Runaway Rock Star

by C. J. Anthony

  Jostling Lucas’s body to get the pants down his hips and off his legs was enough movement to wake him briefly. Brandon looked up from between Lucas’s legs to see Lucas staring heavy-lidded at him. Brandon’s heart plummeted, but Lucas didn’t say anything, just started fumbling with the buttons on his shirt.

  Brandon peeled the pants the rest of the way off and stood up, letting out a breath of relief. Lucas was still working on the shirt buttons, so Brandon left him to that. He tugged at the side of the bedcovers he could reach so Lucas would hopefully get the idea to get into bed when he was done with the shirt. Then he turned and went into the bathroom.

  By the time he returned to the main room, Lucas was curled up around a pillow under the covers. He was mumbling and Brandon didn’t know if it was the haze of sleep Lucas was under or if he was already dreaming. He thought he picked out the words “Where’d you go, Harris? So hot… so fucking hot….” Then Lucas moaned hoarsely.

  Brandon shook his head, figuring Lucas was too hot under the covers, but he wasn’t going to help him with that. He shut the light off and tried to get some sleep himself.

  Chapter Five

  THE NEXT morning Brandon was woken early by guitar music. He opened an eye and saw Lucas sitting on the arm of the sofa chair across the room. He was bare-chested and barefoot, in just his pants from the night before. One foot was up on the seat cushion, and papers were strewn around his foot.

  He was singing quietly along with the haunting, delicate melody he’d been playing the night before.

  Waves crash, sucking me down and I’m drowning, sinking,

  So easy… close your eyes, it’s okay, the voice of the sea whispers.

  But you, I see you, your smile, I see you reaching for me,

  Save me… save me, I say….

  Lucas stopped, penciled something on one of the papers, then began to play the same piece again.

  Brandon sat up, as quietly as he could, picking up his phone and hitting Record.

  When Lucas finished, Brandon stopped the recording.

  “That was beautiful,” Brandon said quietly.

  Lucas looked up distractedly. “Thanks… it’s something I’ve been working on for a while. I woke up this morning with some ideas and wanted to get them down. I still can’t quite… I don’t know how to finish it.” He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

  “I recorded it.”

  “You what?” His voice tensed.

  Brandon held up his hand. “I just thought it might help you. I’m not going to do anything with it, I swear. I would never do that.” He picked the phone up and started tapping. “I’ll delete it if you want—”

  “No… no, it’s okay. Send it to me. I would like to hear it.”

  Brandon nodded and a few seconds later Lucas’s phone on the nightstand buzzed with notification of the video message.

  Lucas gave Brandon a weak smile. “Sorry for the reaction, it’s automatic. Thank you. It’s just that most people would record it so they can sell it or make it viral. There are very few who would do it just for me.”

  Brandon held up his phone so Lucas could see his screen. “I’m deleting it off my phone right now. You now hold the only copy.” He smiled at Lucas. “That really is a great song.”

  Lucas made a mocking face as he set the guitar down in its case. “Not what you expected, right? It’s okay. You can say it.”

  “Um….”

  Lucas laughed sarcastically. “Yep, a good song… that will probably never see the light of day. Even if I dared play it for my father or the record company, they’ll never let me record it.”

  “That’s bullshit,” Brandon said. “Don’t you have any say-so in what you record?”

  “Nope… well a little, but never enough to get a song like that recorded.” He stood up from the chair and stretched. His pants were not fastened and hung precariously low on his hips. The stretching only made them sink lower, and Brandon saw way more of Lucas’s luscious, hairy treasure trail than he wanted to. He looked away quickly, turning his attention back to his phone as his ears got hot.

  Lucas scratched his chest and padded toward the bathroom. “Okay if I hit the shower first, mate?”

  “Sure, go ahead,” Brandon managed to say. After the door closed, Brandon flounced back on the bed. He had a painfully hard problem in his underwear. Between undressing Lucas last night and now that little stretching display a moment ago, he was going to have blue balls for sure if he didn’t do something. He could wait until it was his turn to shower… or maybe he could just take care of it right now, quickly, while Lucas was in the bathroom.

  Hearing the water from the shower and imagining a wet and naked Lucas only made his situation worse, and he could feel a damp spot forming on his underwear. It wouldn’t take long.

  He threw the covers aside and lowered his sleep shorts and underwear. His dick was already at attention, so he grabbed some tissues from the nightstand for cleanup and grasped himself in his hand. His hips jerked the moment he touched his cock, and he had to bite back a groan. “Fuck,” he whispered.

  He started stroking fast and hard, to get this over quickly. God, it felt so good. He tried not thinking of Lucas, but it was useless since he was the one who had created Brandon’s problem in the first place.

  He was close to coming when a noise drifted from the bathroom. The shower was still running so it was hard to hear, but it sounded like a… moan.

  Brandon’s hand froze midstroke. A second later he heard a louder groan. Was Lucas getting off in the shower? Were they actually both… at the same time? Brandon loosened his grip, feeling weird. Then Lucas let go with more indistinguishable sounds and then a “Fuck, fuck, fuck, yes!”

  It was so hot, Brandon couldn’t hold back. He gripped his cock hard and that was all it took. Cum splashed over his chest as he shook and trembled. He lay there for a minute, catching his breath.

  When he heard the water shut off, he jumped up and hurriedly wiped himself up and fixed his clothes. Lucas came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist and rubbing his wet hair with another as if nothing had happened.

  “Your turn, mate.”

  Brandon said nothing, just gathered up his things and hurried into the bathroom.

  While in the shower, water and shame poured over him. Although really there shouldn’t be anything to be ashamed of, right? The fact that both of them had… at the same time was pure coincidence. Not weird at all. They were even in separate rooms with a closed door between them. And Lucas was probably imagining he was with one of his many women…. He’d been very flirty with their waitress last night and she’d been very pretty, so maybe he had been thinking of her.

  Except that Brandon had been thinking of Lucas. Shame heated his body again. He just had to get over this. Today would be their last day together—by the end of the day, they would be in Cincinnati and would part ways and that would be that. Brandon breathed a little easier.

  When he got out of the bathroom, Lucas was dressed and sitting on the bed texting on his phone. He laughed out loud at something and then tapped a message into the phone.

  Brandon packed up his few things into his duffel as Lucas’s phone chimed with another text. He grinned at what was on the screen, then stood up from the bed. He looked at Brandon with a smile.

  “Ready to hit the road, Harris?”

  “Yes, I’m ready to get home.”

  “Home? Oh we’re not going home just yet, Harris.” He winked at Brandon with that sly grin of his that meant he had another secret he was hiding from Brandon. Lucas threw on his shades, grabbed his bag and guitar, and headed out the door into the hallway. Brandon groaned.

  “WHAT DO you mean we’re not going home yet? You’ve had your little diversion and played on the roller coasters. Now I need to get home.”

  They were in the elevator heading down to the lobby.

  “Your mummy said you didn’t need to be home till Sunday.”

  Brandon wa
s going to have words with his mother when he got home about when to tell little white lies and when to tell the truth.

  “We’re going to Columbus, Ohio State, right? My brother said it’s only a couple of hours from here? He’s got tickets to the football game if we get there in time.”

  Brandon’s brain tried to process all of the information that had just been dropped in those three sentences. Before he could say anything, the elevator doors opened and they walked into a group of people. Then Lucas had to check out at the desk. It wasn’t until they were settled in the Jeep that Brandon had privacy to say anything.

  He put the key in the ignition but didn’t start the car.

  “Okay, so… you have a brother? In Columbus of all places?”

  Lucas’s expression sobered. “He’s my stepbrother, sort of. His mum and my dad were married for a few years. Jordan—that’s my brother—he was just two years younger than me, so we were close in age and neither one of us had ever had a sibling before. It wasn’t easy at first, but we soon became best mates, yeah? Then our parents split up right about the time my dad started spending all his time on trying to make me a ‘star.’ Janine—Jordan’s mother—moved the two of them back to the States after the divorce. But Jordan and I kept in touch on social media and such. I’m the one helping him pay for college, though only he and I and my accountant know that. We never saw each other after they moved back here because of the strained relationship between our parents. Now that we’re both over eighteen, we’ve seen each other briefly when he’s come to a couple of my shows, but there’s never much time—this will be the first chance we’ll have more than an hour to really hang out.”

  Brandon couldn’t believe Lucas’s story. What a life he’d had. And what an asshole he would be if he told Lucas they couldn’t go.

  “Okay.” Brandon sighed. “I guess we’re going to Columbus.”

  Lucas actually bounced in his seat as he fastened his seat belt.

  THEY WOUND their way out of the Cedar Point park and through the surrounding town of Sandusky, pausing briefly to run through a drive-thru for some breakfast burritos and coffee. While they were stopped they consulted Google Maps’ GPS directions and argued about which way to go.

  “We’re on a road trip,” Lucas said. “I’ve seen enough boring four-lane highways from my bus to last my lifetime. Let’s go the back roads, see the sights!”

  Brandon chuckled. “We can do that, but I don’t know how much exciting scenery there is to see between here and Columbus.”

  They took route 4 south, a two-lane road that was not quite a back road but would satisfy Lucas’s requirement and still get them to Columbus in a timely manner.

  It was another beautiful, warm, sunny day, so Brandon put the Jeep’s top down for their drive. Once they got out of the town of Sandusky, the scenery evened out to occasional houses spaced apart by farmland and barns.

  Lucas took it all in, to the extent of unbuckling his seat belt and standing to see out the top of the Jeep, which naturally gave Brandon a coronary.

  “Lucas! Get down! That’s not safe!”

  “This is incredible. These are all farms? They’re actually growing food?”

  Brandon wanted to be mad, but that comment made him chuckle. “Yes, they actually grow food. Mostly corn—the taller plants—and soybeans.”

  Lucas frowned. “What is a soybean? Wait, is that where my soy milk comes from? From a bean?”

  “Well, yes, they make soy products out of them. They are also used as animal feed, like for these cows up ahead.”

  Lucas swiveled around to look out the windshield. “Cows! Bloody hell! Look at that. Oh, and baby cows too!”

  His excitement lasted about three seconds. “Oh Christ, what is that awful smell?” He waved his hand in front of his nose, as if that would really help get rid of the smell.

  Brandon laughed. “That would be cow manure, and the exchange for driving with the top down is dealing with all of the outdoor smells. Just wait till we pass some roadkill.”

  Lucas shuddered. “Ugh.”

  Ten miles later Lucas’s attention was grabbed again. “Wait, what is that? Are they selling food?”

  “Let me guess, you’re hungry,” Brandon snarked.

  “Turn around. Let’s go back!”

  “It was just a fruit-and-vegetable stand. They’ll probably have broccoli.”

  “Bite your tongue,” Lucas said.

  Brandon turned into the next driveway and when traffic was clear, pulled out and drove back, pulling off to the side of the road near the food stand. Lucas got out, but Brandon decided to stay in the Jeep.

  He used the time to text his mom and let her know that he now wouldn’t be home until Sunday.

  Ok doodlebug. Are you ok? Are you having a good time? Miss U. XO

  Brandon glanced over at Lucas, who was still conversing with the ladies running the stand. Was he having a good time? As crazy as this whole trip was… he had to admit he kind of was. There was certainly never a dull moment.

  Yeah I’m ok, mom. Things are good. C U Soon.

  Lucas opened the door and dumped several bags on the floor.

  “Did you buy everything they had for sale?”

  “They had apples and peaches! Real peaches! They’re soft and fuzzy!”

  “Okay, you really have been eating catered food and room service for too long if you’re getting excited over peach fuzz.”

  “I keep telling you… oh and those other women at the other table. They had pies and doughnuts! These little tiny pies, they said were called fry pies.” He pulled one out of a bag to show Brandon. He bit into it and moaned loudly. “Oh my God, Harris! These are bloody amazing!”

  “Those are an Amish dessert. Anything made by the Amish are guaranteed homemade deliciousness.”

  “Amish?” Lucas mumbled as he chewed, then swallowed. “Is that why they’re dressed funny?”

  “Yes. In eastern Ohio there are some Amish communities. You don’t often see them this far west, unless they have come over to sell their products. Or….” He paused and pointed toward the field past the fruit stand, where a building was being constructed, half of its frame already up. “Sometimes the men of the community travel to make money by building houses or barns. There’s no better quality craftsmanship than Amish woodwork. The furniture they make sells for good money and is always in demand.”

  Brandon started the car and pulled back onto the road as Lucas watched the builders.

  “So, why do they dress like that, all those heavy, dark clothes? Christ, they must be sweating bullets in this heat.”

  “The Amish are a community of people who have strong moral and religious beliefs. They also believe in simple living, um… well, sort of like people lived back in the older centuries, when there was no electricity and no cars.”

  “They don’t have electricity? No cars? Then how did those Amish back there get over here if they live somewhere else?”

  “They probably had a non-Amish person drive them. If I remember right, I think they are allowed to ride in someone else’s car, they just can’t own a car or drive one themselves. In their local community, they use horses and buggies to travel.”

  “No way? Seriously? It’s sounding like a cult.” A minute later his eyes widened. “And I ate one of their pies! What if there was something in it? What if I pass out and they come and get me!”

  “Oh my God, Lucas.” Brandon paused to laugh. “They make the choice to live that way. They don’t try to brainwash or recruit new members. Even the children born into the community are given the opportunity, once they are of a certain age, to decide whether they want to live Amish or not.”

  “Hmmm. Well, considering how good that pie was, I can see how it would be a difficult decision for them. I don’t think I could give up electricity, though.”

  “Also indoor plumbing.”

  “Oh bloody hell, no way!”

  Brandon laughed. “Well, you wanted a different experience from life on th
e road…. Maybe you should have become Amish for a while.”

  “No thank you, mate.”

  THEY CONTINUED driving on through rural and small towns. Lucas eventually got bored and began messing around on his phone. Ryan Adams was playing on the iPod, and it was a nice, peaceful drive.

  The music made Brandon think of the song Lucas was working on that morning, and how he said he’d never be able to record it. It was a very different sound than what Lucas typically played, and it might not be radio material, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a good song.

  “Tell me something,” Brandon began, getting Lucas’s attention. “You have this secret money account and debit card; you have a secret name and even an ID to go with it. So why can’t you find a way to record or release your music?”

  “I don’t follow, Harris.”

  “Your music. The song from this morning. It was really good. It seems such a waste to not do anything with it just because it’s not pop. Jesus, look at Ryan—he releases all kinds of music, whatever hits his fancy. He’s done metal records. He even recorded that whole album of Taylor Swift covers. And he’s still a badass.”

  Lucas sighed wearily. “He is a badass… who doesn’t have a father and a record company breathing down his neck to produce something marketable that will sell. Because that’s all they care about… what sells and how to make more money.”

  “Well… how many albums are you tied to?”

  “What?”

  “When is your deal with the record company up?”

  Lucas was silent for a while. “Actually this current album is the last one. But I think my dad’s been hammering out the details on the next deal for the last month or so.”