Page 58 of Conquest

“Did you sleep with him to get our contract?”

“No! I already told you that! You say I haven’t confided in you about what I do with other guys, but here you sit accusing me of being a whore when I’ve laid everything out in the open for you about my relationship with Evan!”

“I’m not accusing you of being a whore! But I had to know.”

“You knew when I told you last week,” Jesse snarled between clenched teeth.

Silenced filled the Ferrari once again.

His gaze focused out the passenger side window, Kenny said softly, “You really like him, don’t you?”

“I’m in love with him.”

Kenny jerked his head toward him. “You just met him!”

“I can’t help it. It’s the way I feel, and he feels the same way. There’s something very special between us. I don’t know how to explain it, or if words even exist to begin to. I just know when I think about him, when I look at him, touch him, kiss him, hear him laugh, the feelings I get go so far down inside me that I know they have to be reaching my soul because I can’t see the end of them.”

Kenny stared at him for another moment, then slowly glanced away.

Jesse nudged Kenny with his elbow. “Not to mention how great the sex is. I thought I could be wild, but he’s unbelievable!”

Kenny laughed under his breath and shoved Jesse on his shoulder. “Idiot.”

“But hey, if you’re so curious about my sex life, I’m more than willing to start bragging, and damn, do I have a lot to brag about. You already know about the first one, that Aaron guy on the beach, there’s no point in reliving that, and I can skip over everything else and go straight to bragging about Ev, because all the stuff in between really isn’t very entertaining. It’s just been a lot of making out, groping, a blowjob here and there—”

“Alright! Can you at least ease me into hearing stories about my best friend doing things with guys I’m only used to seeing chicks do?”

A mischief filled smirk claimed Jesse’s countenance. “But I can do things a girl can’t, unless they have artificial aid, that is.”

Kenny sighed in exasperation and looked down at his watch. “It’s ten after nine. We better get in there.”

Jesse caught Kenny’s forearm to halt him from reaching for the door handle. “We’re cool now, right?”

A smile warmed Kenny’s face. “Yeah, we’re cool.”

Jesse leaned across the center console and puckered his lips. “Make up kiss?”

Kenny slammed him on the chest with the heel of his hand. “Dumbass!”

“Ow,” Jesse whimpered, rubbing his chest as he climbed out of the car. He fell into stride beside Kenny and handed him the apartment listings. “Here, take those. The other day I told Ev that I was worried about you living in our apartment all alone, so he called his real estate agent and had her look up some apartments here on the North Side.”

Kenny flipped through the listings as they crossed the street. “Did he bother telling her I’m not a multi-millionaire rock star like him? I can’t afford any of these places. I can’t even afford the shit-hole if I have to live there by myself.”

“You’ll be able to once our advance money comes in. I’ve already calculated a solid estimate of what it’ll cost to record and promote the album, and how much we can safely take for ourselves to live off, including setting aside two equal amounts for our new band members. These places are well within reach, and I figured since rent is due next week on the shit-hole, I’ll lend you the money to pay the first month’s rent at one of these places and you can pay me back whenever.”

“You were working this out the whole time you were gone,” Kenny said quietly.

Jesse smiled, the look on Kenny’s face and the tone in his voice telling him how happy Kenny was that while he had been with Evan he hadn’t stopped thinking about him. He opened one of the double glass doors to the studio and stepped into the lobby.

They showed their driver’s licenses to the security guard, and a blonde receptionist told them to wait while she informed Greg they were there. They stood in the lobby carpeted in dark maroon with small blue heraldic crests patterned on it. A large tapestry of a gold and red phoenix with flames for feathers and its beak opened wide in call hung on the wall to their left. A wooden plaque above it inscribed in Old English letters read,

Phoenix Records

Always Soaring

Jesse turned when he saw Greg walking down the hall directly across from the doors.

“Good morning, guys,” Greg said. “I hope you took advantage of resting up this past week, because we’ll be busting butts from here on out.”