ORANGE MOON
Barbara Sheridan & Anne Cain
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This e-book contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language and may be considered offensive to some readers. Loose Id® e-books are for sale to adults ONLY, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.
* * * * *
This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable (homoerotic sexual practices and violence).
Orange Moon
Barbara Sheridan & Anne Cain
This e-book is a work of fiction. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Published by
Loose Id LLC
1802 N Carson Street, Suite 212-2924
Carson City NV 89701-1215
www.loose-id.com
Copyright © February 2007 by Barbara Sheridan & Anne Cain
All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the purchaser of this e-book ONLY. No part of this e-book may be reproduced or shared in any form, including, but not limited to printing, photocopying, faxing, or emailing without prior written permission from Loose Id LLC.
ISBN 978-1-59632-414-5
Available in Adobe PDF, HTML, MobiPocket, and MS Reader
Printed in the United States of America
Editor: Barbara Marshall
Cover Artist: Anne Cain
Dedication
With love to Stacey and Sarah from LJ, and thanks to Toshiya and Jin for being our muses behind Orange Moon.
Author’s Note:
This story takes place a few years before Winter Song.
Chapter One
The young pop idol threw up one hand in despair and struggled not to smash his cell phone against the brick wall of the alley behind the private recording studio.
“Yes, I appreciate the chance you gave me and I like performing as part of SundayEveryday, but I want more. There’s no reason I can’t do solo music if you let me go and do those dramas on my own. But -- it’s not the same -- I have vacation time -- Fine. Yes, I’ll be at rehearsal for the new show next Thursday.”
“Fuck,” he muttered as he snapped the cell phone shut and shoved it into the pocket of his jeans.
“Don’t tell me. Let me guess. Your manager is a pain in the ass.”
“You got that right,” Hideki said, as he turned to look at the guy leaning in the open doorway.
There was something sort of familiar about him, but Hideki couldn’t quite place him. He resisted the urge to ask the guy to take off his sunglasses so he could get a better look at his face.
The guy flashed a slightly crooked grin. “All management types are a pain in the ass. I think it’s required training for them or something.”
“You’re probably right.” Hideki leaned against the wall and took a cigarette from the pack in his jacket pocket.
“You have an extra? I ran out.”
“Sure.” Hideki handed him one, then held out the lighter after he lit his own. The guy leaned over to get the light, and though Hideki certainly never made a habit of it, he couldn’t help but notice the faint trace of cologne that filtered to him on the spring breeze.
A gruff male voice echoed from within the building. “We’re starving in here, dumb-ass, and it’s your turn to buy lunch!”
Hideki’s companion grinned crookedly again and gave his unseen friend a one-fingered salute. “Good luck with the manager, and I owe you a smoke,” he said.
“Don’t worry about it.”
The guy gave a nod in reply and then strolled out of the alley. Hideki found himself standing there and watching him until he rounded the corner and disappeared from sight.
* * * * *
Hours later, after most of the others using the studio had gone for the day, Hideki was still playing back the tracks he’d made and jotting notes as to what seemed to work and what didn’t. One particular song drove him crazy. He’d replayed it six times in a row and still couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it.
“Fuck!” He jumped up and began to pace the length of the control room.
“Sakae-san,” the sound engineer interrupted quietly. “It’s getting late, and I promised my wife I would --”
“Go then! I’ll figure it out on my own!” Hideki turned to glare through the large window separating the control room from the recording studio and barked at the musicians to go home as well. When they left, he kicked the door closed so hard that it bounced back open, but he left it as it was, then went back to replay the song that demanded to be set right. He only had a week to record a demo of this solo album, and he was going to do it if it killed him.
A knock sounded and Hideki looked toward the door. It was the guy from earlier. He held up a cigarette and flashed that goofy grin. Hideki couldn’t help but return the smile, even though he was pissed as hell that this day wasn’t turning out the way he’d hoped. The guy came into the control room, tossed Hideki the cigarette, then took off his sunglasses and tucked them into the pocket of his button-down shirt.
“If you don’t mind a bit of friendly advice, you’ve got things ass-backwards.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re trying for a harder sound than usual, something a bit edgy?”
Hideki nodded. “How did you know?” The guy simply grinned, fiddled with the controls, and played the drum and bass tracks.
“These are wrong. You need to lead off with the bass line and let it get everything pumping. Bring in the lead guitar, then -- boom! Let the drums cut loose.”
Hideki frowned, trying to hear the result in his head.
“Wait a minute,” the guy said, dashing to the door. “Hey, guys! Don’t pack up yet!”
Hideki stared speechless and felt his jaw sag open when the guy returned followed by a few friends. Oh, shit. No wonder he seemed so familiar. It was Toruhiko from ChildsPrey. Oh, shit! He’d been listening to these guys forever.
“It’s been a fucking long day, Toru, and we’re tired,” the lead singer, Imai, grumbled as he brought up the rear of the group.
“Come on, Imai, give the kid fifteen minutes. What else you do you to have to do, except sit home alone and jerk off?”
Hideki felt his cheeks burn.
Koji, the second guitarist, howled with laughter and drummer, Kyoru, snickered, while Jun, the lead guitarist, busied himself looking over the sheet music he’d picked up from the control console. Imai grumbled, then plopped into the nearest chair and pulled a PSP from his leather backpack. “Make it quick. I need to catch a ride from Kyoru-chan.”
Hideki sat quietly while the other four conversed, his sheet music spread out before them. Toru glanced over his shoulder, and the sheer beauty of the man struck Hideki. He couldn't believe he’d failed to recognize the famous bassist from the start.
With the sunglasses gone, he could appreciate the rich cocoa-brown of Toru’s almond-shaped eyes and the smooth curves of Toru’s cheeks. A gold earring glimmered in his ear just above the start of his jaw line between the strands of shoulder-length black hair cut to fall stylishly over the sides of his face. The man was incredibly handsome, and Hideki couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to kiss those full lips. It took Koji tossing a wadded up piece of paper at his head to get Hideki to realize that Jun had spoken to him.
“I’m sorry.
What did you say?”
“I asked if that was you on the guitar lead?” Jun raised a brow.
“Yeah, it was.”
Toru motioned for Hideki to come forward and he did. He, Jun, Kyoru, and Toru went into the adjacent studio and Hideki watched patiently as Jun penciled in some changes on the sheet music then went over the new arrangement with his own guitar. When Hideki was confident that he’d gotten the new solo down, Jun left them to go back to the control room and act as producer while they recorded the new musical tracks.
The music flowed from Hideki’s fingers and through his guitar like never before, and he felt the most incredible high when Toru and Kyoru put their souls into it like he’d seen them do on stage with their own music.
When they finished, Jun gave them a thumbs-up sign and was about to say something when Imai’s voice boomed over the speaker.
“That vocal track of yours isn’t going to cut it, not if you want to be taken seriously with this. You have to put more into it, project more, bring the power of it up from deep inside, like this.”
The snooty vocalist cut loose with a few bars in his own particular style, and it blew Hideki away.
Toru leaned over to Kyoru. “I knew he had to get in on it sooner or later. The show-off.”
“Fuck you, Toru,” Imai snapped over the speaker.
“You did when we were in Berlin, and I found it lacking, remember?”
Hideki felt another rush of heat to his face and a surge of blood to his cock at the thought of Toru fucking Imai, or anyone, for that matter. Thankfully, Imai stormed into the studio and had Hideki go over the vocal track, stopping often to coach him in where and how to bring out the emotion of the lyrics.
The fifteen minutes Toru requested of his friends’ time turned into hours, but when they were done, Hideki had recorded the best song of his career thus far. Both Hideki and ChildsPrey had the studio booked for the following days as well, so they left their equipment in the studios for the guard to lock.
* * * * *
The following week was incredible. Hideki learned more about the music business in the company of ChildsPrey than he had since being picked for SundayEveryday five years ago, at the age of seventeen.
Toru and his friends were so different than his own band mates. These guys focused thoroughly on the music and weren’t distracted by the whole “teen idol” thing, as his friends were. Their music was serious -- coming from deep down within their souls -- and it was easy to see why they’d been at the top of the rock charts since the beginning.
While Hideki had the distinct impression that the band’s second guitarist, drummer, and vocalist grudgingly helped him for their friend’s sake, Hideki felt a real sense of comradeship with Jun, ChildsPrey’s leader and chief composer, and especially Toru. Their ideas harmonized so well; whatever expression or thought Hideki tried to get across with the music, Toru picked up on it immediately. The bassist also had a knack for knowing the difference between what Hideki wanted to say and what the young man had actually written.
Creatively, they worked on the same page, with Toru’s experience being more help than Hideki could’ve hoped for. Personally, they got along so well, it was as if he and Toru had been friends for a very long time. Hideki felt a sharp twinge of sadness that final night when they put the finishing touches on his last recorded track.
Hideki walked out to the parking lot, profusely thanking the older men for their time.
Jun clapped him on the shoulder. “It was our pleasure. We remember the early days, too.”
Hideki offered the guitarist a smile and a bow.
Jun turned to Toruhiko. “You want a ride to your place, Toru?”
“I’ll walk. It’s not that far.”
Jun nodded. “See you tomorrow. Nice meeting you, Hideki.”
“It was great to finally meet you all. And thank you again!”
Toru lingered with Hideki while his band mates drove away, and Hideki found himself once more captivated by the older man’s alluring good looks and the way the shadows and light from the nearby overhead light played upon those wonderfully sculpted features.
Hideki felt himself blush yet again once the cars had disappeared from sight, and he realized that Toru had turned and was staring back at him. Hideki cleared his throat and made a show of looking at his watch.
“Do you live far?” Toru asked.
“About an hour away. You?”
“About twenty minutes, if I cut through the park.”
Hideki nodded, not certain what to do with the awkward silence that had sprung up. He had no reason to stay, and yet he found that he didn’t want to leave Toru’s side. “Are you sure you don’t want a ride? It’s no trouble.”
Toru shrugged and shoved his hands into the pockets of his dark jeans.
Dark jeans that fit his slender, toned body very well.
“All right. I guess I am a bit tired. It’s been a long day, like Jun said.”
“I’m really sorry for taking up your time. I don’t --” Hideki stopped the instant Toru reached out and pressed long fingers to his lips to silence him.
“It was no trouble. We had fun. Even pissy Imai did.”
Hideki grinned, and it was almost an afterthought that he realized Toru kept his fingers pressed to his lips a bit longer than necessary.
They got into Hideki’s sports car and reached Toru’s apartment far sooner than Hideki would have liked. To his surprise, Toru didn’t get out immediately, but instead asked if he’d like come in for a bite to eat or a drink.
Toru’s apartment was spacious and bright. Furnished in a mix of sleek contemporary furniture and a few scattered pieces that must have come from his family home, the atmosphere fit the lanky bassist perfectly. It was tidy, but lived in, with music and car magazines scattered here and there, an open samurai manga on the kitchen counter, and a blue bass guitar leaning against a comfortably worn chair.
Opposite the front door was a floor-to-ceiling shelf unit with an assortment of manga, more magazines, and a few hardback books. Another shelf contained framed photos of Toru with family and friends, while yet another contained an assortment of remote control vehicles. The spacious wall behind the leather sofa was covered with posters and framed concert photos of ChildsPrey.
Toru strolled over to the entertainment center and began sorting through his CD collection.
“You can get something from the kitchen, if you want,” he told Hideki with a smile. “My neighbor gave me a bottle of wine for my birthday last week. You can pour me a glass of that, if you don’t mind.”
“Sure.” Hideki laughed out loud when he saw the wine bottle. Toru was laughing as well, and Hideki found himself totally fascinated by that odd, infectious grin and almost childlike laugh. “Your neighbor gave you a bottle of X-Japan wine for your birthday?”
“Yeah. Apparently he saw some entertainment reporter talking about it on TV last year and thought it was the perfect gift.” Toru turned back to the CDs and selected a couple.
Hideki returned with the opened bottle of wine and two glasses. He poured, handed one glass to Toru, then sat on the sofa as Toru hit the play button on the stereo. Hideki sipped his drink and smiled. “You’re a Buck-Tick fan?”
“I am. You?”
Hideki nodded. “I can’t listen to them around Yuki, though. He’s such a bastard the way he criticizes me for liking the ‘grandpa squad,’ as he calls them.”
“Ahhh, Yuki. He’s the smug one who thinks he’s a rapper? My cousin Aya-chan has a crush on him.”
Hideki laughed. “He can be a smug fuck, all right. If your cousin would like an autographed photo of him or a DVD or something, I’d be happy to send her one.”
“That would be great. She’d love that.”
Toru took a long sip of his wine, then shifted on the sofa to face Hideki, his free arm sliding across the sofa back, his long, thin fingers absently stroking the smooth leather. Hideki took another sip of wine, ordering his imagination to stop picturi
ng those fingers touching him like that.
“When I went home for a visit last year, I got roped into taking her and a bunch of her friends to see you guys in concert.”
Hideki set his glass on the coffee table. “I’m sorry; you must have hated that.”
Toru gave his shoulder a playful poke. “Baka. I liked it. You guys put on quite a show. I have to admit I understand why all the fangirls screamed when you did that dance solo.”
Hideki groaned and felt his face flush with embarrassment yet again. Gods, why was he acting like such a dumb ass around the older man?
Toru finished his wine with one large sip, then reached out and ran his index finger along Hideki’s warm cheek. “Dance for me.”
Hideki blinked, certain he hadn’t heard correctly. “What?”
Toru gazed intently at him, and Hideki felt himself totally captivated by those warm brown eyes. “I want you to dance for me.” He picked up the stereo remote, and within a moment, Hideki’s cover of Buck-Tick's Sasayaki began to play. Toru hit the pause button. “Well? You do owe me for helping you at the studio.”
“I suppose I do,” Hideki agreed in a voice hardly above a whisper.
He closed his eyes a moment, and once the music started, he let it fill him as it always did on stage. When he opened his eyes, he saw Toru sitting on the edge of the sofa, eager to watch this very private performance.
Toru’s attention lingered on the younger man’s beautifully handsome face, and he felt a jolt shoot through him when Hideki stroked his thumb across his own full lower lip. The jolt turned to a slow and steady throb between his legs when Hideki began to dance. The young man was grinding his hips the same way he did on stage, only this time with no hint of holding anything back. The boy was as clearly aroused as Toru himself was.
The song faded into a slower ballad. Hideki remained where he was, swaying gently to the music, softly singing the words that spoke of love and longing. Hideki’s look of smoldering desire beckoned Toru forward, and he moved to stand mere inches away, his hands resting lightly on Hideki’s firm shoulders. Hideki touched his waist, giving a timid tug on Toru’s shirt, and the bassist pressed in close, the bulge in his jeans brushing against Hideki’s.
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