Twenty year old Corey Evans is one-half of 2ICE, the biggest duo on the radio at the moment. Pronounced twice, they're number one on the Billboard charts this week with their latest single. And number one in download sales, with two albums that have already gone platinum, to hear their manager tell it. And currently on their second U.S. tour, which has sold out stadiums across the nation. Despite this, there's an emptiness inside him which Corey can't seem to fill, no matter how many groupies he takes to his bed. He sees this same emptiness mirrored in the eyes of his band-mate, Ian Coltraine, who drowns his evenings after each show with a bottle of whiskey. Ian's the one Corey turns to when he wakes beside an unknown fan, still asleep in his bed and needs help evicting her. He's Corey best friend, the only person on the tour he can confide in, who he really trusts ... The one, Corey finally realizes, with whom he is madly, deeply, terribly in love. And he suspects Ian might feel the same. But his recent string of one-night stands makes Ian cautious about Corey's true feelings. He's wanted Corey for so long, and has watched him go through countless fans in search of ... what? Ian doesn't know. And he doesn't yet believe Corey when he says Ian might be it. Ian hopes so, but can't bring himself to believe Corey's fickle desire won't be gone in the morning. Can these two young men somehow move beyond Corey's past and Ian's pain to embrace a love they both so desperately desire?

Beautiful Disaster

As he lathered up a washcloth, he heard a light tapping at the door, then the hinges squeaked as it opened. “Ian?” Corey’s voice was still thick with sleep.


Ian’s breath caught in his throat. “Yeah?”


He heard Corey yawn as the bathroom light clicked on. “Can I use the toilet?”


Smiling, Ian asked, “I don’t know, can you?”


Corey laughed at the weak joke. “I mean, will it bother you?”


“I know what you mean.” Ian’s hand strayed to his crotch but he pulled it away. He wouldn’t jerk off in the shower with Corey on the other side of the curtain. He wouldn’t even touchhimself until Corey left the room. “Go ahead.”


“Don’t worry,” his friend said. “I won’t look.”


Ian saw Corey’s shadow on the shower curtain and scrubbed his stomach, trying to ignore everything but the soapy water spiraling down the drain and the way the shower beat against his back and head. There was a slight dip in water pressure when the toilet flushed, then Corey asked, “Are you okay?”


Chapter 40