Page 15 of The Maestro's Mates
“Ooh, I’d love a chopped cheese from the deli at the corner.”
Justin scrunched up his face. He couldn’t help himself. “I guess. Although I don’t know how you can eat that stuff.”
“That’s because you’re not a native New Yorker! Chopped cheese is in my blood. Literally. The cholesterol is piling up.” Yasmin sighed. “I suppose I need some reason to drag my butt to the gym after work.”
“I think the trick is to find exercise you actually enjoy.” Justin reached his arms upward, enjoying the stretch after a few hours standing in one place. “I’m not very athletic, but I love volleyball.”
“Says a man with a twenty-five-year-old’s metabolism. You couldthinkabout a push-up and lose five pounds.” Yasmin spun around to head back to her office. “Send me thoughts and prayers I don’t reach through the computer screen and strangle anyone!”
As she left, the whirring of the printer died down, spitting out the last of the pages. Justin grabbed them and popped them into the enormous industrial three-hole punch at his desk, then headed down the hallway toward the rehearsal rooms.
Justin heard the din long before he got there, an ominous piano and a booming, almost terrifying bass voice ringing out, cutting through a wall of choral sound. He slowed as he reached the door, peeking in through the glass window.
There was a row of singers in a semicircle, their eyes glued to Maestro Zaslavsky, who was vigorously waving his baton. He wore a suit, even though everyone else was in jeans and t-shirts, and his biceps bulged against the fabric as he set the beat decisively.
Pavel’s—he’d introduced himself as Pavel, Justin could call him that—muscles were lovely, but Justin’s attention wasn’t on his physicality, as masculine and commanding as it was, but on the intensity in his eyes. His expression was a mix of ferocity and joy Justin had never seen before. This wasn’t the standoffish man he’d met a few days ago. This was a force of nature.
He took Justin’s breath away.
Justin’s eyes were locked on Pavel, so focused he didn’t see it coming: the huge, thundering bass he’d heard from down the hall. It was the loudest noise Justin had ever encountered, and for a moment, he puzzled at where it was coming from. Then he followed the eyes of the choristers,and shifting his body, he got a view of the source of the sound.
Sebastian.
The cognitive dissonance was powerful. Sebastian was tall, true, but he had a slender frame, his muscles long and ropy, and his pale face was long and oval rather than square. Everything about his physical presence was at odds with the rolling billows of sound pouring from his mouth.
Tosca, mi fai dimenticare Iddio!
The high climax lit a malevolent fire in Sebastian’s eyes. Justin didn’t know what the aria was about, but even as the choir continued through the end, Sebastian joining in whatever Latin prayer they were singing, the man hungered like a devil from hell.
What an incredible actor. Justin hoped. He didn’t know Sebastian that well, and it would be scary if this was an everyday part of his personality. The performance was honestly terrifying.
As the whole thing came to an end, Pavel kept his arms up, holding the room in silence for a long moment. That moment was an eternity for Justin.
He was lost in a maelstrom of warring thoughts. How attractive Pavel was. How he wanted the older man to guide him, hold him down, protect him. How attractive Sebastian was. His malevolent power was off-putting, but it was also maybe the hottest thing Justin had ever seen. He wanted the two men to take him, keep him, use him.
What was wrong with him? Lusting over people he worked with wasn’t smart. He shouldn’t be lusting over anyone. His crushes had only ever gotten him into trouble, and this would be a thousand times worse. There weretwoof them. He had to keep it under control.
The maestro lowered his hands and nodded.
“Good. Plenty to work on there.” Pavel turned his head and locked eyes with Justin through the glass window in the studio door. He stepped back, thrown by the sudden attention. “I believe the replacement pages for the new piece are here. Justin?”
Pavel beckoned him in, and Justin froze for a minute before his brain finally came online. He shook his head to clear the lingering fog away and entered the room.
Making a beeline for the maestro and the piano, his footsteps were soft against the black Marley floor of the rehearsal room. Around him, the members of the choir were relaxing, going back to their seats to grab a sip of water, or making notes in their music with a pencil.
“I, uh, have your pages…” Justin said as he plopped the pile of sheet music down on the top of the upright piano.
“Thanks.” Pavel’s voice was low, and the sound sent a shiver of desire down Justin’s spine.
“Oh, it was no problem, really, I’m always happy to help, absolutely, that’s why I’m here, that’s what they pay me for, you know?—”
“Hi, Justin.”
Shit. On the one hand, Justin was thankful someone had interrupted his embarrassing rambling, but on the other hand, that someone was Sebastian, who had sidled up to him at the black upright piano.
Justin’s eyes flicked between Pavel and Sebastian, and he couldn’t control the terror springing up in his chest.
“Uh…hi, Sebastian.”
