He murmurs into my ear, “You realize I’m sickeningly sincere, right?” Another brush of his lips, this time to my jaw, and I feel a whole body flush go right through me.
When I sit back in my seat, the interviewer is smirking and I realize the whole thing was probably caught on camera.
Oh well, I guess that’s as good a way as any of announcing our relationship, and I grin right back.
“So Sin, it seems like you’ve tamed the bad boys of rock.”
I don’t know what to say to that, considering it’s not actually a question. Thankfully, Micah jumps in.
“Not sure we’d ever call ourselves ‘bad boy’s, Cliff. But we’ve all fallen for her. I think we’re all counting our lucky stars that she agreed to work with us for this last tour. And we’re even luckier that we found someone who we’ve all been able to make a connection with.”
I shoot him a grateful look and squeeze his hand.
“Is that how the five of you met? While prepping for the tour?”
“Sin’s a master at what she does, and she’s been working hard to make this final tour one that’s going to be something for our fans to remember.”
“Because it’s your last one?” The interviewer presses, leaning forward in his chair.
“That and it’s gonna rock their socks off,” I reply with a grin. I feel like a real nerd as the words slip out, but then Cal and Dorian chuckle and any tension in me melts away.
“It’ll be the best damn night of our fans’ lives,” Iri adds, seamlessly adding to my answer like we orchestrated the whole thing.
Fuck, we’re cute.
Thankfully, that’s as far as the mushy stuff goes. The rest of the questions are pretty tame. It’s all the usual stuff about what’s going to make this tour different, the influences for their latest releases, plans beyond the tour. Yadda yadda yadda.
We’re done with the first interview within a half hour and then move on to the next one. They’re all pretty much the same and we rinse and repeat five times before taking a break to grab some lunch. The interviews are all taking place in one of the conference rooms of our hotel, so it’s easy enough to head back up to the suite to decompress for an hour before we get back to it.
Dorian and Cal barge into the bathroom while I’m refreshing my deodorant. And most of our break is then lost to the two of them, with Cal holding me up while Dorian buries his face between my legs before I then return the favor with the both of them.
I’m flushed and dressed in a whole new outfit by the time we stumble out on jelly legs. But as soon as we step into the suite’s living area, I pull to a halt. Iri’s scowling at his phone and Micah is in front of me, pulling me into a hug before I can ask what’s wrong.
It’s clear something has happened, as the air in the room is thick with tension.
I glance between them. “Is someone going to tell me what’s going on?”
“I guess you could say that the plan to get Orlog’s attention is working,” Iri replies.
“Okaay, that’s good, isn’t it?” I frown as Iri passes me his phone and my gut cramps as I see the familiar website already loaded.
“He’s made another video?” I ask through a suddenly dry throat.
Fuck. Of course he has.
Micah’s arms tighten around me.
“I’m guessing from your reaction, it’s about me?”
“He’s showing a bunch of the headlines with your picture on and is linking them back to the old story about you being a lost member of his flock. He says that you’ve lost your way hanging out with delinquent, evil monsters.”
My chest burns with fury. It’s nothing I haven’t heard before, but directed at these four guys who are the best people I’ve ever known, it makes me want to throat punch him.
I take a deep breath and am calmer than expected when I reply, “I can’t say I’m surprised. He’s a publicity hound and this’ll give him attention.”
“Somehow, people have found his video. Jules is working with the PR team to squash the articles, but by tomorrow, people will know that Sinjin Murphy—the woman dating Orpheus Underground—used to be Saint Madison, the step-daughter of a cult leader.”
“Right.”
