He said he would call.Did he say that in the way people do when they actually don't mean to but only say it as a courtesy?Or, is he expecting me to call him?No. He's the one who left in the middle of things and said he would contact me. What would I say, anyway, if I called him first? Tell him I can't stop thinking about him? Maybe he changed his mind…“The rice is ready.”I look across the kitchen to my sister. “What?”“The rice,” she says, pointing to the rice cooker behind me on the counter.“Oh,” I mutter, turning to check it. I had forgotten all about it. “Did you get dumped or something?” she says a minute later when I carry bowls and plates to the kitchen table. “What?” I ask, giving her a puzzled look. “Your mind has been elsewhere since you got home.”“No, it hasn’t,” I say, filling a bowl with beef stew and passing it to her.She narrows her eyes as she studies me, as if she doesn’t believe any of that. “You kept looking at your phone as if you were waiting for a mes
I frown as I take the stairs to the ground floor the next morning and hear two voices in the kitchen. One is my sister's—soft, high, and excited. The other is masculine, lower…I rush down the remaining steps when I recognise Jared's voice. What the fuck is he doing in my kitchen so early in the morning?I come to a halt in the kitchen doorway and blink, not believing what I'm seeing. Daisy and Jared are sitting at the table, having breakfast together as if it's something they are used to.I rub my eyes and walk into the room. “What the fuck?”Daisy looks up, a wide grin on her face. “Morning, sleepyhead. Jared came by to see you but you were still getting your beauty sleep so I told him he could wait.”I shift my gaze to the guy sitting at the table beside her. Since when did Daisy become friendly with him? Just a few years ago she was the kind of kid who locked herself up in her room whenever I brought friends over. Is puberty obliterating her shyness? “You didn't have to come by s
I’m opening the garage door after Jared gets back with my truck in the evening when my phone rings. I check it as he drives through and see that it’s an unknown number. I receive it as Jared brings the truck to a stop. “Hello?”“Hello. Is this Isaac Henry?”I frown instantly in confusion. First, it’s a strange voice, and second, I can’t remember the last time anyone addressed me like that. “Yeah, that’s me. Who is this?”“It’s Steve. You sent me an email earlier about a job.”It’s the producer Ben asked me to email. I sent an email earlier today and all but forgot about it. I didn’t really think I had a chance of getting the job. “Oh, yeah. I wasn’t expecting a call back so soon.”“Yeah, well, actually, I already found the person I was looking for. But there is another spot that has opened up and I wanted to see if you’re okay with it.”“What kind of job?”“How available are you?”“Very.”“Are you okay with going on the road?”“Uh?”“We have this band that’s touring and one of our as
While I wait for Daisy to get back, I check the email I received from Steve. It contains a quick brief of when the tour will be happening and the locations. There’s a long list of my expected responsibilities. I’ll be working under the tour manager and will be assisting whenever I’m needed, and it all looks mostly like running errands and menial tasks, nothing complicated. I look at the tour stops, and basically, if I agree to take this job, I’ll be travelling across the country and into the next and the next…I’m already getting excited even before I see my pay. It’s a per-day wage and by the time I’m done with the calculation, I’m fighting the urge to just call Steve back right away and let him know I’m in. With what I can make on this gig in the first four months and what I’ll get on the truck, I’ll be able to cover at least three-quarters of Daisy’s surgery cost. The rest shouldn’t be so hard to make up. I’ll ask Mum if there’s a payment plan we can–My thoughts grind to a stop
I cannot remember the last time I was this excited and nervous at the same time. But then again, my life has been some kind of shit-show for the past several years. Not just that, but I haven’t felt this strongly about a guy since–well, since high school. It scares the living daylights out of me, but knowing that I’m not alone in this makes me feel that I’m not way over my head. I get off the taxi I took from the bus stop and walk into the hotel I’ll be spending the next two nights in. Tomorrow will be my first day at work, and it also happens to be the last day before the tour officially kicks off. The day after tomorrow will be the Sea City concert, and then we’ll be on the road. I go through check-in and then go up to my room, thoughts of Ben already filling my head–no surprise, really, since the guy has pretty much set up camp in my head. It’s just that at this moment, it’s really hitting home that I’m going to see him soon. Soon as in about an hour’s time. That’s when he’ll b
By the time it’s ten o’clock, the bar has lost its restaurant-y vibe and now looks more like the drinking hole it was meant to be. My companions have also adhered to the change of atmosphere, and all dishes have been cleared from the table to make way for more drinks. When I came along, I thought this was going to simply be a dinner with maybe a little more drinking than usual, but as everyone kept asking for more drinks, it’s slowly turned into a drinking party. Nobody seems to be in a hurry to leave, and I wonder whether this is how their dinners go normally.I usually don’t mind free drinks, but there’s one problem here.I was hoping to have Ben to myself by now. The longer I sat next to him during dinner, the higher my anticipation got. Having him close to me but not being able to touch him was a stimulation of its own kind. But once the drinks started pouring in steadily and the place got louder, that spell got broken. Maybe that’s also because for the past ten minutes, he has
“Are you sure you’re not the one who likes being manhandled in bed?” I question, remembering the accusation he made the other night.His nearly-black eyes twinkle in the light. “Not usually.” “No?”“I like how proper you are in public, but the moment we get behind closed doors, you have no problem turning the filthy on. It’s like being hit by a tornado…in my dick.”“You’re full of shit.”“Am I?” he asks, now running the back of his fingers along my hard ridge. “Keri was right, you know. You look…like a fucking angel. Angels don’t go around commanding people to suck their dicks. It’s part of your charm.”It’s my turn to arch an eyebrow. “Should I ask nicely? Is that more befitting of an angel?” “Next time,” he says. “I’m down with you pushing me around for tonight.”He hooks a thumb under my waistband and pulls my boxers down, finally setting my dick free. And free it does go, springing from its confines and stretching to its full length, hitting his face in the process. “Did I just
I can hear him. I can. But nothing he is saying makes sense. So I ask, “What?”Ben takes a step towards me, and I step back. He rakes a hand through his hair. “I didn’t know how to tell you…” He bites down on his lip. “I didn’t want to hurt you…I don’t want to hurt you–”“What the fuck is going on?” I demand, wanting him to tell me straight away. What didn’t he know how to tell me? Why the fuck did he run away?“I told you to wait six months.”I gulp. “So you don’t want me here.”“It’s not that I don’t want you–”“I asked you,” I remind him, jabbing a finger in his direction. “That night I called to tell you about the offer, I asked whether it was okay with you and you said yes.”He scrubs his hand over his face. “I wasn’t going to tell you to not take the job, Isaac. You need it.”“Wow.” I think it’s beginning to sink in. Ben doesn’t want me to go on tour with them. But I’m here anyway, because he said he didn’t mind. And now he is saying me being here changes nothing. “You have to
I sigh and turn away from him “Let’s not drag this any further, please.”“Ash and I have not had that kind of relationship for five years now,” he says. “And when we did, it only lasted for a few months before I realised what a huge mistake it was and put an end to it. He has tried to revive it many times, but I’ve long made it clear that my affections for him only go as far as being his brother. I know, I’ve given him way too much leeway than most siblings would. Allowed him to affect who I could and could not get close to. But I drew the line at you.”He pauses for a moment, and then continues,“You must have seen him kiss me, and you also must have not stayed long enough after. Because if you had, you would know that I pushed him away, and I assured him that I’d always be there for him as his brother, but to not ask more of me.”I stay rooted to the spot even when I feel him move closer.“And,” he continues, “like I did two months ago, I told him that I’m in love with you, and I wa
Two days after I get home, the door to my room–or rather, my hideout, since I’ve hardly left it since I got back–bursts open and Jared appears.A retort is ready on my lips to ask him to get lost when he beats me to it. “Your sister is in the hospital.”I blink at him, and then push myself up from my lying position on the bed. “What?”“She developed a migraine in class and passed out on her way to the infirmary. The school called an ambulance…your mother couldn’t reach you on your phone. So she called me.”Fuck. I get out of bed and look around for a pair of pants. Jared throws one at me, and then a t-shirt.“Is she okay?”“Looks like she needs to get that surgery asap,” he tells me.Shit. She was supposed to have one more month. We haven’t yet put together enough money, and–“I sold the truck,” Jared says.“What?”“I got six grand for it. I would have informed you earlier if you were taking visitors or, I don’t know, taking calls.” He is annoyed, and he isn’t hiding it. He walks past
“Hey, I want to run by the cafe, do you want anything?” I ask Jack some six hours later. We are in the waiting room outside the operating room where Ben’s mother is still in surgery. While Ben brought me along, Ashton brought Jack.Ms. Lockwood has been in surgery for more than four hours now. We got here two hours ago at around nine in the morning after a two-hour flight. Ben’s two sisters were already here. A few minutes ago, an OR nurse came by and said they were running out of Ms.Lockwood’s blood type, O-, and if one of the siblings could donate. It turned out that only Ashton is compatible. Ben accompanied Ashton to do the transfusion. Now, it’s just Jack and me and the two sisters in the waiting room. Nobody knows how the operation is going, but knowing that Ms. Lockwood has lost so much blood doesn’t sound good. “I’ll come with you,” Jack says, jumping to his feet as if he is dying to get out of here. We take the elevator down to the hospital’s first floor, where the cafete
Two Months LaterI’ve just gotten out of the shower and pulled on a pair of sweatpants when there’s a knock on the door. I grab a tshirt and pull it on as I head to the door. There’s already a smile on my face as I expect to find Ben on the other side. Tonight was the last show on the first leg of the tour. Beginning tomorrow, we’ll have a two-week break, and then begin the second leg. There’s an after-party going on at the hotel bar, from which I escaped a while ago. Ben said he would come up after a few minutes.When I open the door, my smile falls instantly when I’m faced with a crying Keri.Before I can ask what’s wrong, she throws herself at me, her arms going around my neck and her crying face onto my chest.“Hey, what’s wrong?” I ask worriedly, patting her shoulder gently and pulling us away from the doorway. “I fucked up,” she cries as I shut the door behind us. “I don’t know what to do.”“What did you do?” I ask, reaching up to remove her arms from around me so that I can
I cannot tell whether Ben is mad or not. He isn’t exactly avoiding me–at least not in the way he used to avoid me whenever he was pissed off in the past. But he also hasn’t exactly spent more than ten seconds in my company. We are having a family fun day event at the children’s hospital. Apparently, Ben volunteered to run a coffee truck for the day–he has experience working as a barista. As soon as the band’s performance was over, he got busy serving snacks and making all sorts of drinks for all attending. When I gather enough courage–and ignore most of my shame–to approach him at the truck, he sends me on an errand right away. When I get back, Keri has joined him. I don’t know what I hope to tell him–this isn’t really the best setting to get into that sort of conversation. So I decide to wait until we get back to the hotel.In the evening, I knock on his suite door and wait. It’s been about an hour since we got back from the hospital. It’s early evening and we don’t have any oth
“What are you doing? No…stop–” my plea dies in my throat as I bring my teeth down on my lip to keep a moan from escaping.“You want me to stop?” he asks, his voice in my ear, his palm rubbing up and down my crotch. I’m getting hard, I’m craving his touch, but I know it’s wrong. I shouldn’t want this.“Huh?” he asks, his fingers now moving to my button, popping it open, then working on my zipper. “Should I stop now?”Yes. Stop.But instead of saying those words, my fingers dig into his blond hair, pulling him closer. He chuckles against my neck, and then he is sucking on my skin.I hear their voices.“Please…” Stop, they’ll see. We shouldn’t be doing this. I don’t want to hurt him. All are words I want to say, but all that comes from my mouth is his name. “Jared.”It doesn’t sound like a warning. It sounds like a wanton plea to touch me more. And he does. And then they are there, and I’m suddenly tangled in sheets…his sheets, in his room back at home… He is holding me in his arms, mov
I don’t think this is keeping it lowkey.I can feel Keri’s penetrative gaze on me, and it’s not helping the blush I’m trying to keep off my face. “I’m good,” I say, shoving Ben’s hand away when he holds his fork to my mouth, asking me to have a taste of his sausage. Yes, he said that out loud, with a wicked glint in his eyes and a slight lift to the corner of his mouth. “Maybe you’ll like mine better,” Adam says from my other side, his fork appearing in front of my mouth. “It’s quite delicious. Go ahead, wrap your mouth around–”“Fuck off,” Ben tells him.“I was not talking to you,” Adam tells him, and then he wraps his arm around my shoulder. “Isaac, whose sausage do you want?”“Nobody’s.”“You have to choose one.”“I don’t like sausages.”“Now you are just lying.”“They are too salty.” I didn’t mean to encourage this double-entendre conversation, but I can’t resist. “That they are,” Adam agrees. “Especially when they’ve got some sauce on them, right? The sauce is especially salty
I stumble back, my body colliding with the door behind me. For a few moments, I’m frozen, my mind taking its time to register what’s happening.While my mind struggles to make sense of things, my body goes off on its own. My lips part under his and my hands latch onto his forearms. His lips pry mine insistently. A moan slips past mine as I let him in completely, holding back nothing. It’s just a kiss. A kiss I’ve been dying to get. I can allow this much before the reality of the situation glares in my face. We’ve been here before, and I don’t want to be burned again. So I’m just going to take this kiss, nothing more.I move my hand from his arm to his waist, gripping him tight. Our bodies press together, top to bottom. He thrusts his hips forward, and his covered erection grinds over my own. The jolt of pleasure that travels throughout my body elicits another moan from my lips. My other hand finds its way to the back of his neck, where it grips tight as I deepen our kiss. Heavens, I
This is not a good idea. If Adam was right about me being responsible for keeping them in line, I think I really am going to lose my job.“Guys, I think that’s enough for toni–”“One more,” Ashton interrupts me, his eyes set firmly on Adam. Adam, who’s grinning mockingly. Ashton and Ben have lost three games in a row now. Ben is doing most of the dying, and each time he dies, they both have to drink. Adam and I are yet to drink up our first cans. If we keep on, they’ll both be drinking their fourth. “If you say so,” Adam says, obviously having no qualms about playing for as long as possible.“Isaac is right,” Ben says, sliding his phone into his pocket and leaning back on the couch. He shuts his eyes and rests his forearm on his forehead. “We’ll get them another day, Ash.”“Don’t be a pussy,” Ashton tells his brother.“I’m pretty sure I’m not the one being a pussy in this situation,” Ben mumbles.“What?” Ashton demands, his voice on edge.Oh no. It’s one thing trying to diffuse thin