“Didn’t you already do that?”
Trevor grabbed a throw pillow from the couch and launched it. Oli didn’t even bother ducking, just giggled as it hit him square in the face then fell to the floor. And fine, maybe the teasing was warranted. Trevor probably wouldn’t appreciate walking in on any of his bandmates fooling around with someone. At least Oli wasn’t too weirded out.
But later during their concert, as payback for what he’d seen, Oli kept trying to trip Trevor onstage. And it seemed unfair that he was the only one being targeted, when it was Skyler who’d dropped to his knees in the dressing room and insisted he couldn’t possibly wait four more hours to have Trevor’s dick in his mouth.
How could anyone expect Trevor to deny his boyfriend something he needed so badly? He wasn’t a monster.
Noah and Jermaine watched the antics with amusement, no doubt having been filled in by Oli. But Noah finally stepped in and got Oli to back off afterTrevor jerked to avoid Oli’s outstretched leg and almost pitched forward off the edge of the stage.
Honestly, Oli’s hazing didn’t bother him though. Because he couldn’t help but hear the extra rasp in Skyler’s tone every time he sang, and he found himself fighting back a very self-satisfied smirk the whole night.
Skyler probably knew what Trevor was thinking, too, because he kept shooting grins his way. And if the two of them touched a little more than they normally would onstage—a little more than they were supposed to—well, it wasn’t intentional.
Trevor couldn’t wait to get Skyler back to their hotel room when this was over to return the favor. And thinking about that had him gravitating closer to Skyler every chance he got.
After letting his hand linger too long on Skyler’s lower back as they passed by each other, he noticed Maggie watching him from offstage. Her pinched face meant he’d be in trouble later. But right now, he was onstage doing what he loved with his boyfriend and his best friends, and he really didn’t give a fuck.
When he turned and his eyes met Skyler’s again, Skyler slowly brought his finger up to rub the side of his neck. Their signal.I love you.
And in that moment, Trevor felt invincible.
SKYLER
Skyler knew he wasprobably being too dramatic, but he was really starting to resent having to hear his boyfriend say they were just friends.
And it was partly his fault sincehecould never be the one to say it. They’d tried that once, and it was like an awkward clumsy dance where nobody knew the right steps. Even the interviewer had managed to get flustered. He hated lying, and he was terrible at it.
Needless to say, after that particularly painful incident, Maggie had deemed that all formal denials be handled by Trevor. Usually, the rumors about Trevor and him were a forbidden topic for interviews. But whenever something happened that made their management believe simply ignoring the rumors wasn’t good enough (he didn’t even know what they’d done this time), they’d prompt an interviewer to bring it up, specifically so the allegations could be denied.
Which led to Skyler silently fuming this morning on the entire drive from the TV station back to their hotel. He knew Trevor could tell he was mad and wanted to say something, but they were both smart enough to wait until they had some privacy. Partition screens and driver NDAs be damned.
As soon as they got into their room, Trevor took off his shoes, leaving them neatly by the door, and then turned to him and sighed. “All right, what?”
Skyler kicked off his own shoes, using his toes to fling each one carelessly across the room, before muttering, “Nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. I know you have something to say. So say it.”
He wanted to say it. The words were bubbling up on the tip of his tongue. But if he said it, he knew how whiney he’d sound. So he tried to keep it in. Except Trevor was looking at him like he knew what he was thinking anyway, so he narrowed his eyes and said, “I hate this.”
“I know you do,” Trevor told him. And he probably didn’t mean for the words to sound patronizing, but they did, which only fueled Skyler’s fire.
“If you know I hate it, then why do you keep doing it? It’s like you have no problem claiming for us to bejust friends. Is that all we are? Because I’m pretty sure you had your dick in my ass last night.”
“Sky, stop,” Trevor said softly. Ever so softly, in the voice that usually made Skyler feel loved in ways he never thought possible. But right now, it did nothing for him. “You know we can’t tell the truth. I have to say these things, and I do it so that you don’t have to. Because I know how much it kills you to be dishonest.”
Yeah, he knew this already, and it wasn’t helping. “I still hate it.”
“Look. Do you think I want to say we’re just friends?No. I want to shout from the rooftops that I’m totally ass-over-head fucking in love with Skyler James. But I can’t.”
He wanted to believe what Trevor was saying, but all he could hear were Trevor’s words from earlier.No way, there is nothing going on with us. Come on, that’s ridiculous! I have no idea where people are coming up with this nonsense.
So he kept pushing. “Who says you can’t?”
Trevor shook his head sadly and walked over to his bag on the floor beside the bed. He bent down and started rifling through it, even though Skyler suspected he wasn’t really looking for anything. “Would you let it go please?”
Nope. Skyler couldn’t do that. He knew he should, but no. “I don’t want to let it go, because our relationship actually means something to me, and I don’t like hearing you talk about it like it’s nothing.”
“It’s not my fault you can’t lie for shit.”
