EPILOGUE
Ken
“Has anyone seen Aaron?” Lance asked, draped over his chair in a sort of bonelessly relaxed, graceful way that Ken knew that he couldn’t pull off in a million years. Beside him, of course, as always seemed to be the case, was Jamie, artlessly tousled and just as beautiful as ever.
So they were both there, and Ken, obviously was there, and by Ken’s side was Justin, who had been offered an incredibly lucrative contract with the record label. It had turned out that Lara had been quite eager to make sure that Justin didn’t go off and write with other people, so she had made it as tempting as possible for him to stay.
Which meant that Justin was around a lot more, which didn’t exactly break Ken’s heart. Nor did it upset him that Jade had become somewhat of a fixture, charming people wherever she went.
“Nah,” Ken admitted, while Jamie lifted his head with a sort of feline grace.
“He said he wasn’t going to bother coming. That he didn’t see what the big deal was, and he’d meet the new manager later.”
Ken rolled his eyes. That sounded like Aaron. Leave it to him to blow off something like this. Ken, personally, was excited to meet the new manager, though he was wary, of course, too. But then, Lara would have been very careful about who she hired in this case.
“Well, if Aaron isn’t going to bother to show himself,” Lara commented, giving a wry little shake of her head. “Then I guess I’d better get this show on the road.”
This woman had a sense for the dramatic, for sure, which could only go over well in her job. She kept the suspense going as long as possible, though she had to know that they were all very eager to see who was going to be taking Lester’s place. So she’d had them—whoever they were—wait outside, and she went over to open the door.
“Okay, guys. This is Brad. Brad, this is Lance, Jamie, and Ken.”
The man who walked in was huge, standing at least a few inches taller than Ken, which was saying something. His shoulders were broad and wide, his lips pulled into a tight little smirk, his hair dark, and his eyes a bright amber, almost golden.
Ken was a happily taken man, but even so, he couldn’t help but stare. The corporate types weren’t usually his sort of thing, but this man was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome, and all around him, he could see the reactions of the other men in the room, which were all pretty much the same as his, from what he could tell.
It wasn’t just his physical appearance, this Brad, though that was something just on its own. But there was a tilt to his chin, a wry set to his mouth, which spoke of confidence and competence, a man who was used to being in control and who liked it that way.
“You know,” Justin whispered very quietly so that only Ken could hear him, “I think it might be a good thing that Aaron isn’t here.”
Ken snorted softly, and Brad’s golden eyes fell on him, one dark eyebrow raising as if in silent question. Ken shook his head, and mercifully that penetrating gaze moved on, scanning each of the other men in the room one by one.
Yeah. The more time Ken spent around this man, the more he thought that it would probably be better if Brad and Aaron were around each other as little as possible. The clash of personalities would be quite something to see there. Ken was fairly sure of that.
If they ever butted heads, that would be pretty intense, but at the same time, what were the chances of that happening? Aaron kept to himself, for the most part. That would probably keep everything nice.
Not that it wouldn’t be fun to see two forces of nature, two men who could somehow seem to get their way just by silently arching an eyebrow, butting heads. It would be something to watch, for sure.
From about two or three blocks off, Ken figured. Or maybe a little bit more, just to be safe.
Justin
The meeting broke up soon enough. Brad had seemed pretty eager to get to work, and no doubt he had a lot of work to do, cleaning up the mess that Lester had left. Not only had Lester been crooked, but he really hadn’t been very good at his job, from what Justin had seen.
“Well, that didn’t take as long as I thought it would,” Ken, always blunt, pointed out, and Justin smiled at him and pulled his boyfriend close.
“Yeah,” he admitted. “Now we have the whole afternoon free. What do you think we can find to do together?”
He had some ideas, for sure, and from the sultry look that came into the lovely turquoise of Ken’s eyes, Ken was having some of the same ideas.
“When’s Jade out?” Ken asked, which was a fair enough question. They both loved Justin’s daughter, but she did have a way of getting between them and the chance for sex.
“She’s got her dance day camp until five,” Justin murmured and shifted closer, pressing his body against Ken’s lovely, strong, huge body, rubbing against him in the way that he knew, through experience, that Ken wouldn’t be able to resist. “Why don’t we go home and …”
Ken grinned and grabbed Justin around the wrist, tugging him right out the door and into the lingering late summer heat. Soon, Ken and the rest of the Lost Boys would be on tour, and Justin would have to stay behind with his daughter, and he wanted to get as much time with him as he could now.
When they got to Justin’s place, Justin took a step back, not unlocking his front door. Instead, he just tilted his head and gestured at it. His eyebrows meaningfully raised as he gazed at the other man.
“Uh, babe, I don’t have a key or anything …” Ken started, which was exactly the cue that Justin had been waiting for.
