Page 74 of Total Creative Control

“Really?” Aaron snapped back. “Because I’m pretty sure that without us, you don’t have a hit show.”

Charlie lifted an eyebrow. “Us?”

“Yeah, I’m a fan. So what? I’m a fan, and I can tell you that the Skylán romance is what fans want—”

“There’s no romance,” Lewis growled beside him.

Aaron flinched, not expecting an attack from that direction. “What do you mean?” he said faintly, turning to Lewis. “You know there is. You’ve written it.”

“I bloody well haven’t,” Lewis said, still scribbling on his notes, still not looking up. “A romance between them would screw everything up. It would undermine their whole relationship. I won’t go there.”

“It wouldn’t screw anything up,” Aaron said. “And anyway, you’ve already gone there—there’s already a romance between them.”

“It’s notromance,” Lewis said scathingly. “It’s far more important than that, more enduring, more profound.” Finally, he threw down his pen and looked at Aaron, his blue gaze piercing. “Sex would just cheapen it.”

Aaron’s face heated, but he pushed aside all thoughts of last night. This wasn’t about that. “Sex and romance aren’t the same thing,” he said tightly. “It doesn’t matter whether or not they’re shagging—they’re still in love. Everyone can see it. Why do you think there’s so muchLeechesfanfic out there?”

“Just because a few fans imagine—”

“Loads of fans!” Aaron protested. “There are thousands of Skylán fanfics, Lewis. Stories about their relationship, their friendship… God, their love for each other. It’s so important. Seeing that kind of romantic connection between two men in a mainstream show likeLeeches? Come on, you know how empowering that kind of representation is for people like…” He hesitated over the word ‘us’. “For people like me. It’s what makes me—”

Lewis grabbed his wrist. “Aaron,” he said repressively.

It was very clearly a warning between a boss and his underling, but Aaron had no patience for that crap this morning. He shook his arm free. “No, this has to be said. Faolán isgay. He’s always been gay. You can’t make him conveniently bisexual just to suit the storyline. Faolán is gay, and thereisa romantic relationship between him and Skye. Fans aren’t imagining it. And it’s there because you put it there, Lewis. Deliberate or not, you wrote it into the show. And it’simportant. It’s meaningful for people. God, I’ve written tens of thousands of words about it! And if you try to erase it now, try to pretend it was a totally platonic relationship all along, then you’re just as—”

“Youwrote about it?” Lewis said, staring at him. “What do you mean,youwrote about it?”

Fuck.

Fuck.

Nobody else said anything, but Aaron felt Toni’s eyes on him. And Charlie’s, avid and eager. Aaron flushed, his face burning. But he’d said it now, so why not tell them everything? He was proud of his fanfiction and was seized again by the conviction that he had nothing left to lose. “What I mean is that, in my spare time, I write Skylán fanfiction.”

It was half terrifying, half electrifying to finally reveal this vital, creative side of himself to Lewis. Blushing, he added, “I’m quite good at it, actually. I’ve even won a few awards.”

But Lewis did not look impressed. In fact, he looked astonished. Aghast. “You write fanfiction? AboutLeeches?”

“I do, yes.”

“Oh, this is wonderful,” Charlie crowed. “Fanfic’s all porn, isn’t it?”

“No.” Heart pounding, Aaron kept his gaze locked on Lewis, imploring him to understand. “It’s nothing like that. It’s romantic. It’sromance.”

But there was no understanding in Lewis’s expression. His mouth twisted in scorn, and he pushed away from the table, getting up. “I can’t believe this,” he growled, stalking to the window, shoving his hands through his hair. “I can’t believe you’d do this. Those aremycharacters. You have no right to twist my show intoFiftyfuckingShades!” He spun back around. “Tell me you don’t post this crap online.”

His contempt struck with the force of a physical blow, and Aaron couldn’t draw enough breath around the sharpness of his pain to answer.

But he didn’t need to.

“Jesus Christ,” Lewis snarled, whirling back to the window. “You work for the fucking show!”

Aaron’s heart laboured. “It doesn’t hurt the show. Most fans—”

“You need to leave,” Lewis said, keeping his back turned. “We’ll discuss this later, but you can’t be in this meeting.”

Toni said, “Lewis, I don’t think that’s necessary—”

“We’re making confidential creative decisions,” Lewis said through gritted teeth. “The last thing we need is it ending up all over the fucking internet.”