"How many of the entrants got a live audition?" Brian asked.
"Five out of something like five thousand."
Brian's dark brows lifted in surprise. "Impressive."
"When the contest coordinator called, I thought they were making stuff up. That Chad had put one of his buddies up to calling me and giving me a hard time. My old band members are notorious for fucking with me." She paused and lifted a hand of caution in Trey's direction. "Not fucking me. I never slept with any of them. So after about ten minutes of trying to get this exasperated dude on the phone to admit he was a friend of Chad's, it finally sunk in that I won the live audition. I was so nervous that I didn't want to go. My roommate, Ethan, talked me into it. Reminding me how I'd always regret not giving my all. I knew he was right. I'd always wonder if I didn't go through with it. I was so nervous in the studio yesterday, I thought I was going to hurl. And then Trey shows up right before the five finalists were scheduled to go into the booth for our live auditions. I think that's when reality hit me. I put everything I had into that audition. Something about knowing Trey was listening really upped my game. I'm not sure how I would have done if he hadn't showed up. I probably would have thrown up on my guitar and started crying."
"I don't deserve any credit," Trey said. "She's amazing. I actually thought she was you when I heard her play. She has the same balls-out style you play with."
Brian laughed. "Now that I have to see."
"I don't let my balls out for just anyone," Reagan said. She grabbed her crotch and pretended to shift her balls into a more comfortable position. "But I'll make an exception in your case."
Brian gaped at her and then burst out laughing. "So you two hooked up at the audition?"
"Afterward," Trey said.
"He beat me in a guitar duel and then I took him for a ride in Exodus End's limo." She shifted in her seat and looked over her shoulder to the bathroom at the rear of the plane. "Speaking of taking Trey for a ride."
Brian's gaze followed Reagan's to the bathroom door. His face twisted as if he were in pain and he groaned. "The doctor said I can't fuck Myrna for six weeks. I'm going to die."
Trey wasn't sure how Brian could even think about Myrna in a sexual capacity after watching her give birth. If Trey ever decided to have kids, he would insist his woman have a C-section. Just the memory of natural childbirth had Trey a bit woozy.
"When do we get to lose the seat belts?" Reagan asked.
"They'll announce it," Brian said. He lifted his phone to give it a look of longing before tucking it back in his pocket.
"So how did you meet your wife?" Reagan asked. She sure knew how to earn brownie points with Brian.
Brian grinned. "She saw me fall off a table in a hotel bar and still thought I was hot enough to take up to her room."
"And then she pushed him away for months," Trey added. At the time Trey had been torn between wanting Brian to be happy by winning Myrna's affection and wanting him to give up on her so he might have a fighting chance. The thing was, besides the two times that he and Brian had gone all the way in high school, they'd never been intimate again. Not for Trey's lack of trying. It was as if Brian had checked homosexual experience off his life's to-do list and never really thought about it again. Trey, on the other hand, had been hung up on the experience for over ten years. He was lucky that Brian had patience. He had to know that Trey still wanted him, and Brian never intentionally hurt him. Instead Brian seemed content for Trey to outgrow his infatuation. Maybe it would have been easier if Brian had just shredded Trey's heart and left him to wallow in despair for a few months instead of that constant ignore-the-situation-and-it-will-go-away stance he'd taken. Trey didn't blame Brian though. He knew how important their friendship was to him. It was as equally important to Trey. If Brian had treated him any differently, their friendship might have dissolved as well, and that might have hurt their music. Trey supposed that waiting it out had worked eventually. Maybe. His heart still fluttered every time he looked at Brian. He still thought about how connected he'd felt to the man the first time they'd made love, and how that connection had somehow lasted for twelve years.
He glanced at Reagan and found her watching him closely. Had he been staring at Brian with open longing? Shit. If he wasn't careful, she'd figure out that he was interested in men. He smiled at her and she offered him an answering smile. The connection he'd forged with her the night before returned to the forefront of his mind. He wondered if he'd carry a torch for her forever the same way he carried a torch for the first man he'd ever felt that connection with. The idea scared him, yet if she embraced it, instead of ignoring it, maybe they could build something substantial. Trey didn't know if he could handle another one-sided love affair. There was one significance difference in this relationship. Reagan was interested in him. He had to trust her intentions.