I’ll be pretty much leaving my calling card for the Herald and anyone else who might want to find me.
Good.
“Let them see me,” I say to Iri.
I want to be a piece of low-hanging fruit for the Herald. To lure him out of his hiding place. Then, when he gets close enough, we trap him.
“I might suck at being interviewed,” I add, turning my attention back to Julia in time to see her eyes light up.
“You can’t be worse than Cal.” She chuckles. “He looks like he wants to murder every interviewer and only ever responds in grunts or monosyllables. The others aren’t much better. Like Micah when he’s overwhelmed or Dorian when he’s in a mood, or—”
“Yes, Julia?” Iri purrs. “Anything to add about me?”
She shakes her head at him. “Nope. Nothing. You’re just great.” When Iri switches his attention to me, she mouths‘notperfect’ over Iri’s shoulder and my grin widens.
“I’ll organize it so that you’ll all be on camera, but none of it will be live.” She taps away at her phone.
“And what about if they ask about the work Sin’s involved in? I’m guessing you want to keep the particulars to yourself,” Micah says to me.
“We can just say I’m tech support.”
“Yes, great.” Jules nods like a bobblehead doll. “You’re coworkers who fell in love. All those late nights backstage, working closely together. One thing led to another and you plowed. Now you’re in love. Perfect.” She continues making notes on her phone. “I’ll update the list of questions we’re approving to each of the channels and get out of your hair.”
A few minutes later, she drains the carafe of coffee and leaves as abruptly as she arrived.
“Are you sure about this, Sin?” Micah asks.
I blow out a breath and nod. “My face is already out there. So it’s not like I can fly under the radar forever. Jules is right, people are curious, and that’s only going to fuel more interest. At least this way, I might have fewer people calling me a dirty whore for fucking around on each of you.”
Although... I’ll still be a woman with my face on the internet, so I can’t imagine it’ll be all sunshine and roses from here.
“Plus, no more hiding, remember? I’m done with sticking my head in the sand and hoping all my problems melt away. I think it’s time we make a plan and you call your mom, Iri.”
IF I THOUGHT WATCHINGthe guys be interviewed was a strange experience, being alongside them is like having an out-of-body experience.
I sit in an uncomfortable chair at the front of the hotel conference suite, with Micah on one side and Dorian on the other. Cal’s atmy back, as close as he can get without sitting me in his lap. And Iri is beside him, his fingers gently tracing patterns on the nape of my neck. Each one of them is touching me and it’s helping to bring my racing heart rate down.
Cal’s already assured me if the interviewers ask something we don’t like, the whole band will walk. Sure, it’ll give Jules a breakdown and piss off the label, but the guys are beyond caring at this point. They’re meeting their obligations by agreeing to be interviewed, but that’s it.
But I’m still nervous as hell. I’m used to being backstage, not jostled to the front like this, and I’m feeling the effects of people’s attention focusing on me.
It’s hot in this room. There are a bunch of fancy ring lights set up and I’m about to cook from all the male bodies pressing against me. I wipe my hands on my jeans and smile as the first interviewer takes a seat in front of us.
He’s someone I vaguely recognize. I must have seen his channel before when I’ve been mindlessly scrolling online at two am. Leaning forward in his chair, he clasps the hand of each of the guys, leaving me to last.
“Thanks for this. Last time you guys were on our channel, we doubled our subscribers overnight.”
“Because Dorian threatened to get naked,” Micah replies with a chuckle.
“Oh, yeah?” I turn to Dorian, who is practically horizontal in his seat, his legs splayed out and his hand resting on my thigh. “Naked, huh?”
“Naughty,” he purrs in my ear before adding loud enough for everyone to hear, “I threatened to take off my glasses to see if it’d do anything to the fine folks at home. Can’t quite remember why.”
“Jules nearly lost her mind,” Micah adds.
“But the only person who gets to see me naked is you, baby,” Dorian says.
I roll my eyes and nearly gag on the pet name, causing him to chuckle. He wraps his hand around my jaw and leans closer, pressing a soft kiss to my lips.
