It's fun to dance with them, and to hang out with people who aren’t being nice to me just because I’m famous, but seeing the way Trevor and Jonathan look at each other, and Ben and Anne, too, I start to feel awful again, like something hot and scaly is trying to crawl out of my throat.
“I’ll be right back!” I holler.
“Bring back shots!” Trevor says.
I give him a thumbs-up and head to the bathroom, but there’s a huge line, even for the men’s room, and a group of girls catch sight of me and start exchanging glances like they’re going to come and talk to me. I turn on my heel and walk through an unmarked door near the bar, which leads to a stairwell, which leads to the roof.
I don’t think there’s supposed to be anyone up here. It isn’t part of the club, just an ugly concrete roof with a bunch of whirring air conditioning units and a layer of cigarette butts underfoot. I go to the rail and take a deep breath of the warm, humid night air—then I nearly jump out of my skin when I notice someone standing beside me.
“Holy shit,” I say, laughing. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”
The guy doesn’t answer me, he just gives me a look like I’m bothering him and blows out some smoke from his gross cigarette. He looks really familiar, and after a moment, I realize who he is. He’s one of the Formula 1 drivers, the one that no one likes. Cole Milton, I think his name is.
I could turn right around and leave, but something in the guy’s face makes me want to dig my heels in. I can’t help myself sometimes, like last week when a rich executive told me he thought it was really smart how I’d “cashed in on the gay thing,” and I told him I thought it was really smart how he’d cashed in on being a dickhead.
“You really shouldn’t smoke,” I tell Cole.
He glares at me. I smile back sweetly.
I look out at the city for a few minutes, then a door creaks open somewhere below us. The roof has two levels, and I feel a jolt of surprise as Travis Keeping and Jacob Nichols step out on the level below us. They walk to the railing together and lean on it, side by side.
Crap.
They clearly don’t know that anyone else is here. Neither level of the roof is lit, and Cole and I are cloaked in shadows. I glance sideways at him. He seems like exactly the kind of guy that Travis and Jacob wouldn’t want to find out about them. They’re just talking now, bantering a bit about the race, but their forearms are touching, and there’s an energy between them that would be hard to mistake.
Alright, here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to cough really loudly, before they can do anything that’s too damning?—
Travis shifts to wrap his arms around Jacob. I’ve missed my chance to warn them.
I glance at Cole again. He’s watching them with an expression I can’t quite read, blowing smoke from his cigarette like he doesn’t care if they look up and see us.
Fireworks start exploding from the roof of a nearby hotel, but for once, I can’t enjoy them. I’m too anxious on Travis and Jacob’s behalf, and too irritated with this jackass Cole for making me feel that way.
The fireworks come to an end, and the air conditioning unit chooses the same moment to stop whirring. As Jacob turns in Travis’s arms, it gets quiet enough to hear the soft sound of their kiss, and every word of what they say afterward.
“Take me home?” Jacob says.
“Always,” Travis answers.
Fuck, that’s romantic. I’m so jealous of them I could cry.
They head inside, hand in hand, and the door closes softly behind them.
Cole Milton snorts loudly beside me and says, “Lame.”
My blood pressure triples. “Excuse me?”
“Lame,” he repeats. He turns toward me, and I notice, with a spike of irritation, that he’s kind of good-looking, in a cold, unapproachable kind of way. He has a sharp, fine-boned face, with dark hair and darker eyes. If he were cast in a movie, he’d be the evil villain who keeps getting away with things.
I curl my hands into fists. “You’d better not tell anyone about them.”
He looks me up and down and scoffs. “Or what?”
I flush. I’m not a small guy, but I’m also not someone you’d call intimidating. There’s a reason I’m always cast as the nice guy in things.
Cole smirks. “I thought so. And I already knew about them, anyway, so you can untwist your panties.”
I grind my molars together. “So you’re not going to tell anyone?”
