Page 6 of Finding Grey
FOUR
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SEAN
Three years later
I’m not going to claim kissing a rock star made me gay. I knew who I was long before Dante Sinclair got a hold of me. But I will admit, after that night, I gave up pretending to be anything else. So, I suppose you could say meeting Dante changed my life. One taste of that signature sneer and I was officially a raging homosexual.
For three years, I figured that’s where our story began and ended. One night, a handful of kisses, and one photograph to remember it by. Until my best friend, Gabrielle, walked into the university library, slapped a flyer down on the table in front of me, and announced, “We’re going to meet Dante Sinclair.”
I looked up from my study notes with a confused frown. “What are you going on about?”
Sliding into a chair, she made a show of pushing the flyer closer to me. With a sigh, I picked it up. It advertised the series of Dante Sinclair concerts being held that week on the northern side of town. Dante had been performing all over the country for the past month, as a way of kicking off the worldwide promotional tour for his third album. I couldn’t avoid knowledge of his presence in Brisbane. Every time I walked down the street the perfection of his face scowled at me from billboards and bus shelters. “Why are you giving me this?”
Gabi’s eyes sparkled with mischief as she grinned at me. “Because I have the perfect plan for getting us backstage, but I need your help.”
My heart skipped a beat at the thought of coming face-to-face with Dante again, but a few mental kicks forced it back to its regular rhythm. “Why would I be interested in meeting Dante Sinclair?”
“Um, maybe because the last time he played a concert in Brisbane you were so desperate to go you hocked your favourite camera, so you could afford a ticket?”
I balked. How did she even know about that? “I was short on cash at the time. I got the camera back, you know.”
“And then there’s that thing where you own every CD he’s ever released, including singles, even though you stream all your music.”
“He’s a talented musician.” I avoided her gaze, instead turning the pages of my textbook as if I were barely paying attention to our conversation. “I appreciate his music. It’s no more than that.” Most people never noticed my little obsession with Dante, given I rarely even spoke his name out loud. But Gabi had been my friend since our first year of high school, where we’d bonded over our love of photography. She knew all the weird parts of me. Despite having grown up and moved on to university, where we were doing the same photography course, we still spent way too much time butting into each other’s lives. So, I wasn’t exactly surprised when she rolled her eyes at my denials.
“Yeah, right,” she scoffed. “At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if you had his name tattooed on your body. But somewhere covered so no one will see.”
“You caught me,” I told her, with a deep sigh. “I haveDante’s Biggest Fantattooed across my butt. You want to check it out?”
She sniggered. “Oh my God, could you imagine if that was true? Paul would freak.”
I grinned at her mention of my boyfriend. Paul was sweet and modest and available for dating—the complete opposite of Dante. “I’ve got a lot of work to do, Gabi.” I motioned to the books spread out around me. “Our last exam is tomorrow. If I fail, I’m going to have to repeat the whole subject. So, if you wouldn’t mind getting to the point…” I lifted my hands, gesturing for her to do just that.
“Okay, I need to study too, so I’ll be quick.” She grabbed the flyer again. “You have got tickets to the concert Friday night, right?”
“Yes, I have tickets,” I admitted. “I’m going to surprise Paul with them when I see him after the exam tomorrow.” There was absolutely nothing weird about taking my boyfriend to the concert. Just as there was absolutely nothing weird about the way I planned to spend the entire night screwing his brains out afterward. It was not aDante makes me hornything. It was amy boyfriend is hot, and I enjoy having sex with himthing.
“Hold that thought.” She dug her phone out of her bag and started poking at it. “Did you see the tweet Dante put out a couple of days ago?”
“I don’t follow him on social media. Enjoying his music does not mean I need to know every move he makes.” I had my pride. Whatever had happened between us in those few moments of madness three years ago, I wasn’t going to let it turn me into yet another simpering groupie. A single photo credit was the only publicly available evidence it ever happened at all.
“Then you won’t have seen this,” Gabi said as she turned the phone towards me. Dante’s Twitter feed filled the screen.
Off to Brisbane this week. Hoping Grey will deliver my birthday present in person this year. Meet me backstage after the concert on Friday.
My heart stopped beating. Seriously. I up and died right there. It wasn’t a bad way to go.
“Sean?” Gabi’s voice called to me from a world away, but I was still busy being dead. “…the hell is wrong with you? Sean!”
I snapped upright, gasping in a life-restoring breath. “What?”
She looked at me like I had two heads as she took her phone back. “Where did you go?”
“Nowhere.” I picked up my pen, but my hand shook so much I dropped it again. Hoping Gabi wouldn’t notice, I shoved both hands into my lap under the table. “I was reading the tweet.”
She gave me a sceptical look before continuing her story. “So anyway, the internet is going nuts because no one knows who this Grey person is. The media is combing Dante’s history looking for clues but so far, the only thing we know is Grey took the photo for the cover of one of his singles a few years ago. You know, the sexy one that had everyone pawing at each other.”