Page 20 of Heartbreak Honey

Before

“We’re going to get in trouble,” Noah said, before taking his second shot of Jameson straight from the bottle.

“No, we’re not,” Oli argued, grabbing the bottle for himself.

When Oli tried to pass it to Skyler, he waved it away. “Think I’m good.”

Trevor was glad for that because it was one thing for Skyler to act wild in front of the crew, but it was another for him to do it in front of fans who could blab about it. He didn’t want the press to get a hold of a story about Boys Will Be Boys getting plastered in a foreign country on Christmas Eve. With possibly underaged girls, no less.

His concerns slipped to the backburner, though, when he wound up on a small loveseat with Skyler curled into his chest. He fisted his hand into the back of Skyler’s soft sweater as Skyler nuzzled into his neck like a cat. They could have been doing this back in their own room, but if it made Skyler happy, then Trevor was happy to be here.

The rest of the group started in on some kind of Truth or Dare drinking game hybrid, and Skyler seemed content to simply sit and watch.

Trevor left him alone a minute to get him some water from the bathroom, and Noah followed him in there, hovering in the doorway. After filling a plastic cup, Trevor turned to him and cocked his head.

Noah cleared his throat. “I’m sorry about earlier. I want you to know that anything I’ve said about you guys has nothing to do with you being gay.”

“I’m bisexual, actually,” he corrected.

Noah gave a tiny nod of acknowledgement. “Okay. Well. What I mean is, I’d say the same things if you were a straight couple. All the sappy shit is a bit much to take sometimes. But I—” He shifted awkwardly, leaning his shoulder against the wall. “I would never be bothered by someone’s sexuality. In case that wasn’t clear.”

Trevor sighed, setting the cup down on the sink ledge. “I didn’t think you were like that. But it’s hard to know for sure, so I appreciate you saying it. And I can handle you giving me shit, I don’t care. But I do care when Sky’s involved. Maybe I’m overprotective of him, but I can’t help it.”

“I get that,” Noah said. “Honestly, when I say it’s hard to watch you two being so sappy all the time, it might be because I’m a bit jealous. It’s obvious how in love you guys are, and it seems so easy for you because you’re both doing all this together. Sometimes lately I’ve wondered if I’ll ever have time for a relationship while I’m in the band.”

Well, shit.

It was hard for Trevor to be angry with him when he was suddenly being vulnerable. He and Skyler were lucky to have found each other in the midst of all this chaos. But that didn’t mean everything was as easy as Noah apparently believed it was either. It wasn’t easy worrying if he’d make a wrong move or say the wrong thing during an interview and incur the wrath of their management. Still, he could understand why Noah might feel lonely not having someone here with him the way he and Skyler had each other.

“We won’t always be on tour,” Trevor told him. “I think everything’s felt so crazy this year because we went from completely normal lives to being thrown into all this. It’s got to settle down eventually, right?”

He wasn’t sure if he believed that, but it seemed like the right thing to say.

“Yeah, maybe,” Noah agreed.

“And if it doesn’t, then you could always date Oli.”

“Funny.”

Trevor shrugged. “I try.”

“So we’re good?”

He nodded. “We’re good.”

Noah gave him a small smile. “Good.”

“What’s good?” Oli asked, popping up behind Noah.

“The fact that you haven’t managed to fall out a window yet,” Trevor said.

“They don’t open.”

“Still,” Noah added.

Oli glanced between the two of them and grinned. “Aww, are you two kissing and making up? I love it when we’re all getting along!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Trevor said to him, smiling as he walked past them both.

Sitting with Skyler again, Trevor made him drink the whole cup of water, despite Skyler’s protests, and then let him cuddle back against his chest. Eventually, a few tiny snores told him Skyler was asleep, but when he woke him and tried to get him to sit up so they could leave, Skyler whined and burrowed even farther into him.

“Come on, baby,” he whispered in his ear. “Let’s get you to bed.”

“There’s a bed here,” Skyler murmured.

“Yes, but it’s not our bed.”

“Mmm. Our bed.”

Trevor laughed and nudged him again, forcing him to get up.

They made it back to their room and both started stripping off their clothes, although Skyler was certainly clumsier about it. Once they stood in only their underwear, Skyler reached for Trevor for a kiss, and they tumbled onto the bed together. Trevor got them situated under the covers before Skyler resumed kissing him.

When Skyler slid his hand down Trevor’s body and attempted to grip him over his boxers, Trevor stopped him. Skyler whined like a toddler who was getting his favorite toy taken away.

“Baby. I can’t have sex with you while you’re drunk.”

Skyler’s eyes grew wide and somehow more focused than they’d been for the last hour. “What? That’s not fair!”

“It’s the right thing.”

Skyler shook his head ruefully. “If you’d told me that was a rule, then I would’ve stuck with water!”

“But you had fun, right?” he asked.

“Yes, I did. And now I’d like to have naked fun, please and thank you very much.”

He laughed as Skyler tried to reach for him again. They wrestled playfully until Trevor managed to get Skyler on his back. He grabbed both of his hands and moved them up over his head, lacing their fingers together. “Please don’t make this harder for me. You know I don’t have a lot of self-control where you’re concerned.”

“S’not true. I think you have too much.”

“Didn’t you get enough of me before dinner?”

“No.” Skyler pouted dramatically. “Never enough.”

As Skyler rolled his hips upward, Trevor realized they weren’t in the safest position. He got off Skyler and settled on his back, rearranging them until Skyler was resting his head on his chest. “I could never get enough of you either,” he whispered, carding his fingers through Skyler’s wild hair.

He ran his other hand up and down Skyler’s back, and soon enough, Skyler’s breathing had slowed, and he started to drift off. Or so Trevor thought.

Then out of nowhere, Skyler started to make little pained noises, like he was trying not to cry.

“What’s wrong?” Trevor asked, unable to see his face properly without moving him.

“Nothing.”

“It’s not nothing.”

Skyler lifted his head from Trevor’s chest. His eyes were watery, and Trevor didn’t understand how he’d gone from a giddy, flirty drunk to a sad drunk. But he didn’t like it. He hated anything that dared to dim the stars in Skyler’s eyes.

“It’s just that being on tour all the time is a lot,” Skyler said. “I love getting to do this, but it gets tiring, you know? And now not being with my family for the holidays. I guess it’s getting to me, not really feeling like I have a place to call home anymore. Except…”

“What?” Trevor prompted, rubbing circles over his back.

“It’s silly.”

“Tell me,” he said gently. He wanted to hear all of this boy’s thoughts, even the ones he deemed too silly or weird or just too much. It was never too much. Skyler could never be too much for him.

Skyler sat up, his eyes a little clearer now. “It’s like as long as you’re with me… it feels like you’re my home.”

If Trevor had thought his heart couldn’t possibly expand any more for him, he was wrong.

“So that’s the only thing that makes it okay,” Skyler went on. “But I know it’s weird to say that. I don’t mean to put all that on you.”

Trevor shushed him, pressing a finger to his lips. “I’ll be your home.”

“Yeah?” Skyler had the nerve to look relieved, which was crazy. How could he not know Trevor felt the same way about him and then some?

“I’ll always be your home,” he told him. “I promise. If you’ll be mine.”

A dimple broke through on Skyler’s cheek and Trevor wanted to live in it, make his home right there. “I will! Always.”

“That’s settled then.”

Skyler nodded and lay back down, tucked into Trevor’s side. Sleep came quickly for him after that, but Trevor found himself lying awake long after Skyler had gone off to dreamland.

It feels like you’re my home.

He liked the sound of that.

Trevor assumed Skyler wouldn’t remember their late-night conversation in the morning, but as he tiredly fixed his hair in the bathroom mirror, Skyler came in and slid his arms around his waist from behind. He hooked his chin over Trevor’s shoulder and wrapped one ankle around his legs, using Trevor’s body to keep himself balanced. His fingers trailed under the waistband of Trevor’s boxers and simply rested there, not going any farther.

“What are you doing?” Trevor asked, not that he minded the treatment.

Skyler hummed happily. “Coming home.”

And oh.

Home.

He smiled at their reflections in the mirror.“I’m surprised you’re even conscious. How are you feeling?”

“My head hurts and my mouth’s all gross, but I’ll live.” Skyler placed a delicate kiss on the side of his neck. “Thanks for last night.

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Of course you did.”

Trevor turned around in Skyler’s arms and leaned in for a kiss, but Skyler pushed him back.

“My mouth!”

“I don’t care,” Trevor told him.

“I do,” Skyler insisted. “If you kiss me like this, you’ll never want to kiss me again.”

He shook his head. “That’s not even possible, baby.”

“You say that now.”

He yanked Skyler in closer and kissed him before he could protest any more. Skyler kissed him back until Trevor laughed and shoved him away. “You’re right, maybe you should brush your teeth.”

Skyler slapped his arm. “You ass!”

“I’m joking. But really.”

With a sheepish smile, Skyler turned to the sink and grabbed his toothbrush. Trevor wrapped his arms around him, reversing their earlier position. He left a trail of kisses down Skyler’s spine, making him giggle as he tried to brush his teeth.

He squeezed Skyler tighter. “Home, huh?”

Skyler spit into the sink and then caught his eye in the mirror. “Home,” he said, more fondly than someone with toothpaste at the corner of his mouth should have any right to sound.

From there, they found their way back into bed together. They indulged in lazy morning sex even though they didn’t have time for it. And they were still naked afterward when Christian pounded on their door, demanding to know why they weren’t already in the lobby.

They rushed to get ready, tossing their things haphazardly into their bags, and made it downstairs in less than ten minutes, messy and probably reeking of sex, but so, so happy. Trevor thought he’d be riding this high all day.

But he was wrong.

Because instead of leaving, Christian instructed them to hand off their bags to a concierge, and then led them across the lobby, down a small hallway, and into a conference room.

Noah, Jermaine, and Oli sat there on one side of a long table, none of them looking happy. When Trevor tried to lead Skyler over to the empty side of the table, Christian shook his head and pointed them to seats on either side of their bandmates.

As he and Skyler split up, he got a sense of foreboding. Only about five feet of space separated them, but it felt like more.

Then he noticed the open laptop on the table and saw what was on the screen—Maggie’s face, looking particularly formidable even on such a small scale.

“Nice of you two to join us,” she said.

“We’re sorry,” Skyler said. “We didn’t know we were having a meeting.”

Maggie ignored him. “It appears you all had a fun night last night.”

Nobody responded.

“I’d say a bit too much fun,” she went on. “I know most of you are of legal age to drink over there, but bringing fans back to your hotel rooms? What were you thinking?”

“We were just hanging out,” Oli said.

Maggie shot him a look that made him shrink back in his seat. “These girls have already taken to social media to tell everyone all about it. And the fact that you were all drunk”—I wasn’t drunk, Trevor wanted to argue—“wouldn’t necessarily be catastrophically damaging for the band, but unfortunately, they’ve also mentioned Trevor and Skyler and how intimate they looked. We don’t want this story getting out.”

“We weren’t doing anything other than sitting together,” Trevor told her, trying to remain calm and not yell about how fucked up it was that she’d basically insinuated he and Skyler’s relationship was catastrophically damaging.

Maggie looked skeptical. “Even if that were true, I’ve seen the two of you sitting together. I know how that can look like exactly what it is.”

Like two people who love each other? Oh no, the horror.

“Now, we’ve paid the girls off to remove their posts, but they’ve already been shared, and we have no way of knowing if there are screenshots out there. We can only hope we caught this early enough that the stories at least won’t make it back over here to the U.S. Trevor and Skyler, I expect you two to behave with more discretion going forward. And all of you, please think more carefully before you decide to bring random girls back to your hotel rooms.”

Trevor was fuming. He wanted to hold Skyler’s hand and assure him that nothing they’d done together was wrong. But Skyler was too far away.

“And lastly,” Maggie continued, “these girls are talking about how one of them slept with Jermaine and spent the night in his room.”

Trevor’s head whipped toward Jermaine. This was news to him, but it was clear by Noah and Oli’s faces that they already knew.

“We’ll let this part of the story live,” Maggie informed them. “So the focus will be on that, rather than on Trevor and Skyler. Him getting drunk and taking a girl back to his room to party aligns with his image, so it’s not that bad. But I expect all of you to watch your behavior in the future. Are we clear?”

Trevor was stunned. She didn’t want anyone to know that these girls thought he and Skyler looked close, but a story about Jermaine hooking up with a fan was okay? Because it fit his image? The bad boy image they’d wanted to cultivate even though it wasn’t him at all?

This was bullshit.

He couldn’t let Jermaine take the fall like this to cover up the truth about him and Skyler. He didn’t care if people knew they were together. But the other guys were already nodding and muttering their assents, and before he could decide what to do, Maggie ended the call.

As they all filed out of the room, he grabbed Jermaine by the elbow, holding him back. “Hey. You sure you’re okay with this?”

Jermaine shrugged. “It is what it is. I am the one who bought the alcohol, and I’m the one who hooked up with one of them. So that’s on me.”

“Maybe, but you’re not what they’re trying to make you out to be.”

“None of us really are, are we?” Jermaine said.

And that was true enough.

Guilt still nagged at Trevor, though, as they caught up to the others. He wasn’t paying much attention as everyone was ushered outside and into the two waiting cars. It wasn’t until he was inside the one Christian had pointed him to that he realized Skyler was in the other. And that had to be on purpose.

He told himself it was only a thirty-minute ride to the airport. It wasn’t the end of the world. He and Skyler would still be in love when they got there. Separating them for a car ride wouldn’t change that.

But it was as if some kind of shift had taken place. And he didn’t like it at all.

Leave it to Maggie to ruin Christmas morning for everyone.