Page 82 of Conquest

Jesse marched across the street with Kenny, Julian, and Trish trailing after him. Evan gave Greg a final dirty look and jogged to catch up with him.

JJ shook his head at Greg and moved to join Evan. “You’re pushing too hard, mate.”

Evan caught up to Jesse and snagged him by the upper arm to a halt him. “Are you okay?”

Jesse summoned a smile for him. “I’m great since I got to see you earlier than I expected.”

Evan could tell Jesse was trying to hide his distress, but decided to let him keep his front up until they were alone. “I wanted to wait for you.”

Jesse’s smile became more genuine. “Are you hungry? We should get something to eat before we go home.”

“Yeah, we can do that.” Evan retrieved a set of car keys from his front pocket. “Here. You drive.”

Jesse took the keys, confusion causing him to stare at them. “What are these to?”

Evan pulled him around a corner and pointed to a new Ferrari F430 coupe, its custom midnight blue paint lightly touched with a hint of metallic. “They’re to that.”

“How freakin’ sweet!” Jesse darted toward it, slamming to a halt as he came upon it. He stood back, drinking in the masterpiece. He gazed at the engine through the window in back, radiating power though it lay silent. He examined the wheels that bore the yellow Ferrari logo with the black prancing stallion in the center. He peeked in at the black leather seats, and the dashboard and controls accented in brushed aluminum.

“That’s a kickass car,” Kenny said.

“It’s beautiful,” Julian added.

“It can really move, too,” JJ said. “I went with him to pick it up today.”

Evan stepped up to Jesse’s side. “It should be able to get out of its own way. It’s V8 is pushing out about four hundred and ninety horses.” He nudged Jesse playfully with his elbow. “And it’s yours.”

Jesse snapped his head toward him. “What?”

“It’s yours. It’s what you’ve always wanted, right? Well, besides a souped-up Honda S2000. Besides the fact that I couldn’t bring myself to purchase one of those, I thought this was a little more to your status now.”

Jesse quickly shook his head. “It’s perfect, but you shouldn’t have spent so much.”

JJ snorted. “If he hasn’t already, you need to have him show you his bank statements, Jess.”

Jesse glanced at JJ, then back to Evan. “It doesn’t matter. It’s too much.”

Evan gave him a warm smile. “Gorgeous, JJ is right. And what difference does it make? Do you like it?”

“I love it. But—”

“No buts,” Evan said, pushing him toward the driver’s side. “Just get in. Consider it a congratulations for finishing the album.”

“This is one hell of a present for that,” Jesse chuckled. Without Greg to stop him, he wrapped Evan in a tight embrace. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Evan glanced at Trish over Jesse’s shoulder and allowed a shadow of smugness to come into his expression. He drew back from the hug and opened the driver’s side door for Jesse.

Jesse looked at the others as he hopped in. “You guys follow us. We have to go out to celebrate finishing our first video.”

Trish folded her arms across her chest and glowered at him. “Just a minute ago you said you didn’t want to go out.”

“Yeah, but that was because I wanted to go home to Ev, and now he’s here, so we can all go out.” Jesse turned to Evan as he climbed in the passenger seat. “Will you call Brandon and ask him if he wants to join us? He’s going to die when he sees this.”

Evan nodded and pulled out his cell phone.

Jesse pushed the red “engine start” button. The F430 rumbled to life. He let his body go limp in the seat. “I’m done for the night. That was beautiful.”

Evan laughed. “You probably should’ve held it for when it’s actually moving.”