Shine Forever

by Megan Derr

  "It ain't like I'm gonna buy out the damned store. I just want the last book in my trilogy."

  Dai shivered and swallowed again, 'cause that voice talking was even better than when it was laughing. He scooted up to the end of the row, standing so he could peek around the corner without drawing attention to himself. Ugh, what the hell gave the man the right to look that hot?

  He was huge. Like, he was probably a foot taller than Dai's measly five three and those shoulders, ugh. His hair was short, but long enough to show it had some wave to it, and was a soft, light brown that made Dai want to touch. Briefly, right before he went back to digging his nails into those shoulders and begging for a ride.

  Those jeans weren't super tight, but they weren't terribly modest either. And the snug t-shirt just put all the focus right back on those shoulders.

  Unfortunately, he was also holding a black Stetson and spoke with a drawl that screamed Deep South. Which, the south was as full of not-straight people as anywhere, but the chances of a cowboy turning ugly when faced with a gay dude with pink and orange hair… Not worth the risk, especially when the fucking paparazzi always seemed to know when trouble was brewing.

  Drawing back enough not to be seen, Dai tried to cool his face off. If Jet were there, he'd have been howling with laughter, but Jet would also manage to con one or both cowboys into his bed. Dai was only brave on stage, and even that took a lot of working up to, and god, did he ever need a fucking break. Japan had been a little too much for him, and if their manager thought he'd be doing Europe again anytime soon he was in for an unpleasant surprise.

  Shaking the thoughts off, Dai added the medieval living dolls book to his pile and wandered back to the front. "Hey," he said to the sleepy-looking clerk who wandered over to check him out. Laughter came up behind him, and Dai ducked his head to hide his reddening face.

  "Twenty-seven fifty-three," the clerk said. He took the cash Dai held out, but lingered a moment, peering at him, expression turning puzzled. Dai could see the gears turning; the guy was gonna place him any second. Time to go. When the clerk finally held out his change, Dai jammed his sunglasses on his face, grabbed the books, and bolted, ignoring when the guy called out about his receipt.

  Dai booked it back to the hotel, letting out a sigh once he was safely in the elevator and away from prying eyes.

  Back in the suite, Kim, Ricky, and Misha were at the breakfast table wolfing down enough food to feed a modest army. Dai stole a piece of bacon from Misha's plate. "Dare I ask where Jet is?"

  "No idea," Kim said around a mouthful of cereal. "What has you looking like you rabbited? Somebody recognize you?"

  "Almost." Dai set his books on the table, grabbed a glass from the kitchen, and poured himself some orange juice.

  Misha cast him an amused look but said nothing, just handed him a plate with fruit and biscuits on it, then handed over a little bowl of butter and jams. Dai thanked him with a smile. "So what are you losers doing today?"

  "Going to see my mom until we have to scope the concert hall," Ricky replied. "Kim's coming with me so he can pretend not to flirt with my sister. Who has a new boyfriend, so good luck with that." Kim flipped him off.

  Dai looked at Misha, who shrugged. "My brother was a couple of hours away working on a new building. He's driving here to have dinner with me tonight, bringing my niece along."

  "Cute," Dai replied. "Spoil her rotten."

  Misha gave him a look that said fucking duh. Dai grinned. It faded under a sigh when his phone buzzed in his pocket. Downstairs, she can be here in ten if we're able to start early. Dai made a face, but typed back an okay. Sooner done, sooner ended. Maybe he could sneak in some time with his new books. Or maybe he could use the extra time to fantasize about the hot cowboy.

  A chorus of laugher made him jump. "What?"

  Misha, Kim, and Ricky snickered. Ricky smirked. "What the hell has your face tomato red?"

  "Nothing, shut up," Dai retorted and shoved his phone back in his pocket as he stood. "Reporter is here early, gotta go. Try to stay out of trouble, losers."

  "That's Jet's department," Kim retorted. "Good luck with the interview. See you for the concert hall thing."

  "Yep." Dai stole another piece of bacon, then headed back out of the room and down to the lobby.

  Jet sat in the open dining area of the hotel restaurant and lifted a hand to wave him over when he spotted Dai. "Hey, have fun wandering around? How many books did you buy?"

  "Three. What have you been doing?"

  "Stayed in the coffee shop, started working on a song that came to mind."

  He slid a small, battered notebook across the table, already flipped open to a couple pages of notes. Dai gnawed on his bottom lip as he read over what Jet had, then took the pen Jet held out and set to work cleaning up the mess and rewriting lines here and there.

  They were bickering not-quite-loudly over the last line of the chorus when the reporter showed up. She was fat, stunning, and wearing clothes that even Dai knew were designer, though he couldn't mark the brands. She smelled like sunshine and cookies, and from the eyes Jet was making, he was pretty sure she'd be getting a special, private interview in a little while.

  Stowing the notebook, he stood up and plastered on his professional smile as he shook her hand. "Hi! You probably know us, but I'm Dai and this is Jet. You're Sylvia, right?"

  She smiled. "That's right. OUTShine! Magazine, thank you for agreeing to meet with me."

  "Always a pleasure," Jet said and pulled out a chair for her before signaling a waiter and settling down to answer her questions.

  Dai slipped away a little over an hour later, leaving them to flirt ridiculously. Back in the room, he sighed in relief to see it was empty. He loved his bandmates, but he was ready for some breathing room. They all were. But one more week, two at most, and they could go home.

  He closed and locked his bedroom door, then faceplanted on the bed. Take a nap? Get more coffee? Lie there indecisively until he had to get up again? He rolled over onto his back, stared at the ceiling, and tried to think about work, or what he'd do when they got home.

  But try as he might, his thoughts kept going back to the bookstore and that smoke-and-sugar voice. He bet the man's chest was as fine as those shoulders, and he probably had hands that were as big as the rest of him, calloused from work… They'd grip Dai's hips tight as he rode the man…

  Dai groaned and yanked his jeans open, shoved a hand in, and pulled his cock out, pushing his other hand up under his shirt to tug at his nipple rings, imagining a hot, hungry mouth working his nipples hard, stopping just short of bruising them. A rough-skinned, knowing hand wrapped tight around his cock, stroking hard as that hot mouth trailed up to murmur filthy words in that sexy drawl. He'd stop just short of bringing Dai off, roll over, and drag Dai to sprawl on top of him, use those rough fingers to work him open, get him good and slick before lowering Dai onto his cock.

  He wanted those fingers tight on his hips, leaving bruises he could feel and admire later. What color were the man's eyes? Dai wished he'd seen, knew what color to stare at it while he rode the man's cock. Wished he knew what name to cry as he came instead of having to bite down on his own lip as he spilled in his own hand.

  Grimacing at the cooling mess, he climbed out of bed and stripped off his clothes. Walking into the bathroom, he got the shower going and climbed in, washed up leisurely, eyeing the dye that swirled down the drain. It was about time to change his hair, the current colors were pretty much gone. Maybe he'd go do that before dinner with Cassidy and the others. He hadn't done teal in a while, that would look neat.

  Climbing out of the shower, he toweled off and wandered back into the bedroom, retrieved his phone from the bed, and searched for a salon that could do his hair that day. Once the appointment was made, he went to his luggage and pulled out clothes more suited to the business end of what they did: nice jeans, shiny boots, a white undershirt, and a shimmery black button down with silver stripes. He rolled the sleev
es up to his elbows, then settled on leather strung with glass rainbow beads for his necklace and bracelet.

  He went back out to the dining room to retrieve his books, mouth quirking when he heard familiar giggling coming from Jet's room. At least that meant he wouldn't get interrupted five hundred times while he was reading, and Jet would be in a good mood later.

  Slipping back into his room, he sprawled on the bed again and opened the fantasy book he'd started reading in the store.

  *~*~*

  Dai climbed out of the car as the door opened, smiling at restaurant staff who had opened it. "Thank you." The man faded off, and Dai turned his attention to Jet. "You look like a rentboy. What the hell is this place?"

  "One of the restaurants Malcolm owns," Jet replied, smoothing a hand down his obscenely-tight, sparkly blue shirt. "Expensive rentboy."

  "Whatever you say," Dai said with a snort. He looked at the restaurant again, wishing he were back home and could slink off to the burger dive at the 'bad' end of town. Or just order a goddamn pizza and never leave his house.

  It was a fancy little place, all black and gray and minimalist, with low lighting as they stepped into the lobby. A woman in a slinky cocktail dress smiled warmly at them. "The rest of your party has already arrived. I'll take you back."

  "Thanks," Dai said, letting Jet do the chatting while he continued trying not to gawk.

  He heard Cassidy before he saw him, a loud, happy, genuine laugh. He was practically bent double over the table, hands half-covering his face as he lost it over something one of the others had said. Next to him, Cassidy's stupidly pretty boyfriend, Malcolm, looked entirely too pleased with himself.

  It was Malcolm who spotted them first, lightly touching Cassidy's shoulder before he stood to shake their hands. "Hey, troublemakers."

  "Hello, pretty boy," Dai said. "Long time no see. Hey, Cass."

  "Hey!" Cassidy came around the table and hugged them, shoving playfully when Jet tousled his hair. He'd worn a short-sleeved shirt, a brave thing to do when Cassidy was crazy popular and his tattoos—a sleeve of butterflies on one arm, a sleeve of Celtic artwork on the other—marked him out pretty clearly. Dai preferred to keep his tattoos where they mostly went unseen.

  Malcolm motioned them close, gestured at the other two men at the table.

  Oh, god. Oh, holy fucking shit. It was hot cowboy from the bookstore. Dai hoped the low lighting kept everyone from noticing his face had gone red.

  Resting a hand briefly on hot cowboy's shoulder, Malcolm said, "This is Cooper Stone." He nodded to the other guy, who had a crazy ass mustache on his face but otherwise wasn't bad looking himself. Not the same guy who'd been with hot cowboy—Cooper—in the bookstore. "And this is Jake Hallow. They're the fiddler and lead vocals respectively for Shine the Moon. Guys, this is Dai Kristopherson and Jet Kristopherson, lead vocals and drummer for Forever and a Dai."

  Dai cringed inwardly. He always did at the sound of his band's name. He never should have let Jet talk him into it. He tried to speak, but the words came out rough and garbled. Face burning hotter than ever, he cleared his throat and tried again. "Nice to meet you. I'm a fan of your music."

  "Same," Cooper drawled, and ugh his hand was even better than Dai had imagined. That immediately brought to mind everything he'd been recently imagining. Oh, god, he was gonna burst into flame. "Ya'll are just getting back from Japan, aren't you?

  "Yep," Jet said, clapping Dai on the shoulder and shooting him a faintly amused look, which meant Dai wasn't hiding his thoughts very well, ugh. He wanted to die.

  Cooper slowly let go of his hand, smiled briefly before turning his attention to Jet, who was bitching congenially about some of their more interesting adventures in Tokyo. Dai tried to get his brain back in working order. Unsexy thoughts. He definitely needed to focus on unsexy thoughts. He shifted his attention to Jake, but only moments later he was right back to surreptitiously ogling Cooper. Gray. Dai was pretty sure his eyes had been gray.

  A waiter came up and Dai hastily looked over the beer list, settling on a local porter. When the waiter had gone, he looked at Malcolm. "So what's good at this fancy place of yours, pretty boy? How many restaurants do you own, anyway?"

  "A few," Malcolm said. "Stop judging me."

  "No," Dai said with a grin. "It's way too fun to stop. Get any modeling offers today?"

  Cassidy shared Dai's grin. "Couple, while we were at the beach. Then they saw me and realized who we were, and we had to get the hell out of there. But his face was very red." He poked at Malcom's cheek. "You'd think by now you'd be used to it."

  "Shut up." Malcolm took a sip of his own beer. "So how was Japan?"

  "Crazy," Dai said. "I was so sleep deprived I don't remember most of it. I'm never doing that again. I'm pretty sure at one point someone made me sign some comic that had me and Jet making out." He made a face. "That's not the weirdest thing I've ever signed, but it's damned close. They were really sweet though."

  Cooper chuckled, relaxing in his seat, arm stretched out as he fidgeted with his water glass. "That reminds me of that time, not long after we hit it big, when all the tabloids was running stories 'bout me and Redd fighting over Henry and how it was tearing the band apart. Never mind Redd is happy with his girlfriend and Henry's got a husband and two kids. We thought she was gonna rip them reporters in half the last time they brought it up."

  Jake lifted his eyes to the ceiling. "People still ask about that nonsense."

  "That's nothing," Jet said with a grin. He paused to thank the waiter who set his long island in front of him and order a plate of stuffed mushrooms for his appetizer. When the waiter was gone, he resumed. "As if the incest rumors aren't enough, they have us making out with any or all of the rest of the band. And every person we're ever seen with in public."

  "To be fair, you do sleep with at least half them," Dai replied, oofing when Jet kicked him. "Okay, a third."

  "Ya'll look like brothers more than cousins, especially with your eyes, which you've probably heard a thousand times." Jake said. "But you act like it, too. I tend mostly to avoid my cousins."

  Jet and Dai grinned. "We've been putting up with each other for a long time," Dai said. "I've always gotten along better with Jet than I do with my brother. Jason and I prefer to keep our distance."

  Cooper laughed, and oh, god, there went Dai's face again cause that laugh was even worse when he was staring Cooper dead on, not sneaking looks around the edge of a bookshelf. He'd never been so grateful to be sitting down in his life. "My sister probably would prefer not to know me some days when people ask her a million things about me and try to cadge free tickets and stuff. But she ain't killed me yet. Though as to that, she just might when she hears I had dinner with Forever and a Dai, she's a huge fan."

  "The one benefit to having a brother I can't stand is that he doesn't hassle me over things like that," Dai replied. "So what are you guys in Florida for? Concert?"

  Cooper shook his head. "Naw, we just finished recording a music video, and Jake here's got to do a commercial for some soap. I got a date with a beach tomorrow. Private, too. Ain't nobody going to be bothering me or sneaking pictures."

  "Ha!" Jet and Dai chorused.

  "Hope springs eternal, anyway," Cooper said. "Though it's usually Jake, Henry, and Callie that get all the attention. Me and Redd try to hang back and be invisible."

  Jake chuckled. "That ain't true by half. You bring in a lot of fans from your glory days."

  "Be quiet," Cooper said, making a face. "I'd much rather be invisible."

  "I hear that," Dai replied. "That's what I get for not believing Jet when he said we would be famous."

  The conversation lapsed as the appetizers arrived and they placed their main course orders. Dai dug into his fried pickles enthusiastically, almost moaning at the taste, the bite of the mustard sauce that came with them.

  Dai glanced up when Jet muttered something, then realized he was scowling at his phone. Glancing away, Dai reached for his beer—and
swore he caught Cooper dropping his eyes to his own food. Dai's heart cranked up. He kept looking, until Cooper lifted his eyes, only to hastily drop them again when he realized he'd been caught.

  Dai took a large swallow of beer, feeling his face go hot all over again. No way. No fucking way had Cooper been checking him out. He set his beer down and picked up another bit of fried pickle. Cooper looked up again, and holy shit. No mistaking that flash of want. Dai retreated to his beer again.

  How the fuck was he supposed to make it happen? 'Cause he was pretty sure he'd never heard anything about anyone in Shine the Moon being gay. Then again, it was country music. There was a handful of out performers there, but it still wasn't the most welcoming group.

  The smart thing would be to let it go. He didn't need the hassle that came with fucking a closeted dude. But he really really really wanted to fuck Cooper. He couldn't remember the last time he'd wanted someone so bad. It was heady and distracting, and he was gonna get himself in trouble and he didn't fucking care.

  Dai was vibrating with tension all through the rest of dinner, mind spinning through a thousand scenarios and discarding each one as obvious and doomed to failure. It was possible he was getting way ahead of himself. Just because Cooper was looking didn't mean he wanted to sample. If he was in the closet, then Dai was pretty dangerous for him to hang with privately. He and Jet had gone through more agents than he cared to count before they landed on one who wasn't going to insist on hiding or downplaying the fact he was gay and Jet was bi. Lots of people preferred to steer clear of them. He wouldn't blame Cooper at all for wanting to avoid the risk.

  But when he caught a second surreptitious, hungry look sent his way, he got his hopes up anyway. If it turned into nothing, whatever. He had his hand and plenty of imagery to work with until something more distracting crossed his path.

  He was so busy fretting over Cooper that he barely tasted his bleu burger, though he was pretty sure it had been delicious. Dessert was ice cream drowned in booze, and combined with two beers, it was enough to give him a pleasant, low-level buzz.