Page 81 of Conquest

For the rest of June they worked twice as long and hard to get the album finished and ready for printing and packaging. There were times when he wondered if they were going to be able to get it done, times when he wanted to say screw it and walk away for a few days, but he wasn’t about to sacrifice all he had worked for, so he hid his fatigue and pushed Kenny, Julian, and Trish to keep up with him.

Evan was the only person who knew his exhaustion and always seemed to be able to sense when he was ready to crack. It was those moments when he was at his limit that he would look up from the mic and see Evan standing in the control room, watching him. A sense of serenity always came over him, then Evan would whisk him from the studio and take him to get something to eat, or for a drive so they could talk, or one time to a suite at the Ritz-Carlton for a quick stress relief session.

Jesse smiled at the last memory and felt the tension from the final day of the video shoot ease. He had decided after they shot pictures for the CD liner and promos that he would love doing photo shoots. Kenny already loathed them, Trish and Julian found them incredibly boring, but for him, being in front of the camera, trying on different outfits, having people fix his clothes and hair for him, was just too much fun. Of course, part of it could be the extra attention he got since the photographers always wanted him in the front, in the most dramatic or sexy poses, or shots of him solo. Greg told him he better get used to it. He might be part of a band, but with his charisma and looks, the media would be looking to get him one-on-one a lot.

With how much he enjoyed the photo shoots, he assumed he would have a blast making the video for “Euphoria” as well, but it turned out to be more of a pain. It started off bad right away when he got into a fight with the director because the guy wanted to do a mini-movie and actors would have more screen time than the band.

He refused to back down and won the battle by having the video done based off his concept of doing a tribute to Chicago and their local fans. It was going to feature him singing on the steps of the Field Museum solo, then with Kenny playing guitar at Soldier Field. It would move next to him singing on the mound at U.S. Cellular Field where Trish would be drumming behind him, then he would be on the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier with Julian rocking out the keyboards below, and wrap up with all of them playing at Millennium Park. Overall, he felt the finished product should be great, but he didn’t know if it had been worth three days of work. Who knew it’d take so long to make a video for a three and a half minute song? Well, besides Evan, who had warned him.

At least it was over, until they had to make the videos for “Vanish” and “Shattered.” The thought was almost enough to make him puke. On the plus side, he knew August wouldn’t be too bad. Just some light publicity, then the album’s release date at the end of the month, which they had decided to self-title Conquest, even though he thought it sounded generic.

The only thing that had him nervous was going to New York the first week of September. Greg called in countless favors and arranged for them to be interviewed on MTV, VH1, and by a few music mags, including Rolling Stone. Being interviewed for Rolling Stone was enough to make him swoon.

Greg told him not to worry. By the time the New York trip came around he would have plenty of experience being interviewed by smaller publications and Internet sites, not to mention the coaching Greg and Evan had done with him so he’d know how to handle himself, but it didn’t do much to lessen his nervousness.

Jesse fingered the sixteen-rayed sun pendant dangling from the choker around his neck and shook the thoughts away. There wasn’t any point in getting himself worked up over something that was a month away. Greg was probably right. By the time he got through August and the smaller interviews, getting interviewed by bigger media would be nothing. He chuckled inside. Yeah, right.

He turned to cross the street for the parking garage and stumbled forward when a body slammed against his back. As he fought to gain his balance, two thin but strong arms clamped around his neck. He could feel a pair of ample breasts squashed against his back and figured it wasn’t Kenny, Julian, or Greg who pounced him.

“Jess, let’s go out to dinner,” Trish said.

“Not tonight, Trish. I just want to go home and chill.”

“Go home and chill? You talk like you’re sixty years old.”

“Fine. I just want to go home and fuck. Is the truth better?”

Julian laughed. “It’s more believable since we were all sitting there when the make-up lady was teasing you about what a kinky sex life you must have when she was trying to find the right shade of body foundation to cover that bite mark on your shoulder. We’re all still waiting to hear the story behind that fabu dental impression.”

Trish softened her voice to a seductive timbre and raked her fingernails through Jesse’s hair. “Yeah, everyone likes a good dirty story. It’s fun to imagine yourself in the place of one of the players, especially when one of them is you, pretty boy.”

Jesse looked at her. “So you like imagining yourself in Ev’s place?”

“Maybe,” Trish said coyly.

“Then you might want to imagine a strap-on in the scenario because I’ve got special needs, you know.”

Julian burst out laughing. Trish shoved Jesse on the back of the head to show her lack of appreciation. Kenny rolled his eyes and sidestepped away from the door when it opened.

Evan walked out and stopped so short at the sight of Trish hanging on Jesse that JJ ran into him from behind.

Trish narrowed her eyes the merest of fractions at Evan.

Jesse saw Evan and flashed a radiant smile. “Hey! I thought you would’ve left for home by now!”

He moved to greet Evan, half dragging Trish on his back before she managed to let go. He almost reached him when Greg slid between them and stopped him with his index finger pointed in Jesse’s face.

“What have we talked about, Jess? With ‘Euphoria’ getting ready to come out, more and more people are going to start recognizing you on the street and you can’t jump all over Evan like you’re used to doing. You shouldn’t have been acting so affectionate toward him in public in the first place, and the only reason you’ve gotten away with it for as long as you have is because the media hasn’t found out he’s back yet. But that’s going to change with us getting ready to announce he’s working on a new album, so you need to learn to control yourself.”

Jesse stared at Greg, hurt overriding his anger at having to keep his feelings for Evan hidden.

Evan grabbed Greg’s arm. “You don’t have to be so harsh about it.”

Greg ripped his arm from Evan’s hold. “No, Evan, I do, because neither one of you seem to understand the risk behind some snake in the grass paparazzi getting a shot of you two hugging each other or worse.”

“Or worse?” Evan snapped. “Having people see me give affection to the person I love is one of the worst things that could happen in your mind, isn’t it?”

Jesse interrupted the growing tension by spinning away from them both. “Just forget it, Ev. I don’t want this to ruin our evening. Let’s go home.”