Page 20 of Conquest

Jesse looked up at him. “Did you say something?”

Evan answered him with a grin as he drank.

Jesse put the bottle to his lips. Having never tasted dark beer before, he took a tentative sip, then a longer drink. “That’s really good,” he said, lowering the bottle.

“You want to talk about good, I practically survived off premium sake in Japan when I was there.”

A quizzical look fell on Jesse’s face. “Is that where you ran away to after you quit performing?”

“I didn’t run away. I was just on an extended worldwide road trip.” Evan reclined back against the refrigerator. He hooked his thumb inside the top of his jeans, splaying his fingers near his crotch.

Jesse stared at where Evan’s hand rested, then realized he was staring and turned his head as if looking around the kitchen. “That sounds like a good time.”

A hint of a smile touched Evan’s lips. “It was. And I did it the good way. I backpacked, staying in small local places most of the time so I could get a feel for the different cultures.”

“But why did you leave in the first place? After your last tour, you just vanished.”

Evan shoved off the refrigerator. Leaning one elbow on the counter, he reached his other hand toward Jesse and slid the tips of his index and middle fingers under the sixteen-rayed gold sun pendant dangling from the choker around Jesse’s neck. “That’s really cool.”

Jesse studied Evan’s eyes even though they were focused on his pendant. He didn’t think eyes so sharp and bright a blue could actually exist in real life. He had thought Evan might wear colored contacts to make his eyes such an astonishing blue, but now he saw that wasn’t the case. He took a breath, calling his voice back to work.

“Thanks. I got it at a little jewelry artistry shop in Greektown. It’s the Vergina Sun. I kinda got a thing for classical culture.”

“I was in Delphi at the Temple of Apollo just before I came here. I enjoyed learning about him, being the god of music and arts.” Evan lifted his gaze to Jesse’s. “I especially liked the stories of his exploits with his many lovers.”

Jesse’s breath left him in a soft exhale, taking his voice with it.

Evan kept his gaze locked on him as he drew back. “Would you like to see some more of my house?”

Jesse nodded and followed him through another door out of the kitchen into the family room with thick tan carpeting covering the floor. Against one wall was a wide, long, light brown leather couch. In front of it sat a dark mahogany coffee table with intricate carvings on the legs, and at both arms of the couch were matching end tables. Underneath the coffee table, an oriental area rug added further to the warm feel of the room. Two plush, dark brown leather recliners were at the ends of the coffee table. A massive stone fireplace was set into one wall with a dark walnut mantel above. Directly across from the couch hung the largest flat screen TV Jesse had ever seen. A cherry entertainment cabinet held the DVD player, stereo, and various gaming systems.

Jesse walked over to the cabinet. “Not only do you have all the newest consoles, but you got all the old ones, too.”

Evan headed toward another open doorway leading to the back of the house. “Do you like video games?”

“I play whenever I get a chance. I love games like the Legend of Zelda.” Jesse stepped into the next room and stopped short, his eyes widening at the sight that met him.

Evan strolled into the center of the room, holding his arms out at his sides. “And this is the music room.”

The music room was the largest room yet. In the back of it, windows ran from the hardwood floor to the vaulted ceiling with white columns topped in Corinthian capitals spaced every few feet between. They overlooked the back of Evan’s property and the lake, but what stopped Jesse was the vast collection of instruments in the room. A Steinway ebony grand piano sat in front of the windows, where Evan stood leaning back as he watched him.

Jesse walked further into the room, turning in a circle to fully take it in. Electric guitars of numerous styles and brands hung on one wall with bass guitars and acoustics. Of the electric, Jesse guessed there had to be over thirty. Against one wall, dark walnut shelves displayed several violins and violas with two cellos and a full-sized harp sitting close by. On the other side of the room, shelves and wooden tables held still more instruments, though many of these were exotic, some of which Jesse didn’t even know existed until that moment. He moved across the room to them, his fingers all but twitching to touch.

Evan could see on Jesse’s face how he battled for control to not finger the instruments. “Go ahead. You can touch them. From the moment it’s created, an instrument’s only wish is to be held by a loving and skilled hand.”

Jesse gently laid his fingers on a zither near its strings and caressed the wood. “It’s true, isn’t it? Sometimes I think they’re almost living, the way each one has a unique voice. Kenny thinks I’m nuts. He says, a Strat is a Strat. But to me, every instrument has a subtle pitch difference that makes it its own, and when it gets held in the hands of someone who respects and understands it, the sound of that instrument becomes as individual as the soul of the person playing it.” He looked over his shoulder at Evan and smiled. “You probably think I’m mental, too, for thinking like that, don’t you?”

“No, not at all,” Evan said softly, in awe at the serene beauty that came over Jesse’s face when he was surrounded by instruments.

Jesse stopped before the violins, admiring each one. “They’re so beautiful. I’ve always wanted to learn to play, but I haven’t had the chance.”

Evan headed over to him. “I could teach you. I’ve seen all the instruments you can play. Picking up one more would be easy for you.”

Jesse turned a hopeful smile on him. “You would do that?”

“I would love to.”

Evan pulled down a violin case from the top shelf and set it on one of the lower ones. He opened it, revealing a violin inside with a rich brownish-gold finish. Though it lay silent, as the light in the room washed over it, Jesse swore he could hear the echoes of the countless songs the instrument had known, and all the emotions its voice had evoked from its listeners, joy, sadness, hope, seemed to have become as much a part of it as its neck, body, or stain.