Zane blinked like he’d been thrown off. His eyes started to flick up to me, but he swiped a hand over his face and rubbed his forehead.
It was only a split second of hesitation, but it felt precarious.
Kelly leaned forward. “I’ll tell you a secret. But you can’t tell anyone.” He turned and winked devilishly at the camera.
Less charismatic than Zane my ass…
Kelly said, “The song? It’s about one of my exes.”
The interviewer’s smile grew, recognizing he was getting the scoop on something juicy. “Does she happen to be an ex we’re familiar with?”
Kelly had dated a number of famous women, but I couldn’t remember any of them specifically. Where the hell was he going with this?
Zane sat back, looking relaxed, but he was watching Kelly closely.
Kelly stayed focused on the interviewer. “I can’t tell you anything else about him…it wouldn’t be fair.”
I blinked.
The interviewer blinked.
Zane cocked an eyebrow, still watching Kelly.
The interviewer spluttered, “Your ex is ahe? Does that mean this song is you coming out as a queer man?”
Kelly shrugged, looking completely unfazed by the bomb he just dropped. “I’m not really into labels and I don’t think it honestly matters. But yeah, the ex in question is a man.”
The interviewer lurched forward, about to launch into more questions, but Gabriella stepped forward and said, “We’re gonna wrap up there.”
She escorted him out with the camera crew, smiling and chatting with them like nothing just happened. As soon as the door closed, she rounded on Kelly. “What the hell was that?”
He smiled lazily. “They want to talk to me now.”
My jaw fell open. He’d done it to take the pressure off Zane?
Zane’s expression was unreadable. “You didn’t have to do that. We can still kill the story if you don’t want your personal life out there like that.”
Kelly focused on him, expression turning serious. “It’s fine. It’s not like it’s something to hide. It hasn’t sat right with me all these years, knowing they all assume I’m straight when I’m perfectly comfortable with being queer. Little queer kids need rock idols too.”
Zane said, “Do you understand—”
Kelly cut him off. “It’s fine. Yes, I understand what it’ll trigger. I’m not the member of this band who makes rash decisions without thinking them through.”
Zane shook his head, but said, “Thank you.”
Kelly got up from the couch. “I need to make a few calls if we’re done here.”
He didn’t look at me as he crossed the room, but I watched him with new admiration. We’d reached a comfortable truce after the charity show, and he hadn’t badgered me again about telling Zane the truth.
But he’d basically just become my new hero.
“What are you smiling about?” Zane asked as he took my hand to leave.
“That was…epic.”
This time when I glanced over at Kelly, he was looking back at me and our eyes met. My stomach flipped in the face of that smolder, but I quickly looked away.
Zane thanked Gabriella and the crew and led me down the hall, back to our room.
