Page 4 of Social Sinners

Chapter Two

Easton and I were the last to board the plane the next morning, but I wasn’t sure how Easton wanted us to act around our extended family. While my band brothers and their spouses and significant others knew about us now, the rest of those who were in attendance for Joe and Maggie’s wedding did not. Easton hadn’t slept as well as I’d hoped he would last night. He ended up spending a fair amount of time in the bathroom this morning applying concealer to cover the dark circles shrouding his eyes. I didn’t want to do the wrong thing in case he was on the verge of snapping again. So, I played it cool as if last night’s revelation hadn’t occurred.

Mickey had a twin under each arm, and the threesome had claimed one of the back couches. Their tongues were entwined in a pornographic dance I couldn’t take my eyes from. Their love was unique, but it worked for them. Joey was sitting on Stoli’s lap for some odd reason, and those two were lost in each other. The newlyweds, Joey’s dad Joe and his new wife Maggie only had googly eyes for each other, so no one seemed to even notice we’d come aboard. I couldn’t be happier for Joe; the man had taken me in and treated me like a father should. He deserved all the happiness in the world. Especially after what that twat-waffle that gave birth to Joey did to them both.

I turned to Easton, waiting to see where he was gonna sit and found him frozen in place in the center aisle chewing on his bottom lip. He was looking around, gazing at each pairing in turn with a look of longing etched across his face.

Argh. What the fuck am I doing?Of course, he wants that too. No one wants to be kept as a dirty little secret, even if they think they do. I can’t afford to lose him; it would crush me. Before I could stop myself, I stalked over to him, fisted the front of his jacket and pulled him to me. Cupping his face, I dove in. It wasn’t a passionate kiss, more like I was openly staking my claim.

“It’s about fucking time,” I heard Stoli say.

“Get a room,” Joey laughed.

“Hell yeah!” Mickey chimed in while the rest of the group whistled and clapped.

“Fuck,” I mumbled with my face buried in his neck but couldn’t erase the stupid grin I had.

I felt his chest heaving, but he wasn’t laughing. When I drew back and looked at him, his face paled, and he was sweating bullets.

“Babe, what’s wrong?” I whispered to him.

“You just…just... he trailed off, nervously scanning the faces on the plane.

“Yeah, I outed myself to the rest of the wedding party and claimed the man I love in front of my best friends. I love you, and I promise to never hide you again, even if you tell me to. I can’t guarantee it will be an easy transition for me, but nothing is worth losing you over.”

His mouth crashed into mine, our teeth clanked but all I could do was smile as we kissed. More clapping ensued and as we broke apart the captain’s voice boomed over the intercom, “Okay. If you two are done playing tonsil hockey, can you please take your seats and buckle up for take-off?” The group laughed, the two of us included. Well, everyone except for the flight attendant who’d hit on me on the way up but even her scowl wouldn’t ruin my good mood today.Is it weird to say it felt like a weight had been lifted, having finally shared my deepest secret?

We had a long road ahead of us and a lot of people to answer to. I now understood what my friends meant when they said, ‘you never come out once, you spend the rest of your life doing so.’As in how in the last twenty-four hours I’d already done it twice. Which fucking sucked. It shouldn’t matter who slept with whom. The person, their actions, their choices in life, and how they treated others should be the only defining characteristics taken into consideration.

After we reached cruising altitude, Stoli and Joey slipped into the seats in front of us. “So,” Stoli began, “how long has this been going on?”

“Since right after the accident,” I answered honestly, never taking my eyes off Easton’s. I know he was most worried about how Stoli was going to handle this and if it was going to become an issue for the band.

“You guys have kept this from us for damn near a year?” Stoli’s anger rose. Shaking his head back and forth, I feared what was coming next. “What, you didn’t trust us?”

“It wasn’t about trust, man. This hit me like a ton of fucking bricks, and I had a hard time accepting it. You know how I was raised. I never in a million years expected to fall for another guy. Imagine my surprise when that bitch…realityslapped me upside the head.” While I could appreciate Stoli’s need to fill in the blanks, he needed to see things from my vantage point as well. If he thinks I didn’t go to battle with myself over this, he was sorely mistaken. Plus, I was honoring Easton’s request to keep it on the down low for the time being.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for both of you. Just shocked is all,” Stoli said before addressing Easton. “Do your folks know?”

“My dad knows I’ve been seeing someone; he just doesn’t know who that someone is. I guess we should probably get that out of the way before the media does it for us.” Easton glanced over at me, and I nodded in agreement.

“Um,” Joey began, staring intensely at his phone screen, “you might want to text your dad now that you can,” he handed his phone over to Easton.

“Shit.” He tossed it in my lap and started pounding furiously on his own.

“What the fuck!” Staring back at me was a picture that had gone viral in the hour since it was snapped. Easton and I were engaged in our so-called tonsil hockey session on the plane. It had hit multiple social media outlets which meant someone on this plane posted it, and I had a good idea who that someone was.Fuck…and now I’m out to the world. Well, here goes nothing, bring on the haters!I bolted out of my seat, ready and raring to verbally throttle that fucking stewardess.

“Dude,” Stoli grabbed my arm, stopping me mid-stride, “don’t do it. Let Sal and Easton handle it. Not to mention the fact that you don’t know for sure who did it and going to jail would only make you the bad guy. Let her hang for her mistakes.”

I glanced around at the rows of eyes staring at me. The flight attendant turned and looked at me before running into the lavatory and slamming the door behind her. “Really?” I questioned pointing to where she’d just retreated. “Think I need more proof thanthat?” My voice echoed loudly through the confined space. “Fuck,” I growled, running my hand roughly through the top of my head. I’d never been one for long hair, which was a good thing right now. If I did, I probably would’ve yanked it right out of my fucking skull.

“What’s going on?” the second stewardess said as she came over to us.

“This,” I yelled, shoving Joey’s phone in front of her face. “Your sidekick thought she had the right tooutus on social media. Don’t think for a moment that your company won’t be hearing from our lawyer!”

“Diamond,” East calmly said, wrapping his hand around my forearm, “let Dad handle this.” His eyes pleaded with mine, he was probably the only living creature who could control the rage building inside me. I plopped back down in my seat, wishing my kit was in front of me so I could bang the fuck out of it. Instead, I grabbed my phone, popped in my AirPods, and drowned out the voices around me. Closing my eyes, I faded into nothingness asRainbow’s Stone Coldblared loudly in my ears. Transporting me away from this emotional mind fuck I’d just been cast into.Why can’t our personal lives stay that - personal?On that note, I switched over to a harder playlist. Feeling the need to dance with the devil, so to speak.

I must’ve dozed off, as the gentle tap on my shoulder woke me. Whoever had the balls to disturb the sleeping beast better have a damn good reason for doing so. Opening one eye, I peered out at said offender and found the little man and his surfer boy sidekick eying me nervously.

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