Page 71 of Uriah's Orbit
Shit. Shit.
Marcus handed me a beer. “Just realized it, eh?”
I looked up at him. “What?”
“That you really want Austin in your life, and you’re pissed as fuck that someone did this to him.”
Nodding, I took a drink of the beer. “Yes, but how did you know? Was I talking to myself.”
He tossed a chin up at my hand in my hair. “That. The telltale sign of realization. Well, that and you’re here talking about this, getting mad, and wanting to protect him. It’s kind of obvious. I think you guys are good together, for what it’s worth. I wish he would come out. He doesn’t need this shit.”
“No one does,” I said.
“Here,” Chase said, placing the tablet on the coffee table. “Found it. It’s a tiny little article on a small gossip website.A reliable source says Nelson Power, Hollywood powerhouse, is seeing a man! The actor-producer who hails from Iceland, and has been in such films asBurn It Down, Never the Winter, Victory, The House of Forgotten Doors, andThe Last Bright Day, has been spotted in the company of young man in an intimate setting. Comfortable with each others’ company, they were spotted cozying up to one another, with clear romantic intent.”
“Christ he’s gonna be pissed,” Jace breathed.
“Not at you, though. You know that. He’s going to be pissed at whoever this is,” Chase said. “Someone we’ve let into the group is talking to Valerie Boyd, and we need to find out who. I don’t want Marcus smeared out there next.”
Marcus nodded. “Normally, I don’t think I would care, but I’ve got major auditions coming up—one of them at Dreamworks. If anything personal from Chase and I got out there before I’m offered a position, that could be a real issue for us.”
“Then we need to route out the culprit and exorcize them,” Jace said. “Before this gets completely out of hand.”
I sighed. “I kind of think it already is.”
“How is Austin?” Chase asked.
“Fucking petrified,” I said. “Nelson and Maddox were able to get him home, and Aubrey was able to get him in bed and try to get him to relax. I don’t think it worked well. His texts have been frantic.”
Chase leaned forward. “What is making him panic? That he’s gay or that he’s outed?”
“Neither,” I answered. “He’s terrified that the fans are going to reject him, and then UDLR wholesale, because he’s gay. That’s always been his worry. I don’t think he has a problem liking men…at least, not with me.”
“TMI,” Noah whispered.
“Stick it.” I grinned. “But honestly, I don’t think it has a thing to do with him, or his being gay. He’s scared of destroying the band.”
“There are always going to be haters, though,” Marcus said. “I get hate mail on the regular. God, do I get hate mail. Ha! Do you know what kind of scathing hate I get? Straight guys who get turned on by my voice. Some are just like,good job, dude.And others? Could peel the paint off the walls with their vitriol in those. But I still do the audiobooks, I’m still up for the audition.”
“He doesn’t see the good,” Noah said.
“Not at all, no matter how much we all tell him that it’s fine,” I agreed.
“He’s afraid of ruining everyone’s career,” Jace said quietly. “He doesn’t want to be the one to blame.”
“He’s not going to,” I said.
“What he has to do is realize there are going to be losses,” Chase said. “There are losses in everything we do. Everything. Of course, they’re going to lose fans, but does he think that he’s going to lose the whole band over this? Would they have really stuck with him all this time?”
“You are preaching to the choir,” I said. “Someone needs to talk tohimabout this.”
“Nelson hangs out there once in a while,” Jace said. “So does Maddox.”
Noah grinned at Jace. “Keeping tabs on your boyfriend?”
Jace went red again.
“Why there?” Marcus asked. “Why not here?”
