Page 27 of Addicted to You
“Well, you did a hell of a job fucking that up.” Jesse shook his head. “I need to get out of here. I can’t look at you right now.” Without another word, he stormed out of the conference room.
Malachi stood in place, staring at the door Jesse had walked out of.
Eventually, Rina cleared her throat. “We need to focus on the issue at hand. Savannah will be here soon. We need to release a statement within the hour.”
Malachi took a seat and looked at us. “All right. Is it from me or the band?”
I didn’t envy the position he was in. For the most part, my hook ups and other activities didn’t receive any media attention. I couldn’t imagine having to release a statement about my personal life.
“Since it affects the band, I asked them to come in,” Rina explained. “We all need to be on the same page.”
“Well, I guess one of you can let Jesse know,” Malachi snarked.
Elliott rested his hand on Malachi’s shoulder. “No, man. You need to talk to Jesse. This isn’t over.”
I nodded. “He just needs time to process everything. We all do.”
Malachi rubbed the side of his face where a red spot was forming where Jesse had punched him. “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.”
“Fuck them,” Elliott spat. “We’re here to play music, not get strangers’ approval for who we date. If they can’t handle you being yourself, then they’re not real fans.”
I couldn’t agree more. “Exactly. Fuck them.”
“Thanks, guys.” It appeared our acceptance provided Malachi with some relief.
A second later, Savannah walked in with her manager. She looked around the table and said, “Hey. 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 this situation 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.”
We all agreed with her plan, and Rina opened her laptop to begin drafting a statement. I figured we had nothing more to discuss, but then Savannah glanced at Elliott before addressing Rina.
“Actually, there’s something else we need to tell you,” Savannah confessed.
“Oh?” Rina looked up from her computer screen.
Savannah locked eyes with Elliott as they sat side by side. “Elliott and I are together.”
“Wait, what?” I asked. “Since when?” I thought about our time on the road and realized I hadn’t seen Elliott hook up with anyone recently.
He chuckled and grabbed Savannah’s hand as she said, “For a while now. We wanted to keep it quiet until after the tour, given Malachi and I were supposedly dating.”
Malachi nodded. “Yeah, and I knew, and I’m totally fine with it. We all deserve to be happy.”
When Rina had called me earlier, I never would have imagined the number of bombshells that would be dropped in her office. “Well, damn. Seems everyone has a secret. But, hey, if you’re happy, thenI’m happy for you.”
The meeting wrapped up soon after that, but as I stepped outside, I couldn’t help but worry. The band was like family to me, and I hated to think the situation with Malachi, Jasper, and Jesse could jeopardize everything we’d built.
When it wastime for sound check that evening, the tension between Malachi and Jesse was still running high. But when the show started, everything seemed to shift. We left the drama behind, and for those two hours on stage, we gave the fans what they wanted. The music was loud, the crowd was enthusiastic, and it was easy to pretend everything was fine.
Unfortunately, that feeling didn’t last long. The second we stepped backstage to get ready for the meet and greet, Jesse went back to ignoring Malachi, and the silence between them became uncomfortable.
I grabbed a bottle of water and called over to Elliott, who was chatting with Savannah in the corner. “Be right back. I left something in my car.”
He waved his hand in acknowledgment, and I slipped out the door. As I made my way across the parking lot, the cool night air hit my face and the knot in my stomach began to ease.
