Page 70 of Taste of Surrender
Silas nodded in agreement. “He just needs time to process everything. We all do.”
I rubbed my cheek where Jesse had clocked me. “Yeah, I’ll talk to him. You two are cool with me being bi?”
Elliott tilted his head. “Why would that matter to us?”
“Because of the band. We may lose fans now if they don’t like the idea of me being with a guy,” I replied.
“Fuck them,” Elliott spat. “We’re here to play music, not to get strangers’ approval for who we date. If they can’t handle you being yourself, then they’re not real fans.”
Silas nodded. “Exactly. Fuck them.”
Relief washed over me. “Thanks, guys.”
At that moment, Savannah walked in with Robert. She looked around, taking in the tense atmosphere and the absence of Jesse.
“Hey,” she said softly. “What’d I miss?”
Rina waved a hand dismissively. “You know, just band drama. But come in. I was thinking the best way to handle thissituation is to release a statement saying you and Malachi broke up recently, but didn’t want to cause a rift in the tour. It’s the cleanest way to manage the fallout.”
Robert spoke as we all took our seats around the table. “I think that’s a solid plan.”
Savannah and I exchanged glances, both of us nodding in agreement.
“That works for me,” she said. “We’ve been wanting to end the fake relationship, anyway.”
“Good,” Rina breathed, visibly relieved, and opened the laptop in front of her. “I’ll start drafting the statement.”
“Actually,” Savannah interjected, glancing at Elliott before looking back at Rina. “There’s something else we need to tell you.”
“Oh?” Rina looked up from her computer screen.
Savannah locked eyes with Elliott as they sat side by side. “Elliott and I are together.”
Rina’s eyes widened in surprise, but it was Silas who reacted the most. “Wait, what? Since when?”
Elliott chuckled and grabbed Savannah’s hand as she said, “For a little while now. We wanted to keep it quiet until after the tour, given Malachi and I were supposedly dating.”
I nodded, a small smile tugging at my lips. “Yeah, and I knew, and I’m totally fine with it. We all deserve to be happy.”
Silas blinked, processing the information. “Well, damn, seems everyone has a secret. But, hey, if you’re happy, then I’m happy for you.”
Rina sighed, shaking her head slightly but smiling. “All right, as long as everyone’s on the same page. Let’s get this statement done.” She looked at me. “And you need to smooth things over with Jesse before tonight’s show.”
I wasn’t sure it would be that easy.
21
Jasper
As I watchedMalachi’s SUV disappear, I couldn’t help but feel conflicted. The night before had been perfect, but now the memory of us on the beach felt tainted because our private moment had been shared without our consent. My mind was a jumbled mess as anger burned deep within me as I thought about the paparazzi who believed they had the right to invade someone’s privacy simply because they were famous. At the same time, my heart broke for the man I loved who felt he couldn’t fully embrace his true self without fear of it negatively affecting his friendships and career. The only thing I knew for certain was he wouldn’t have to face any of it alone. No matter what, I was going to stand by his side, even if it meant going head-to-head with everyone else, including my brother.
Slowly, I made my way up the walkway to Jesse’s house. I had no idea what I was about to face once I walked through his door. At some point on the way over, he had stopped blowing up my phone, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not. I really hoped he had been calling to check on us and wasn’t mad, butif he was truly concerned, wouldn’t he have texted after I hadn’t answered?
As I stepped inside, it was completely silent. “Hey.” I called out.
“Jasper?” Olivia responded. It sounded like she was in the kitchen, so I headed in her direction and found her sitting at the island, hunched over her phone. She looked at me with a sad smile when I entered the room. “Crazy morning, huh?”
I nodded. “You could say that. Where’s Jesse?”
