Page 28 of The Baritone's Rival

Trent’s first instinct was to be annoyed. After all, it was Oscar’s ex that had sicced the scraggly vamps on the two of them. But in the light of the morning, it was hard to stay angry. His vampire classmate leaned against a beat up gray sedan, looking dashing in a pair of tight black jeans and a baggy sweater. More than dashing. Almost sexy, with his tall, sinewy frame and his long eyelashes.

What was wrong with him? He didn’t think of men this way. Hell, he didn’t think of anyone this way. He’d been too focused on his own career to even consider finding a girlfriend. The occasional date with his right hand was enough to satisfy the physical.

That must be it. He was just starved for physical attention. He’d ignored that part of himself. That’s the only explanation for this reaction. He wasn’t developing some latent interest in men out of nowhere.

And even if hewasinterested, it wouldn’t be in Oscar! The vampire was his competition. And annoying. He didn’t begrudge Oscar his talent, but that didn’t mean that they had to be close. Oscar was the other star male singer in Anthony’s studio, and Trent wasn’t going to let Oscar beat him.

“Good, uh, morning…” Oscar looked tentative, but maybe…maybe he was happy to see Trent? His characteristic smirk had turned strangely shy. Why was he being weird?

“Hi.” Trent walked down the steps to the waiting vehicle, heading right for the trunk. “Open it?” he asked, gesturing to the green gym bag hanging over his shoulder. He’d thrown a few essentials into it, hopefully enough to get him through the week. They better not be away longer than that. He would run out of underwear.

“Oh!” Oscar scurried over, unlocking the trunk and pulling the lid up. He took the bag from Trent and placed it gingerly atop a large rolling suitcase. He gestured to the front passenger seat as he slammed the back closed.

Trent nodded without saying anything and slid into his seat. A moment later, Oscar was turning the key in the ignition. The engine sputtered a bit as it came to life.

“Car sounds like it’s on its last legs,” Trent said, already picturing them breaking down on the side of the highway.

“It’ll be fine, don’t worry,” a young-sounding voice called from the back seat. Trent turned his head to see Justin. His blonde hair was wild, as if he’d just gotten out of bed, and he was in pajama pants and a white t-shirt.

“It’s the coven’s,” Justin continued. “We take it whenever we have to go out of the city.”

“Which isn’t very often,” Oscar said. “No one will miss it.”

Oscar draped his arm across the back of Trent’s shoulders as he turned his head to reverse out of the parking spot. As Oscar’s cool skin came into contact with Trent’s neck, he shivered. It was like some kind of fundamental tremor, beyond his control.

He wasn’t usually so sensitive to temperature.

“Are you cold? I can put on the heat.” Oscar removed his arm, and Trent immediately missed the weight of it resting on him.

“No, no. I’m fine.”

Was he fine? He didn’t know why he was reacting this way to Oscar. Sure, he hadn’t spent much time with him before, and the time theyhadspent together had been fairly contentious, but this was completely new. He felt an urge to reach out, reestablish the connection.

Trent didn’t like having unexpected feelings, and he especially didn’t like having them about someone he was about to spend ten hours with in a confined space.

A quiet settled over them as the car turned onto a busier thoroughfare. Trent stole a glance at Oscar. His eyes were glued to the vehicles in front of them. New York traffic was bad under the best circumstances. They wouldn’t really get going until they reached the highway, which would take a while.

Ten hours. He could do this. Then they’d be in Maine, and he could spend his time practicing, prepping for his audition and ignoring whatever the hell these unwanted yearnings were.

“What made you decide to come to the city for school?”

“Huh?” Oscar’s harmless question broke Trent out of his ruminations.

“Why New York?” Oscar turned his head slightly toward Trent and raised an eyebrow. “There are a lot of good opera programs in the country.”

“Oh. Well, I wasn’t willing to live in Indiana, and Philly and Pittsburgh both felt so tiny next to New York. Besides, this is where so many of the big companies--”

“It’s the best city in the world!” Justin’s excited voice chimed in from the back seat. “Why would you live anywhere else? It’s the center of everything. That’s why I came here. I mean, sure, it didn’t go as well as it could have. I was hoping to be an actor or something, and instead I ended up a vampire in a shitty coven, but I managed to get out of that. And crappy things happen other places too, but at least when they happen here, I’m in New York City.”

Oscar’s face flashed with annoyance at Justin’s rambling, but Trent welcomed it. He wasn’t sure if he really wanted to talk more. He was struggling to understand his feelings for Oscar.

It had all been easier a few days ago when he just hated him.

“So, mainly because of the business?” Oscar asked, ignoring Justin. “You didn’t always plan to live in New York?”

“No,” Trent replied. “I’m from Wisconsin. The biggest city near me growing up was Madison. That was about as big as I really wanted to get. But after…”

Trent shook his head, dismissing his old memories. He didn’t want to think about the past.

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