by Max Hudson
“I also have to do early morning twice a week.”
“I don’t envy that.”
“I would like to remind you that you were up before me this morning.” Devlin took a triumphant pose. “You totally did the morning thing.”
“That habit won’t last long.” Chance laughed. “You look like an ass.”
“That was the entire goal.”
“At least it landed then.” Chance grinned again, walking up to Devlin. “It works for you.”
“You think I look good as an ass?”
“I think you look good no matter what you do.” Chance laughed and leaned in close.
It took the span of a heartbeat from the moment that Devlin realized what was happening to the time his lips were captured in a kiss. It stole his breath away. He felt the rush of blood to his cheeks and wrapped his arms around the other man.
Magic was the only word that could be used to describe the magical moment that Devlin realized he was going to get less work done than he had originally planned.
Soon they had hands roaming over each other, shifting the shirts out of the way so they could get as much skin touching as they could. Their bodies moved against each other, rubbing together with increasing heat.
It wasn’t until they realized the fact that the windows were open, and someone could see inside, that they pulled apart with a mutual groan of frustration. “We should get home as soon as we should.”
“I still have work to do.” Devlin’s voice was right on the very edge of a whine.
“How fast can we get it all done?”
Chapter Thirteen
Chance walked between the projects in the studio. It felt like the items were throbbing with his desire to be close to Devlin. But it wasn’t meant to be that way. He was having to leave again. “What are you working on now?”
“Just got this project that needs doing. I’m almost done.”
“Don’t rush.”
“I kind of have to. You’re leaving in the morning and I want to spend time with you.”
“I wish we could have gotten you further ahead.”
“I know.” Devlin groaned.
Chance felt a little guilty. He had been terribly distracting. The had been enjoying themselves and seeing the sights of El Paso when they got the chance, but a lot of it was sitting around watching Devlin work. As much as Chance wanted to help, he didn’t have the kind of skill that the projects demanded. So, he had mostly found himself functioning as an assistant. Not that he minded, but it meant that they couldn’t spend the kind of time together that he was hoping would exist. “It’s fine. If you’ve got to work, you should get some work done.”
“I hate having to ignore you like this.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. If you were following me around at work, I would probably be doing the same thing.”
“That should make me feel better.” Devlin sighed.
“But it doesn’t?”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“You’re not bothering me at all. Please stop worrying about it. I can always entertain myself if I have to. It’s not your job to keep me occupied.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better either.”
“It probably wouldn’t have worked for me had our situations been switched.”
Devlin laughed. “Following you around on tour. That’s so weird.”
“I knew what I was getting into.” Chance tried one last time.
Devlin looked down at the small chair that he was working on. It was swirled with shades of pink, yellow, and orange. A desert sunset. “I wish you could have helped a lot more, I’m sorry.”
“Your customers expect certain things.” Chance spoke up, draping an arm over Devlin’s shoulder. “I can’t expect someone who has no practice to really help you out a whole lot.”
“I guess so.” Devlin shrugged. “I just think it’s funny to have the Chance Bradford functioning as a glorified gopher.”
“Gopher?”
“Yeah, gopher this, gopher that?”
Chance laughed. “I never realized that’s what it meant.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Like I heard it used a lot. We have gophers during concerts. They do the running around. That makes a lot more sense now.”
“Yeah, a lot of people don’t. But once you hear it, you don’t stop hearing it.”
“It makes perfect sense. I guess I just never really thought about it before.”
“I don’t think many people would.”
“You would think I would know words a lot more, considering.”
“Well, I’m happy to be a gopher for you.”
Devlin grinned. “Thanks. That means a lot to me.” He reached over to touch up one of the pieces. “I’m almost done, I promise.”
“Don’t worry about it. I invaded your life. You didn’t invade mine.” Chance shrugged. “Unless you wanted to do that.”
“I don’t know how I would ever afford to invade your life.”
“We would just take you on the bus with us. It wouldn’t cost much at all.”
“But I still have bills. Insurance, rent, electric.”
“Right.” Chance shook his head. “I don’t know how I forgot about that.”
“Rose-colored glasses.”
“Good thing you’re around. Because you never seem to have them on.”
“Oh, I get them all the time, I just had to learn how to take them off. It’s not like I can afford to live like that.”
“Nobody really can.” Chance shrugged. “Or at least most people. But something about you makes it hard to remember that.”
“It does take a lot of extra work for me too. You have the ability to make everything fade away. That’s what’s making all of this so hard.”
“You mean working?”
“I mean doing the kind of work that I should be doing.” Devlin shrugged, but there was a smile on his face. “I can probably get it all done if I can manage to really buckle down and get it done.”
“I won’t drag you away, I promise.” Chance moved away from him. “I’ll probably get some reading done.”
“I’ll hurry as much as I can.” He made the promise. And Chance believed it. The man was trying to juggle so much, and he couldn’t help but feel in the way a little bit. Well, more than a little bit, a lot bit.
He pulled out his phone to open a book upon it.
But it wasn’t so smooth. Every few moments he would glance over at Devlin, only to catch the painter looking over at him with an odd look on his face. It worried him a little to watch.
He pondered what Devlin was worried about as the painter watched him. The guilt welled up in his chest, there were so many problems with what he was asking Devlin to do, to accept a singer into his life.
He vaguely considered just walking away from him. Leaving and never coming back so that Devlin could live a life of peace. It pained him in ways that he didn’t like to think about and eventually, he ducked out of the building and stood outside in the late afternoon sun.
El Paso was always so warm. He basked in the sun, slipping his hat up over his brow to let more of it fall over his face.
The warmth seemed to comfort him, bringing him back toward reality as the painful moments washed away from him. There was too little time to worry about all of the little things, and he slipped around the side of the small studio, to the wall that wasn’t shared with the small shop next door. His rental car was right there, and he opened it up, retrieving his leather-bound book. There was so much that he wanted to write down. To record the way that Devlin made him feel.
The rush of inspiration seemed to take over him and it made him happier than he had been in a long time. His secret world of songs that weren’t popular enough to make it on the air. The ones that were more personal than he could ever really share with anyone else.
His private world swirled around him for so long that he didn’t notice as the time seemed to fly by. Even the heat was easy to f
orget as he scribbled on the paper.
That was until the knock came on the open door of the car. “You ok, out here?”
Chance nearly jumped out of his skin. “What?” He had nearly tossed his book and barely managed to catch it in time, snapping it shut and hoping that he hadn’t shown off too much of his secret book of folk songs.
“You ok?” Devlin looked worried.
“Yeah. Sorry. Just lost track of time.” Chance winced. “I get distracted sometimes.”
“It looks like that. Sorry. I just got done with all my stuff.”
“Was I out here that long?”
“Almost an hour.”
“Wow. I usually don’t lose that much time.” Chance laughed. “I was just distracted by stuff.”
“By what?”
“Just something that I was working on. It’s a stupid little thing. I like to write notes down sometime.”
“Are you a writer?”
“Eh, I wouldn’t consider myself one.” Chance shrugged. “It’s more that I like to write down my feelings.” He didn’t know why he couldn’t just say that he was writing songs about Devlin. That would make things weird, to say the least.
“That works then. I won’t bug you about it.”
“It’s nothing serious. I promise.” Chance forced himself to smile.
“I was getting a little worried about you.” Devlin grinned.
“Worried?”
“I was really hoping I wasn’t going to find out that you had been kidnapped or ran over or something.”
“That probably won’t happen.”
“You never really know, though. I tried not to freak out and come chase you down over my brain playing tricks on me.”
“It’s nice to know that you worry about me at least.”
“I’ll do more than worry about you.” Devlin’s voice was definitely bent in the flirty direction.
Chance laughed. “I would really love that.”
“We should get out of here. It’s getting late.” Devlin smiled and changed the subject before they could start flirting a lot more.
He shoved the book into the center console of the car. “Sounds great. What did you want to do tonight?”
“I hadn’t decided yet.” Devlin shrugged. “How did you want to spend your last night here?”
“Maybe we could just drive around and take a look around?”
“I’m not sure what I could show you. It’s kind of dusty most of the time. We have a lot of pretty stuff. And we’ll drive past most of it on the way to the airport tomorrow.”
“Are you planning on going to the airport with me?” Chance grinned.
“I was thinking about it.” Devlin walked around and climbed into the passenger seat. “Thanks for giving me a ride.”
“Didn’t you bring your truck?” Chance did a double take.
“Damn it.” Devlin shook his head. “I completely forgot.”
“It happens to everyone. I’m glad I got you that distracted.”
“You sure did.” Devlin laughed. “You’re probably the most distracting guy in the city.”
“Flattery will get you dragged to bed as soon as I can.” Chance winked.
“Right. I’ll make sure to keep that in mind.” Devlin laughed. “I’ll meet you back at the apartment?”
“Sure. I would love that. Try to think of what you want to do tonight.”
“You make sure to do that too. It’s your last night in town.”
“I know it is.” Chance frowned slightly.
“It doesn’t feel like it’s been two weeks yet, has it.”
“The time has just flown.”
Devlin nodded. “At least it didn’t end up flopping.”
“That’s something to be grateful for at least.”
Devlin bit his lip for a second before changing the subject. “I’m sure if anyone can figure out one last date, it would be the two of us. Maybe we could just stay in?”
Chance winked. “Now there’s an idea. Sounds like a good one too.”
“But you never get much of a chance to sightsee.” Devlin frowned. “And you’ve been here two weeks. I feel bad because you’ve seen so little.”
“I’ve seen enough. There are a lot of things that I can always come back and see when you’re not as busy.”
“Do you know when you’ll have a chance to come back?”
“Uh, we’re just putting together a new tour, it may be a while. But I’ll try to slip away if I can.” Chance shrugged.
“I would really like that.” Devlin’s eyes strayed down to the book. “I guess we’ll talk in a few.”
Chance felt more exposed than ever as Devlin walked away. It was such a stupid secret to keep, but it was a part of him. And he knew that Devlin had seen it several times over the course of his stay, but had never asked. It was polite of him.
Chapter Fourteen
As Devlin drove away from the airport, he felt a few tears slip down his cheeks. There was just so much going on and he couldn’t focus on any of it. He was going to be going to the farmer’s market the next morning.
And he still had work to do. The plan was to go right to the studio and get to work, but he was definitely missing Chance too much to focus on anything like that.
Instead, he ended up at a small park, pacing on the dusty ground while he watched the El Paso skyline. There was nothing interesting going on, but it didn’t matter. He had to talk to someone.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed up a number.
It was answered on the second ring. “Did you get a flat or something? You never call.”
“Hey, Annie.”
“What’s up?” Annie’s voice echoed into the silence that surrounded him. It made him feel connected.
“I just needed to talk.”
“Did something happen? You haven’t texted in a while. Your social media has been dead.”
“Don’t worry. I didn’t fall off the face of the planet.” Devlin forced a laugh.
“But something is wrong. It’s got to be wrong.” Annie sighed. “What’s going on? I can hear it in your voice.”
“Am I that obvious?”
“Yeah, you kind of are.” He could almost imagine her shrugging like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“I didn’t think it was that bad.”
“Did business go bad?” She sounded worried. “What happened? Where have you been?”
“I’ve been occupied with stuff.”
“Are you being vague on purpose?”
Devlin forced a smile. He didn’t like worrying Annie this way. “Look, I’m fine. I haven’t been kidnapped. I’m not dead or hurt or anything like that. I’m just dealing with stuff.”
“And you called because of this stuff?”
“Yeah. It’s hard to explain.”
“What is it?” She was pushing for it.
“There’s a guy.”
A squeal sounded from the other side of the phone. Then a skittering sound as something slid across the floor. After that was silence until he heard Annie breathing again. “Sorry. I dropped the phone.”
Devlin laughed. “That was the best response I could have heard.”
“You should be just as excited.” She laughed. “You deserve this so much. What is he like?”
“He’s pretty nice.”
“Is he hot?”
“Yeah. He’s kind of really hot. You wouldn’t believe how hot he is.” The smile was honest on his face. “He’s really nice too. And there’s a lot about him that I adore.”
“Uh oh.” She paused. “What’s wrong with him?”
“This is kind of hard to tell right now.” Devlin sighed. “It’s really hard to explain and I’m afraid that you won’t believe me.”
“Why wouldn’t I believe you?” She sounded curious. “I don’t think you could tell me anything that I wouldn’t believe.”
“It’s hard to explain.” He sighed.
“You keep saying that, but you’re
not explaining.”
“Let me get someplace private.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to discuss this in public. And you’re not going to believe what I’m going to say.”
“You keep saying that. Why do you keep saying that?”
“Because it’s big.”
“How big?”
“Like impossibly big.” Devlin walked back over to his truck, opening the door and sliding in behind the wheel. “You have no idea.” He started the engine and got the air conditioner going.”
“I have to hear this.” She was sounding more and more excited. “Tell me everything.”
“Look. Before I say this, you need to remember to stay calm.”
“I’m calm. Just tell me what’s going on.”
“Do you listen to Chance Bradford?”
“Does this have anything to do with it?” She seemed confused. “Like, first you tell me that it’s weird, and now you’re asking me about music?”
“Yeah. It all fits together.”
“I listen to him sometimes. Not a lot. I’m not like a super fan or anything.”
“Well, the guy…”
“Did he tell you he was a part of his band or something? That’s always a lie. Don’t trust that guy.”
“No. It’s not like that.”
“What is it then?”
“It’s Chance Bradford.”
She laughed. “He looks like Chance Bradford?”
“No. I said you wouldn’t believe it. But it’s really him.”
“How do you know for sure?”
“I gave him a ride to one of the concerts and followed him right up to the stage. I stayed just off stage and then walked him back to the car.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Devlin nodded. He had been expecting this. It was almost impossible for him to believe. “It really happened.”
“That’s crazy. You’re bullshitting me.”
“I’m not bullshitting you. It’s the truth.”
“Prove it.”
“Give me a second. I’m going to hang up and send you a picture, but you have to promise to delete it as soon as you get it.” Devlin knew that he trusted this woman to not spread things around about this. He hung up the phone and vaguely worried if Chance would feel upset by this.