Perfect Imperfections

“Yeah. I was getting my jeans.” Jeremy nodded. “But it’s not worth it. I’ll buy new stuff.”

Pausing, Reg twisted his head back. “You want to throw your clothes away because there’s a spider on your suitcase?”

“That thing is huge. It might be poisonous.” He gulped and looked at the door desperately. “We need to get out of here.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s a Golden Garden spider. Those aren’t poisonous.”

“How do you know?” Jeremy’s forehead wrinkled. “It could be a black widow or a, uh… It could be a black widow.”

“It has stripes, and it’s not black,” Reg said calmly. “So that is very unlikely.”

“What if you’re wrong?” Jeremy was panting. “You’re closer to the door. You can make a run for it.”

Unable to keep his amusement to himself, Reg dryly said, “And leave you here unattended?”

“I think I can scoot around the desk and make it over to you. Either way, you need to go.”

Incredibly, Jeremy had missed his attempt at sarcasm.

“You’d better not try that.” When Jeremy looked at Reg questioningly, he added, “What if it jumps?”

“They jump?” Jeremy twisted his shirt collar and pulled it into his mouth, exposing his lower belly. “Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.”

“JJ, I was kidding.”

Smiling at the adorable image Jeremy made—his cheeks flushed, his eyes wide, wearing nothing but underwear and a long-sleeved T-shirt with another T-shirt over it—Reg marched over to the nightstand, tore two pieces of paper off the pad placed there, and then approached the spider.

“What are you doing?” Jeremy asked in a panic. “Reg! What are you doing?”

“I’m going to get the spider off your suitcase.” He kept walking. “Do the windows open?”

“I don’t know. Why? Oh my God.”

Taking a fast look at the windows, Reg said, “Never mind. Looks like they’re painted shut.” He slid one piece of paper under the admittedly large spider and used the other to herd it toward the center, keeping it contained. “I’ll flush it.”

He had just turned toward the bathroom when Jeremy said, “You can’t flush it. It’ll die.”

Freezing midstep, Reg stared at Jeremy. “You’re not serious.”

“What?”

“You said I can’t flush it because it’ll die.”

“It will.” Jeremy bobbed his head unusually fast. “Spiders aren’t waterproof.”

“Waterproof?”

Another guileless nod.

“Two seconds ago you were ready to burn down the hotel room just to get away from it.”

“I wouldn’t set a fire,” Jeremy said, apparently having lost his sense of humor along with his common sense at the sight of the spider.

“Fine. You said it was dangerous and deadly,” Reg pointed out.

“It is.” Jeremy nodded quickly.

“Then I’m getting rid of it.” Ignoring more protests, Reg walked into the bathroom, shook the spider into the toilet, and flushed. “There,” he said. “It’s gone.”

“Are you sure?” Jeremy asked from the other room.

Reg waited for the toilet to stop running and flushed again for good measure. “Yes, I’m sure.”

He could hear Jeremy’s sigh of relief all the way in the bathroom. Chuckling, he said, “Get dressed, superstar. You have a few interviews before the show.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do,” Reg said as he stepped out of the bathroom again. He leaned against the wall and, with Jeremy’s attention diverted, let himself have a moment to enjoy the sight of the lithe man wiggling into his tight jeans.

“Bill didn’t say anything.”

“That’s because he called me instead.”

Raising his head and furrowing his brow, Jeremy said, “Why?”

“Because he’s, and I quote, ‘sick of listening to you whine about doing your job.’”

“He said that?” Jeremy asked, sounding equal parts surprised and angry. “I’m going to—”

“You’re going to get dressed, put on all your makeup and hair shit, and then we’re getting in a cab and going to the show.”

Jeremy narrowed his eyes and glared at Reg. Reg arched his eyebrows and stared right back.

“Fine!” Jeremy huffed after several long seconds. He threw his arms in the air. “Just fine.”

“Good. And on the way there, you’re calling your mother because you haven’t spoken with her in two months.”

“That’s not true!”

Quickly doing the math in his head, Reg said, “You’re right. It’s closer to three.”

“Dammit!”

Reg walked over to Jeremy and waited.

“What?” Jeremy snapped.

“Do you need a hug?”

Looking at Reg’s chest longingly, Jeremy said, “I’m not a child.”

“I know.” Reg reached out and smoothed Jeremy’s hair back. “You’re a grown man with a lot of responsibilities, and you’re worked up because you have a huge televised concert tonight, you saw a spider, which you’re scared of, and you loathe interviews but have to do a bunch.”

Swallowing hard, Jeremy nodded.

“C’mere.”

Letting go of the metal-studded belt he’d been threading through his jeans, Jeremy slowly stepped toward Reg. Reg scooped him up and squeezed him tightly. It only took a moment for Jeremy to sigh and melt against Reg’s bigger frame.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “I know this whole thing’s turned out to be more than what you signed up for.”