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“No need to introduce yourself,” I say, trying to sound gallant and not like I’m freaking the fuck out. “You’re a legend, Madam Blackwell.” I bend down to kiss the back of her hand, then introduce myself when I’m standing straight again. “I’m Carter Din.”

I leave it at that. No reason to explain anything right now. Not until we figure out how we’re going to get out of this mess.

Fuck, why did the grave robber have to come over before Liam got a chance to talk to this woman?

He’s a fucking pest.

“You’re a charmer, aren’t you?” she asks, clearly delighted by my manners.

Milton will be proud. That’s something good about this at least.

Because nothing else is going according to plan. She winks at Liam, who obviously has no idea how to react to that, and then adds a, “Well done,” for him.

And just to make it all better, she turns to the man who’s been standing next to the grave robber this whole time. “I see you’ve met my new star, Roy Winter, and his own man, Robin.”

I notice she doesn’t say his full stage name, and that does make me feel a bit better. She clearly has no love for him, but this Roy person didn’t look even slightly alarmed by what Dirk was saying to us before they got here, so he’s clearly not a great judge of character or a great person.

“I’ve known Liam since we started at Juilliard together, and we were together for quite some years, actually,” the Dick pipes up, putting everyone in an awkward mood and annoying the bloody hell out of me. Why can’t someone just tape his mouth shut?

“Were you?” Michelle asks, looking only at Liam with a raised eyebrow. Her smile dims considerably, and I can’t know why, but it doesn’t bode well for the evening’s true purpose.

“Michelle.” Tristan thankfully inserts himself back into the conversation to avoid any more words from the arsehole. “How about we go get a drink with Liam and talk?”

I breathe easier when her smile returns, but then...

“Michelle, my dear.” A soft female voice comes from behind us.

I turn to see Lyla Storm, with CJ, Derek, and her nephews flanking her as they walk over.

The two older women hug and naturally drift only a few steps away.

I keep holding Liam’s hand so he won’t move in their direction and look at CJ until his gaze locks with mine, then I open my eyes wide and nod first in Wolf’s direction and then at the grave robber .

I hope he understands what I’m trying to tell him, and when he leans over to whisper in his boyfriend’s ear, I see he more than likely did.

“It’s so good to see you,” I hear Lyla tell Michelle. “That last Phantom of the Opera performance was pure magic.” She fawns all over Michelle and hopefully makes her forget everything that just happened.

Hey, I can hope.

Speaking of distractions, I turn to see Liam staring at Tristan, and then see Tristan making crazy eyes at him.

Dirk on the other hand is looking at Liam with hate in his stupid eyes, and Roy... is looking Wolf up and down with obvious lust as he walks right up to them. He stops less than a foot away, uncomfortably close if their reaction—trepidation—is anything to go by.

He’s cut them off from the rest of the group so effectively, and crosses his arms over his chest while Roy starts to tell him how big of a fan he is. Wolf doesn’t even seem to hear it, he just stares Dirk down.

I lean to the left to try and see his face better, and just in time too, because I catch the moment his evil smile begins to form. It’s the one that makes him look like he’s an actual starving, rabid wolf.

“Did you know,” he says, low enough that I have to strain to hear with all the fucking noise. “That I’ve known Liam since the day I was born?”

That seems like a simple and innocent enough question, but it’s not.

“No,” the Dick says, and there’s just enough of a wobble in his voice to make me smile.

I love it when Wolf makes grown men want to piss themselves. It’s endlessly entertaining.

“And did you know,” he continues. “That he’s the new best friend of five NFL football players?

” Dirk opens his mouth but Wolf keeps going.

“I mean sure, three of those are quarterbacks, they don’t pack that much of a punch, but one of them is a linebacker who’ll be here any moment, and he can bench press a Toyota if he feels like it, and the other is my best friend and the most feral of them all.

So I suggest that it never even crosses your mind to talk to Liam again, is that clear? ”

“Are you threatening me?” Dirk demands, trying to sound indignant or maybe threatening. I have no clue what he’s trying to do but it’s not working. He just sounds scared.

“Yes,” Wolf says without hesitation. “I am, grave robber, and I asked, is that clear ?” He growls the last bit.

“Ye-yes, of course that’s clear.”

It’s Roy who answers this time, openly terrified as he looks up at Wolf’s face. He starts pulling on Dirk’s arm to step back, but the grave robber—and I love that my nickname has caught on—looks like he’s about to explode, his face becoming more crimson at an alarming pace.

I maybe love that even more.

“Crystal,” Dirk spits out the word, and looks at Liam for a long moment. “It’s not like I even care?—”

“What is going on?” Liam whispers in my ear, though the volume doesn’t disguise his panic. He distracts me from hearing the rest of whatever Dirk has to say.

“What do you mean?” I ask, and squeeze his damp palm .

“Did you tell Wolf that Dirk—” I can’t bear the vulnerability in his voice so I interrupt him right away.

“I didn’t tell him anything about your past.” I speak quickly. “He’s just acting this way because of everything I explained to them back at the brownstone, remember? What an arsehole he was at Rossi’s?”

While he stares at me I feel this incessant need to have him believe me, believe that I would never betray him.

Finally, his lips tip up at the edges. The smile is here and gone so fast I would’ve missed it if I wasn’t staring right back at him, then he’s back to his normal frown.

“Okay,” he whispers.

I breathe out slowly, then remind myself what we’re here for.

“Come on, let me introduce you to Lyla?—”

“I know Lyla,” he tells me in his dry tone. “I’ve known her all my life.”

“Right.” I shake my head a little. Come on, Carter, get your head in the game . “Let’s greet her and then you can talk to Michelle, yeah?”

“Yes,” he says with a nod, and I see him reach up to touch his bow tie nervously.

“You know your app is awesome,” I whisper supportively. “Just like your algorithm, Liam. You can do this.”

“It’s just...” He trails off and I turn to face him, giving him all my attention.

“What is it?”

“This wasn’t the plan.” His voice sounds slightly panicked then.

“Michelle wasn’t supposed to see us holding hands.

She wasn’t supposed to think we’re dating.

” He continues speaking fast, and I know we’ll have to deal with that little detail eventually, but now really isn’t the time.

Right now we have to convince this woman to give Liam millions of dollars so he can get his app out there.

So I reach up to cup Liam’s cheeks and hold his head tightly enough that he’s looking straight at me.

“We can worry about that tomorrow, mate,” I tell him urgently. “Right now you need to impress her like you impressed me on that hill, remember? You know exactly what you need to say to her. You have this,” I emphasize, trying to make him believe in himself as much as I believe in him.

After a few seconds his head bobs in my hands, and I let go, take his left hand in mine again, and pull him lightly toward the women. Tristan is talking to Michelle’s son, but his eyes shift to us like he already knew we were walking over, and he gets Michelle’s attention.

I can’t hear what he tells her but she smiles at us right as we stop next to her, and after Lyla fusses over Liam for a minute, she nods her head to the side of the ballroom.

“Why don’t we go to one of the rooms outside so we can talk without all the noise?”

“That’s a great idea,” Tristan agrees enthusiastically, and the five of us—her son included—walk out with only a few people stopping Michelle to greet her.

“You want me to wait outside?” I ask quietly as Michelle walks into the room with Tristan holding the door open for her.

“No, please come in with us,” he says quickly. I squeeze his hand hard once, and then take a deep breath.

Here we go .

“So, tell me about this app,” Michelle prompts Liam, sitting like a queen at the head of the table.

“Well, it works thanks to the research I did for my doctorate. When it’s functional, it will help people put together a custom playlist for the emotional state they’re in at that moment.”

I watch him silently, and I love how passionate he is while he explains everything to Michelle. He’s confident and passionate about this and it shows with every word.

He’s totally got this.

“I could see she was as impressed as me, Liam. She’s totally going to give you the money,” I say, maybe a bit loudly, but fuck it, I’m pumped.

Liam smiles his rare real smile as he puts on his seatbelt, and I remember to do the same. Then Eric is driving into the slow traffic.

“We’ll see,” is all he says to my enthusiasm.

I’ve never been in a conversation that had dozens of millions on the table, so maybe the adrenaline is kicking in, but I kept my cool in there. Liam didn’t let go of my hand the whole time, and even when Michelle thanked him and told Tristan she’d be in touch, he didn’t let go.

Liam wanted to leave right away, but first we were stopped by his parents, then by all my friends, who one by one gave Liam some encouragement and assured him he’d get what he came here for .

I could see his frown getting deeper and deeper and so I made some excuse and we fled.

“I’m sorry the guys delayed our exit,” I tell him, trying to calm myself down.

“You don’t have to apologize,” he says, sounding like he thinks I’m crazy. “It was nice of them, and even if it wasn’t, it’s not like you called them over and made them say all those nice things to me.”

“I know, but we had planned to leave right after.”

“It was barely half an hour, Carter. I’m fine.

” His voice is softer this time, and when he squeezes my hand, I realize he took it—or did I?

—after putting on our seatbelts. I stare down at them on the seat between us and can’t figure out what to do.

I mean, we did hold hands from the elevator in his building to the car, and then in the car. .. yes, I think we did.

But the night is over now.

Though our fake boyfriend mission isn’t anymore.

I truly believe Michelle will give Liam the money he needs and become an investor. She has to, right?

And that means we will probably have to have a fake break up at some point too.

The car stops before I can decide what to do, and I guess that’s what happens when you live on the same street as some pretty iconic hotels.

Even in tortoise-slow traffic it didn’t even take ten minutes.

“I’ll walk you to your door,” Liam mumbles, as he slips his hand away.

We meet on the pavement again and walk shoulder to shoulder up the steps to the front door .

“Thank you for tonight,” he whispers when we’re there, and I turn to smile at him.

“Just like I didn’t have to apologize, you don’t have to thank me, Liam,” I assure him. “This is what we do for each other, and besides, it was my fault in the first place for opening my big?—”

My eyes open wide when he moves faster than I can see and presses his lips to mine.

I stumble back after a second and raise my hands between us. Liam is frowning and tilts his head to the side.

“Was that not enjoyable?” he asks quietly, and I know that’s not really what he’s asking.

Still, even though I never thought I’d be the type of bloke to say it, I loudly blurt out, “I’m straight!” I can’t even focus on being delicate, the shock has shut down my brain.

Liam’s frown deepens.

“I—” He stops himself and breathes deeply, while I’m reeling inside.

I can’t miss the blush spreading across his cheeks, though.

It’s charming. And it makes me feel about a millimeter tall.

“I’m sorry,” he murmurs, and shifts his gaze to the floor.

“I made the logical conclusion based on your friend group. There’s a clear statistic that states queer people tend to gravitate toward one another, and I made an assumption based on it. Again, I apologize. Have a good night.”

He speaks so fast I can barely keep up, and by the time I have, he’s jumping down the steps and walking quickly to the car.

I want to go after him, assure him everything’s fine, but my feet won’t move, so I watch helplessly as the car drives away .

I don’t want Liam to feel sorry. I don’t want him embarrassed. I?—

Fucking hell, I don’t know anything but those things.

Aimlessly, I take out my keys and open the front door, and I walk down the long hallway to the kitchen where, sure enough, Milton is brewing some tea.

“How was it?” he asks without looking up from the stove.

“Milton,” I say in a broken voice. That gets his attention right enough.

“What is it master Carter?” he demands, eyes wide in alarm.

“He kissed me,” I whisper.

Milton’s shoulder drop and his stern face appears. The same one he used when I came home with muddy shoes.

“Who did?” he asks as he goes back to preparing his tea.

“Liam,” I cry out. “He just... It was so fast, and I... What could I have done? There were no signs...” I trail off because well, there were some signs, I suppose, but I was focused on the mission.

On making him feel secure and safe and.

.. protected. “What was I supposed to do?” I whisper to myself, and then there’s the ruckus of my friends coming into the house again.

I don’t think, I just put one foot in front of the other, and when I’m within arm’s reach, I grab CJ’s arms and pull him to the stairs without an explanation—though he demands one several times as we climb to the second floor.

I don’t say anything until the door to my bedroom is closed and I’ve paced in front of my bed for a good few minutes.

“Liam kissed me,” I admit eventually, and CJ sighs.

He goes to sit on the bench at the foot of my bed, crosses his legs at the ankle, and leans back on his hands. Well, he’s just made himself at home, hasn’t he?

“Let’s get to it, then. Did you like it?”

That . . . is not something I’d asked myself.