“Dove sei?”
Henri smiled and sang the second line. “All my life spent lonely.”
Again, Sebastian answered in Italian.“Tutta la mia vita in solitudine.”
“I know you’re out there.”
“Lo so che sei là fuori da qualche parte.”
Sebastian’s soulful rendition encouraged Henri’s own efforts, and he poured his heart and soul into, “The one I’ve waited for.”
He played the line again on the piano for Seb’s, “La persona che aspettavo.”
They sang the final two lines in unison, Henri swearing, “I know I’ll find you,” while Seb harmonized,“Lo so che ti troverò.”
They ended with Henri’s, “It’s just a matter of when,” and Sebastian’s,“E’ solo una questione di tempo.”
Beautiful. Fucking gorgeous. If only Seb would give up opera to tour with Henri….
“We could always perform together, like Pavarotti and Friends.” The twinkle in Seb’s eyes said he was joking.
If only.
* * *
Henri saton a chair by the window, glasses pulled down on his nose.
“I love a man in glasses,” Sebastian commented from his perch on the settee. He held a copy ofHitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxyin one large paw. Henri clutched his iPad and would never admit to losing himself in the pages ofThe Hunger Games. Die-hard rocker gods were supposed to read die-hard rocker books, right? Yet he’d snuck a peek at Jenni’s copy of the popular young adult novel and had lost himself in Katniss Everdeen’s heroics.
“Yeah. Well, feel privileged. You’re probably the only person outside my immediate family to see me wearing them.”
“Ah, vain, are we?”
Ouch! “I don’t give a damn about my appearance—I don’t have to see me.” The fight slowly leaked out of Henri. “My m… my old manager insisted I not tarnish my image by being a human with poor eyesight.” Like anything could possibly be worse than the hard-partying, hard-drinking, hotel-room-smashing hellion tabloids said he was.
“You don’t even wear your glasses while driving?”
“I only need glasses to read. It’s hell signing autographs without them, but I hate contacts.”
“Keeping up appearances? You?”
Henri shrugged. “They weren’t my rules.”
Sebastian set his book aside, focusing totally on Henri. “You don’t strike me as a man who lives by others’ rules.”
No. No, he wasn’t. Took him damned long enough to figure it out. Sebastian returned to reading and Henri settled back, engrossed in another’s adventures. Seb laughed out loud. For a moment Henri feared he’d somehow figured out what Henri was reading, and was poking a bit of fun. But no, his gaze traveled back and forth, back and forth, until Seb paused to turn a page. How quaint. An actual, turn-the-pages book.
“Do you always read sci-fi, or is the humor what you read for?” Henri had readHitchhiker’s Guidewhile in his teens.
“Both. I read to de-stress. Humor, sci-fi, and fantasy take me away from the world. I can be the hero, be everything I’m not.”
Oh, Seb would surely loveThe Hunger Games. That is, if Henri would ever admit to reading the story. “Reading gives me song ideas.” “You’re Beautiful When You Read” popped into Henri’s head. Nah, no one would play something so sappy but a children’s show. Hell, he’d never make the suggestion to Lucas. He might try to sell it, and the last thing Henri’s wavering reputation needed was for him to serenade a bunch of puppets. After a few minutes, he glanced up to find Seb watching him. “What?”
“Oh, nothing.”
A few minutes later, he caught Seb staring again. “What?”
“Nothing.” Seb hastily returned his attention to his own book.
