Page 43 of Darien
It was huge. Noah felt wetness on his own cheeks and touched them, surprised to find them damp with tears. What was Darien doing? Was this some sort of act? Somehow, he didn’t think so, and he doubted very much that Justin would have dragged him backstage just for some sort of cruel prank.
Besides, that song, the lyrics just reached out to him. They told him clearer than any spoken words could have that Darien wanted to give this a try. Even though Noah had been the one to leave, Darien was reaching out to him, making himself vulnerable right out in front of everyone in the audience.
The last notes of the song faded, and for a moment, there was silence. Complete and utter silence, and Darien, illuminated by the spotlight, was standing there with his heart on his sleeve. Then the whole arena erupted with a wave of hot, molten sound—cheering, clapping, and screaming their approval.
“Noah, please,” Darien said into the mic, and the crowd’s noises died down to hear what he was saying. “I know it’s been messy, but I think we can work it out. Please, baby? I love you.”
“Don’t go.”
Lester had come up behind him and Justin, and he spoke, his breath hot against Noah’s ear, smelling sour. His hand rested on Noah’s shoulder, demanding that he give in, that he walk away from where Darien stood facing him, one hand outstretched.
“What?” Noah asked, looking at Darien, who stood there so openly. So ready to give Noah everything that he’d ever needed, whether he had known it or not. And this man, almost a stranger to Noah, was going to tell him not to go?
“Don’t go. You’ll be ruining his life if you go,” Lester told him. “He has a career, he has friends, here. If he ends up with you, he’ll lose everything. It’s in the new contract.”
Noah felt his heart clench into a hard, dense little stone in his chest, or maybe a ball of lead.
“Darien hasn’t signed the contract,” Justin pointed out, turning to look directly into Lester’s eyes, his own practically burning. “And it’s Darien’s choice to make.”
Noah took a deep breath. Very carefully, supported by his crutches, he moved one step closer to Darien, but Lester’s hand on his shoulder tightened and kept him from going any further.
“It’ll mean your job, too,” Lester informed him. “I’ll find someone else to be the social media manager. You’re not the only one who can do the job.”
Wow. That was intense. Noah pulled his shoulder out of Lester’s grip, and turned around, looking up into the other man’s eyes, at the smug smirk on his face. This was the sort of man who was used to getting what he wanted, no matter who he had to trample on to get it. No matter how many threats he had to throw out.
Noah had never had respect for bullies, though, and Darien was still standing there, his heart out there for everyone to see.
“It doesn’t matter,” Noah told Lester. “Go ahead and threaten me. I know what I want to do.”
It didn’t matter, either. He and Darien had been happy together when they’d just been poor college students, getting by on very little. Noah had never had much in the way of money, so he was going to call this bluff. He wouldn’t let himself be intimidated.
He wouldn’t fear love. He wouldn’t let anyone else try to control it. This was between him and Darien, and that was quite complicated enough without trying to involve other people in it. If this was going to work, they couldn’t let other people get in the way.
And that included his jealousy issues with both Ken and Lance. Darien was going to know beautiful people in his life, and Darien was a friendly enough guy that he would make lots of friends. Noah couldn’t just assume the worst.
They would work it out. Them. Together. So Noah crutched himself slowly and painfully over to Darien, but he didn’t notice the burning pain in his armpits, the low, steady ache that was with him all the time but got worse when he moved. But with his eyes on Darien, none of that seemed to matter.
It was bright on the stage. Noah had never been up here before, with the lights shining in his eyes, and he found himself squinting as he moved slowly over to Darien. But none of that, not the discomfort, not the roar of the crowd, mattered to him. Not when Darien met him halfway and helped him over to the mic again. Not when Darien’s hand was in the small of Noah’s back, and he felt the other man’s body so close to his own.
Darien was covered in sweat, glowing from exertion, but it seemed like it was more than that, too. When Noah looked up into Darien’s eyes, he saw something there that he would never have expected. Something that he had seen a hint of when Darien was singing, but only a hint.
It was a complicated mix of things, love, a true desire to be together, maturity that hadn’t been there before. Noah smiled because he understood. He was in the exact same situation, and he was sure that his own eyes were as complicated, as full, as Darien’s were.
“I’m sorry,” Darien whispered. He even put his hand over the head of the mic so that it couldn’t pick up his words. Right up there on stage, in front of what seemed like half of California, they were having a private moment. Not that Noah would have believed it, but it was happening.
“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left. I should have talked to you when you tried to …”
Noah gasped then because Darien swept him up into his strong arms, his body hot to the touch even through their clothing and slick with sweat. But none of that mattered, because then Darien was kissing him, right up on the stage. Right in front of his incredibly hot bandmates, Darien was kissing him like he meant it, his hands hot and eager and just barely shy of inappropriate as they clutched Noah close.
They kissed, and the lights, the cheers, they all faded away for Noah. This, what was happening between them, this was real and true and good. This was what was there when all of the other bullshit, the things in their lives which had separated them before, was swept away.
This wasthem.
Then Darien turned to the mic, with the biggest grin on his face that Noah had ever seen from him and that was saying something since he was a big grinner. With his arm around Noah’s waist, he spoke directly to each and every one of the fans.
“It’s been a great ride, guys, but I think this is time for me to say goodbye. I love you all, and thanks for the support.”
* * *
