It was probably better for him to get this over with, whatever it was, and he was glad that Jamie had insisted. Ken came over, pulling Justin down into his lap, and then it was all of the Lost Boys, and all of their partners, past and present.
Except for Aaron. Aaron, of course, was long gone, and someday maybe that would even quit feeling quite as much like a knife right to the belly to think about it.
“Jamie and I want out of the Lost Boys,” Lance said, and Brad’s eyes widened as he stared at them both. “We want to go solo. Well, I mean, the two of us. A smaller group. Whatever you would call that.”
“Some people would call that a duo, babe,” Jamie murmured, an amused little smirk on his face, but Lance took that in stride better than Brad knew that he would have.
“Right, yeah. One of those. And before you say it, I know that there’s not as much call for that sort of thing, but that’s fine. We have enough money. We just want to perform.”
Lance seemed serious, and Brad blinked and then shook his head in amazement. Whatever he might have been expecting, it wasn’t that, but he could tell from the way that they looked at each other that they were serious.
“Oh,” Ken spoke up then, his arms around Justin’s waist, holding him close in an easy way that Brad could almost envy. All of these men, actually, were pretty open with the PDAs, or maybe it was simply that they felt comfortable here. “Um, this might be a good chance for me to say something, too.”
Brad turned to look at Ken, who was slightly pink in the cheeks, but who looked completely determined. And when Brad saw the look on Justin’s face, he knew, before Ken even had to say anything.
“I wasn’t sure until today, but when I saw how much all of those people sucked, and then hearing that Lance and Jamie are leaving, just like Aaron …”
Brad sighed and shook his head. He held up his hand, and Ken, for a wonder, actually fell silent. He wasn’t exactly known for doing that, but the look on Brad’s face must have told him it was a good idea.
“You’re leaving. Why?”
Brad sounded, and was, more curious than he was angry. What was there to be angry about? Really, this had all been inevitable, perhaps, from the moment that Aaron had decided to walk out. Aaron had no idea about this, but Brad had known for a while, since almost the day that he’d started as their manager, that Aaron was the glue that held this group together.
Without that glue, it was all just dissolving, like the Lost Boys were a castle made of sugar cubes that had had boiling water poured over it. And along with them, Brad supposed, went any hope of his own career advancing.
Or could this be the straw that would break the camel’s back when it came to Lara’s patience with him? Could she just outright fire him? Of course, she could, and she probably would, when she realized that the band was going to outright break up.
“I know it’s going to sound a little weird, but Justin and I want to adopt a kid. I thought I’d try out the whole soccer dad thing.”
And it did sound a little weird. More than a little. Ken, with all of his energy, all of his restlessness, settling down to take care of kids? On the other hand, the more Brad thought about it, the more he felt like it made perfect sense. Like it might be the best thing for him.
At least he would have the energy to take care of them. So, while he had to shake his head a little bit, Brad had to admit that it sort of worked.
“Well, I guess that’s it, then,” Brad murmured, and there was an odd sense, a creeping sensation right in the bit of his stomach that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Maybe it was failure. Or maybe it was relief, because whatever was going to happen now, it was just inevitable.
“Would you manage us?” Lance asked, and Brad was actually startled by the question. He had been pretty sure that these men would be pretty glad to see the back of him, and he looked into both sets of eyes, one jade and the other crystalline blue, and tried to see any pity there. Even the slightest hint of it and he would walk away right then and there.
Sure, he was in a bad place, but he just wasn’t the sort of person to sit around and let himself be pitied. He wouldn’t take a job for any reason less than that he was completely and totally qualified for it, and he looked at the two of them suspiciously.
And he saw nothing but earnest supplication there. No pity, no indication at all that it was anything but what Lance and Jamie both wanted.
“Why?” Brad asked, still suspicious. After how badly he’d mucked this whole experience up, why would anyone in their right mind want him to manage them? Weren’t they afraid that he would just mess everything up even more?
He certainly knew that he was.
“Uh, because you’re amazing?” Jamie countered, his eyes full of sardonic amusement, but sincerity, too. “Way better than Lester. We’ll take our chances with you any day.”
Brad frowned, and the mental image of Aaron came into his head all of a sudden. With everything that had happened between them, Brad had sort of allowed his self-esteem to take a hit. He wished like anything that Aaron was there so that he could hear what Jamie had said.
Funny, wasn’t it? In a sad sort of way? He had been tossed a rope here. He had been about to give up all hope, and then Jamie and Lance came to the rescue, and he was thinking about Aaron?
“Don’t you want to manage us?” Jamie and Lance were exchanging uncertain looks now, and Brad realized that he had been utterly silent for longer than was usually considered polite. They were probably afraid that they had offended him, and he softly sighed as he came back to himself.
“Yes. Of course, I do.”
It was Ken who spoke up then, Ken who reminded Brad that he was surrounded by people, some of whom he barely knew, like Darien and Noah and Justin. But they were all connected to the Lost Boys, very intimately connected, and Brad tried to tell the panicky, freaked out voice in his head to take a hike.
“But you’re thinking about Aaron.”
