Page 87 of The Battle of Maddox
Without hesitation, he dropped his into my palm.
I didn’t wait either. I pulled him up against me, and grinned at him. “They’re gonna talk.”
“I’ve been gay my whole life,” he said, quietly. “I’m used to talk and gossip and rejection. Are you really ready for all that?”
I studied his face for just a moment. “Close your eyes. The cameras are going to go off.”
He closed his eyes just as I dropped my lips to his, and kissed the shit out of him in front of the women, the men, and the paparazzi who had been waiting there. I could see the flashes behind my eyes, and there were a lot of them.
“I give it twenty minutes,” Holland whispered in our ears. We both pulled back and popped our eyes open.
“That long?” Rand asked.
“Only because they want the pictures up.” Holland grinned and shoved us forward toward the dressing room.
The women in the line were all shocked, and some of them were screaming madly—I couldn’t tell if that was good or bad. But I hauled Aaron into the dressing room, away from them and away from more cameras.
Ora slammed himself on to the couch, and looked guilty as fuck. Holland and Rand pushed us in and slammed the door.
Only to reveal Ford standing there looking just as guilty. He was bright red and straightening his shirt. Holland, Rand, Aaron, and I looked back and forth a few times between them, the blush rising even higher in both of their cheeks.
Holland snorted. “Yeah. That doesn’t look suspicious at all.”
“Guys, one gay revelation at a time, please.” Rand sighed and rubbed his forehead.
Ora and Ford looked away from each other.
Aaron let out a low snort and walked further into the room. He was gracious enough to take the awkward spotlight off them. “Okay, how long until it hits the gossip sites?”
“Twenty,” Holland said.
“I’m saying fifteen and that rag that nearly outed Austin is the first, no pictures,” Rand said.
“I’m going with Rand,” I said.
“And who’s calling us first?” Aaron asked.
Ora looked at his watch. “It’s what? Just about dinner in the US? Austin, Nelson, or Noah.”
“Nelson,” the rest of us chorused at once.
The door slammed open, Hailey and Dietrich fell through and quickly closed it behind themselves. They both stared at me, then at Aaron and then back to me.
“The fuck, dude,” Hailey finally said.
“What?”
“You’re sleeping with the drummer?” Dietrich asked.
“What gave you that idea?”
Aaron chuckled, covering his mouth with his hand. I smirked. Hailey and Dietrich just stared at us.
“Weren’t you straight like five days ago?”
“Am I going to have to explain this every fucking time someone finds out that Aaron and I are…something. Dating? Fucking? Seeing each other?” I wasn’t really able to keep the annoyance out of my voice. “The lead singers of GaGaGirls are married! Why is this so shocking?”
“Because you’ve been with Essie so long that it’s completely unexpected,” Dietrich said.
