Page 68 of Taste of Surrender
“I don’t want to leave you.”
“I don’t want that either,” he said, taking a step toward me, cupping my cheek and pressing his lips to mine.
20
MALACHI
The warmthof Jasper’s body pressed against mine as his head rested on my bare chest. I blinked, trying to cling to the remnants of sleep, but the persistent ringing of my phone yanked me into full consciousness. I groaned as I reached for it on the nightstand, trying not to disturb Jasper but failing.
“Mm, what time is it?” he mumbled, still half-asleep.
I checked the screen. It was Rina. I sighed, knowing the call was unlikely to be a good one since it was unexpected. “Too early for this,” I muttered before answering the call. “Hey, Rina.”
“Malachi! What the hell is going on?” her voice pierced through the phone. “Have you seenStar Nation’slatest post?”
“No, what happened?” I yawned.
“They posted a picture of you and Jasper kissing!” she shrieked. “And now there’s a huge scandal because everyone thinks you’re cheating on Savannah. The internet is going nuts! Malachi—” She hesitated, her tone softening slightly. “Is this how you planned to come out?”
My heart pounded in my chest as I sat up and stared down at Jasper. “No. No, it’s not. No one knows I’m bi,” I whispered, panic rising in my throat. “I’m not ready for this.”
“Ready or not, the cat’s out of the bag,” Rina stated. “We have to deal with this now. The fans are losing it, and the press is hounding me for a statement.”
Jasper’s phone started ringing. He quickly grabbed it and showed me the screen with Jesse’s name at the top. I shook my head to indicate not to answer it. He silenced it instead.
“I’m sorry, Rina,” I said, running my hand through my hair. “What do you need me to do?”
“For starters, get ahead of this. We need a statement from you and Savannah. And keep Jasper out of sight until this dies down. The last thing we need is to add more fuel to the fire.”
I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me. “Got it. I’ll call Savannah right now.”
“Make sure you do. And Malachi,” she paused. “Come to my office right away. I’ll call Robert and get him to come with Savannah too.”
“Okay.” Robert was Savannah’s manager. I figured working together to put out our statements wasn’t a bad idea. “I’ll be there soon.”
The call ended, leaving me staring at my phone. My head was spinning, and I wasn’t sure what to do. Was I happy I didn’t have to pretend to date Savannah anymore? Was I relieved I didn’t have to hide my feelings for Jasper anymore? He sat up and I felt his hand on my cheek, guiding my gaze back to him.
“What happened?” he asked softly.
“Star Nationposted a picture of us kissing,” I stated. “Now there’s a cheating scandal because everyone thinks I’m with Savannah. Plus, everyone is assuming I’m gay. Rina asked if this was how I planned to come out.”
Jasper’s eyes widened. “Oh, no.”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “I need to call Savannah and figure out how we’re going to spin this.”
Jasper’s phone buzzed again, Jesse’s name and picture popping up. “And Jesse?”
I bit my lip, worry gnawing at me. “This was not how I wanted everything to go down.”
He silenced his phone again. “Me either. What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But Jesse has always been protective of you, and I don’t know how he’s going to react.”
“We’ll face him together,” Jasper said firmly, taking my hand. “We’ve hidden long enough. We deserve to be happy. Jesse loves us and sees you like a brother. He’ll understand eventually.”
“You’re not worried he’ll be mad at you?” I asked.
He lifted a shoulder. “I’m not sure I care anymore. I’m not a kid.”
