“Yeah,” Jeff said, snuggling in. He turned his head so he could look at Carter. “The thing is, our current arrangement is pretty predatory. We didn’t have our own manager when we signed, so we got taken advantage of. Even when they offered us better terms when we re-signed five years ago… it wasn’t what it should’ve been. And we never had an advocate, so we’ve been running ourselves ragged.”
Carter brushed Jeff’s hair back from his face. Soon he was going to need a haircut as well as glasses. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”
Jeff gave a wry smile. “It’s not like you can really go around complaining about it. You’ll get a bad reputation, and honestly, ‘poor little rich guy,’ right?” He shrugged and caught Carter’s hand. “Part of the reason I came back here was to get away from that toxic atmosphere. I was debating just paying the penalty and saying fuck it to the whole thing—the band, the label, everything. The tour schedule is grueling.”
“I can imagine.”
He spent a moment sinking into the warmth and comfort of the bed, basking in it, before he continued. “I didn’t want to do that again. I’m exhausted, Max can’t handle it, Joe’s going to be a father. I want to be able to call someplace home and feel like it’s true.”
Carter brought their hands to his mouth and pressed his lips to the back of Jeff’s.
And now he had to go one step further and just… say it. “I want to be able to spend time with you.”
Carter bit his lips and shook his head minutely. From his expression, he knew exactly what Jeff meant. “You want to know something funny?”
Somehow Jeff doubted he was going to laugh. “Tell me.”
“When my dad died, I started doing too much so I didn’t have to think about it.” He rubbed his thumb over the back of Jeff’s hand, a hypnotic tic. “I didn’t realize how much I’d missed out on until you showed up, and suddenly I was rearranging my schedule to spend time with you.”
So hehadknown he was doing it.
But then Carter went on, “Only once we started dating, I worried. I knew you’d have to go back on tour, that I’d have to get used to you being gone all the time.”
Understanding dawned. Jeff almost groaned aloud. They were both so dumb. “So, what, you decided to get used to never seeing me by making yourself insanely busy?”
“It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
This time Jeff did groan. He rolled over to muffle it in his pillow, and when he lifted his face again, he caught Carter’s eyes. “We’re going to do better than this,” he said with all the conviction he could muster. “No more workaholics in this house.”
Carter raised an eyebrow.
Jeff relented, “After this album is done.”
Carter smiled. “Deal.”
WHILE THEYwere doing the final touches on the studio—cleaning, ensuring they had enough outlets, double-checking with the electrician that the man cave could handle the equipment without tripping the breaker—Joe flew back to Toronto to spend some time with Sarah. He returned two days later in his SUV, with Jeff’s favorite sound-equipment guru in tow.
Jeff and Carter had just finished bringing the last box down to the basement when Joe pulled into the drive. When they went out to say hello, Jeff only just made it down the stairs before he was attack-hugged.
“Oof!” he said as Sibel hit him at Mach 3. “Was driving with Joe that bad?”
“We almost got killed by a moose.” She pulled back, bubbling with energy. “By which I mean there was one standing by the side of the highway. It was huge. For a second I thought it was a kaiju.”
He snorted. “One pilot in each antler?”
“It was a girl moose.Speakingof moose.” Sibel turned to look behind him. “Who’s your friend?”
Well, Carterwaspretty tall. “Carter Rhodes, please meet Sibel Ergener, sound tech extraordinaire. Sibel, this is my moose, Carter.”
Carter gave him a long-suffering look, but he smiled at Sibel. “Nice to meet you.”
“Yeah, you too.” She nudged Jeff with her elbow and lowered her voice—though not quite low enough. “We’ll talk later.”
Jeff should probably just accept that he was going to get shit about this for the rest of his life, honestly. He clapped his hands. “Okay! Who’s ready to plug things in?”
It took the four of them an hour and a half, but by the end of it, they had everything set up and working to Sibel’s satisfaction. Jeff went to pick up dinner—and Trix and Max—and returned to find the extended Rhodes clan had descended on the house as well, also with food, and that Brady and Dave were putting all the extra leaves in the table.
“We’re probably going to have to expand onto the deck,” Ella said, glancing outside at where Trix had blatantly stolen Jeff’s student and was teaching Charlie drumming rhythms on the deck railing. “I hope that’s okay.”
