NINE

 

The concert, the first one of the tour, had gone very well. The crowd had screamed through all of it, and Lance had been able to relax, to let himself get into it. Part of him had worried that the fans might react to Jamie the same way that Ken had, reject him as being nothing more than a replacement for Darien, but there was no sign of that at all.

More than that, Jamie moved with fluid grace across the stage, and though Lance knew that the hard work had all been Jamie’s, he couldn’t help but be proud of himself for how well the guy was doing. He had come in knowing nothing about their moves, and now, he was keeping up with them.

So it was good. And they still had some time, a couple of days, before they had a show in Portland. Lots of time to polish up Jamie’s performance, but it was already amazing. Jamie was so skilled, and Lance was sort of in awe of his raw talent.

Encore after encore was called for, and the band wasn’t where it had been under Darien. But they were gelling with Jamie now, creating something that was different, yes, but maybe equally good.

If only Ken would give it a chance, the whole thing was obviously making him miserable. And his best friend just wasn’t all that good at hiding what he was feeling. It was obvious in the way Ken glared sharp, pointy, dangerous daggers at Jamie whenever they were together.

Not when they were on stage, though. That was something. Ken could keep the drama aside for the fans, which was a huge relief.

After the show, Ken pulled Lance aside, and Lance felt a little surge of nerves clawing at the pit of his stomach. Was this where Ken demanded to know what was going on with him and Jamie because Lance had definitely noticed Ken’s eyes on them before the show?

“Hey. You wanna go on another date tomorrow?” Ken smirked and gave him a coyly flirtatious look. “Lover?”

Lance frowned. He supposed that he should, just to keep the buzz up, but, to be honest, he was actually pretty glad to have an excuse to say no, though he was positive that Ken wasn’t going to like it.

“I can’t, man,” Lance admitted. “I already said I’d go shopping with someone.”

Jamie walked by then, covered in sweat, with a huge, sincere, wide grin on his face, and Ken and Lance both followed him with their gaze, though for much different reasons.

“With him?” Ken demanded, and when he turned back to look at Lance, there was jealousy burning in his eyes. Or so it seemed to Lance, though when he thought about it, how did that make any sense at all?

“Yeah.” Lance was casual about. He didn’t have anything to be ashamed of. Or did he? Ken certainly seemed to think so. “We’re just going shopping for some clothes. No big deal.”

Ken prickled up, his face twisting with anger, which radiated off of him like porcupine quills.

“You’re supposed to be helping me to drive him away. That was the deal,” Ken hissed, leaning in closer to Lance. “Not go fucking shopping with the guy. You’re … you’re … fraternizing with the enemy, that’s what you’re doing!”

On one level, it should have been ridiculous. It was ridiculous that Ken could hurl words like that at him. On another level, though, it was highly dangerous. All Ken had to do was refuse to pretend to date him anymore, and Lance’s job would be at risk.

He had to be more careful. He had to. But at the same time—as he watched Jamie with the slow, languid grace of a hunting cat across the floor, as he watched the smooth, seductive rolling of his hips—he knew very well that there was nothing he could do to derail his desire.

It was what it was, and Lance could do his best to control it. He would do his best. But in the end, he was riding an unbroken horse without a saddle, or that’s how strong his desire felt. Eventually, he was going to get bucked off, and then that horse, his desire, and God forbid emotional connection, would trample all over him and ruin everything.

 

* * *

 

If only the bastard wasn’t so damn much fun to be around, it wouldn’t be so hard.

Sure, Jamie was hot. But lots of people were hot. That wasn’t actually even the most important thing to Lance. In his experience, beauty was great, but at a certain point the pure, visceral thrill of it wore off, and you saw the person inside.

The person inside of Jamie was not who Lance would have expected. Yes, he was sardonic. Yes, he had just a tinge of bitterness to him, which Lance would like to figure out, to poke at. But inside Jamie, under all of his snark, all of his defenses, there was a man who Lance was getting to know, and genuinely like.

They laughed about the most ridiculous things. Like the wind came gusting through and blew their hair around, and as they both moved to push it back, their eyes met, and they laughed. Things like that, silly little things, but by the time they were in the shopping district, Lance had a grin on his face that he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to kick.

He was good, though. He didn’t touch Jamie, and he made sure not to even look at him that much. There were reporters, paparazzi, all over the place, snapping pictures, and this had to seem like nothing more than two friends going shopping. Lester would even go for that, Lance figured, because really, what was more stereotypically gay than two guys interested in fashion?

It was the same area, he abruptly realized, where he and Ken had gone on their date. And he realized that because he saw the same display, the same three kittens in the window. He stopped, gazing at the adorable, tiny little animals. They were so young that any one of them would have fit comfortably in his hand, and he gave a wistful little smile as he looked.

“They’re cute,” Jamie acknowledged, and Lance stole a look over at him and nodded. Yes, they were cute. Downright adorable. Maybe someday he’d actually be ready to have a pet, something to take care of. But he wasn’t holding his breath for that.

“If you could have one,” Jamie asked, his head tilted fetchingly to the side, “Which one would you pick?”

Lance turned his head slowly back to the display and watched the three kittens as they played. One of them, a sweetheart with a puffball body and fierce blue eyes, with a tan body and a thick, fluffy brown tail, caught his eye more than the others, and he lightly tapped the glass.

“That one. It’s scrappy,” Lance explained. It was the kitten that always seemed to come out on top, and Lance couldn’t help but admire it, not to mention that it was beautiful. He wasn’t an expert in cat breeds or anything, but he would be willing to bet that one had some Persian in it. Or Siamese, but weren’t they sleeker usually?

“Yeah. That’s the one I’d pick, too.” Jamie winced as a camera flash went off almost in their face, and for a moment, Lance couldn’t see. Even when his eyes recovered, there were little spots of black dancing in front of them. “God, how do you deal with this all the time? Let’s get out of here.”

With one more look at the cats through his watering eyes, Lance nodded. There was a high-end clothing shop nearby, he’d found it on his phone earlier, and it was to there that he led Jamie. A place like that had some advantages, namely that they weren’t likely to let the paparazzi in to harass their patrons. Right at the moment, that seemed like a pretty damn big deal.

When they stepped inside, it was blessedly cool and almost silent, with just the subtle tones of some classy music playing in the background. The air conditioning was a relief from the early summer heat outside, but more than that, there was no one shoving cameras in their faces, no one demanding things of them.

“Okay. So what’s your style?” Lance asked, and Jamie stared back at him, as though he didn’t know what Lance was talking about. “I mean, what kind of clothes do you like to wear?”

“I don’t know,” Jamie admitted, and as sometimes happened, that mask slipped, the one that the guy always seemed to be clutching close. In those moments, Lance got even more of a glimpse of who this man was, and started to like him more than ever.

What was it Jamie had said, that he had been too poor to buy clothes? Lance sensed there was more to the story than that, but he supposed that Jamie was entitled to his secrets.

“Okay, no problem,” Lance spoke briskly, not letting any of the pity which he felt seep through. That was the last thing that Jamie would want, and this day was going too well for him to want to ruin it like that. “Go get a changing room. I’ll put some things together.”

Jamie nodded, and was that a bit of a thankful look that he shot at Lance before he went? Yes, Lance was pretty sure that it was, and he held that look in his heart, enjoyed the warmth it gave him, as he went around the store. He didn’t know Jamie’s size, but he had been spending quite a bit of time studying the other man’s body, and he could make a good guess.

Finally, arms full, Lance went to the back where there were a few changing rooms. And by rooms, he meant rooms. Not little cubicles with flimsy curtains covering the door, but actual, full rooms, with doors that shut and locked. There were four of them, and at this time of day, there was only one which was closed.

He didn’t have to be Sherlock to figure out that Jamie must be in that one, so he knocked briefly and then opened the door, hanging the clothes on the pegs that were set around for just this purpose.

“Here, try these on,” Lance instructed and then turned to look at Jamie, who honestly looked a little bit terrified. The man hadn’t been lying about it having been awhile, though that wasn’t the whole story. Lance was more sure of that than ever. “Take your time.”

He turned to leave, his hand resting on the cold, silvery metal of the doorknob, and he was just about to leave him when Jamie spoke.

“You’re going to go?” There was this tone of voice Jamie got—Lance was starting to realize—when Jamie was scared about something, and he wanted to ask for something but didn’t know how. What had made Jamie this way? Why was he so scared to ask for what he wanted?

There was a story there, and it was a story that Lance, a little to his own surprise, wanted to hear. Even thinking about how angry Ken would be that they were growing closer didn’t bother him that much.

How long had it been since he’d been this happy to be around someone? How long since he’d sincerely cared enough to want to know someone else’s story? He knew the answer to that. Not since Amy, and maybe that was what scared him so much.

“I don’t have to,” he spoke softly, his voice pitched just above a whisper. Slowly, trying to brace himself for the contact of their eyes once more, he turned around and looked at Jamie.

Only Jamie had, in a very short time, stripped down to nothing but his underwear. He stood, illuminated by the bright, merciless lights of the shop, and yet he was utterly stunning, despite lighting which was flattering to no one. Pale and slender, with tight, sexy, toned muscles, he could have been a model. He was the complete epitome of everything that Lance could want.

“We decided …” Lance started, and Jamie shook his head, the fire, the embers, burning in the depths of his hair glinting.

“I remember last night, and I bet you do, too. We’ve already done what we said we weren’t going to do,” Jamie pointed out, and that shut Lance up really fast. It wasn’t like he could exactly deny that, though as quickly as Jamie had taken off the night before, he had sort of thought that the other man wanted to ignore it.

“Look, I’ve been thinking …” Lance took a moment to think about if he wanted to do this. Jamie had stripped down, all on his own, so Lance figured there was a good chance that Jamie would agree to this, but was this what he really wanted? When he examined his own heart, though, he didn’t really have a doubt.

“Yeah?” Jamie prompted, and Lance took a deep breath and started to strip down as well. There was no excuse for it since he wasn’t the one trying on and purchasing a new wardrobe. No reason he could give other than the truth, which was that he desperately wanted this man, and it wasn’t a desire that he seemed to be able to control.

How many times would they just keep falling into bed? How long could they pretend that what was going on wasn’t going on? So Lance took his clothes off, including his underwear, and stood, vulnerable and not a little freaked out, in front of Jamie.

“I’ve been thinking that maybe it’s none of anyone’s business what we do with each other in private,” Lance murmured. Not that this was exactly private. These moments between them kept on happening in places where they could technically get caught, which reminded him. He reached around and pushed in the lock on the door, giving them some assurance of privacy.

“I think I like where you’re going with this,” Jamie murmured, his face lighting up, a boyish grin on his lips.

“Obviously we have a lot of sexual chemistry. And denying that isn’t going to change anything.” Lance stepped forward until his bare chest was brushing over Jamie’s, and their skin kissed and slid together, and he could smell Jamie’s fresh, clean scent with just a hint of something beneath it, something musky and intriguing.

“Oh yeah,” Jamie whispered, and he pressed his beautiful body tightly against Lance’s. Lance let his fingers hook into the elastic waistband of Jamie’s underwear and drew them down off of the unprotesting man’s body.

“So let’s just go with it. We can keep it secret. It can just be about sex, right?” Lance let his lips graze the sensitive, vulnerable shell of Jamie’s ear. He sucked the earlobe between his teeth and grazed it lightly, delighted when he felt Jamie shiver against him.

Just sex. They could do that, right? Or maybe sex and friendship. Friends with benefits. Only no one could know, not Lester and not Ken. Especially not Ken.

That could work. They’d kept it a secret so far, after all.

“Okay. Sounds good,” Jamie groaned, and this time it was Lance who went down onto his knees, Lance who nuzzled at the full hardness of Jamie’s cock, which was every bit as pretty as the rest of him. He let his lips caress over the blunt head, tasting the precome which had started to leak out.

That was enough talking for the moment, he decided. He had other things he wanted to do with his mouth, and he opened up and took Jamie deep, tasting the salt there, smelling more of that scent which he had noted before. This seemed to be where it came from, and Lance opened his mouth to him, sucking Jamie in deep, bobbing his head and trying to get more of that thick, masculine taste.

Jamie wobbled, gasping softly, and Lance pushed him against the wall so that he didn’t fall. Then he really went to work, showing Jamie just what he could do with his mouth. His experience as a bisexual man was short on relationships, sure, but he knew how this worked, and he soon had Jamie giving these incredibly sexy little mewling noises as he tugged encouragingly at Lance’s hair.

Without mercy, Lance worked on Jamie. He sought out, and found, the spots that made Jamie utter the most delicious, urgent sounds, though Jamie was good about keeping them quiet. No one who wasn’t right there in the room with them could hear.

Lance glanced up, the tip of his tongue trailing over the underside of Jamie’s cock, and saw that the other man wasn’t even looking at him anymore. Instead, he was looking at the full-length mirror, meant to show how the clothing looked. It reflected a more scandalous sight right then, though, Lance on his knees, his cock swollen so hard it was almost purple, his mouth stretched around Jamie.

And Jamie was looking at it, too. Jamie was watching as his cock disappeared deep inside of Lance’s mouth, and Lance could tell it was exciting him. So he moved more determinedly than ever, desperate to taste the other man’s come.

“Lance,” Jamie warned, or started to. But Lance knew what he had gotten into, and when he felt the first burst of hot come erupt onto his tongue, he just moaned and kept sucking, catching it all in his eager mouth.

When it was over, Lance rose to his feet, and Jamie, panting, sweaty, was on him in a second. Jamie soon had Lance pushed against the wall, pinning him there, his hand gripping Lance’s cock in a firm, tight, demanding grip.

They kissed, tongues intertwining, breath hot as they moved together. Lance thrust into Jamie’s hand, and Jamie stroked him, and they looked deep into each other’s eyes as Lance let the release coil inside of him. He was going to come, just from this man’s hand.

And this wasn’t the only time this was going to happen, either. He didn’t have to try to hold back, because they had only given in this once, and it might never happen again. They’d already agreed that it would, and next time, maybe they’d do this somewhere private enough that they could go a little further.

That thought was enough, more than enough, to shoot him over the edge. He groaned, letting Jamie’s mouth stifle the sound, as his hips jutted helplessly forward and his come poured from him onto the other man’s hand. Breathless, panting, he shuddered as Jamie gave him a playful grin and kept on stroking his oversensitive cock until Lance couldn’t take it and actually pushed his hand away.

“I think this is gonna work out just fine,” Jamie purred, his eyes alight with pleasure, and Lance groaned and rested his head back against the welcoming coolness of the wall.

“God, what have I gotten myself into?” He wondered, and he watched as Jamie’s grin widened. Yes, he was in for a wild ride, for sure, but at the same time, he found that he didn’t regret a single thing.