Beneath the Stain - Part 4 Read Online Free PDF Page B
Author: Amy Lane
I’d gotten fired to show up that day, you know? And we stayed up all night talking, and they asked me to go to Portland for the next concert, and eventually I just resigned my lease to my roommate and stayed.”
Mackey couldn’t even laugh at that. “Just followed the music, huh?”
Shelia smiled, so completely at peace with her life, Mackey sort of envied her. “Yup. Just lucked out that Jefferson and Stevie were part of it. And that they didn’t make me choose, because I couldn’t.”
“Are you kidding?” Mackey snorted. “They’ve been looking for someone who could love them both for their entire lives.”
She had magnificently wide green eyes, and she turned them on Mackey and blinked slowly. “You and your mom are maybe the only two people in the world who get that. Who totally accept it. That they’re not gay and we’re not perverts, we’re just in love.” Her smile didn’t even twist. “Your brothers really love you. I’m so glad you’re going to be okay.”
Mackey turned away, uncomfortable. “Well, happy is happy,” he muttered. “Can I get the bright blue shirt? The one like a November sky?”
“Oh my God,” she murmured. “That’s why you write songs, isn’t it?”
Ack! “Can I?” he insisted. “Because I don’t believe you when you say it’s going to show up before the damned date.”
“Yeah, sure, but I think the emerald green would be better since you’re all blond again.”
Mackey looked at both the colors side by side. Yeah. He could see her point. “Green is fine. Shoes? Socks?”
“Yup—here’s the website right here. I still don’t know why you didn’t want to go shopping—there’s boutiques just down the….” Shelia looked outside the window and sighed. “Yeah. Still there. It was nice of them to give you a break right after rehab, wasn’t it?”
Sure enough, the small cadre of paparazzi who had started camping out on the sidewalk in front of the driveway was still there. Soccer chairs, Starbucks, long-range cameras. Mackey had asked if he could stand on the roof and beat off in public just to give them something to do. Trav said he’d move back in with his old boyfriend if Mackey did that; apparently the fucker had cheated. Mackey figured that was a serious threat right there.
“Yeah, well, it wouldn’t have been a big deal if someone hadn’t gotten the bright idea of going to get a quote from my little brother.” God. Fucking Cheever. They’d warned Mom, and she’d warned Cheever, but the fucking school had let the reporters in anyway, and there was Mackey’s pain-in-the-ass little brother, living off their dime, saying, “Just because he’s a rock star don’t mean that’s right that he does that. I ain’t gay like my brother.”
Jesus.
“You could take the car,” Shelia said. Everybody but Mackey, Trav, and Blake had gone out the night before. Some new nightclub—Kell wanted to scout it out to see if they played any good music. They all came back early to report the music was trance bullshit, and that was that. But Kell hadn’t been able to drive the sweet little Mercedes he’d just bought, because they’d needed the security guy who was authorized to run those people over behind the wheel—or at least that was what Mackey hoped.
“Well, that’s how we go to work, sweetheart,” Mackey said, trying not to be bitchy. “And that’s probably how we’ll go out on this damned date. But right now? I don’t need that shit. I just spent four goddamned weeks learning how to live a simpler life—how in the hell am I going to do that if I can’t make the damned choice between catalog shopping and going somewhere the girl will offer to blow me if I make commission?”
“Do they do that?” Shelia asked curiously. “I barely get soda water.”
“Kell and Blake used to go shopping just to get BJs,” Mackey confirmed sourly. “Man, once I got my fucking jeans, I was done .”
“Well, punch in your credit card right here
Mackey couldn’t even laugh at that. “Just followed the music, huh?”
Shelia smiled, so completely at peace with her life, Mackey sort of envied her. “Yup. Just lucked out that Jefferson and Stevie were part of it. And that they didn’t make me choose, because I couldn’t.”
“Are you kidding?” Mackey snorted. “They’ve been looking for someone who could love them both for their entire lives.”
She had magnificently wide green eyes, and she turned them on Mackey and blinked slowly. “You and your mom are maybe the only two people in the world who get that. Who totally accept it. That they’re not gay and we’re not perverts, we’re just in love.” Her smile didn’t even twist. “Your brothers really love you. I’m so glad you’re going to be okay.”
Mackey turned away, uncomfortable. “Well, happy is happy,” he muttered. “Can I get the bright blue shirt? The one like a November sky?”
“Oh my God,” she murmured. “That’s why you write songs, isn’t it?”
Ack! “Can I?” he insisted. “Because I don’t believe you when you say it’s going to show up before the damned date.”
“Yeah, sure, but I think the emerald green would be better since you’re all blond again.”
Mackey looked at both the colors side by side. Yeah. He could see her point. “Green is fine. Shoes? Socks?”
“Yup—here’s the website right here. I still don’t know why you didn’t want to go shopping—there’s boutiques just down the….” Shelia looked outside the window and sighed. “Yeah. Still there. It was nice of them to give you a break right after rehab, wasn’t it?”
Sure enough, the small cadre of paparazzi who had started camping out on the sidewalk in front of the driveway was still there. Soccer chairs, Starbucks, long-range cameras. Mackey had asked if he could stand on the roof and beat off in public just to give them something to do. Trav said he’d move back in with his old boyfriend if Mackey did that; apparently the fucker had cheated. Mackey figured that was a serious threat right there.
“Yeah, well, it wouldn’t have been a big deal if someone hadn’t gotten the bright idea of going to get a quote from my little brother.” God. Fucking Cheever. They’d warned Mom, and she’d warned Cheever, but the fucking school had let the reporters in anyway, and there was Mackey’s pain-in-the-ass little brother, living off their dime, saying, “Just because he’s a rock star don’t mean that’s right that he does that. I ain’t gay like my brother.”
Jesus.
“You could take the car,” Shelia said. Everybody but Mackey, Trav, and Blake had gone out the night before. Some new nightclub—Kell wanted to scout it out to see if they played any good music. They all came back early to report the music was trance bullshit, and that was that. But Kell hadn’t been able to drive the sweet little Mercedes he’d just bought, because they’d needed the security guy who was authorized to run those people over behind the wheel—or at least that was what Mackey hoped.
“Well, that’s how we go to work, sweetheart,” Mackey said, trying not to be bitchy. “And that’s probably how we’ll go out on this damned date. But right now? I don’t need that shit. I just spent four goddamned weeks learning how to live a simpler life—how in the hell am I going to do that if I can’t make the damned choice between catalog shopping and going somewhere the girl will offer to blow me if I make commission?”
“Do they do that?” Shelia asked curiously. “I barely get soda water.”
“Kell and Blake used to go shopping just to get BJs,” Mackey confirmed sourly. “Man, once I got my fucking jeans, I was done .”
“Well, punch in your credit card right here