And it’s so fucking obvious.
I reach out and take his hand. Fingers laced. The intentional kind of hand-holding that’s unmistakable.
The crowd explodes. Questions, flashes, chaos from every direction. But I don’t hear any of it. All I hear is Taio’s sharp intake of breath, all I feel are his fingers interlacing with mine, all I see is the smile breaking across his face like sunrise.
“Want to get out of here?” he asks. I give a small, sure nod.
He breaks through the crowd, removing human beings like they are merely branches in the way of a new path. His body shielding mine, his hand never letting go. Cameras follow us, shouts chase us, but none of it matters. We push through to the street, where a taxi is waiting and then we’re inside, the door slamming shut, the noise cutting off like someone hit a mute button.
For a moment, we just sit there. Breathing. Processing.
“You had the forethought to plant a taxi?”
Then Taio turns to me, and his expression is somewhere between wonder and disbelief. “No. I went in there with no plan. It was a lucky break.”
We collapse into laughter, the tension draining from our bodies. Outside, camera flashes strobe against the windows like lightning in a storm, but inside this taxi, we’ve found shelter. Almost. In the rearview mirror, I catch the driver’s wide eyes darting between us and the mob scene surrounding his vehicle, his white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel, probably wishing he could eject us.
“That was?—”
“Childish? Reckless? A little over the top?” he fills in.
I place my fingers against his lips, hushing him with a gesture. “That was like a scene from one of your books. Like a fairy tale.”
“Fairy tale?” he echoes, confused. “I just blew up everything. Your face is going to be everywhere tomorrow. They’re going to find out who I am…and what I’ve done.”
“Yeah, they are,” I say, my heartbeat steady, my head cool.
“I’m so sorry, Charlie. Do you have any idea what’s about to happen? The headlines, the speculation. They’re going to start talking and never shut up.”
I shrug one shoulder. “Let them.”
“What?” he asks again.
The words surprise me even as I say them. But they’re true. For the first time in years, I genuinely don’t care what the tabloids say or what the internet thinks or what Sage is going to scream at me tomorrow morning.
I chose him. In front of everyone. And it feels like the first honest thing I’ve done in months. Maybe the first really honest thing I’ve done in my whole life. I just told the world where my loyalty lies, and damn does that feel good.
“Charlie.” Taio cups my face in his hands, his thumbs brushing my cheekbones. “There’s more coming. I have something I need to tell you. About my father. About?—”
“Later.” I lean into his touch. “Tell me later.”
“But it’s important. I don’t want any more secrets between us.”
“I know.” I press my forehead against his. “Me neither. And I want to hear it. All of it. But we have bigger fish to fry at the moment.”
He looks worried. “Being?”
“Well the world feels very big right now. And I have a massive penthouse in downtown Atlanta that came equipped with everything except?—”
“A fort.”
“Exactly. We’ll deal with the shitstorm tomorrow. Tonight it’s just you and me and nothing between us—no lies, no secrets…”
“No clothes?” he asks.
I give him my most serious look. “Oh clothes are most definitely not invited.”
He’s quiet for a long moment. Then he nods, pulling me close, wrapping his arms around me like he’s afraid I might disappear. “You could do better,” he tells me. “You know that, right?”
