Lesson Unlearned

"You're not leaving, are you, baby?" Zeke asked. "We could party like this all night. Great concert crowd tonight. Dancin' on the clouds here."

Dan wanted to know where this was going. "You wanted me to come here for the other band members to pass on me. I didn't know—"

"You did great, baby. I know these guys. They all think you're great."

"So, does the offer stand? You'll take me with you as your tech?"

"It's on to Trenton tomorrow," Zeke said.

"What time is the bus leaving? From here or the theater?"

"Planned takeoff is 11:00 in the morning from the theater," Zeke answered. "We've still got some equipment there to pick up. If we can get our shit together by then. Can't be much later than that. We play Trenton tomorrow night."

"Well, then, I got stuff I gotta do tonight," Dan answered. Zeke didn't hold him there. They kissed and gave each other a good-bye grope, and Dan, who had quickly pulled his clothes on, left the noise of the party behind him.

Leonard was snoring quietly in the bed when Dan got back to the apartment. Being as quiet as he could, Dan showered—knowing Leonard would be able to smell the musk of the Panther Pant on him if he didn't—and came to bed. He either woke Leonard up or Leonard hadn't been fully asleep. The big man pulled a condom packet off the night stand, crowned himself, and rolled over on top of Dan when he came to bed, pinning the young man on his back. Leonard was hard and Dan was still fully open from the party in room 608 at the Franklin Hotel a few blocks away. Despite his wide girth, Leonard slid right inside him. Realizing Dan was fully dilated, Leonard muttered, "Had a good time with the band tonight, did you?"

"Yes," Dan answered.

"I'm gonna have a good time now with you myself," Leonard said—and then he did, fucking Dan hard, making the bedsprings squeal.

Why not, Dan thought, going with the fuck. Leonard deserved a good farewell party.

* * * *

Dan woke up at 7:30 the next morning. He heard Leonard rumbling around in the kitchen, but he pretended to still be asleep whenever Leonard looked in on him. His mind was racing, though. He didn't have much here in Leonard's apartment. It probably would all fit in the duffle bag he'd come to Leonard with, but he'd have to pack quickly, and he had to run the list over in his mind of what he had to pack. He could only hope that Leonard would leave for the theater early.

Luck held and he heard Leonard exit the apartment by 8:15. Dan hopped out of bed and showered. He then packed his duffle, making three circuits of the apartment to be sure he had everything.

He couldn't face Leonard to say he was leaving. He'd e-mail him from Trenton that evening. By then Leonard probably would have figured it out himself. There would be a bit of bitterness, but Leonard had been quite definite about what they had not being a relationship—just a short-time arrangement that was convenient for both of them. Leonard was a good sort and he'd been fair with Dan. There had also been good times. Leonard's cock was first rate.

Dan arrived at the theater at 10:00—in plenty of time. Zeke had said they'd try to leave by 11:00, but as hard as they were partying in the hotel the previous night, Dan didn't really think they'd be able to meet that schedule.

There was no Panther Pant bus in front of the theater. Dan quietly entered, stashed his duffle in the cloakroom, and went to the stage. He didn't want to meet Leonard, who he could hear moving around in his office off the front lobby. Zeke had said the band had left some of their electronic gear in the stage wings, and Dan thought he might as well start his job as the band tech by gathering that up so it could quickly to stowed on the bus when they arrived here.

He couldn't find any electronic gear that didn't belong to the theater. That was strange, but he decided that someone had put it on the bus the previous night and Zeke didn't know that. Maybe he'd be told that this morning and that they didn't need to spend the time coming to the theater just to pick Dan up. He decided to take the short walk to the hotel and meet the bus there.

The bus wasn't parked in front of the Franklin. Dan went inside and checked at the registration desk.

"That band where all the guys had long, white hair?" the desk clerk asked? "They checked out at 8:00. Didn't look like they'd been to bed at all. Their rooms were a mess, but then we expect that from bands like that."

Dan didn't believe it was possible the band could be gone already. Leaving his duffle behind a chair in the lobby, he went around behind the elevators and took the stairs, two at a time, to the sixth floor. The doors were open to rooms 606, 608, 609, and 610—the rooms the band had been booked in. A maid was down the hall, with a service cart, working in another room. When she saw him looking in the empty rooms that had been booked by the band, though, she called out to him.

"If you've come to pick up the man still in 608, please tell him he should have checked out by now. I have to get the rooms ready for incoming guests."

Dan went to the door of 608. Jerry lay on one of the mussed-up beds, on his belly, naked and moaning. An arm and a leg were dangling over the side of the bed. He lifted his head slightly when Dan spoke to him, but it was clear that he wasn't totally there, either from drugs or exhausting sex. Probably both.

Dan turned and walked out of the room. He took the elevator back down to the lobby, moving like a zombie, retrieved his duffle bag, and walked slowly back to the theater. Leonard was standing in the lobby when Dan returned.

"The band dropped by at 9:00 to pick up the rest of their gear and left," Leonard said. He was looking at the full duffle bag Dan was carrying. He didn't remark on the bag, but that didn't mean he was silent about the situation.

"You gave it all to the band last night because they told you they'd take you with them?"

Dan didn't answer. He just hung his head.

"Tell me they used condoms," Leonard said.

"Yeah, of course," Dan answered, his voice sounding wounded. But of course they hadn't.

"I guess it's a good lesson for you. This is a tough business. The Blue Magic band comes in tonight. They should be here by 2:00. You can put that duffle bag in my office. It'll be safe there. They'll need less of the stage than Panther Pant used, so you can do some rearranging of the lights and mikes before they get here . . . if you're still working here. Are you still working here, Dan?"

"Yes, of course," Dan said, and he turned and climbed the stairs to the tech booth above the lobby. When he got there, he went over to a desk and pulled a band poster out of a drawer—the touring poster for the Blue Magic band. He'd been so excited about the Panther Pant band coming in and the meeting arrangements he'd made with the band's lead singer, Zeke Strange, that he'd forgotten that Blue Magic was booked to come in right after them. Dan had been e-mailing the drummer of Blue Magic too. He opened his cell phone to the nude and sex action photos Kurt Kline had sent him in exchange for what Dan had sent Kline. Kline was almost as sexy as Zeke Strange was—and he seemed just as interested in hooking up while the band was here. They were booked at the Franklin too. And one of the questions Kline had asked was whether Dan would do it bareback.