I replied with a tiny laugh.
“I know we haven’t discussed this lately, but I believe it’s time we go public. I’m tired of the secrecy.”
My heart lurched in my chest. Frank’s words took me by surprise. With everything he’d been going through emotionally these past few weeks, I hadn’t allowed myself to venture back into that territory. We’d put that conversation on hold.
“If I’m part of your project, we can’t keep walking on eggshells, doll. Besides, people will figure it out anyway.” He licked his upper lip. “I’m going to burn next to you every time we’re out in public and I can’t hold your hand or touch you.”
Heat pooled at my core. I needed so little to get turned on.
“Okay.” I nodded and moved closer. “You can touch me right now to get a head start.” My height lingered above his body seated in the chair. He shifted and pulled me to stand between his thighs. I sunk my fingers in his silky hair and brushed it away from his face.
“So we’re doing it, right?” He looked at me through his long, dark lashes.
“Yes.” A giddy smile stretched my lips. My head spun from the realization that we weren’t just a phase. We were going to take a step forward in our relationship—no matter how dysfunctionally codependent it was—and make it official. “Could you give me a couple of days to talk to my family?”
“Of course.” Frank drew me closer, filling the space between us with his want, erasing the distance and making us one. His warm breath tickled my skin through the thin fabric of my shirt as he buried his face between my breasts.
I loved him like this, undeniably needy and all hot and bothered.
Emotions of every color began to clog my chest.
“My mother is dying to know who you are,” I said, kissing the top of his head. “I haven’t told her yet.”
“It’s probably a good idea for me to meet her before we’re all over the internet. I wouldn’t want my mother to find out I was seeing someone through the tabloids.” He tore his cheek from my breast. “Oh, wait. That’s exactly how my mother has found out about all my girlfriends.”
“You’re impossible.” I laughed. My happiness was infinite. “You need to stop talking about your ex-girlfriends and other women. You’re taken.”
“Consequences of being famous.” He grinned up at me, eyes bright and shining.
“I’m surprised we’ve been able to cover this up for so long,” I confessed.
“I’m honestly surprised too.” His palm skimmed down my back and cupped my ass. “Doesn’t matter now. We’re worldwide, baby.”
Later that evening, while Frank was holed up in his studio, I took the liberty of stalking my brother’s Instagram account. His last photo, posted two days ago, was a selfie of him and Levi sitting in front of a large monitor with a screenshot of Isabella’s face in After Effects.
He’d changed his handle from @ftninja2001 to @ashtheman2019.
working on some sic shit with my bro @LeviBernstein, the caption below it read.
There were no photos or videos of Frank anywhere on his feed other than a few snippets of live Hall Affinity footage, which was fine. Half of L.A. had gone to that show.
After I’d ensured Ashton hadn’t been posting anything he wasn’t supposed to, I dialed his number.
“What up, sis?” he yelled. Loud music boomed in the background.
“Where are you?” I asked suspiciously.
“At Levi’s.”
Relief washed over me. Thank God, it wasn’t some bar or a strip club. Ever since Frank bought Ashton that car, I’d been dreading the call from the police to inform me my brother was arrested for something insanely stupid. Like breaking into Selena Gomez’s house. “Don’t you have school tomorrow?”
“I’m crashing here.”
“Can I talk to Levi, please?”
“Why are you calling my phone then?”
“Because I need to talk to you too,” I explained. “After I talk to Levi.”
The next thing I heard was Ashton shouting over the noise, followed by the thunder of footsteps and the rattle of a soda can.
“What’s going on?” Levi barked. The smack of his lips and the grind of his teeth told me he was eating. “Did Frank see the rough cut?”
“Are you corrupting my brother?”
“Don’t you worry. He’s on his best behavior.” Levi’s voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “I told him I’d take him with me to interview Athena Angel.”
“Don’t feed him lies.”
“I’m not lying. Did you see the press release? She’s gearing up for a new tour.”
“I haven’t checked the Rewired inbox today,” I confessed.
“Okay. I got something for you.” I could hear Levi moving to another room so we could continue in silence. “I know you don’t want to do any on-camera work right now, but I haven’t told Shayne about it yet. I reached out to Bennett’s manager last month about an exclusive and he specifically asked for you.”
A surge of adrenaline hit my bloodstream. During my first two years working with Levi, I got excited about every single interview we locked in. Eventually, when it became part of the routine, I stopped getting emotional, but once in a while, when we nailed down an artist with a story worth sharing, I felt it again. This rush was a reminder of why I did what I did. We created a connection between artists and their fans. We lifted the veil. We let others see who the people injecting their soul into every song they wrote really were.
“I’d love to meet him, but”—my voice shook—“Frank and I are going public and I don’t know if this is the right time for me to be getting back in front of the camera.”
Levi was silent for a long moment. “Your name is all over this interview.”
“When do you need an answer?”
“We have a couple of weeks to decide. Bennett’s not fond of the press in general. The label is super picky about publications he speaks to, so I can stall, but ideally, if you could give me an answer before the first, that would be great.”
“I want to do it, but I’ll need to think about it. By the way, I showed Frank the cut and he loved it. He’s still considering my offer, but I believe it will be a yes. For now, let’s just lock in the screening date because I can’t pitch without it. How does April sound to you?”
“If he decides to be part of the project and I have to add more footage, that’ll be tough.”
“Isn’t tight deadline your middle name?” I laughed.
“No shit.”
“All right, then I’m emailing Maria tomorrow about April. Give me my brother now.”
“We’re not smoking weed, I swear!” Ashton bellowed over the phone after Levi returned it to him.
“I need to talk to you about something else.” My tone was serious.
“Okay. You’re not moving to Tibet or anything like that, are you?”
“You wish.” I paused. “Frank and I are going public, which means you’ll probably get stalked on social media and be approached by reporters. I want you to be aware of this and I want to make sure you understand you can’t talk to anyone about me and Frank.”