“Oh, did you want something?” Jeff asked, a little hoarsely.
“Hmm.” And suddenly the fingers slid out and the head of Carter’s cock nudged against his hole.
Jeff wasn’t going to get a chance to finish that album because he was going to die of sex. He went hot all over as it popped in, only for Carter to withdraw and rub his dick in the slickness around Jeff’s hole. Jeff groaned and hooked his ankle around Carter’s waist, hoping to pull him closer. “You really love that, huh?” he asked, raising his eyes to Carter’s face.
Carter tapped his cock against him obscenely. Jeff’s stomach muscles clenched in anticipation. “Youreally love that,” he corrected, his voice every bit as hot as his eyes, and he proceeded to fuck Jeff just like that until Jeff broke and wrapped a hand around his own erection and came everywhere.
So, yeah. Dead of sex. But what a way to go.
They spent the last rays of the afterglow on the back porch, polishing off the burgers and sweet potato fries Jeff had made for dinner. Jeff was halfway convinced that life would still be pretty great even if Carter continued being an irrepressible workaholic when his phone rang and dumped a bucket of cold water on all his warm fuzzies.
It was Dina.
Jeff cleared his throat before he answered, in the hopes that he would sound more normal. “Dina, what’s up?”
“Have you heard from Max?” she said with no preamble. “I haven’t been able to get ahold of him.”
Fuck.Jeff was not telling heranythingabout that. “Did you leave a message? You know how he can get.”
He meantflighty artist, but from Dina’s response, she obviously thought he meanthigh. “Idoknow, that’s what I’m worried about.”
Well, she wasn’t going to reach him at his rehab facility until his doctors cleared him to have his phone. Which would hopefully happen in the next two days, because that was how long they had before the next concert. “What do you need to talk to him for, anyway?”
Dina sighed. “I need to confirm travel arrangements and accommodations for Ottawa. He hasn’t been answering my emails either.”
Jeff had written her back to give the plans the thumbs-up a week ago. “I’m sure it’s fine. Trix and I will make sure he shows up.”
He crossed his fingers under the table, hoping she’d accept that and just move on, because Carter was already watching him with interest. Unfortunately, what she said was “Where is he?”
“I couldn’t tell you,” Jeff dissembled. “Sorry, Dina, but you’re kind of interrupting dinner here. Do you need something from me?” He felt a little guilty about it; it wasn’t her fault the label was full of fuckweasels.
She sighed heavily. “No, that’s fine. Sorry for interrupting. Have a good night, Jeff.”
Now he felt like an asshole. “Yeah,” he said. “You too.”
He hung up.
Carter regarded him curiously, head tilted to the side, one eyebrow raised. “Trouble?”
Jeff took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Max hadn’t specifically asked him not to say anything, and it wasn’t like Carter would rat him out to anyone. And he hated lying to Carter even by omission. He could at least offer a partial truth.
“Max is in rehab,” he blurted. “He’s been out of contact with everyone but Trix. Dina wanted to talk to him.”
“Oh.” Blinking, Carter furrowed his brow. “Dina doesn’t know?”
He rolled his lips together and bit them. “Max didn’t think it was any of her business. The rest of us agreed.”
“No, I get it, I mean, you’ve had enough trouble with them. Why give them an inch?” But the frown hadn’t gone anywhere. “Why didn’t you tell me, though?”
It wasn’t like Jeff could just sayBecause if I told you that, I’d be that much closer to spilling the whole “getting out of our shitty contract” plan, and I signed an NDA. If it was just him, he wouldn’t worry about it. He trusted Carter implicitly. But it wasn’t fair to ask Trix and Joe and Max to trust him implicitly too.
“I wanted to.” He pushed his empty plate away from him, suddenly nauseous. “But it felt like it wasn’t my story to tell.”
“You’ve been a little off,” Carter said gently. Of course he noticed. Of course he never said anything. Of course he waited for Jeff to bring it up. “Is this why?”
“It’s part of it.” Jeff didn’t want to lie any more than he had to, but he didn’t feel like he could admit there was more. All he needed was Carter mentioning something to his mother or someone offhand, and then townspeople asking about it. The cottage purchase would be public record; it wouldn’t be difficult to find once someone was looking. And even if Jeff buying a cottage didn’t raise any red flags for the label, him selling his condo in Toronto might. If they found out about the contractors he’d hired to soundproof a recording studio, that might.
If they found out Trix, Joe, and Max were coming to Willow Sound after the Ottawa showwith their instruments, thatdefinitelywould raise eyebrows. Jeff needed to keep a lid on as many of the details as he could.
