Lost Boys thing. He was planning to abandon them to manage Aaron, but maybe he could manage to do both.

Sentiment had never been a huge thing for him, but when he watched the Lost Boys at practice and saw how sweet Lance and Jamie were with each other and saw the bond between all of the boys, well, he couldn’t help but admit that they had something. They were more than colleagues and coworkers.

They were friends, all of them except for Aaron, and even there, Brad happened to walk in when Ken’s boyfriend, and the songwriter for the band, was there with his daughter. Little Jade, not yet nine, was the center of attention, but when she fixed her solemn gray eyes up at Aaron and reached for his hand and smiled winsomely up at him, even he couldn’t resist.

Never in his life would Brad have thought that Aaron would have a soft spot for children, nor that he would be so damn good with them. Jade was soon settled down beside Aaron on the floor, chattering away a mile a minute as she twisted her hair around her finger, and, Brad noted with some amusement, she was also twisting Aaron around her little finger just as much.

The child probably reminded him of his own sister. It was hard to say. The old saying about still waters running deep, Brad had never found it to be as true as it was with Aaron. He had hidden depths that Brad suspected couldn’t ever be fully explored, not unless Aaron allowed it.

But if Brad did what he had wanted to do originally, if he just abandoned the band completely, he would be inconveniencing not just the boys themselves, but also Justin, and his sweet, energetic chatterbox of a daughter, too. It was right there, looking at the charming tableau in front of him, that Brad came to a decision.

He would keep on trying to get Aaron for his own, both personally and professionally, if he could. But he would keep managing the Lost Boys, too, if they wanted him. Once upon a time, before Brad’s time, there had been another Lost Boy, Darien. He had left the band to be with his boyfriend and to go to school, and Jamie had come in to replace him.

Point being, Aaron could be replaced, too. Though in Brad’s humble opinion, no one that auditioned could come even close to being as good as Aaron was, but there could be someone who could fill his spot well enough, and the rest of the team was such a cohesive unit that they could cover for that. Or they could just remain a trio. Either way, if they wanted Brad, he would stay.

A huge weight lifted off of his shoulders when he made that decision, but it only seemed to bond him more firmly, more irrevocably, to Aaron. The only reason he had allowed himself to see the Lost Boys as people instead of as tools, as he knew that most of the other people in the industry did, was because Aaron saw them that way.

Now, they were leaving. They would fly to London and do their first show there. Tickets had been available for a few weeks and were already sold out at all of their locations, and Brad thought that it looked good. The Lost Boys were going on their first worldwide tour, and people and journalists were sitting up and taking note. Not to mention spilling money from their pockets like a fountain.

“Lester was such an idiot,” Brad murmured, almost to himself, as he watched the Lost Boys get onto the chartered jet. Originally, they had been planning to fly first class, but the publicity from this tour had been more than anyone had expected, and they would have been swarmed. They had made enough money already, just from ticket sales, to more than justify the expense of the private plane.

“What do you mean?” Lara asked. She had come down to see them off, which showed just what a big deal the Lost Boys were. It wasn’t every day that the head of the label would concern herself with that sort of thing.

“I mean, he’s going to jail.” Brad turned to look at Lara, down into her eyes, which were far too shrewd and knowing. Probably better to look at her than to let his eyes linger on the smooth, lithe, graceful figure of Aaron, who was just boarding the plane as they spoke. “He got greedy, and he stole, but now he has nothing. He would have made far more money if he had just stayed with the band.”

“Yeah,” Lara agreed, smirking a bit, but it didn’t quite hide the hard edge of anger in her eyes when she spoke of Lester. “He was an idiot. But then, even without stealing, he was a terrible manager. You’ve already done more with them in a month than he managed in years.”

Brad smiled, but his eyes slid sideways, just a little bit, toward the plane. Aaron’s hair shone brightly against the shiny silver airplane, and for a moment, the young man turned and his eyes locked with Brad’s. The contact wasn’t long, but it was devastating, and despite all of his best intentions, Brad couldn’t stop himself from staring until Aaron ducked into the plane.

“You’d better watch yourself,” Lara leaned in to murmur, and Brad guiltily slid his eyes back down to meet hers. “You know what is on the line.”

Brad winced slightly, though he flattered himself that he covered it up at least decently. He hoped. Lara was just a little bit too perceptive, though, and he wasn’t actually convinced.

“I know,” Brad told her, refusing to look away from her gaze. She had trusted him, and he wanted to live up to that trust, but when he was around Aaron, it was like he just couldn’t help himself.

“Good. You get that boy to sign the contract.” Her eyes gleamed at him, steely and cold suddenly. This woman was not as bad as most people he’d met in the industry, but she was, and always would be, about the money. She treated people decently, but mostly so that they could keep on making her, and the label, rich. “The right contract, Brad. I want him as a solo artist. It’s where he belongs.”

Brad nodded because on that count, they were on the same page. Aaron did have what it took, Brad was sure of it, and with the label behind him, how could he fail to become a huge superstar?

“I understand,” he told her quietly, and she gave him a tight little smile and a nod, and he couldn’t help but be very sharply aware of how much she had riding on this. The Lost Boys were still a household name, and taking Aaron away was a risk, but she hadn’t gotten to where she was without taking some risks.

“I know you do. Go get him,” Lara told him, and Brad tried to tell himself that there was no hidden meaning to her words, that she had no idea that, just that very morning, Brad had held Aaron down and driven inside of him until they had both exploded with shared release.

“I will,” Brad murmured instead and turned his back on his boss to board the plane.