his head.
When I climb into his lap, he throws the phone to Harley.
I stand to go after him, but he calls for Brix, who immediately steps in my way. I have to stare up at him. Has he always been that tall and wide?
“Mase,” Harley says. “We’re going to be a team, and I promise we won’t tear your songs apart.”
I slump because that’s not actually what I want at all. “No, you should. I can take the criticism. I want to put out the best songs. I just don’t think my songs are that.”
Harley steps around his boyfriend and stops in front of me. “Show us.” He holds out my phone for me.
I sigh and pull up one of the songs I was working on while Denver was on the Fandom set and I was playing around. I have to close my eyes as I hit the Play button, and as my words about finding a soul mate in a best friend filter through the room, I refuse to look at Denver.
It’s a pure love song. It’s a queer anthem. It’s not what I set out for it to be when I started writing it, but … that’s where my muse led me, I guess.
Denver stands and slowly approaches me. “Is this about me?” His voice is low, but I have no doubt everyone can hear him.
I’m uncomfortable doing this in front of all of them, but I don’t want to belittle us by cracking a joke.
Instead, I speak from the heart. “You know it is. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. I love you with everything I have.”
Denver takes me off guard by closing the gap between us and slamming his mouth on mine. I stumble back a couple of steps, but he comes with me, not letting up. His tongue enters my mouth, and then his hands grip the back of my head to hold me to him.
It’s enough to make me forget we’re in a room full of people.
But then Denver pulls back, his lips puffy, his eyes glassy. “I love you too.”
The song ends, and the room is silent.
I keep looking at Denver. “What do their faces look like? Are they trying to figure out how to tell me it sucks and it’s obvious why my solo career tanked?”
“It’s amazing,” Harley says.
I slowly turn.
Harley nods. “We need it on our album.”
“Really?”
“I want to play with the melody a bit, but the lyrics are … I’m blown away.”
I didn’t know how much I needed validation from Harley until this very moment.
“So this is really happening?” Denver asks. “We’re signing contracts, we’re doing this?”
“Let’s celebrate with some drinks.” Harley heads for the bar.
“Uh—” Denver starts, but Harley’s gone before Denver can stop him.
“Where’s all your alcohol?” And Harley’s already back.
Denver rubs the back of his neck. “I, umm, had to get rid of it.”
I frown. “Why?”
“When I decided I should give drinking a break, it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. And then when Cameron died … it was almost unbearable. But while Mason was gone …” Denver’s aqua eyes meet mine. “I poured myself a drink.”
Oh, damn. “I didn’t know,” I whisper.
“I didn’t drink it,” he says quickly. “But you all were right. I would drink way too much and way too often. The biggest problem was I’d drink to forget. When I was numb, I wasn’t stressed about my career or having friends or …” He turns to me. “Missing you.”
I squeeze his hand.
He keeps talking. “I thought I had it handled, but I really didn’t. And while Mason was gone, I realized if I couldn’t handle being alone without drinking, that maybe sober living needs to become a permanent thing for me.”
I’m speechless. Denver and alcohol have always gone hand in hand, but I know he has issues with it, and I’m proud of him for taking it seriously and doing something about it.
“You all are welcome to drink around me, but, yeah, you won’t find any in the house. I had to pour it all down the sink so I wouldn’t drink it.”
Harley gasps. “All your Macallan?”
“Okay, no, that I sold to a party promoter friend of mine for half price. Throwing that out would’ve been blasphemous.”
“We all support you,” Harley says.
Ryder moves from his spot next to Lyric and stands next to Harley. “Agreed.”
Blake joins next. “We’re a team.”
I shake my head. “We’re a family.”
Denver holds out his arms. “Group hug?”
As we step into more of a huddle instead of a hug, I’m taken back to all those times we’ve been onstage together.
We really are a team. We really are family.
And while my feelings for Denver have changed and evolved over the years, there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that he’s the one for me.
I’ll support him and love him, cherish what we have and never give up fighting for him.
We’re going to create a life together that we want, and I can’t wait.
Harley steps out of the group hug first. “Okay, let’s get to work.”
Here. We. Go.
Thank you
Thank you for reading Fandom!
What a ride, huh? Mason and Denver were the types of characters who just … were. They led their own story, and I loved writing them even if they took the story to places I didn’t think they’d go. (Sorry Cameron)
I’ll try to make Blake and Jordan less … murdery. But no promises. There is that pesky boyfriend of Jordan’s …
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Also by Eden Finley
OTHER BOOKS BY EDEN FINLEY
FAMOUS SERIES
Pop Star
Spotlight
Fandom
Novellas:
Locked Heart
Thorned Heart
CO-WRITTEN WITH SAXON JAMES
Power Plays & Straight A’s
Face Offs & Cheap Shots
Goal Lines & First Times
Line Mates & Study Dates
FAKE BOYFRIEND SERIES
Fake Out
Trick Play
Deke
Blindsided
Hat Trick
Novellas:
Fake Boyfriend Breakaways: A short story collection
Final Play
VINO & VERITAS
Sarina Bowen’s True North Series
Headstrong
STEELE BROTHERS
Unwritten Law
Unspoken Vow
ROYAL OBLIGATION
Unprincely (M/M/F)
Acknowledgments
I want to thank my long list of betas, especially Leslie Copeland from Les Court Services, Blue Beta Reading, and Sandra from One Love editing for copy-edits.
Thanks to Lori Parks for one last read through for those ninja typos that have the ability to sneak through four rounds of editing.
To Cate Ashwood for the cover design.
My PA, CC Belle.
And lastly, a big thanks to Linda from Foreword PR & Marketing for helping get this book out.