"ON THE ROAD"


Chapter 2

Hayden had his back to the door, his legs straddling the seat of a backwards-facing chair. He leaned his chin down against his hands, eyed Theo's sleeping form with interest. He didn't think he would ever grow bored of looking at Theo. How could a person like Theo ever become stale? Even in old age he would be a beauty. Hayden was sure of it. Dark, luscious hair that never looked as crunchy or over-styled as the others in the band did. Blue eyes that shone out of an always-tanned face; pouting, wet mouth with lips the colour of rouge. High cheekbones that could cut like a knife, fine dark hairs littering the sides of his face, a razor needed to shave away the ones that grew around his chin and upper lip. Hayden's eyes dropped further down Theo's body. The long, long legs that were a little bandy - clumsy, always making him stumble. The feet that turned into face one and other and always tangled together when he ran. Not forgetting the slim torso that had just lately burst out with a fresh scattering of muscles. When Theo stripped his shirt off on stage now Hayden was always hypnotised. Many times he had run close to Theo, dipped a finger into the sweat with the pretence of just wanting a hug. The fans loved it when they hung off each other; it always received a loud scream. Theo had never brushed him away before; he wouldn't start doing so now.

In the quiet room the noises in the hallway outside were very clear. Hayden heard the footfalls of the approaching body long before they arrived. Only one set of footsteps so there was only one person coming to spoil the moment. Ryan, perhaps. Always acting like Dad to the group's members, especially his younger brother. Of course it was understandable. Theo and Ryan's father had left them when they'd been children - Theo twelve, Ryan fifteen. They had two younger sisters, too, and all four of them had been raised single-handedly by their tough, strong mother Mary ever since their father's departure. Being the eldest male, Ryan had taken on the responsibility of father, provider and carer.

Hayden thought back on his first meeting with Ryan. He'd been fifteen, the elder man twenty-one. He'd been an enigma. So very tall, his head lost in the clouds up above. Hayden had thought him bland, unimportant. There had been no spark, no emotion of any kind. At first Hayden had thought him to be a very young record executive. His

surprise at learning Ryan was making up the fifth member of the band had visibly rocked out of Hayden's body in a laugh. How unfamous Ryan was - then and now. Even the fans were wary of him, never knowing whether he was moody or just indifferent to it all. Apparently he had a small fanbase of devotees but Hayden hadn't met many. Ryan lacked sex. That was why he fell short of fans, why the magazine editors didn't run stories on him or the paparazzi chase him through the streets. A wet fish, one particularly bitchy reporter had muttered to her colleague once, and though Hayden thought the sentiment unkind he'd also known it was the truth. Ryan Jones was bland. But wasn't there always a boring, cardboard member of every boyband? Or had they just set the mould that every other clone was made from?

Hayden didn't get chance to answer his own questions because the door opened behind him and he found it was not Ryan but Brett. His cheeks were a little flushed, those cheeks that sunk into his face, the skin dragged over the skull like those of the starving infants Hayden had seen on the news. Brett liked to keep himself underweight; he surely made up for it with the rippling body of muscles under his clothes.

"What are you doing in here?"

Hayden sighed and looked back at Theo. He knew he didn't need to answer. Brett already knew the reason for his presence in Theo's special room. One day he might just get the message and dump him. So far Brett had not taken the hint. He seemed to like the fear of falling too much. He clung on with desperate fingers and Hayden wasn't malicious enough to cut the rope and send him falling down into Singlestown. If Brett wanted to stay then let him stay. It meant his bed was never empty and there was always someone to hold him when those nighttime shakes took control.

"Hayden," Brett snapped, grabbing for his arm.

Not at all scared, Hayden swung his arm up, forcing Brett's touch to fall away. "Don't do that," he whined. His eyes had still not left Theo's sleeping body. It was as if they'd forgotten that another world existed, a world filled with screaming girls that usually were enough to satisfy his hungry groin.

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