Jonah’s phone buzzed just as he walked in the door after filming. He fished it out of his pocket and looked at the screen, his heart beating just a tiny bit faster when he saw it was Christian. It had been a few days since they’d last seen each other, and he had missed him.

“Hey,” he said brightly, putting Christian on speaker. “I was just thinking about you.”

After his breakdown on set, they’d agreed to take a few days apart, just to make sure they wouldn’t rouse suspicion. It looked like it was working, but Jonah hated not being able to talk to Christian whenever he felt like it.

“Look, I know we said we weren’t going to see each other, but I need to come over. Tonight.”

Something about Christian’s voice put Jonah on edge. He frowned and walked over to his armchair, taking a seat. “Okay, what’s going on?”

“I can’t tell you right now, but it’s serious. Actually, it’s probably for the best if Aspen meets us at your place.”

Oh god. That could only mean one thing: someone had found out. His breath hitched, but he forced himself to keep calm. Panicking wouldn’t solve anything. He took a few deep breaths, purposefully relaxing his muscles. It was going to be fine. Everything was going to be okay.

“Can you tell me anything?”

“No. I wish I could, but I don’t want to risk making the situation any worse than it already is.”

Well that didn’t sound very promising. His stomach was in knots, and he was fairly sure it wasn’t going to get better when Christian arrived.

“Okay,” he said, his voice much calmer than he felt inside. “I’m going to send the car for you and call Aspen. And then I’m going to take an anxiety pill or eight.”

“I’ll see you soon.”

As soon as Christian disconnected the call, Jonah dialed Aspen and relayed what Christian had told him. Much as he expected, she didn’t handle it well. She’d be lucky if she got to the penthouse without getting a speeding ticket. Or rear-ending someone.

There was nothing for him to do after he ordered Christian’s car, but he had so much anxious energy buzzing around inside of him that he couldn’t just stay seated. He spent several minutes pacing before turning on the television and pulling up PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Choosing to go solo, he waited as his character was parachuted into the drop zone and then got to work, grabbing as many weapons as he could and shooting whoever was in sight.

Each player he killed, he imagined it was whoever had found out about him. One after one, they dropped as Jonah ran around the map. A series of shots were fired from around a building and he swore, switching out his handgun for an automatic.

“Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, you are not going to kill me, motherfucker!”

The intercom buzzed and Jonah threw his controller onto the sofa as his character bled out on the television. If he believed in omens, that definitely wouldn’t have been a great one. So it was a good thing he most certainly wasn’t superstitious. Not even a little bit.

Okay maybe a little bit.

He checked the security camera and found Christian was standing outside. In the corner of the screen, Aspen was quickly approaching, so he buzzed them both in. A few minutes later, they walked through the door. Christian looked like someone had just killed his dog, while Aspen’s face was stony with fury.

“I feel like we should be having this conversation sitting down,” he said, looking between the two of them. The nerves, which he’d managed to get rid of while he was playing, were back in full force.

Christian nodded. “That’s probably a good idea.”

They made their way into the living room, where Jonah and Christian took their usual seats. Aspen sat on the other end of the sofa, so straight her back didn’t even touch the cushion.

“So I’m pretty sure I know what you’re going to tell me, but what happened?” he asked.

“My boss found out,” Christian said. He couldn’t even bring himself to look at Jonah. “She called me into her office this morning and told me she had proof, and that if I didn’t get an exclusive interview with you by the time of the press tour, she was going to release that proof to the public.”

Aspen’s lips were pressed so tightly together they were barely visible. She sat forward, opening a notebook. “How do you know she has proof? Did she show you?”

“Yeah. It was a photo on Instagram she’d found from a private account. One of the girls you took a picture with when you were in Kentucky.”

“Are you serious, Jonah?” Aspen said, her tone beyond exasperated. “We’ve been over this. You can’t just have impromptu meet-and-greets with fans. It’ll always come back to bite you in the ass.”

“What was I supposed to do? We were getting groceries. I couldn’t exactly ignore everyone who came up to me, could I?”

It was something they’d discussed in detail when his career first started to take off. Aspen was adamant that he keep some distance between himself and his fans, but Jonah felt differently. He wanted to be accessible to them, and if that meant taking twenty minutes out of his day to take some pictures, he would do that.

“Yes, you absolutely could have ignored them. But you didn’t and look where it got you.”

“Are you seriously trying to pin this one on me? Fuck’s sake, Aspen, this isn’t my fault. I’m not the one who—”

“Stop,” Christian said sharply. “I’m the one who got us into this mess. It’s my fault and I take full responsibility for it. Now can we stop arguing over who’s to blame and brainstorm solutions?”

Christian was right. They were beating a dead horse by talking about whose fault it was. At the end of the day, the person who’d forced their hand was Christian’s boss. Now they needed a game plan.

“I think that’s a good idea,” Jonah said. “So we have two options, really. Either we do the interview and let Eden put it on InTune’s website, or we wait for her to release the photos the day of the press tour.”

“Third option, I make a little visit to InTune and beat the shit out of her for blackmailing Christian,” Aspen offered.

Jonah shook his head. “Not helpful. I need you by my side, not locked up for assault.”

“Like I wouldn’t have the means to make bail.”

“Still,” he said firmly. “That’s not an option. Now, I know neither of us like the idea of her putting us on the spot, but I think it would be better to just… do the interview.”

“So, give in to her.” Christian’s words were strained, and Jonah reached out to take his hand.

“I know it’s not an ideal solution. It’s not even a good one. But by doing the interview, we get to control what’s said. You’ll get my side of the story instead of a shoddy exposé with a couple of Instagram pictures.”

He looked over to Aspen, who nodded. “Jonah has a point. We can take charge of the narrative. And it’s not like we weren’t planning on this eventually.”

“You were?” Christian asked, his brow furrowed.

Jonah nodded. “Yeah. That day I broke down and called Aspen to set? We talked about when I should come out. Only we hadn’t planned on it being so soon. I was expecting a little more time.”

A lot more time, really. He wanted the opportunity to go tell his parents and extended family in person, rather than having to explain it over the phone. And he wanted a more time to prepare mentally, too. To really come to grips with what this meant for him and his career and who other people would see him as. But it looked like he wasn’t going to get that opportunity.

“Well then, since we’re in agreement on the interview, should we go ahead and get started? I think it’ll be good to have Aspen here to coordinate everything. She knows what questions I should ask and what you’re not allowed to say.”

“Sounds good,” Jonah said. “But um… can I talk to you first? Alone?”

Christian looked to Aspen, who just nodded. “I’ll be fine. It’ll give me a chance to update the coming out draft on my phone.”

Of course she had it with her. There really was no one else he would rather have in his corner for something like this.

Standing, Jonah made his way to his bedroom and closed the door as soon as Christian followed. Christian still wasn’t looking at him. He hadn’t made eye contact the entire time he’d been there. That was going to have to change. He needed Christian to understand they were going to be okay. What Eden had done was unforgiveable, but it was her Jonah wouldn’t be forgiving. Not Christian.

Jonah closed the space between them and wrapped his arms around Christian, pulling him against his chest. Christian didn’t even try to fight. Instead, he buried his face into Jonah’s neck and let out a sob.

“I thought she wanted to give me a chance,” he said, the words coming out thick and watery. “I thought this was a dream job. I could fly out to California and be with you and get my name out there.”

Instead, Eden had used him. For once, Christian had gotten a taste of the betrayal Jonah had felt when he’d been sold out to the tabloids. And there was nothing Jonah could do to shield him from that heartache.

“I know, baby,” he whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to the side of Christian’s head. “I know. And if I ever see her in public, she better walk the fuck away because I won’t hesitate to call her out.” A horrifying thought occurred to him. “You’re not going to be forced to work for her after all this, are you?”

Christian shook his head. “She said she’d write me a recommendation letter, and Franky’s going to put me in touch with some editors they know.”

He let out the breath he’d been holding. “Thank god. I couldn’t stand the thought of you having to see her every single day after what she did.”

“I’m sorry,” Christian said, so softly Jonah could barely hear it. “I know this is all my fault. If I hadn’t wrote the blog post, you never would have been put in this position.”

“Shh, it’s okay.” He massaged Christian’s back in wide circles.

He’d thought a lot about that. About what would have happened if Christian hadn’t posted it. There would be no scandal, sure, but there would also be no Christian. They would have sent a few texts, shared memes and the obligatory birthday message, but that would have been it. He would have gone back to his life as he’d known it and buried this part of himself where it could never be found.

“You know my parents were never very religious, but they did teach us that everything happens for a reason. The good, the bad, there’s all purpose to it. Which means there was a purpose for this,” Jonah said. “And I’m starting to think that you were supposed to write that blog post because you were meant to come here. To be with me.”

“I hurt you,” Christian sobbed.

Jonah nodded, his chin brushing against Christian’s hair. “You did,” he admitted. “And for a while, I was angry. I didn’t know how you could do something like that. But it doesn’t matter now. It happened and there’s nothing anyone can do to change that. All we can do is move forward from it, and I want to move forward with you.”

“How can you be sure?”

“How can you be sure you love me?”

Christian sniffled and pulled back. His eyes were red and there was a crease in his bottom lip where he’d bitten it. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my entire life. I loved the person you were when you were eighteen, and I love the person you’ve grown up to be. The kind of person who stops to take pictures with random fans and who can still catch and cook a fish.”

“Then believe me when I tell you I’m sure I want to be with you. We’re going to get through this, and we’re going to get through it together. Okay?”

For the first time since he’d walked in the door, Christian looked up into his eyes. “Okay.”

“Good.” He pressed a quick kiss to Christian’s lips. “Now let’s get back out there. I’m sure Aspen’s having a fit to start on these interview questions.”