Page 23 of Heartbreak Honey

Before

“Can I play something for you?” Trevor asked.

Skyler was crouched down in front of a dresser drawer, sorting out his clothes from Trevor’s, not that it really mattered, since they shared so much.

They were supposed to be getting an early start on packing, because the band was moving out of their shared house in a month. And between recording the new album and doing promo, it wasn’t much time. But Trevor was already a combination of nervous and excited about what he had to share with Skyler, and watching Skyler look all domestic—realizing how much of Trevor’s space and his stuff had become theirs—he couldn’t wait any longer.

He knew he shouldn’t be nervous. He’d already gotten a tattoo for this boy. But this was different. These were his words he was giving to Skyler. The first song he’d written entirely on his own for him. (Though once again, he was inspired by something Skyler had said to him.) The producers had already agreed it should go on the album, but he wanted to make sure Skyler was okay with that first.

“You can play for me any time you’d like, babe,” Skyler said, shooting him a quick smile over his shoulder. “You know I think it’s sexy.”

Trevor felt his face flush, so he ducked his head as he grabbed his guitar. He brought it over to the desk chair they barely used and took a seat. “Will you sit for a minute?”

“Ooh, you want my full attention, okay.” Skyler’s tone was teasing, but he looked pleased as he sat on the end of the bed. “My own private Trevor Blue concert. I’m so lucky.”

“Hush.” Trevor didn’t want to build it up too much, so he took a deep breath and started playing. His fingers took over automatically, letting his brain rest and his nerves ease.

He didn’t look at Skyler as he sang, focusing instead on a brown stain on the carpet. Skyler had spilled coffee there one time when he was trying to bring it to Trevor in bed, and the memory shouldn’t make him smile, but it did.

By the time he sang the last chorus, he was no longer nervous at all, but eager to see Skyler’s reaction when he finished.

And don’t you know I’m all in baby, got me head over heels for you

I’m all in baby, gonna give everything to you

All in baby, ‘cause there’s nothing I wouldn’t do

Got your name across my heart like a bold tattoo

Don’t you know I’m all in baby, got me head over heels for you

After strumming the last few notes, Trevor carefully set aside his guitar and met Skyler’s eyes, which were wide and bright and shining like emeralds.

“You wrote that for me?”

“No, I wrote it for Noah,” he quipped as he stood up.

Before he could offer something more sincere, Skyler had jumped off the bed and launched himself into his arms. Trevor managed to catch him, but the force sent him stumbling back a few steps before he steadied himself, narrowly avoiding them both crashing to the floor.

“Are you okay with us recording it for the album though?” he asked, using his arms under Skyler’s thighs to hoist him up higher as Skyler peppered his face with kisses. “I wasn’t sure if it would make you uncomfortable.”

Not that anyone would know it was about Skyler. Other than him and Skyler and the rest of the band—and okay, probably half the people who worked with them. But the world wouldn’t know. Even though Trevor kind of wanted them to.

“Are you kidding?” Skyler asked, legs squeezing tighter around Trevor’s waist. “That’s—you’re—I—”

“Yes?” he prompted with a laugh.

“I don’t even know what to say. How is it that every time I think you couldn’t possibly get more incredible, you outdo yourself?”

Trevor carefully set him down. “I’m not, like, trying to. I just…”

Love you.

“I know,” Skyler said. “I love you too.”

He was pretty sure he hadn’t said that out loud.

“I can’t believe I get to go onstage and sing a song that you wrote for me,” Skyler went on. “It’s going to be like this thrilling secret every time. But hopefully the guys won’t feel weird about singing it.”

“I doubt it,” Trevor told him. “We’ve all been writing stuff together. I helped Noah with the lyrics for that song about the girl he’s been talking to back in Seattle.”

“But this is different, because this is about me, and I plan to be insufferable about it.”

He tugged on one of Skyler’s curls. “Good thing you’re adorable when you’re insufferable.”

Skyler batted his hand away, grinning. “Play it again! You need to play it until I learn it. I want to sing it together!”

Trevor reached for his guitar. He’d play it a thousand times for him, play until his fingers fell off, if that’s what Skyler wanted.

While everything had seemed to happen incredibly fast for the band the first time around, this time Trevor thought things were happening even faster as they prepared for the release of their new album and their second tour. They knew what to expect now, but they still got swept up in the whirlwind.

And they were more famous now than when they’d started out. That meant more traveling pre-tour, more mobs of screaming fans outside every television and radio station, more security escorting them from place to place.

All this only made it feel nicer whenever Trevor could go home and simply be with Skyler for the night. Which is what he was dying to do now. They’d left L.A. early this morning and flown on a private jet to Chicago for an interview, then flown back to L.A. in time to do a skit and perform on Jimmy Kimmel.

Being on the show was cool as hell—even after their world tour, it felt like a big deal—but Trevor was exhausted. He wanted to get Skyler home and into bed, cuddle him close until they fell asleep.

They’d gotten to the point where the whole band wasn’t carted around together all the time, especially when they were going to different houses now. They were each given their own private cars and drivers, with Trevor and Skyler obviously choosing to share.

Exiting the building, he and Skyler were laughing with Oli as they followed one of the show’s security staff. Jermaine and Noah had walked out a minute ahead of them. Trevor had lost sight of the guy who was supposed to escort him and Skyler to their car, but he figured it didn’t matter because all the cars would be parked together.

He realized his mistake when chaos suddenly broke out around them.

High-pitched screaming assaulted his ears as he tried to figure out what was going on. A small mob of girls—maybe less than twenty of them, but they sure felt like a mob—had found their way around the barricade and were running straight at them.

Trevor’s hand moved to Skyler’s waist instinctively, fingers curling tightly into the material of his shirt, as he looked around for help. The man they’d been following was swiftly leading Oli to his car, using his body to shield Oli from the girls who were reaching for him. Another man was at the barricade, trying to stop more of them from getting around it.

Where the hell was everyone else? There should have been more security.

Two cars pulled away from the curb, presumably with Noah and Jermaine inside, as Oli ducked into a third. Trevor didn’t see a fourth car.

Another security guard appeared, but rather than coming to help Trevor and Skyler, he ran automatically toward the barricade.

Trevor tried to guide Skyler away from the onslaught, but he didn’t know where to go. Before he could find a way to escape, they were surrounded by screaming girls. Skyler, always the people pleaser, smiled and greeted them. He reached out to offer one girl a hug, but then all at once it became too much. The fans were crazed, all fighting each other to get to the two of them, arms reaching out, hands grabbing.

Trevor jumped when someone squeezed his ass roughly, and then he and Skyler were separated. Only by a few feet, but it was too much. He couldn’t get through the mob to reach Skyler, and he saw Skyler’s face drain swiftly from pleasant to terrified. Skyler yelped as someone tore his shirt at the sleeve. They pulled at his hair. They had their hands all over him, and Skyler looked so freaked out it made Trevor see red.

Aggressively pushing the girls off his own body, Trevor shoved his way to Skyler’s side. He batted girls’ hands away, swinging his arms in all directions, not caring who he hit.

Finally, help appeared. A very large security guard managed to grab on to both him and Skyler, leading them through the crowd and over to the street where a car pulled up. Trevor refused to remove his arms from around Skyler’s body, and Skyler had his head ducked down on Trevor’s shoulder, hiding his face.

“It’s okay,” the man said, as he ushered them inside the car, and Trevor nearly screamed at him for somehow letting this happen.

Even once he and Skyler were safe, they didn’t move away from each other. Skyler was trembling, but he was gradually calming down as Trevor rubbed a hand up and down his back.

Trevor started to feel mildly guilty for how he’d treated the girls. He was also aware Maggie would murder him if someone ran a story about him assaulting fans. But what choice had they left him? In the heat of the moment, all he could focus on was the look of sheer terror on Skyler’s face. All that had mattered was getting to him and keeping him safe.

Skyler still looked a bit shaken up by the time they got back to their place, but he seemed a lot better than he was in the car.

Their place.

It still amazed him that he and Skyler lived together. They’d lived together with the whole band, sure. But this was different. This house was just theirs.

The rest of the guys had rented their own places, and he and Skyler could have each afforded their own too, obviously, but they wanted to stay together. They hadn’t even considered a different option. And on days like this, when the reality of their fame and the chaos it could cause hit hard, it was a relief to have their shared private place to escape to. Where they could be simply Trevor and Skyler, rather than Trevor Blue and Skyler James.

He led Skyler to the couch, urging him to sit. “Want me to make you some tea?”

Skyler shook his head. “Just want you to hold me please.”

He sat down beside Skyler and pulled him closer until Skyler was half on his lap. As he rubbed Skyler’s back, he said, “Security should have been better. I’m so sorry that happened to you.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I know. But still. I hated seeing you scared like that. And I’m not proud of it, but I was ready to rip those girls apart if that’s what it took to get them off you.”

Skyler chuckled. “It was hot. How protective you were.” Trevor hid his face in Skyler’s collarbone. “I thought you were going to go all caveman and throw me over your shoulder. Run away with me back to your cave.”

“This is our cave,” Trevor told him, right before standing and bending back down to scoop Skyler up at the waist. With a bit of a struggle, he managed to hoist him over his shoulder.

Skyler laughed, wriggling to be put down. Trevor grabbed a handful of his ass to keep him still so he wouldn’t drop him, but when Skyler gasped, Trevor immediately set him back on his feet.

He could have smacked himself. How stupid was he for manhandling Skyler after what he’d just been through? “I’m so sorry.”

Skyler shook his head and stepped in closer to him, grasping on to the collar of his shirt. “No, I liked it. After having all those strangers’ hands on me, I want to feel your hands on me. To remind me that I’m only yours.”

“Mine.”

The word slipped from Trevor’s lips like a reflex. Because yes, he should be the only person allowed to touch Skyler. But he’d do it gently. Treat him like he was something precious. Because he was.

He reached for Skyler’s hand and led him to bed. There, he prompted him to lie down on his side before getting in behind him, spooning him so that their bodies were touching from their heads to their feet.

He would have been happy to simply cuddle him to sleep, but Skyler asked for more. So Trevor made love to him in this position. Slowly, making sure they’d both feel how connected they were the entire time.

It felt like a huge privilege to be the person Skyler trusted with his body. His desires, his heart, his everything. Trevor would keep it all safe. Because Skyler was his everything.

And when they were finished, Trevor still couldn’t let go of him. As they drifted off to sleep, he buried his face in Skyler’s hair, holding him tightly, and marveled at how lucky he was.

The world could have Skyler James, the superstar.

But only he got to have this Skyler.