Page 6 of Snow Storm

Roy’s smirk turned into a full-blown smile. “So you’re what? Overwhelmed with internalized homophobia? Is that why you think gay sex is uncomfortable to talk about in public?”

“I—” Oh fuck. He was shaking, and his eyes were hot. His ears started to ring. He could feel the panic attack creeping up his spine. “That’s incredibly inappropriate.”

Roy laughed into the mic. “Wait. You think queer sex is inappropriate?”

“I think discussing my personal sex life with a room full of strangers is?—”

Roy cut him off again. “What kind of self-proclaimed queer author can put it in a book for millions of people to read but can’t even say it in a room full of your own readers? That’s pretty weird. Is there any truth to the online rumor that you don’t write your own books? There’s a website claiming that your books are written by a ghostwriter who doesn’t want to be publicly known, and they hired some average-looking straight dude to fill in the role of author to protect him.”

“I don’t?—”

“Have you heard of the Reddit account dedicated to uncovering your real identity? One man on there claims he has your home address, phone number, even your mom’s name. Is that true?”

His heart was beating out of his chest. He stood and pulled the mic from his shirt. “Thank you. That’s enough for today.”

The room erupted into cries of protests, and the mods turned to him, but he didn’t give them a chance to stop anything. He was gone before anyone could say another word. He swore he felt someone grab at his sleeve, but he was too on edge to stop.

He stormed past the side door and found himself in the little nook beside the main hallway. He didn’t make it five steps before he felt a touch on his arm, and he spun, shoving the stranger away. But it wasn’t a stranger. It was Ethan, and he looked furious.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing? Get back in there!”

Harley’s eyes felt like they were going to pop right out of his skull. “Are you serious? Did you hear that shit?”

“I did. And you need to nut up and be a fucking adult, Harley. Running is going to make everyone think those rumors are true! You get back in there and deal with uncomfortable questions. This is not how you’re contracted to behave.”

His face went red-hot. “You’re joking, right? You told me the people were vetted. You said the mods gave out a list of topics that I wasn’t going to discuss, and people have been trampling over those all afternoon, and the mods did nothing to stop it. I’m allowed to set boundaries!”

“Oh fucking Christ. Spare me the therapy speak, Harley. Get your fucking ass back in there and apologize to your readers.”

“Are you joking with me?”

“No,” Ethan said with an incredulous laugh. “I’m deadly serious. Get your fucking ass back in there, apologize to that man, describe your dick down to the freckles if that’s what he wants, and make this right. You’re nothing without all of this, Harley. Fix it.”

Harley couldn’t help his laugh. The sound was high and tight. He was on the verge of snapping. Then he heard a shutter sound from behind him and spun to see a crowd of people behind him.

The little hallway was connected to the main hallway, and it looked like half the attendees had come out to see what was going on. There were phones up, recording him and Ethan, and he had no idea how long they’d been there.

But somehow, for the first time in his life, he’d run out of fucks.

“If you did your job properly,” he said, his voice low and furious, “this wouldn’t have happened.”

Ethan barked a laugh. “Oh yeah? And if you were half as talented as your ego, you wouldn’t need to do little signings like this to keep from going broke. You’re not important to this industry. You’re a sad little nobody who can’t even keep hisbroke-ass boyfriend interested in him. It’s no wonder why he left you. I should have fucked him when he came on to me.”

Something snapped. His vision whited out, and he felt like he was standing outside of his body.

“Yeah.” His voice sounded hollow, like it wasn’t his own. “Maybe you should have.” And then Harley punched him before his entire world went black.

Chapter 3

Claude

“You read, right?”

Claude looked up from the desk and lifted a brow at Lyric, who was brandishing her phone screen at him, though she was waving it too fast for him to see what was on it. “Uh. I can read. Is that what you’re asking me?”

Lyric rolled her eyes. “I meant, you like high fantasy books, don’t you? Like vampires getting railed by dragon shifters?”

“Can you please not say stuff like that in the lobby?” he begged, though he knew she’d immediately ignore that request. Luckily, they were out of earshot, and with the weather going bad and Christmas coming up, they had almost no guests. But he preferred not to take the risk of getting trashed on Yelp because his employees had foul mouths. “And no, I don’t read books about vampires having their way with dragons. I don’t even know how that would work. Are you asking me for a reason, or are you just trying to take up my valuable time with your nonsense?”

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