Page 69 of The Deviation
“Your brother and Johnny.”
A tiny smile appears as she drops onto an arm of the couch. “He’s my brother. Of course, I knew.”
My gaze turns to Oz, and the widening of his eyes as he looks around tells me he’s become the centre of everyone’s attention. “She’s my girlfriend. I couldn’t say anything.”
“Do we get to hear how all this played out now?” Ned asks.
I sneak a glance at my oldest friend. He’s the one I’ve been most concerned about telling, given his history. But Ned doesn’t look upset as he sits on the floor with Toni cross-legged on the couch behind him, arms looped loosely around his neck.
“Okay, here we go,” I begin, hoping to keep this short and, mostly, wholesome. “Calum and I met the first night of last year’s festival. We… took a liking to each other.”
Hannah giggles. “That’s one way of putting it.”
Calum continues, “We didn’t see each other again until the night I approached you all in the car park.”
“Ambushed.” Ned half-covers the word with a cough.
“Approached,” Cal insists.
“Whatever,” I say, hoping to speed the story along. “Everything stopped the moment we signed the contract with Rush.”
“Fraternising with clients is not allowed or appropriate,” Calum says, his gaze drifting to Ned. “I never intended to break that rule. I swear, but…” He turns to me and the look in his eyes makes my heart melt.
“But he’s helpless against me,” I say, grinning wide.
The room erupts with a chorus of cheers, clapping and laughter.
“You were together before the album was released, though,” Toni yells over the noise. He points a finger at Calum. “You were ready to bust a nut watching Johnny drink that iced tea.”
I shake my head. “Nope. We were still holding out.”
“Oh, New Year’s Eve,” Charmaine cries. “I saw you getting cosy out by the fire.”
We both shake our heads.
“Then when?” Gavin asks, coming over with steaming cups of coffee for him and Charmaine.
“We’ve officially been together for…” I drag the moment out, because the shit show I was expecting has turned out to be kind of fun, “about a month.”
Everyone stares at us with varying degrees of disbelief. Ned is the first to break the silence. “You are shitting me. A month?” He shakes his head. “All this time I thought you were just really good at keeping it on the down low.”
“Wait, what?” Toni grips onto Ned’s hair, tugging his head back. “How long have you known?”
He shrugs a shoulder. “I had an inkling before we signed the contract. There was definitely something going on, but it took me a while to cotton on to what.”
Toni gasps in shock. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Ned lifts an eyebrow at him. “Why didn’t you tell me about this iced tea incident?”
“It wasn’t my secret to tell,” he grumps, releasing Ned’s hair.
“Exactly.” Ned smiles, reaching up to wrap a hand around the back of Toni’s neck and draw him down for a kiss.
“How is it I’m the only one who didn’t notice anything?” Gavin asks with a frown.
Charmaine runs a comforting hand up and down his back. “You were busy being attentive to my needs,” she assures him. “It’s a good thing.”
Grinning, he plants a firm kiss on her lips. “Too bloody right.”