Page 113 of Total Creative Control

At the edge of the screen, Toni stood up jerkily.“I’m pretty tired,”she said in a stony voice.“I’m going to—”

The audio cut off, the picture seizing on a still of Charlie wearing a drunken expression and Toni’s standing figure from the neck down. More text rolled up.

“‘I guess I'm a dreamer, but you know what? Maybe if we spend less time looking at spreadsheets and more time trying to achieve our dreams, we’ll actually get those diverse, authentic voices we all need so badly.’ From ‘The Diversity Dream,’ a TED talk by Charles Alexander, Head of Global TV at Telopix Entertainment.”

“Oh my God,” Aaron muttered. He scrolled down and saw there were already hundreds of comments, with more piling up.

He glanced at Lewis, who was still staring at the screen, his lips pressed together. Then Lewis looked his way, and his eyes were dancing with amusement.

“You don’t seem…veryupset?” Aaron said carefully.

“I spoke to Charlie this morning,” Lewis said. “Before I came here. We had words, and I…” He lowered his voice. “Well, I pulled the plug on the US show.”

“Youwhat?”

Lewis shrugged. “It wasn’t worth it. He was destroying everything I loved about it.” He smiled, squeezed Aaron’s arm. “Everything we’ve built together.”

“But… the money? Your career?”

Lewis gave a half-smile. “The RPP board isn’t going to be happy, but ultimately,Leechesis my baby. If they’re so pissed off they want to fire me, I’ll take it elsewhere. But I don’t think it’ll come to that.” He grinned. “And actually, this video is going to help. Alot.”

Aaron laughed. “God, yes. No one’s going to take Charlie’s bullshit seriously now.” He elbowed Lewis. “So. Good old Geoff in the end. He must have uploaded this.”

“Hell hath no fury, I guess…” Lewis cupped Aaron’s cheek then, smiling into his eyes. “That was a crazy weekend, but I’ll always look back on it fondly as the weekend when we finally—” he paused.

“—fucked?” Aaron guessed.

“—kissed,” Lewis confirmed at the same moment.

They both laughed.

Aaron said, “Now you think I’m a shallow, sex-obsessed nympho.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Lewis said. “I think you’remyshallow sex-obsessed nympho. And I love you.”

Happiness fizzed through him, fierce and dizzying. Aaron couldn’t stop grinning. “I love you too.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Lewis

“You’re going to love this,” Lewis said gleefully as he climbed back into bed, iPad in hand.

“Mmpf, what?” Aaron muttered, stirring. He’d been drowsing for the last hour.

They’d come back to Lewis’s place after leaving the convention, and more than twenty-four hours later, they still hadn’t got up. Not properly anyway. Lewis had raided the fridge a couple of times, and then there had been that long, steamy shower… But mostly, they’d spent the whole time in bed.

Aaron yawned and raised himself up on his elbows. The sheet fell away, revealing his lean, tightly muscled chest. Lewis’s mouth watered.

Jesus, how could hestillwant sex? He grinned at the thought, then looked up, catching Aaron’s eye, and grinned wider.

“What?” he said.

Aaron raised a brow. “I know what you’re thinking.” His voice, husky with promise, went straight to Lewis’s cock.

“Yeah,” Lewis said, leaning over to kiss him. “You’re right. But before we go again, you have to watch this. It’s fucking awesome.”

He leaned back against the headboard and handed the iPad to Aaron, watching as Aaron absorbed the image on screen. It was Charlie again, except this time, the video wasn’t a covertly filmed one. It was much slicker-looking and entitled,“My apology”.Lewis had already watched it, after speaking with Kushal, his lawyer.