Lace Lovers

Chapter 1-1

Chapter 12015

“I have something to tell you all,” Jamie Pierce, the manager of Black Lace from their first day as a band and through several line-up changes, announces from the head of the table.

The whole band is there, plus Kelly and Penny. Brenton is sitting next to Donnie and Jed, their guitarist and singer, also a long-term couple. Drew, their bass player, is next to the girls.

“Do tell,” Jed encourages. He and Jamie had dated when the band first started and gotten married. That was before Bert, their ex-guitarist, outed Jed. But that was a long time ago. Jed and Jamie are best friends, and Jed’s been dating Donnie for two years, ever since Donnie joined Black Lace. It hadn’t been easy for them, but it’d worked out for the best. And seeing them now, holding hands under the table, it makes Brenton smile.

“Well, I didn’t tell you, but Chris and I…he wishes he could be here tonight, but anyway, he agreed I could tell you. We’ve been trying for a baby, and I’m three months pregnant.” Jamie beams, her hand resting gently on her stomach. Her pregnancy isn’t obvious in her smart suit, but there’s something different about her.

Jed’s first to his feet, hugging her tightly, and then they all take their turns hugging her. Brenton goes after Donnie. He’s a big guy. He does cross-fit, MMA, and other sports in his spare time. He’s tall, broad, and muscular. The news people are always calling him scary and intimidating. So when Brenton reaches Jamie, he’s careful to keep his hug gentle.

“Congratulations. We’re all going to spoil you rotten,” Brenton warns her before he takes his seat.

“I know you’re all probably wondering how this will affect work. I plan to keep working for now, but I’m hiring an assistant to help with managing the band. They’ll slowly do more of my duties, but to start off, they’ll be like a PA for all of you,” Jamie explains.

“You think of everything, don’t you?” Penny smiles.

“If you ever need a babysitter, I call dibs,” Kelly adds, and Brenton can’t help but wonder if Penny and Kelly have thought about having children. They haven’t mentioned anything to him, or around him, but Brenton’s known Penny a very long time, and Kelly long enough to know they both like kids.

They’ve lost a band member to family life before. Cherry Lee was their guitarist after Bert and before Donnie. They’re still in touch. She now has four kids, all young, and Brenton doesn’t blame her at all for not wanting to tour when she has them at home.

“Thank you, all of you. I’m really happy. I promise this won’t stop the next tour. I’ll be about six months when you go on tour, so I’ll probably only come to local shows, but you’ll be fine without me, and like I said, I’m training someone up to help you guys out,” Jamie says, taking a sip of her fizzy water. Brenton hadn’t really noticed before that she wasn’t drinking alcohol, but he does now.

“So, we all get to be uncles and aunties, right?” Jed asks. He looks excited.

Jed’s been a happier version of himself since Donnie came into his life. He hasn’t changed, but he’s more relaxed. Being in a relationship he doesn’t have to hide is good for him. He was used by Bert, stalked by Bert’s brother, Peter, and almost lost Donnie to Peter and a gun. Time has changed so much, but the band is going strong, and now Jamie and her partner Chris, who’s a music producer, are adding to the family they’ve made here.

“Of course, the coolest aunties and uncles ever.” Jamie smiles.

“And I’m the coolest of them all,” Drew says smugly.

“Dork,” Penny snorts.

“Children, please.” Jed tuts.

“I think we should toast to Jamie and the baby,” Donnie suggests.

They all raise their glasses, some alcohol, some not, and they bring their glasses together, wishing Jamie and her unborn baby good health.

Penny puts her arm casually around Kelly’s shoulder. Donnie and Jed go back to holding hands. Jamie’s hand rests on her stomach, radiant smile on her face, and Drew is on his cell phone, texting one of a long list of casuals.

Brenton is single: no children, no ex-wife, no baby on the way. He feels a little bit jealous. But not much because he has all of them: his band, his friends, and his dream job. So Brenton pushes aside the small, petty jealousy, and focuses on enjoying being with them and savoring their joy.

They finish their desserts, and the meal starts to wind down. They take their time drinking coffee, but soon people start to yawn.

Then Draw stands up, saying, “I have to split. I have a date.”

Jed smirks. “At this time of night, it’s not a date. It’s called a booty call.”

Drew just grins at that, saying goodbye to them all, and congratulating Jamie again. Penny and Kelly are next to head out. They moved in together about a year ago. Kelly and Donnie used to be roommates, and they’d both decided to move in with their lovers at the same time.

“Right, I’m exhausted. I need to get home to my man,” Jamie says.

“Of course, you need your rest,” Jed insists.

“I’m not a delicate flower, Jed. Women have been having babies for as long as there’ve been people,” Jamie says.

“I’ll try not to be too bad, but I worry about you.” Jed sighs. He and Jamie have remained close through everything.

Donnie grins. “Mother hen.”

“Princess,” Jed fires back before leaning in to kiss Donnie’s cheek. Princess is Donnie’s nickname, thanks to Kelly.

“Make sure they don’t make a scene,” Jamie asks Brenton, and then she says goodbye to them all and leaves.

Brenton is left with Donnie and Jed, and they both look so happy. They’re always touchy feely, but they try to tone it down in public, but Brenton can see the love they have for each other easily. They kiss briefly, and Brenton rolls his eyes.

“You two should go home. Make the most of the week off. We have that TV recording after that, so you’ll soon have to behave again,” Brenton says.

“Do you want to ride home with us?” Jed asks. He still thinks about his friends, even when his lover is there, tempting him, but then, Donnie is just as caring.

“We have a week to misbehave. Come watch a movie. We’ll keep things PG while you’re there,” Donnie promises.

Brenton thinks about it—a movie with friends, or his apartment alone. He loves his place. It’s full of things he’s collected over the years, memories he’s made with the band, but there’s no one waiting in bed for him.

“I guess I could come over for one movie,” Brenton agrees.

“We’ll have ice cream.” Donnie grins.

“You just had dessert,” Jed points out as they leave the table, having already paid. They go outside and call for the car service Jed uses.

“There’s always room for ice cream,” Donnie says happily. He’s a small guy, the amount he eats not showing on his slim frame. He’s lucky.

Brenton goes home with the happy couple. He feels kind of at home, like he does in all their homes. He takes his shoes off before taking a seat in one of the recliners, watching as Donnie and Jed settle on the couch, Donnie leaning against Jed, while Jed sets up the movie. Donnie has ice cream. He’d offered Brenton some too, but he said no, still full from dinner, and he works out too hard to be eating junk this late at night.

Jed picks some sad French film that he says is amazing, but clearly, by amazing he means really f*****g sad. Brenton doesn’t get why all queer centered films seem to be really depressing. Where are the happy love stories? The cute, fluffy romances? The romantic comedies. Instead he has this, with half the cast dying.

It’s Donnie who complains first, though, not happy with the sad choice at all. “I’ll have sad dreams when I go to sleep, and then I’ll wake you up, and then neither of us will sleep.”

“It’s not that bad,” Jed argues.

“Dude, I have to agree with Donnie. This film makes me want to cry,” Brenton admits.

“Okay, I’ll put something else on. You probably just don’t like it because there’re no boobs,” Jed complains, turning the film off and looking for another DVD.

“I can watch a film without boobs,” Brenton argues.

“Me too, but boobs are nice,” Donnie says, and Brenton often forgets that Donnie’s bisexual, not gay.

Jed wrinkles his face, clearly disagreeing. He may have been married to a woman, but Jed has no interest in them. Brenton’s often thought about talking about his sexuality issues with Jed over the years, seeing as Jed had his own. But Brenton can’t bring himself to say anything. He thinks he should have maybe said something back when Bert outed Jed, and Penny came out, too, but so much had been going on. It’d seemed crazy to bring up a few fleeting moments. He’s thirty-five now. He’s too old to have a sexuality crisis.

But as he watches the new film, he sneaks glances at Jed and Donnie on the couch, not because he’s attracted to them, but because he envies what they have, the casual intimacy. What they have is special, and Brenton doesn’t want to be jealous, but he is.

It’s late by the time the movie finishes, so Jed offers up his spare room. Brenton’s tired, so he agrees.

* * * *

Brenton gets up early in the morning. Donnie’s already up doing yoga, the scar on his knee from the shooting visible.

Brenton says goodbye to him and passes his love onto Jed, who’s still in bed. Then he heads back to his place. He changes into his running gear as soon as he’s checked the messages on his answering machine, and seeing there’s nothing important. Brenton heads out for a run. He’s been running since he was a teenager, and he always finds it clears his mind.

He stops for coffee and then goes home. Brenton’s week is pretty quiet. He plays pool with Drew midweek, and he’s in touch with everyone through the week, so he doesn’t have a chance to miss them before they meet up for a talk show appearance.

They’re sitting in the green room, talking about nothing important, when Jamie arrives. A few steps behind her, holding her briefcase, is someone that makes Brenton sit up and pay attention.

The man with Jamie is tall, but he’s standing slightly hunched, hiding his full height. Brenton thinks they’d be eye-to-eye standing straight. He’s thin, like a wraith, all long limbs and fine features. He’s more pretty than handsome. His midnight black hair is long and messy. It falls into his eyes, but when he flicks it out of the way to look, Brenton sees that he has one blue eye, one brown. They’re beautiful. He’s beautiful, and Brenton feels a little uncomfortable about how much he’s noticing the guy.

“Hello, everyone. This is Zeke Carter, my new assistant. He’s also family. He’s Chris’s nephew, so be nice. Zeke, this is everyone.” Jamie smiles. She can be stern at times, but she’s mellowed over the years, even more so now that she’s settled down. She used to be all about work, putting the band first. Brenton is glad to see her caring for herself a little. What he’s not glad about is that Zeke will be sticking around.

Brenton doesn’t remember the last time he looked at a guy with such lust, including guys he’d actually ended up hooking up with on the down low.

Zeke waves shyly, hiding behind his hair, and he looks young, which makes it worse. Brenton can’t have a boner for Jamie’s timid sort-of nephew, who’s working for them.

“They don’t bite,” Jamie promises, and Brenton detects a hint of worry in her voice, but it’s like she’s trying not to be obvious about it.

“First day jitters?” Penny asks kindly.

“Yeah,” Zeke says softly.

“No need, sweetie. We’re all nice. I know some famous people are assholes, but we’re not,” Penny says. “If we even thought about trying, Jamie would stomp it right out of us.”

Kelly isn’t at the recording, so Penny’s cuddled against Donnie’s side instead.

“Zeke hasn’t worked for a band before. He’s twenty-nine, and he’s been in college. He’s a real brain box, but he’s a bit stuck on what he wants to do long term, so I asked him to help me out. I know Zeke’s more than capable of dealing with you,” Jamie says happily. She looks at Zeke fondly, and Brenton’s glad Chris’s family has welcomed her, especially seeing as they’re having a baby.