“No. Carter got ahold of me first, so I let it ring. I’m sorry this happened, man. What do you think Hacksmore is going tosay?”
“I don’t know, but I think I fucked up this wholedeal.”
“You know I have your back. And based on these photos, it looks like Hottie Firefighter has your back too,but—”
“Elliott, you’re on speaker, and Jace is in the car withme.”
“Oh…sorry aboutthat.”
“It’s all good,” I chimedin.
“I’m waiting until we get back to Jace’s place,” he continued, “and then I’m calling Hacksmore fromthere.”
“Just keep me in the loop,” Elliottadded.
Dax hung up, and we didn’t chat the rest of the way back to my place. I tried to give him enough space tothink.
As soon as we got out of the car and started up the drive, he took a long, deep breath and said, “I guess I’m going to bite the bullet and try to mitigate this as best Ican.”
“You want me to back you up? We can put him on speaker. I mean, based on these pictures, not like they’ll be surprised if we’retogether.”
Dax bit down on his bottom lip. He was so tense, so stressed, and I wanted to give him the kind of ease I’d offered him the nightbefore.
“Might as well,” he said. “If he wants to find a way to pull out over this negative press, better we figure out now what the hell he thinks about it all, and we deal withit.”
We headed inside and settled in the living area, Dax sitting on the couch as he dialed Hacksmore’s number. Setting the call on speaker, he placed the phone on the coffee table. Mac walked over to him and hopped up on the couch, resting his head on Dax’s lap, and Dax petted his neck, like he needed thecompanionship.
I took a seat on the adjoining love seat, readying myself for whatever the fuck was about to go down. I just hoped that Hacksmore was a little calmer thanDax.
Whatever the outcome, I would be fine. Worst case, we lost this deal. It would suck to have to face Fever Fight without having the money I’d committed to offering them, but if Hacksmore wanted to walk away over some stupid photos of playing around with a guy, that was on him, not me orDax.
“Dax, where the hell have you been?” Hacksmore’s voice boomed when heanswered.
“It’s Dax and Jace,” he announced. “We…uh…just slept in, Iguess.”
“I take it you’ve seen theGlitz & Glampost.”
“Just finished looking atit.”
“What the fuck kind of angle is this?” His words were severe, almost threatening. “Did you two pose for these? Is this some marketing scheme I’ve been left out of? I don’t want you guys running some campaign where I don’t have any sayin—”
“Jerrick, I promise you, there’s no campaign behind these photos. I’m not even sure who took the pictures, but I have an idea of who leakedthem.”
“So wait. You and Jace are a realthing?”
“We’re not…athing.”
“We’re kind ofa thing,” Iinterjected.
“Well, are you guys a thing or aren’t you? You’d better tell me you are because this is the best goddamn publicity we could have hopedfor.”
Dax’s brows tugged together. “Bestpublicity?”
“Of course. Haven’t you seen all the reblogs and reposts on this? You know how excited everyone is that he’sgay?”
“Bi,” Daxclarified.
“Bi, gay, whatever he is, they’re loving it. And that he’s with Lil’ Donnie Gibson, which by the way, I can’t believe never came up in our initial meetings. There’s a card you need to always pull out at cocktailparties.”
