Rockstar Rivals: First Time Gay Romance by Natasha Ryder

sighed.  They had to all suspect already, but was this a serious enough thing to let people know for sure?  Did Mark want it to be?  Could Gavin handle it?  He'd never been with a guy before.
    His attractions to guys weren't new.  He'd had them for years, for as long as he could remember.  But back home in Columbia in the state of South Carolina, if you were attracted to men and you didn't want to get your ass kicked for that fact, you hid it.  Gavin sighed softly. What would his parents say about Mark, if they knew?
    “Penny for your thoughts, man?” Drake said, and Gavin looked up, surprised.  He'd honestly forgotten that the Crossroads drummer was even still with him.
    “You'd be overpaying,” Gavin said quietly, and then sighed.  Thinking about home had gotten him down.  Everything here had been so exciting, but he missed his life back home, too.
    Drake came over to sit by Gavin, who put the guitar he'd been idly holding aside to turn to look at the other man. 
    “You seem far away,” Drake said thoughtfully.  Gavin looked him over.  The man was handsome.  It seemed like all the members of Crossroads were.  He had a more alternative look, with piercings and tattoos, and long black hair with streaks of bright red through it.  Handsome, yes, but also a bit frightening to someone as sheltered as Gavin.
    Honestly, the man had nothing on Mark.  No one did. 
    “Just thinking about home.  I've never been on a long tour like this before.”  He had to sound like an idiot to this man, who had been doing this for years.  To his surprise, though, the man gave a thoughtful nod.
    “Yeah, it's like that for awhile.  You'll get used to it.  Sort of.”  He reached over and put a hand on Gavin's shoulder, and it was comforting to have that human contact.  Gavin found himself moving toward the other man, not in any sexual or romantic sense, but because he was here when Gavin was overwhelmed and needed someone.
    Drake was very close to him, Gavin realized suddenly.  When had that happened?  Even as inexperienced as he was, it made him a bit nervous.  There was an intensity in the older man's eyes that Gavin had only seem in one other man's, but it couldn't possibly be the same as when Mark looked at him like that.
    At which point, Drake suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders and his lips pressed determinedly, firmly, against Gavin's.  They were warm and dry, but there was no spark between them like there always was when Mark kissed him.
    Gavin pulled away, deeply surprised, dark eyes stunned as he looked at Drake.  Putting his hand to his lips, he shifted and turned away, only to look right into Mark's furious, hurt gray eyes.
    “Mark,” he gasped.  This was not good, to say the least.  How must it look to him?  He'd gotten up and was standing, arms crossed over his chest, his face full of anger and hurt and betrayal.
    “What the fuck, Gavin?” he asked, and Gavin winced.  Just as he was going to open his mouth to tell him that he hadn't kissed him back, he hadn't known Drake would do that, Drake himself spoke.
    “What's the big deal, Mark?” he said casually.  He stood, and so did Gavin.  It wasn't comfortable to have Mark looming over them, glowering like he was.  “You share your fucktoys with us all the time.  I was just taking my turn.”
    Gavin watched as the expression on Mark's face turned murderous. Honestly, he wasn't too thrilled with being called a fucktoy, either.  Was that really how Mark's band saw him?  Just a toy?  Worse, was that how Mark saw him?
    Just as he was thinking that, he saw Mark's arm moving.  Drawing back and into a fist, he suddenly threw a vicious, perfectly-aimed punch right at Drake's smirking face.
    Mark didn't hold anything back.  Drake's teeth cut into his lips and there seemed to Gavin to be blood everywhere. 
    “Damn it, Gavin, I thought what we were doing meant something,” Mark said, while Drake gasped and touched his bloody mouth.
    Liam's