The door opens and Derrick comes in, takes in the situation, and he instantly goes red. Derrick grits his teeth and says, “Please don’t tell me you’re all fighting again. Seriously, guys? You all need to stop this.”
“But it’s getting good,” Chase says, and Gil shoves him.
“Cal,” Theo says. “Love.”
Miles is frustrated all over again at that single word, so he looks away and grimaces.
“We’re done,” Calvin says. He shifts his attention to Derrick. “Either he’s out or I am.”
Derrick nods, not saying anything, his expression forlorn but understanding.
Theo frowns. “As if this band will get anywhere without me.”
“You little shit—” Chase balls his hands into fists and makes a move toward Theo. Both Derrick and Gil grab him.
“Good luck getting anywhere without this band, then,” Calvin says with a shrug. Rolling his eyes, he leaves the room, slamming the door behind him, leaving the rest of them standing there in stunned silence.
“Miles!” Gil hisses, pointing wildly at the door. “What are you doing? Go follow him!”
…Oops.Frantically, Miles yanks the door open. Calvin’s walking so fast he’s already at the end of the hall, a few steps away from the elevator.
“Calvin!” he yells.
Calvin halts, his shoulders tensing. He turns around slowly as Miles jogs up to him. His expression softens when he meets Miles’s gaze.
The hallway’s empty. Miles takes that as an opportunity to hold him by the face and smash their lips together. Calvin sags under his hold, all the tension leaving him, and he willingly accepts Miles’s kiss.
Miles pulls away, grinning. “That was really, really hot.”
“You mean humiliating.”
“No.” He kisses him once more. “That was awesome. I’m really fucking proud of you.”
Somewhere down the hall, a door opens, so Miles steps away from him.
Calvin asks, “Can we get out of here?”
“Yes, please.” Miles lets out a breath. That’s exactly what he wanted to hear.
Chapter Thirty-Four
The first thing Calvin does when they get to his apartment is peek at his studio. “This is a lot of new stuff.”
“… Yeah.”
“Can I see?” he asks, as if he isn’t already looking at everything.
Miles nods.
“Are you currently obsessed with cats?” Calvin chuckles, waving at the embarrassing amount of cat sketches spread out on the table.
“Only because of you,” Miles confesses.
Calvin’s ears go red, but he says nothing, and he glances at the rest of the room. “You finished the painting of the band,” he murmurs, pointing at it. It’s still on the easel.
“I was inspired.” Miles’s face is so warm. His chest tingles at how Calvin goes through all the works he’s done—of the band, of cats, and of Calvin himself. There’s so much going on in all these new pieces, and Calvin’s eyes are wide and unblinking.
“Wow,” Calvin says, voice quiet. “This is way more than the painting I asked for.”
