Chapter 1

Alexander Nathaniel, or Alex for short, bounced into the kitchen. “Hey, Jay! I got an offer to do a jeans ad. I think I’m gonna do it.”

Jayden lifted his eyes from the newspaper he was reading. “Who’ll be the lucky girl this time?”

“It’s not a girl. His name is Jake Lawrence. They said he’s a famous model,” Alex said, suddenly feeling nervous.

“A man? What do you mean? Are you guys posing as a couple? That’s so not cool, Alex.”

Alex sneaked behind Jayden and began to stroke Jayden’s chest. Jayden gasped. “You don’t have to worry. You’re my boyfriend.” He kissed the back of Jayden’s ear and his cheek.

“But why does it have to be him? Why not me? I can do jeans ads, too.”

Alex stopped himself before he said anything. Jayden was a model, too, like him, but Alex couldn’t tell Jayden that it was Jake himself who chose him to be in the advertisement. Alex couldn’t imagine how Jayden would react if he knew that.

* * * *

Jayden sat wordlessly. He felt miserable, but he didn’t understand why he felt so sad. Alex doing an ad was good. That he was doing it with another man killed Jayden inside.

That afternoon, on Alex’s first day of shooting, Jayden missed him. It was weird because they’d seen each other that morning, and they even shared a searing-hot goodbye kiss. Jayden just suddenly longed for his boyfriend’s sexy voice. He dialed Alex’s number and waited for the call to go through. One ring, two rings, and Alex picked it up.

“Hey, baby,” Jayden said.

“Uhh, is this Jayden? It’s Jake, the model working with Alex. Sorry, but Alex is a bit tied up right now.”

Jayden tensed up on hearing a different voice than Alex answering the call. And it was Jake’s voice. Jayden hung up immediately and threw his cell phone against the wall. It broke into pieces like Jayden’s heart.

* * * *

Almost midnight and Alex was exhausted. The photo shoot with Jake had been fun. The man was charming and funny. They shared good laughs together. Jake even invited Alex to have a drink with him at a bar after the shoot, but Alex turned him down politely. There was something strange going on in Alex’s heart. Like something was wrong. Alex couldn’t stop thinking about Jayden. He tried to call Jayden several times, but the connection always failed. When Alex got home everything was dark, including his room. Dimmed lights from the outside enabled him to make out a Jayden-sized lump in bed though.

“Jay, you still awake?” Alex hissed, but he got no answer. Alex took a deep breath and turned toward the shower when he stepped onto something sharp.

“Ouch!” Then whispered, “Sorry,” as he realized he had raised his voice. He stooped and felt around before finding the object he’d stepped on. He had to bring it close to his face in the dark. The thing looked like a part of a cell phone. What the hell?Alex glanced at Jayden in bed and back at the broken piece in his hand, and squinted, looking around on the floor in case there were more pieces. But he saw nothing else, or perhaps it was too dark. He sighed and walked into the bathroom. Something was definitely wrong—and Jayden didn’t even move when Alex yelped just now. After taking a quick shower, Alex dried himself and put on a clean shirt and sweatpants. He approached the bed quietly.

“Jay, are you okay? Why are you so quiet? Is something wrong?” Alex waited for Jayden’s answer, but Jayden didn’t say anything. From the way he was breathing, Alex knew that Jayden wasn’t sleeping.

* * * *

Jayden didn’t move a muscle. He wasn’t sleeping. He couldn’t sleep. His mind seethed with anger, as well as confusion. After cleaning up the mess he made of the cell phone, he went online to go find things about Jake Lawrence, the model Alex was working with—not that Alex hadn’t told him everything he needed to know about the man. Alex had literally recited Lawrence’s resume to him.

Aside from the mile-long list of jobs he had done, from commercials, print and TV, music videos, features on TV series and movies, to finally creating his own online modeling enterprise, Lawrence was totally easy on the eyes. Jayden browsed through the collections of his images and videos and that was where Jayden began to feel weird.

With his expressive hazel eyes, sculpted jaw, and firm, muscled chest, Lawrence was a Greek god. Jayden never missed his gym sessions but there was no way he could even come close to the perfection that was Jake Lawrence. Jayden’s hand began to slick with sweat as he clutched the mouse and—he began to get hard. His breathing turned heavy and soon he was panting. This wasn’t right. Not right at all. Jayden slammed his laptop shut.