When we reached the hospital, Adam was in the ER waiting room.He was wearing scrubs, and had a lumpy plastic bag on the seat next to him.
“Thank God,” Brandon muttered, and his shoulders slumped.
Adam gave us a sheepish grin.He was thirty-two, only about eight years younger than Brandon, but sometimes he still looked like he was barely an adult.Did Brandon look that young when I met him?Younger, even.But I doubted he’d ever looked that carefree.
“I didn’t mean for you to bring the whole party.”Adam’s laugh ended in a hacking cough.“Sorry.Smoke inhalation.I promise I’m not contagious.”
Brandon scrubbed his face and sat next to him.“What happened?”
“There was a fire in the workshop.It’s toast.Which sucks because I was working on some amazing stuff.”Some of Adam’s levity vanished.“But I’ll live.Too much smoke, and a few bruises.And the apartment I was staying in above the place is hosed.Get it?Fire?Hose.”His laugh was weak.
I could practically hear Brandon thinkingnot again.He loved his brother, but Adam was more about the big ideas and less about what came after he had them.This was a new level of seriousness though; he’d built the workshop with a business partner, and they had a solid plan.Which I assumed wouldn’t happen now.
Not that I thought the fire was his fault.He looked pretty bummed-slash-stressed about the entire event, as opposed to relieved to be out from under a project he was no longer interested in.
We dropped Reese at her apartment, but she didn’t have room for most of her gear here, so I kept it at Brandon’s and my place.Adam came back to the house with us, and I told him to leave the bag with his smoky clothes on the back porch to air out.He could wash everything in the morning.He needed to figure out what to do next, so he was staying in the guest room.
Which really he stayed in often enough it was like his second room.
“I promise I won’t be here long.Just a few days.I appreciate it,” Adam said.
I gave him a smile.“You know it’s always fine.”As he vanished into the room and closed the door behind him, I squeezed Brandon’s hand.“Come to bed.”He had to be drained.I still wanted to have the Reese conversation, but it might need to wait until morning.
Brandon kissed me on the cheek.“I have a tune in my head.I’ll be up in a little bit.”
I couldn’t argue that.He’d been struggling with being blocked for a while, and if he was inspired, good for him.
The next morning, when I woke up to sunlight streaming in my eyes, I was surprised to be the only one in bed, with no indication Brandon had been here.I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, started the coffee maker as I walked through the kitchen, and headed into the basement.
We had a soundproof studio down here for recording, rehearsing, whatever we needed.Brandon was sitting at the electric keyboard, headphones on and gaze fixed on the laptop screen on the table next to him.
When I touched him on the shoulder, he jumped.
Brandon spun in the chair to face me, dark circles under his wide eyes, and a grin plastered on his face.“You have to hear this.”He pulled off his earphones and fitted them over my ears.“You set?”His voice was distant and muffled by the sound suppression.
I nodded, and he pressedPlayon the laptop.The music started smooth and sweet.A simple keyboard tune that tugged at my heart.It slid into a rough, fast tempo that gripped me by the balls and didn’t let go for the next four minutes.
When it was done, silence rang in my thoughts.I dropped the headphones around my neck and stared at him.
“Well?”he asked.
“Holy shit.”
Brandon’s wild grin grew.“Right?”
It was raw.It was nothing like what he usually did.But, “it’s incredible.”
“It was like I was possessed.”His leg bounced while he talked.“It just came to me.I haven’t felt like that in a long time.Fuckthat felt good.”
I understood the feeling.“You still working?”
“I should, um, coffee or something.”
“I already started the pot.”I pulled him to his feet, and we headed upstairs.
By the time we reached the kitchen, some of his nervous energy had evaporated, and he melted into a chair at the kitchen table.
“You should skip the coffee and get some sleep,” I said.