Page 29 of Lance
Or, more importantly, perhaps, that would really give himself right back to him. It filled him with a strange, warm feeling when he remembered how Lance had kissed him, right in front of Aaron. How Lance must have told Aaron all about this relationship. Which made it a relationship, didn’t it?
For the moment, at least, he was going to let himself believe in it. At least until the phone rang and he was pulled out of this wonderful waking daydream by Lester giving them the news. The tour bus was fixed, and they were expected there immediately.
* * *
“What the hell is that?”
All of the worry that Jamie had had about Aaron hating the cat, it had been unfounded. But it was sort of funny that he’d been wasting his time being concerned about that when really, it was Ken that he should have been worried about.
“It’s a cat, idiot,” Lance said, smiling and even laughing a bit, but there was tension in the lines of his body, muscles bunching in his shoulders and neck, in a way that Jamie found very obvious.
Of course, Jamie always looked closely at Lance. Too closely, maybe, considering this was still technically a secret.
“I can tell it’s a fucking cat,” Ken hissed, his eyes filled with a rage that really seemed out of proportion to the situation. “But why is there a goddamned cat on our goddamned tour bus?”
“Jamie got him.” Lance swallowed, the only sign of his nerves, but Jamie flattered himself that he was getting pretty good at sensing that sort of thing from him. “For me.”
Snarling, pure drama in every movement, Ken stomped over to the couch and flung himself down into it. He glared around at all of them, as though daring them to comment, but no one did.
Instead, Lance ignored Ken. Jamie and even Aaron crowded around the carrier as Lance unzipped the mesh door, allowing the kitten inside free if she wanted. And she was a brave, daring little thing, especially for something so tiny, poking her head out and gazing about her with curious blue eyes.
“What’s her name?” Aaron asked, and he offered his fingers for the little creature to sniff again. She did him the favor of doing so and even rubbed her fluffy head against his fingertips.
Okay, so that was pretty cute. Watching tough, stoic Aaron make friends with the kitten, Jamie wouldn’t have ever expected it, but it seemed like even Aaron had a soft spot for animals.
“Yeah, what is her name?” Jamie asked curiously. “She came with a name, but it was sort of boring. Cute, but boring.”
“What was it?” Lance responded, allowing his fingers to wander over the kitten’s small, fluffy body, drawing an audible purr from her as she closed her eyes in feline bliss.
“Star,” Jamie answered, and Lance grinned as he hunkered down on the floor, legs crossed, letting the friendly, brave little kitten roam over his body as much as she liked.
It wasn’t fair, how cute that was. It wasn’t fair the things that it did to Jamie’s body, much less the tugging he felt on his heart as he watched.
“Star. I kind of like it,” Lance admitted. “I think she’s Star.”
On second thought, Jamie mused, maybe the name wasn’t boring after all. After hearing it in Lance’s beautiful, soft purr of a voice, he sort of thought that Star might just be the perfect name for such a beautiful creature.
